By Chad Klassen

Local men’s golf league raising money for Kamloops charities

Jul 26, 2018 | 6:24 PM

KAMLOOPS — A group of golfers are making a difference in the lives of people in Kamloops. Every Thursday, up to one hundred golfers get together at the Big Horn Golf and Country Club in Sun Rivers to play the the game, but also raise money for a variety of charities in the community.

“They guys will bring us a charity every month and put together that suggestion for us,” said co-organizer of the men’s golf league Kris Armstrong. “The first month it ended up being the mental health society and we raised just over $800. The second we did the SPCA. I know they’re building a new building here locally in Kamloops and we gave them just over $600.”

The Big Horn Men’s Golf League started nearly a decade ago with a few groups going out, but it’s grown significantly in the last few years. This month, the golfers are focusing on helping the MS Society of Kamloops. 

One of the league’s participants, Mike Feely, lives with MS.

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“I was diagnosed in 1994, but after looking at the symptoms I had I probably had symptoms from about 1990, so it’s been a fair length of time,” said Feely. 

Feely finds that golf is one of the few sports he can play. It’s why he joined the league. 

“One of the things that’s bad for me is my balance. I used to skate and ski, curl. I can’t do any of those things anymore without killing myself,” he noted. “Golf I can do because, you do need balance but you’re very set and you’ve got time to react to something.”

Feely is thrilled the $1,600  raised this month will go directly towards research and local programs for MS patients. 

“We’re always needing more funds for research because we don’t know what the root cause of this disease is,” Feely said, who added his son has been recently diagnosed with MS. “Whether it’s environmental or genetic or a combination of both, or just bad luck. We just don’t really know.”

The league has helped other local organizations like the Spirit Warriors, a group of breast cancer survivors who dragonboat together. Funds from the league helped the Warriors add to their tribe. 

“Nobody should be left out of our dragonboat team because of money, whether it be their membership or any of the other events,” said member Sandy Cooper. “[Big Horn co-founder Bill Amey] wanted us to use the money to help people who couldn’t really afford to do some of the things.”

The golf league is open to anyone who would like to join. You can contact Kris Armstrong at 250-575-0585.