There are charity golf tournaments, and then there are charity golf tournaments that make you wonder why anyone would ever want to play in a regular scramble again. The 2026 Northwest Grocers/Northwest Harvest Charity Pro-Am Golf Tournament at The Golf Club at Newcastle was definitely in the latter category.

Set high on a hill overlooking downtown Seattle and the beautiful waters of Puget Sound, the setting alone was enough to make you appreciate the day.  But what really made this tournament special was the amazing collection of independent retail grocers and the companies that serve them, all coming together for a great cause: supporting Northwest Harvest.

This wasn’t just another corporate charity golf outing where you show up, grab a few breakfast snacks, listen to a long speech, and then spend the day trying to decipher a rulebook that seems to have been written by a committee of golf lawyers.

Nope. This tournament had a different feel.

A Pro on Every Team? Now That’s How You Do It!

One of the things that makes this tournament so unique is the format. Every team is paired with a local golf professional. Think about that for a minute. Instead of four amateurs hacking their way around a course, each team has a genuine golf pro to help navigate the challenges, offer advice, and, hopefully, keep the rest of the team from embarrassing themselves too badly.

And here’s another thing worth celebrating: no goofy rules cluttering up the day. No mulligans. No string. No complicated gimmicks designed to manufacture a score. Just grab your clubs, play your game, and try to shoot the lowest score you can.

What a concept! Golf the way it’s meant to be played, with a little help from a professional and a lot of camaraderie.

A View That Deserves Its Own Scorecard

The Golf Club at Newcastle is a special place. With its elevated location, the course provides breathtaking views of the Seattle skyline and Puget Sound. It’s the kind of setting where you find yourself looking down the fairway, then turning around to take in the scenery, and thinking, does a golf tournament get any better than this?

The answer, at least on this day, was no.

And Then Came the Eagle!

We finished near the top of the leaderboard, which was especially satisfying given the level of competition.  But the highlight of the day, without question, was one particular shot.

An eagle.

And, as luck would have it, the eagle was made by yours truly.

Picture this: a chip shot from the fringe off the back of the green, a cup sitting about 15 feet away, and an extreme downhill break of approximately five feet. It was the kind of shot that makes you stand over the ball wondering whether you should try to be a hero or simply avoid embarrassing yourself in front of the group.

Likely with more luck than skill, I turned into a hero.

The chip came off just right. The ball started its journey toward the hole, barely rolled off the fringe, took the dramatic downhill break, and somehow found the bottom of the cup in a slow roll.

EAGLE!

You know those moments in golf when everything comes together, and for one brief, glorious instant, you feel like you actually know what you’re doing?  This was one of those moments.

Tequila: The Official Beverage of Eagle Celebrations

As if making an eagle wasn’t enough, our esteemed golf professional decided that such an accomplishment deserved a proper celebration.

Out came the tequila shots!

A great shot, a great group, and a toast to a little golfing magic. It’s hard to argue with that.

More Than Just a Golf Tournament

What makes this event so enjoyable is that it’s about much more than golf.

It’s about bringing together the independent grocers who are the backbone of our communities and the companies that support them. It’s about friendships, business relationships, laughter, competition, and giving back to an organization like Northwest Harvest that works to address hunger in our region.

And when you add a great golf course, a local pro on every team, no unnecessary gimmicks, a few tequila shots, and an eagle thrown in for good measure, you have the recipe for a tournament people will remember.

Until Next Year…

The 2026 Northwest Grocers/Northwest Harvest Charity Pro-Am Golf Tournament was a reminder of why these events are so special. Great people, a great cause, an incredible setting, and a format that lets everyone focus on what they came to do: enjoy the game of golf and try to post a score.

Not a bad day at all.

Congratulations to everyone who helped organize the tournament, all the participating teams, the golf professionals, and Northwest Harvest. Here’s hoping next year’s event is every bit as memorable.