Chamber Golf Outing Brings Three Towns Together

Golf events have long been a staple of community Chamber of Commerce summer schedules, but Wednesday’s  at  in Darien featured a new twist.

The event was a collaborative effort along with the Westmont Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau and the . The response was robust, with around 100 golfers, dozens of local sponsors and several volunteers pulling the event off.

“The Darien chamber has been leading the way to bring on more multi-chamber events,” said Darien Chamber of Commerce president Angelo Imbrogno of . “The turnout was great. It was pretty seamless. We got a lot of response to it. I thought it was great.”

The heavy storms late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning made things a little shaky early on. The power at Carriage Greens was out Wednesday morning and there was a lot of rain on the course. But the event was able to go on as scheduled.

“In the beginning, it was a little shaky because the power was down at the country club, but they got it turned on and there were only pockets of rain here and there,” Imbrogno said.

On the course, the weather looked treacherous throughout, but everybody was able to finish his or her rounds in the four-person scramble format.

“It was kind of in and out,” Woodridge Buffalo Wild Wings general manager Josh Eckstein said. “I kept on telling people that it was like Scotland. It would rain, and then stop. It was a great event and we had a great time. I’m glad that everybody was able to come out and enjoy a good afternoon.”

Eckstein and his partners T.J. Crowley of Downers Grove, Autumn Gilliam of Yorkville and former Neuqua Valley golfer Geoff Clam of Naperville, posted the best score of the event with a 58. They also were the life of the event, with Eckstein routinely putting on his buffalo mascot head for pictures during the award ceremony.

“To have the mascot and have that opportunity to make it fun for everybody and to have everybody realize that this is fun, that makes it more enjoyable,” Eckstein said.

Imbrogno was so impressed with how the first three-chamber event went that he said he looks forward to continuing the tradition in the future, alternating through the golf courses of Darien, Westmont and Woodridge.

“We had some good, positive comments,” said Imbrogno, whose term as Darien chamber president comes up at the end of the year. “There’s no reason to not do it again. We can work together.”

In addition to the fun of the event, however, Imbrogno emphasized the impact such an event can have when dealing with three towns instead of one.

“It gives you three times the exposure,” Imbrogno said. “If we put it on by ourselves, we’d only have Darien coming out. Now, you have business owners from all around the three towns. It gives you much more marketing power, much more diversity.”