Registration is open for the second annual Helen’s Haven 5K and 10K, benefiting the Fraser Counseling Center.

The course runs in and around the Fraser Center and the YMCA of Coastal Georgia’s Hinesville location. The 10K will be a second loop of the 5K course. Race starts at 8:15 a.m. Nov. 14.

Registration is $25 through Saturday, then $30 through Nov. 12. Race-day registration is $35 and goes from 7-8 a.m. at the Fraser Center, 203 Mary Lou Drive, Hinesville. Register at bit.ly/1R4sX70.

Free day of play available

Jim Mancill, general manager and director of golf at Sapelo Hammock Golf Club, said there is no trick about the Sapelo Hammock Golf Club’s Customer Appreciation Day scheduled for the Monday after Halloween — only a rare treat for coastal Georgia golfers.

Mancill announced that the course will offer free golf all day on Monday, Nov. 2. The special requires no purchase, is not linked to any other promotion and is open to all golfers.

There will be free soft drinks on the course and in the club’s grill room throughout the promotion.
“We see this as an opportunity to present our facility, but mostly, we just want to show our appreciation to golfers in the coastal Georgia area,”

Mancill said. “We want to reach people who haven’t seen the course in a while and people who play here regularly. Anybody who wants to play for free that day is welcome.”
Golfers will be required to make reservations, and play will be limited to foursomes only.

According to Mancill, the Halloween promotion is a way for Sapelo Hammock to reintroduce itself to the local golf community.

The course reopened in summer 2011 and does a business of roughly 20,000 rounds per year.
It is difficult to estimate what percentage of that play has been local and how much has been a result of being so close to Savannah, Brunswick and Interstate 95. So, Mancill said, the Nov. 2 special is designed as an opportunity for all area golfers to see the course.

“From a name-recognition standpoint, I think everyone knows of Sapelo Hammock,” he said. “And I’d say 60-75 percent of the golfing public has played the course at one time. We just want everybody to be able to see the improvements that have been made over the years and how good the course has become.

“This is totally based on appreciation.”

And it will likely be appreciated by golfers, because it is generally agreed in the game that the only thing better than golf is free golf.

For reservations, call the Sapelo Hammock pro shop at 912-832-4653.