Golf for a Cure | Swings across Kentucky

Golfers for a Cure (from left) Mike Wright, Al Starnes,
Shawn Williamson and Mike McGill pose for a photo
during a recent round raising money for cancer research.

FORMER COACHES – Starnes and Wright - Raising Money and Awareness

A shared love for golf and a personal battle with cancer have bonded four Kentucky men in a mission that’s taken them from the western lakes to the eastern mountains, one golf course at a time.

Among the foursome are two familiar names to Crittenden County sports fans. One is Mike Wright, a retired Trigg County basketball coach who once skippered both the boys and girls programs, and has relatives in Crittenden County. The other is Al Starnes, a beloved former Crittenden County head football coach who retired in 2017 after 27 seasons. Starnes and his wife, Angela – herself a longtime track coach and athletic director at Crittenden County High School – now live on Lake Barkley in Trigg County.

Together with fellow cancer survivors Mike McGill and Shawn Williamson, Wright and Starnes have played more than 130 golf courses across 97 Kentucky counties as part of a grassroots effort called Golfing Kentucky for a Cure. The goal is to play every golf course in the state – all 239 of them – while raising $50,000 for cancer research.

The initiative was born from Wright’s desire to honor his late father, Gene Wright, who passed away in 2007 after a courageous five-year battle with stage 4 cancer. Wright said those extra years, made possible by trial treatments,  gave his father time to see his grandsons grow and play high school basketball. That final season, both grandsons started in a district championship game, the last one Gene ever witnessed.

Not long after his father’s death, Wright felt called to combine two of his strongest passions, golf and

defeating cancer. The effort started slowly, but it has grown into a yearslong journey that now includes a tight-knit team of men who’ve all been personally affected by the disease.

Starnes and his wife were both diagnosed with cancer in 2013 and battled through it together. Williamson lost his wife at age 39 to a rare cancer. She lived 10 years beyond her prognosis thanks to advanced care and research. McGill has also survived cancer, and many of his family members have faced diagnoses of their own.

“All of us have been touched by cancer,” Wright said. “So this is something we take personally.”

The concept is simple but meaningful. At each course, the group donates the full cost of their round, green fees and carts, to a dedicated account at FNB Bank in Cadiz. After playing, they support a locally owned restaurant in the area – no chains allowed – and document their visit with a group photo. Their journey was once chronicled in the Cadiz Record, and now lives online through updates and stories on their website.

Their path has brought them to some of Kentucky’s top public and resort courses, including The Club at Olde Stone in Warren County, one of the premier private courses in the state; Kenny Perry’s Country Creek Golf Course in Simpson County, developed by the PGA pro himself; the Pearl Club at The Summit in Daviess County, known for its championship layout; Lincoln Trail Golf Course in Hardin County and Juniper Hill in Franklin County, both favorites among everyday players and state tournament competitors.

Closer to home, the group has already teed it up in several counties with strong local ties. In Crittenden County, they played at Marion Country Club. In Trigg County, their home turf, they’ve played both Arrowhead Golf Club and Lake Barkley State Resort Park’s Boots Randolph course. They’ve also played in Livingston County at both Deer Lakes and Drake Creek golf courses, and in Webster County at Providence Municipal Golf Course. Their travels have included Union County’s Elkwood and Breckinridge courses and Lyon County’s scenic Mineral Mounds at Lake Barkley.

All told, 15 of Kentucky’s 120 counties do not currently have an operating golf course, but the group has still managed to check off some of those using past venues – like Carlisle County’s now-closed Dogwood Hills – or by planning alternate community visits.

Wright said early on, some doubted the feasibility of their goal.

“Someone told me, ‘Coach, you can’t play every course in the state,’” he recalled. “I said, ‘Well, I can’t do it next week, but I can over a period of years.’ And so the journey began.”

The group’s dedication has raised more than $16,000 so far, with each donation deposited into the Golfing for a Cure fund. When the final hole is played, all money raised will go to Trigg County Relay for Life to support cancer research.

To contribute, checks can be made to Golfing for a Cure and mailed to FNB Bank in Cadiz. Updates and course stories can be found online at their project website.

“We’re not just swinging clubs,” Starnes said. “We’re swinging back against cancer, one round at a time.”