DORAL, Fla. – Tiger Woods has spent a lot of time at Doral Country Club paradise stalking and ripping his prey on the meticulously manicured greens here every year. But for the better part of two decades, Black Enterprise magazine has ruled this pristine venue with its annual Pepsi Golf & Tennis Challenge, which serves as a bastion of fun, relaxation and networking.
Ronald Fleming, a former Detroit Police Department commander and bodyguard for Michael Jackson, says the Black Enterprise Golf & Tennis Challenge is his favorite high-priced playground getaway besides Rio De Janiero in Brazil.
“What I like about it is the networking. You can sit at a bar, and just like you and I right now, you can have a drink and the people are just so sophisticated, but they are nice and cordial,” said Fleming, who owns his own executive protection service and now serves as a bodyguard for another Detroit legend, Aretha Franklin.
The 18th Black Enterprise Golf & Tennis Challenge enables individuals to participate in a myriad of activities, including tennis and golf contests, relax at a spa, speed dating, engage in an elevator-pitch contest to win seed money for your business, imbibe on five-star exotic cuisine, and immerse yourself in a concert every evening during the Labor Day weekend retreat, including the likes of Ne-Yo, Wyclef Jean, Ledisi and Mint Condition.
“I think that this event has helped in terms of facilitating a venue and an opportunity for people to learn about golf, to learn about tennis, to network so that we can strengthen ourselves in a business sense,” says BE vice president Derek Dingle.
Some just love the positive vibes that waft off this South Florida vacation resort.
“Just the networking. Just to see how many positive black people that are here. Just so positive,” says Sharton Whartley, a London native who has settled in Ann Arbor, Mich. “Just the amenities. They have organized this so well. No one should have complaints about this. Nobody.”
And, if anything, the BE Golf & Tennis Challenge perennially is the premiere bastion of relaxation for many of the nation’s African American business and government elite.
“At lunch, sitting on my right was a physicist. The woman to my left was a government attorney who does business all over the world. And the man across from me was a businessman from Washington state,” added Fleming. “It’s just the best bargain in town. If you are a single man this is the place you want to be. If you are a single woman, this is the place you want to be. If you are married, this is the place you want to be. Even if you don’t play golf and don’t play tennis, this retreat is still wonderful.” Click here for conference photo’s.
–terry shropshire
