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Wallace Distribution recently held its second annual golf tournament at Patriot Hills Golf Course in Jefferson City.

“This is the second year that we’ve held our golf tournament, and it’s something that we plan to continue doing every year,” said Ed McKinney, vice-president of purchasing at Wallace Distribution. “It’s an opportunity for our customers, our vendors and our Wallace employees to come together for a fun day of golfing, and it also provides a chance to build those working relationships.”

The tournament included 27 teams made up of customers, factory and vendor representatives and Wallace Distribution employees.

Golfers completed eighteen holes along the lush Bermuda fairways and bent grass greens of the par-72 course.

“It’s a beautiful golf course in the rolling hillside of East Tennessee,” said Keith Saine, sales representative for J.P. Bernard & Associates. “The greens were in perfect condition, with the bent grass making it as good as you could ever play.”

In addition to being a beautiful course, several golfers in attendance agreed that the Patriot Hills course also provides a challenge.

“It’s a very challenging course,” Saine said. “The set-up is unique in its design, because you have six par-3 holes, six par-4 holes, and six par-5 holes. You don’t see a lot of courses designed that way, and that makes it a challenge.”

Doyle Wallace, president of Wallace Distribution, is no stranger to golf himself. He has golfed at courses all over the country, and his goals include someday playing at Augusta National and Pine Valley.

Doyle Wallace positioned himself at hole 7 of the course, so that he could greet and talk with each golfer as they passed through. Doyle also took the opportunity to tee off with each team, and he offered them the chance to use the ball from his drive shot if it was good enough to help them on the green.

“Even though we know that everyone is just here to have a good time and fellowship with one another, we still have some prizes to give away,” McKinney said. “It wouldn’t be a Wallace Distribution event without giving some prizes away.”

The first place team was awarded a prize of $500, split amongst the four golfers.

Joe Gallimore, his sons, Hunter and Grant Gallimore, and Lynn Dawson won the first place prize in the tournament with a score of par-57. The Gallimore family represented Wills Ridge Supply in Floyd, Virginia. The Gallimore family had the pleasure of golfing with Dawson, the former head of purchasing at Wallace Distribution, who retired after 40 years of employment with the company.

Joe Gallimore and his family at Wills Ridge Supply have a special business relationship with Wallace Distribution that has spanned many years and multiple family generations.

“My dad and my granddad have attended many of Wallace’s dealer markets, and I consider myself very fortunate to be able to bring my two boys with me today and enjoy our time here with this great company,” Joe said.

Joe recalled one piece of advice that he learned from his father, and it was a lesson that seemed extra important on the day of the golf tournament: “When I was a young boy, around the age my sons are today, I asked my dad if there was one thing that he would do differently to enhance and better our family’s business,” he said. “My dad’s response was that he would learn to play golf, because more deals are done on the golf course than anywhere else.”

His father’s words had proven true with the experience that Joe and his sons experienced at the Wallace Distribution golf tournament.

“The tournament was a great experience, and Wallace put on one of the best tournaments that we’ve been to,” Joe said. “Lynn Dawson was a fantastic gentleman to golf with, and he shared many great stories with us today. You can get to know someone real well within four hours of golfing together.”

Other prizes at the tournament included a $400 prize for second place, a $300 prize for the team in 10th place, and a $200 prize for the team in 20th place. Wallace Distribution also awarded $50 prizes to the longest drive, for both male and female winners. They also awarded a $50 prize for closest to the hole on the six holes with a par-3.

Founded in 1922, Wallace Distribution has been in business for over a century. A regional wholesale distributor of hardware, housewares, and building materials, Wallace Distribution has a long and successful history rooted in East Tennessee.

Later this fall, Wallace Distribution will hold its bi-annual Wallace Distribution Dealer Market at the Sevierville Convention Center / Wilderness at the Smokies. The company has provided dealer markets for 58 years, where customers and vendors can interact and conduct business face-to-face.