'It's important to bring families together': Why Sinnissippi mixed doubles golf is a hit
Former Boylan girls golf coach Debbie VanSistine has partnered with her husband in Sinnissippi’s Mixed Doubles Tournament more than 20 times, winning it three times.
“It’s a real family thing for us,” Debbie VanSistine said.
“The chance to play with family — that’s a blast,” said Mike VanSistine, the longtime general manager at Mauh-Nah-Tee-See Country Club.
That’s not just the VanSistine opinion. That’s the majority opinion. By a landslide. Sixteen of the 22 pairings in this year’s event on Saturday, July 28, shared the same last name. And one of the six pairs that didn’t were also related — former three-time NIC-10 champion Melissa Dofflemyer played with her brother, Danny VanSistine, because her husband always plays with his mother.
“It’s just a blast to be able to play with my sister and be able to compete in something,” Danny VanSistine said. “Golf is such an individual sport. It’s fun to do something as a team. I typically get super nervous for tournaments, but this is much more relaxed and a lot more fun. It’s not casual, but it’s almost casual.”
“You get nervous in a different way out here,” Melissa Dofflemyer said. “I am used to when I hit a bad shot, it’s all on me. I have to handle it. But if I hit a bad shot here, then he has to hit it. That makes it a little stressful at times. But mostly just fun.”
The tournament had disappeared for a few years — “It just fell off the calendar,” Debbie VanSistine said — before tournament manager Kimberly Self brought it back last year. Self said the tourney is a perfect fit for Sinnissippi, the Rockford Park District’s only nine-hole course and the course that offers the most deals for kids and beginners.
“It was important to bring it back,” Self said. “I love having the outing here at Sinnissippi. It’s important to bring families together.”
Katie Hinners and her husband, Dave, are from East Dundee. But they spend every July 4th at Rock Cut State Park, hiking and kayaking. They have also made it a habit to play in the Mixed Doubles event at Sinnissippi, as well as squeezing in rounds at Sandy Hollow and PrairieView before they go back home three or four days later. They said they have saved phone numbers of the couples they have played with so they could meet up on the golf course again.
That was never an issue with the lead group Saturday. Hui Chong Dofflemyer made a tricky 3-foot putt on the final hole to shoot a six-under-par 31 with her son Robert. The two former City champions finished one shot ahead of Robert’s wife, Melissa, and her brother Danny. Dan and Ann Beksel also tied for second with 32 and three other pairs shot 33 in a tight field.
The tourney format has both players tee off, then each hit the other’s ball on their second shot. From there, teams pick one ball and play alternate shot. It also honors a net champion, picking three holes at random to figure the handicap. Kirk and Carol Fischer won that title. “We picked the right holes to bogey,” Kirk joked.
The Dofflemyer mother and son have long been the pair to beat in this tourney, but Hui Chong just likes playing with Robert.
“It brings me memories” she said. “It’s like watching him when he was little.”
Robert said his mom was the one to watch Saturday.
“She made every putt she looked at. It was really easy for me; just put her somewhere on the green and she was going to make it.”
It was fitting that the Dofflemyers won. Tournament officials referred to their family six-some as “the Dofflemyer group," even though it was split 3-3 between Dofflemyers and VanSistines — and that includes Melissa switching sides via marriage.
“Yeah, and we were the defending champs,” Debbie VanSistine said. “We had won the last two. And one year we actually beat Hui Chong and Robert in a playoff. That was amazing. That’s how it feels to win The Masters, probably.”
Hui Chong Dofflemyer thought “The Dofflemyer Group” sounded just fine. And if the VanSistines wanted to change that, she had a suggestion.
“They’ve got to have more babies,” Hui Chong Dofflemyer said.
See. The Mixed Doubles at Sinnissippi always comes back to family.
Matt Trowbridge is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at mtrowbridge@rrstar.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @MattTrowbridge
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Sinnissippi's Mixed Doubles is fun, family golf competition
