Charity Golf Tournament for the love of the game

Charity Golf Tournament for the love of the game
By Jack Pagano

Orlando, FL- 55 golfers came to sunny Orlando and the Eagle Creek Golf course.  Two days of friendship, camaraderie, and a perfect swing for charity.  What makes this charity golf event different, it’s all about giving back to the African American community. Sherri Echols-Hood, the tournament director, says with a big smile, “We continue to celebrate the legacy of my father Vernon, who started the tournament 26 years ago.  It’s all about his desire to help the African American community and his love of the game of golf.”

Eagle Creek Golf Course. Orlando, Fl.  Golfers on the 18^th green look for a birdie at the “L.O.V.E. Golftech, Inc. Annual Invitational Tournament.” 1 November 2025 (photo by Jack Pagano)

Shirley Carson from Youngstown, Ohio, loves the sport.  She travels to Florida every year for the tournament with a group of ten ladies from the northeast. She says, “There’s a spirit and ‘young at heart’ attitude when we hit the links. I would encourage African American youth to try golf. Why not?  I make it a point in my life now that I’m retired to get together with the ladies from the north and travel down to see Sherri and the ‘gang’.”

Rosalyn Harris is one of the gang, and she’s from Akron, Ohio.   The tournament is more than golf for the senior citizens. Todd says with pride, “It’s a gathering and we enjoy golf and the ability to give back as a charity event.”  Glenda Todd from Altamonte Springs, who grew up in Ybor City, stresses, the charity event allows her to play the game.  She is very good, taking home the top trophy in the Ladies Senior category.

Eagle Creek Golf Course. Orlando, Fl.  The spirit of friendship was alive with a group of golfers at the “L.O.V.E. Golftech, Inc. Annual Invitational Tournament.” 1 November 2025 (photo by Jack Pagano)

The original tournament began in 1998 in Daytona Beach.   Echols-Hood’s father wanted a touching way to give back and started hosting of a charity golf tournament at the LPGA International Golf Course.   The first L.O.V.E. Golftech, Inc. Annual Invitational Tournament attracted 32 players.  It grew to more than 200 players and guests. The funds earned helped local Daytona area youth.

Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Banta York, who served in Vietnam and Operation Enduring Freedom during 9/11 at the Pentagon’s Crisis Action Team, is proud to have participated in the charity event. 10 years and counting. “I believe this event is a very good one, as the funds raised will support disadvantaged kids for summer programs.  That’s why I traveled from Sarasota. Help the youth…”

Eagle Creek Golf Course. Orlando, Fl.  Army Retired LTC Banta York and tournament director Sherri Echols-Hood look at York’s score at the “L.O.V.E. Golftech, Inc. Annual Invitational Tournament.” 2 November 2025 (photo by Jack Pagano)

Echols-Hood is optimistic that tournaments like this will help golf in the African American community.  Sure, it needs a boost in America’s urban areas.   Picking up a basketball, football, or baseball bat seems a little easier and cheaper, but the rewards of playing the game are so much more.  Remember golfing legend Tiger Woods walking the 18^th green to victory at the 2019 Masters. Huge crowds at the Master’s and millions cheering him on.  Tiger showed that African Americans can be a big part of the game of golf.

Eagle Creek Golf Course. Orlando, Fl.  Golfers looking to score par at the “L.O.V.E. Golftech, Inc. Annual Invitational Tournament,” 1 November 2025 (photo by Jack Pagano)

There aren’t many African American golf tournaments in the USA.  Echols-Hood hopes the lessons learned from this year’s tournament will help her make next year’s event bigger and better.  She wants a bigger field with the young and those young at heart. Maybe Tiger Woods’s son, Charlie, and other younger African Americans who are playing the game will come to next year’s event.

Echols-Hood knows golf, and marketing is a game of inches.  Getting that hole-in-one and galvanizing a community not accustomed to golf will be her biggest 2026 challenge.

Jack Pagano is a retired Army field grade officer with many decades of Information Operations experience and currently working remotely in the USA as COO/Strategist for one of Afghanistan’s biggest Radio/TV networks.  His current mission is getting out Afghan journalists he trained, and mentored who are stuck, stranded under the Sharia-driven Taliban