The Royal Oaks Lifecare Community in Sun City sent seven of its senior residents and three of its employees to participate in the Arizona LeadingAge 16th annual Golf Classic at the Ocotillo Golf Club in Chandler.

The elder warriors included John Parsons, Darrell Jensen, Sharon Bonesteel Mann, David Mann, Ed Nightingale, David Shapiro and Diana Graettinger. Representing the Royal Oaks staff were Darin Young, Ron Fellman and Aventur Chief Financial Officer Carter Smitherman, Aventur is Royal Oaks parent company and Smitherman is a board member for LeadingAge.

The Royal Oaks marketing department led by its director Kari Dicksen, along with Iracema Celis and Karen Schram, who works in the Royal Oaks Care Center, had a special role during the Beat the Pro Competition to raise money for the LeadingAge Organization.

Ron Fellman, 62, of Buckeye, who recently retired from the senior community’s maintenance department, was called the “young buck from Buckeye, who saved our bacon” because by the time his team reached the 18th hole, he was hitting long drives and putting with perfection.

“We have a real commitment to being a part of this wonderful competition and we are thrilled that our staff and residents want to be involved,” said Aventur Chief Executive Officer Gretchen Cobb. “We support LeadingAges’ mission and each year want to do our part to help them raise money and our enthusiastic employees and seniors volunteer every year.”

The more than 125 players from all over Arizona included not only Gen-Xers but the newest group, Gen Alpha, which competed with the vintage World War II-era players, namely the Royal Oaks striking sevensome.

LeadingAge is a national organization that serves its members by “providing leadership, education, advocacy and opportunities for collaboration to help them achieve their respective missions,” according to its website. The organization’s national partner, LeadingAge, is an association of 6,000 organization dedicated to “expanding the world of possibilities for aging.” Each year the Arizona group hosts a tournament to help raise money for its mission. The Royal Oaks marketing team, led by Dicksen, hosted the Beat the Pro competition on the 7th hole and raised $5,000, which went to LeadingAge.

There were several challenges during the competition, including the longest drive and closest to the pin. The speed hole had golfers teeing off then rushing to the next ball and finally to the green to see which team was the fastest. One of the senior teams clocked in at around six minutes; the winners clocked in at 50 seconds.

The event also featured a lunch of beef and chicken tacos and cinnamon churros. Then it was time for the awards, with one young golfer after another accepting prizes for various competitions. Winner of the closest to the pin was 82-year-old Diana Graettinger, who accepted her award, a golf club.

The Royal Oaks team made up of the Manns, Shapiro and Nightingale won the Most Honest Team award with a final score of 82 and a $50 gift card. The first-place winning team’s total score was about half.