Rain might have delayed the annual Chattanooga Bar Association Golf Championship by one week, and the weather the morning of the event might have been less than promising, but as 40 attorneys teed up at Bear Trace Golf Course in Harrison Bay for a day of competition and camaraderie, the skies couldn’t have been more blue and the temperature was just right.
As the teams trickled back into the clubhouse that evening, several players had won bragging rights and a selection of prizes, but most important of all, everyone had skillfully dodged a day at the office.
The winners
Each of the top three teams shot a 56. Following a scorecard playoff, the firm of Leitner, Williams, Dooley & Napolitan emerged as the winner. Craig Allen, Jay Hildebrand, John Hull and Ben Reese represented Leitner in the four-player select shot tournament. Nipping at their heels to place second was a team made up of lawyers from two firms: Neil Brunetz and Gary Gerbitz from Miller & Martin, and Brent Burks and Jay Kennamer from McMahan Law Firm. Third place went to a team consisting of Gary Cooper and Rick Marcus of Franklin, Cooper & Marcus, Rob Norred of Logan-Thompson and John Rice.
The Bar awarded a number of prizes for special feats. Brunetz won recognition for hitting the longest drive of the day at hole 17, while four attorneys landed “closest to the pin” awards on four par three holes, including Cooper at hole four, Jeff Maddux of Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel at hole eight, Jason Mirmelstein, also of Chambliss, at hole 11, and Rice at hole 14. Brunetz and Mirmelstein each won a 50-dollar gift certificate to Porter’s, Cooper and Rice both took home a 25-dollar gift certificate from Chat’O Brasserie, and Maddux received the highly coveted one-year VIP Republic Parking pass at any Republic Parking in the world. No one sunk a hole-in-one, so Lexus of Chattanooga was not required to hand over the keys to a 2012 Lexus GX460 to anyone. There’s always next year.
CLIPS
The other winners will be the people who use CLIPS, the online lawyer information provider service the tournament benefited. A service of the Bar, CLIPS helps people who need legal assistance find an attorney that matches their needs. CLIPS has referral panels arranged so that attorneys wishing to obtain cases within a particular area of expertise are not required to handle matters in which they are not interested or are uncomfortable handling. The specialty panels also enable a client utilizing CLIPS to obtain an attorney interested in handling a specific type of problem.
Bear Trace
The tournament took place at a golf course destined to become a classic. Located approximately 20 minutes from downtown Chattanooga, Bear Trace is surrounded by water and heavily-wooded land, which made it an ideal setting for the tournament. Referred to as “the best natural piece of land for a golf course,” Bear Trace features Bermuda fairways lined with soaring pine and hardwood trees. Although water touches 12 of its fairways, there’s more than enough room to hit safely.
Most greens are open in front, which makes the course more user friendly for high-handicap players and allows run-up shots. Fairway and green side bunkers are designed in the traditional Jack Nicklaus fashion, and add character to the course. Like other courses in the Bear Trace series, the emphasis is on playability.
This tournament was brought to you by ...
Several sponsors teamed up to make the tournament possible, including Scientific Expert Analysis, Lexus of Chattanooga, Capital Toyota and the Hamilton County Herald. Hall & Associates Court Reporting provided Famous Dave’s prior to the start of the tournament, while the day concluded with wine and cheese in the clubhouse. Providing volunteer help throughout the event were: Sheri Fox, an attorney with Baker, Donelson, Bearman & Berkowitz; attorney Linda Hall; Michele Waters and Jill Crouch, paralegals at Leitner; and Susanne Reed of the Hamilton County Herald.