Frostbite Open lures golfers onto Presque Isle Bay

Bright orange tennis balls began flying over the snow on frozen Presque Isle Bay Sunday morning.

The fifth annual Joe Root's Frostbite Open noncompetitive golf tournament started at 9 a.m. and was expected to run until 3 p.m. off Presque Isle State Park's Vista 3 parking lot. The fundraiser, put on by the Presque Isle Partnership to raise money for park projects, was expected to draw about 160 golfers on 45 teams.

"Everything is going great," Jon DeMarco, executive director of the partnership, said. "Couldn't ask for a better day."

Mother Nature provided golfers with temperatures above zero, little wind and even a bit of sunshine as they attempted to hit orange tennis balls at holes ranging from 53 to 151 yards away.

"I just want to commend the participants for embracing the climate we live in," DeMarco said.

The novelty of golfing on a frozen bay drew some participants.

"A lot of people can't say they've done this," Gregg Wells, 34, of Waterford, said.

The option of using tennis balls, which organizers said would be easier to see in the snow, was new this year, the fifth for the event. In the second and third years, the open had to be held on the park's beaches because the bay wasn't frozen over.

The Frostbite Open was suggested by Joe Root's Grill owner Elmer Kiesel, who still supports the event, and is organized by the nonprofit partnership.

DeMarco said the group hopes to raise $10,000, with a portion of that going toward a nature play space at Beach 11 that the partnership would like to have completed by the end of summer.

This article was written by Dana Massing from Erie Times-News, Pa. and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.