Recently the Sanford International PGA Tour Champions golf tournament encountered a situation that checked several boxes for the South Dakota Office of Highway Safety, one of its longtime sponsors.
First, some context:
DriveSafeSD.com is the SDOHS’s website and posts messages on the golf course during tournament week reminding spectators that driving safety must be a high priority for all of us.
Those who see the signs and click on DriveSafeSD.com will see that the website offers a wide array of resources that provide education and support to help reduce the number of injuries and fatalities resulting from roadway crashes.
The SDOHS link located on the Sanford International website offers the opportunity to participate in a survey. Survey-takers are then eligible for the SDOHS Pro-Am Giveaway.
The winner is awarded a spot, with four others they choose, in one of the four pro-am events at Minnehaha Country Club that take place on Wednesday and Thursday preceding the start of the International, which begins this year on Friday, Sept. 13.
A winning combination
Last year, Tom Weidenbach, a volunteer at several of the Sanford Internationals who was going to attend the 2023 tournament as a spectator, clicked on the tournament website to see when golfers would be teeing off.
He then clicked on the SDOHS link and took the survey.
In October of 2023, he got a call that he had won, via the luck of the draw, the SDOHS pro-am spot in the 2024 Sanford International.
Coincidentally, his motivation for taking the survey had little to do with winning a spot in the pro-am because, in his words “I never win anything.” Instead, he saw the survey as an opportunity to tell the SDOHS about the work his brother Tim Weidenbach was doing.
“I wanted them to know there was someone in South Dakota promoting the same kinds of things involving safe driving that the SDOHS is promoting,” Tom Weidenbach said. “I filled it out, answered their questions and mentioned my brother’s work.”
Specifically, he relayed to SDOHS how Tim Weidenbach had been giving presentations in the region for nearly a decade about the dangers of distracted driving.
This was serendipity in action.
“We’re working with the Sanford International to share our message and the giveaway goes to someone who has been impacted in their own life by some of the things we’re trying to counteract,” said Rob Weinmeister, director of the SDOHS. “The giveaway went to someone who is already fighting the same battle we’re fighting. In this case, we’re doing it together.”
Tragedy and a mission
Tim Weidenbach, as part of his Higher Power Sports nonprofit organization, has been telling high school students, drivers’ education classes, businesses and service clubs about the Weidenbachs’ cousin, Andrea Boeve, who was riding her bicycle with her two daughters and was killed by a distracted driver in 2014.
“If there is any good that can come from Andrea passing away, it’s that we can save lives by telling people what happened to her,” Tom Weidenbach said. “If Tim is talking to 500 people at a high school and even one person decides not to text and drive, that could save a life. It makes what he is doing worth the effort.”
The Tom Weidenbach pro-am entry will include Tim – the Weidenbachs are avid golfers – and may also include Tom’s daughter Maddie, who plays golf for Augustana University.
Photo courtesy of Tom Weidenbach
The golf background alone would be enough to consider the giveaway well-targeted. The fact that it connects the Weidenbachs’ efforts with an organization that has its own mission to promote safe driving puts it over the top.
“It has been rewarding to create new avenues to push SDOHS’s safe driving campaign,” said Davis Trosin, tournament director, Pro Links Sports. “In this case, it allowed us to get connected to people like Tom and Tim Weidenbach who are working to push the same message.”
Sometimes things work out the way they’re supposed to work out.
“It was pure coincidence that Tom won the SDOHS Pro-Am Giveaway because he filled out the Safe Driving Survey,” Trosin said. “However, in learning about why he filled out the survey to support his brother’s efforts, it has allowed us to further promote safe driving habits. It’s something our entire community can get behind.”
Tim Weidenbach’s organization also delivers presentations that promote strong character, encourage kindness and help develop teamwork in business environments. He has done more than 600 presentations on distracted driving, including more than 50 at Sioux Falls schools.
“It’s a story that shares itself,” Tim Weidenbach said. “We’re all trying to make a difference. In this case, it’s not that I’m a great presenter or anything like that; it’s the message and how prevalent distracted driving is these days. We all know somebody who has been impacted by distracted driving or have seen people who are distracted while driving.”
A vital message
At DriveSafeSD.com, the SDOHS reports that 325 South Dakotans were killed or injured in distracted driving-related crashes in 2022 and nationally, there were 3,522 fatalities that same year with distracted driving as the cause.
Clearly, it’s a concern that deserves the attention people like Tim Weidenbach and the SDOHS are giving it.
“What Tim is doing is huge, because that’s what it takes,” Weinmeister said. “It takes all of us going out every day and holding each other accountable and sharing our personal stories. Sometimes I think car crashes have become too acceptable. We just accept that it is going to happen. What we have to remember with a traffic fatality is that somebody’s loved one, somebody’s family member, somebody’s friend is being ripped out of their lives.”
The Sanford International prides itself on being much more than a golf tournament. It is, in Trosin’s words, “a community event that brings people together by fostering connections and celebrating what makes Sioux Falls and the state of South Dakota great.”
In this instance, the Sanford International provided a platform for the SDOHS to bring attention to an important and vital message about safe driving. It is one of many ways the presence of the tournament makes an impact that is felt in the region.
“When Tom and Tim Weidenbach won the giveaway, they brought the SDOHS message full circle,” Trosin said. “The SDOHS has been incredibly supportive of our event since the first year, and we are proud that they find value in using the Sanford International to broadcast how important it is to get to your destination safely.”
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Posted In Community, Golf, Sanford International, Sanford Sports
