Tournament Information

JOIN US AND GOLF FOR A CAUSE!

With many lives affected and lost due to cancer, our mission to help find a cure for cancer is not over. The University of Hawaii Cancer Center conducts research to not only find a cure, but to help improve treatment specific to the many different ethnicities of the people in our state. With the continued generosity of our customers and vendors, we have been able to contribute to this great cause in previous years. Please join us again and support a worthy cause!

Thanks to the support of our vendors, customers, donors and volunteers, our tournament has become one of the most popular tournaments in Hawaii. Golfers are able to enjoy a great round of golf while sponsors increase their business with exposure to more than 150+ HVAC industry professionals. All participants are treated to a complimentary lunch and a buffet dinner, souvenirs, prizes, and on-course food, adult beverages, cigars and surprises!

HOAKALEI COUNTRY CLUB – www.hoakaleicountryclub.com

FEATURING A BRAND NEW CLUBHOUSE…

This year’s treat is Hoakalei Country Club’s brand new clubhouse for us to enjoy. The new clubhouse features a large parking lot, grand front entrance, locker rooms, a brand new restaurant, pool, and poolside bar and dining. The clubhouse was recently unveiled in April 2019.

HISTORY OF THE COOLINGCANCER GOLF TOURNAMENT

The Cooling Cancer Golf Tournament, now in its eighth year was conceived by Drew Santos, Corey Correa and a few other Hawaii golfers who had just attended a terrible golf tournament in Honolulu. After paying a good amount of money to participate in the tournament, the guys were not happy with the experience and decided to sit down and write up a list of things that would make a tournament great. Beer came to mind as did Whisky. Cigars were mentioned as were beautiful woman. The list started to go on and on and the ideas kept flowing. Problem was that none of the people dreaming this great tournament up knew anything about planning, selling or conducting a successful golf tournament. So with absolutely no experience, budget, course or cause they decided to begin planning a fantasy tournament in their minds usually after a round of golf and a few beverages. At one moment someone in the group made a commitment to “go for it” and the wheels were put in motion to do a golf tournament. At this time Cooling Cancer was not even in their minds and it did not exist. The tournament would be played just for fun and the guys had no idea or thoughts about profits or a cause. They just wanted to throw a great tournament with friends and have the time of their lives. Since they were dreaming big they decided to pick one of Hawaii’s most exclusive and private country clubs to hold their event. Hoakalei Country Club was approached and thanks to a great General Manager and Kellan Anderson the Head Pro at the time, arrangements were made to hold the first tournament in 2012.

The first tournament was a big success due to an incredible beverage sponsor, Miller/Coors, Cohiba Cigars, and small companies who donated food, products and their time. Having 15 Caddy Cuties, cigars and a variety of beverage holes made the tournament memorable and to the amazement of the group a small profit was made. A decision was made to do the tournament the next year.

The next year Drew’s father passed away. The cause of his death was cancer. At the same time, another employee of Admor HVAC had a mom die of cancer and another one was diagnosed with cancer around the brain and heart. To make things worse, Charlie Young from Admor HVAC was struggling with his wife battling cancer and ultimately having a double mastectomy. She was under forty at the time. After Drew visited his dad for the last time he came home to find a stack of mail waiting. In the mail was a large brown envelope from the University of Hawaii Cancer Center. Drew read the brochure from cover to cover and was amazed that a world-class cancer center was right here in Honolulu.

That was it. Drew decided to give the profits from the first tournament and all future tournaments to the University of Hawaii Cancer Center. The rest is history as the Cooling Cancer Golf Tournament has sold out months in advance year after year. To date the tournaments have contributed $275,000 to cancer research.