Bonfires are Lit! 🔥

The author and the Ashworths are joining forces to create the best in buddies trips.

I get a lot of social media DMs: “How can I be a part of the Uncle Tony Invitational?”

Your time is now.

As you might’ve heard and read already, my annual Uncle Tony Invitational is an event I’ve been coordinating for almost 15 years. It was started in honor of my Uncle Tony Kielhofer, who shepherded my passion for the game of golf. Uncle Tony died in 2017, but I take comfort in knowing he left this world with an understanding that the assembled group of friends and family would be continuing the tournament and traditions long after he was gone.

Having covered and chronicled the best of buddies trips for Golf Digest and Golf Channel, picking the brains and absorbing best practices of elite alpha-planners, I’ve incorporated a lot of what I’ve learned, and thus, the “UTI” features several tournaments within the tournament, daily envelopes are distributed for top scores of each round, we vary the formats, there’s live music, a dice tournament, there’s a lot of time around fire pits, we kick things off with an opening ceremony, end it all with a champion’s dinner.

“The Uncle Tony is the ultimate get together with great friends who we don’t get to see each other very often,” says John Ashworth, who hosts the Uncle Ashy, a nine-hole alternate shot tournament within the tournament. “It’s great golf at a prime location with a lot of laughs and love.” 

The Uncle Tony has always been at Bandon Dunes in Oregon, with breakaways to Pinehurst in 2018 and Sand Valley in Wisconsin in 2023. 

Meanwhile, Hank Ashworth, John’s older brother, has been coordinating golf tournaments and events for over 10 years, hosting people from all over the world at destinations such as Grizzly Ranch in Reno, Nevada, Goat Hill Park in Oceanside, Calif., Pronghorn in Bend, Oregon and Pasatiempo in Santa Cruz (pictured below). They’ve also been to Virginia and Upstate New York. Ashworth and his team of trip coordinators have established a warm vibe, great value and a loyal following. 

“The objective hasn’t changed over the years,” says Ashworth. “We wanted good players and better people to come and play in a somewhat competitive event and have a great time doing it. What has changed is that we’ve gotten better running them.”

As the Fire Pit Collective pivots away from a boutique media company, and the Ashworth brothers move on from Linksoul, the apparel brand they launched 12 years ago, we’re joining forces to create BONFIRES, a combination of what we’ve both been doing in the events space. The focus will be on access, experience, camaraderie and competition. In that order.

The access illudes to the courses we’ll play, the special guests who will join us, all of which impacts the experience. The camaraderie will always be more important than the competition, but that’s not to say it won’t be competitive. 

It’ll always consist of teams of two, formats will vary, as will the number of rounds played, entry fees and contents of the gift bags. We’re working on brand partners, musicians, special trophies for low gross and net divisions and expanding the schedule in 2025. 

We’re going to be creating content about the course and beyond, asking players for authentic feedback on not just where they play, but where they stay, eat, drink and party.

We’ll also be launching a loyalty program where members will get options for early signups, exclusive merchandise and content drops.

In 2024, we kick things off at Goat Hill Park in June. Santa Cruz in July. Grizzly Ranch in August. Pronghorn in September. We’re going to Gamble Sands in October (pictured above) and Pasatiempo in November. And we’re working on a robust schedule for 2025 and beyond, which will include some international venues.

Special guests at places like Pasatiempo will be Jim Urbina, the architect who is restoring the original Alister Mackenzie greens. And David McLay Kidd will join us at Gamble Sands to talk through the design and development of all three of his courses on property. 

By definition, a bonfire is a large and controlled burn. It’s time to phone a friend, go to bonfire2man.com and help us light up the best of golf events.