By Breven Honda
The opportunity that comes with giving back goes a long way, especially when donations go to kids and underserved families during the holiday season.
As a result of the long-term legacy that brothers, Rob and Brian Wursten, have built, they are now receiving one of the most prestigious honors in Clark County.
For two decades, the Wursten brothers have led the Golf Fore Kids charity tournament, one of the most charitable golf events in Mesquite.
Their dedication has led to the Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame recognizing the tournament by choosing to induct the Wursten brothers and the Golf Fore Kids community at its upcoming ceremony on Nov. 8 at HyperX Arena inside the Luxor Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
Speaking with Brian Wursten, the Director of Golf for Mesquite Entertainment, he expressed his deep appreciation upon hearing that both he and his brother, in addition to the tournament, would be inducted.
“This is about this community,” Brian Wursten said. “The Golf Fore Kids event is what is really getting into the Hall of Fame more than Rob and I. It’s the event, and it’s because the city is so much a part of this. They are. They’re tied into it.”
“There’s so many people that work the event. The police department, the fire department, we get Virgin Valley High School involved. We get multiple golf courses that are involved and the hotel. There’s so many people who are volunteering and are part of it. This is really the community, in my mind. It’s the community being inducted into the Hall of Fame. Not so much Rob and I.”
This charity tournament takes place every December. This year, the 21st annual Golf Fore Kids tournament is slated for Dec. 11. It is a four-person scramble, and because of the high demand, four courses are used: Falcon Ridge, Palms, Palmer, and Conestoga.
“We get 560 golfers, and four golf courses donate their courses,” Brian Wursten said. “We have a hotel that donates their venue for the dinner, and the city donates the area to hold the toys until the Salvation Army can get them out. It’s such an all-encompassing city event.”
Not only is the demand high, but it comes in fast. All 560 players, or 140 teams, sign up on the morning registration opens on Oct. 1.
Even though 560 people sign up to play, there are still ways to be part of this holiday event.
People are welcome to make donations, donate prizes for their raffle, or even volunteer.
“I stopped playing in it because I wanted other people to have the opportunity,” Wursten said. “They can show up and help. We can always use people at the dinner. We can always use more gifts. We can always use raffle prizes. They can get involved in doing all of that. That would definitely help.”
All the funds raised to benefit the kids then turn into monetary or physical donations, followed by priceless memories for the kids and their parents alike.
The gifts are distributed to underprivileged children in the Virgin Valley, Moapa Valley, and Beaver Dam areas.
Over the years, Brian and Rob have seen the kids’ reactions when they open up their gifts and find a new teddy bear or a new bike.
“We’ve been able to see a lot of that,” Wursten said. “We’ve been able to see the parents as they’ve come in to pick up the toys. And it’s such a heartwarming thing. I wish that everybody got to see that part of it, too.”
After last year’s 20th charity golf tournament, Golf Fore Kids has raised more than $1 million for local kids and families.
“It means a lot because it is an incredibly large number that we—that the community has raised—to give kids Christmas on Christmas morning,” Brian Wursten said. “I know that my brother and I both have been involved in different ways, with watching Christmas that doesn’t go well for kids. It’s always heartbreaking. It’s nice to be able to help the other way so that doesn’t happen.”
It was Rob Wursten who first came up with this idea of having a holiday charity tournament near the turn of the century.
From the initial idea, the charity tournament has never been turned down.
“He had put something together similar to that down in Phoenix, but on a teeny-tiny scale compared to this,” Brian Wursten said. “So, we took it to the owners of Falcon Ridge, and they just ate it up. They loved the idea. Every golf course that we’ve introduced it to has absolutely loved the idea, and they always want to be a part of it.”
Even during 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the demand for the tournament to take place was still high.
“We said, ‘I don’t know that we should have it this year because of Covid,’ and the other golf courses were so, so big on not letting it get away that we had it,” Wursten said.
Brian and Rob Wursten and the Golf Fore Kids Community are one of four inductees, in addition to a fifth honoree receiving this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Although neither Brian nor Rob play golf to the level of some of the other inductees in this year’s or past classes, they are still honored to be part of the celebratory evening.
“I’ve been involved in the golf business since 1991, and my brother’s been in the golf business since 2004, so we’ve been in the golf business a long time,” Brian Wursten said. “But we’re really not great players or things like that. There’s so many other things that we have done. We have the huge Junior program. I’ve always been involved with the high school golf team.”
As the Golf Fore Kids community prepares for the Hall of Fame Induction and its upcoming tournament, Brian Wursten ensures that because everyone buys in—not just monetarily, but also physically and mentally—it leads to everyone having a good time while ultimately supporting someone in need.
“It’s not a job like you would with a lot of fundraising and tournaments. It’s just fun,” he said.
“It puts the word ‘fun’ in fundraiser.”
