Jay-Lynn-O Tours: Fun, Fellowship, & Philanthropy
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By Darrell Dodge
Time flies when you’re having fun. Time flies even faster when you’re having fun for a good cause. That could be the motto for Mount Ayr’s Jay-Lynn-O Tours as they celebrate the 30th anniversary of their charitable relationship with Camp Courageous in Monticello, which provides year-round recreation, respite, and travel opportunities for individuals with disabilities and their families.
The genesis of that relationship, however, goes back to 1981. That year the Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Stores of Iowa (today known as FUELIowa) took Camp Courageous under its wing and began to support a fledgling charity in Northeast Iowa. Lynn Rinehart and his Lynn’s Sinclair were there was a part of that group.
The original idea for the Jay-Lynn-O Tours came much later in 1994 when Rinehart read an article describing a golf tournament at the Lake of the Ozarks to benefit the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Due to conflicts, Rinehart and his friends were unable to attend that tournament, but the idea of playing golf for charity continued to intrigue Rinehart.
While playing golf on a Wednesday afternoon at the Mount Ayr Golf and Country Club, Rinehart approached his friend Jay Watson with the idea of forming their own charity golf event. He even had the perfect name – Jay (Watson) – Lynn (Rinehart) – O (for name recognition with the popular comedian and former Tonight Show host, Jay Leno).
It wasn’t long before Rinehart and Watson had recruited Steve Roe, Randy McDonnell and eight more of their local golfing buddies… and the first Jay-Lynn-O Tour was born at the Lake of the Ozarks in 1995.
While fun and fellowship have always been hallmarks of each subsequent golf outing, philanthropy has remained at the heart of Jay-Lynn-O Tours from the very beginning.
Therefore, a budding relationship between the golfers and Camp Courageous was a natural fit.
When Jay-Lynn-O started supporting Camp Courageous, the Camp served about 3,000 campers. Today, it has grown to 10,000 campers. Back then the camp had five buildings on 40-acres. Today, there are 35 buildings on 400 acres!
Over their 30 years, Jay-Lynn-O has raised over $60,000 and inspired many others to give, helping match those families who could use Camp Courageous’ services.
“It has been a wonderful relationship over the past 30 years,” said Camp Courageous CEO Charlie Becker, “and it was a thrill when the group visited Camp Courageous for their 25-year reunion. The group, particularly Lynn, was able to see first-hand the tremendous growth of the Camp and how many lives it was touching today. This is one of those groups of individuals who wear their hearts on their sleeves…they truly care…. Many were brought to tears, seeing firsthand the huge difference they had made at Camp and how grateful the Camp was to them.”
Later this spring a plaque acknowledging the contributions of Jay-Lynn-O Tours will be installed at the new mini golf course at the camp.
“Camp Courageous is truly humbled that a group so talented and gifted would be so kind and generous to the Camp Courageous campers that do not have those same opportunities,” said Becker.
The generosity of Jay-Lynn-O Tours doesn’t stop with Camp Courageous.
Last May the group made a contribution to and attended the Havana, Illinois, Songwriters Festival.
“The festival features some of the finest songwriters from the Midwest or a weekend of intimate performances and an unmatched listener experience,” said Rinehart. “It was a great opportunity to meet the performers and mingle with other attendees.”
Legendary tour exploits
Since that first Ozark trip, the Jay-Lynn-O tour has grown in size as well as in scope.
In 1997 the tour set a goal to play a round of golf in four different states in one day. The goal was met with rounds in Sidney, IA, Tarkio, MO, Hiawatha, KS and Syracuse, NE.
The following year the goal increased to five states in one day. With careful planning, the tour managed to get rounds in at Piggot, AR, Kennett, MO, Troy, TN, Hickman, KY and Mounds, IL.
After having planned two multi-state excursions, Rinehart and Watson were ready to seek a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. If they could accomplish four and five states in one day, why not six? And six they did… on June 17, 1999, the tour began their day with a round of golf in Bellevue, NE, followed by a quick round in Carter Lake, IA. Around 9:30 a.m. they hopped aboard a chartered flight to Joplin, MO. From there they played rounds of golf at Baxter, KS, Grove, OK and Noel, MO before completing their sixth round in Bella Vista, AR.
Having accomplished the feat as planned, the tour officially lobbied Guinness for inclusion in their world-famous list of records. Unfortunately, the Guinness folks declined to add their accomplishment to the records because, in the words of a Guinness representative, “there was an unacceptable risk of fatigue-related accidents occurring … future participants might be tempted to commit traffic or speed violations in order to break the existing record.”
With an “unofficial” world record under their belts, what was next for Jay-Lynn-O?
A major highlight was traveling to Springfield, MO in 2000 to honor the memory of Payne Stewart, U.S. Open champion and long-time hero of Rinehart. Stewart had died in a plane crash in South Dakota earlier that year.
Stewart was a flamboyant, fun-loving golfer who was known for his playing attire of knickers and checkered socks. True to form, the Jay-Lynn-O golfers in this excursion all turned out to play in knickers and checkered socks at a number of Springfield courses, including Hickory Hills, Stewart’s home course.
While in Springfield the group was honored to share a prayer breakfast with Stewart’s mother and two sisters. The group later attended the dedication of the Payne Stewart memorial in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. The tour had made a donation to the memorial.
Another wild Jay-Lynn-O stunt came in 2001 with the “Multi Modes of Transportation” event. This time the golfers were transported from one course to another via boat, bike, bus, plane, van, horse, motorcycle and train.
Through the years the exploits of the Jay-Lynn-O Tours have been featured in local, regional and national newspapers and magazines, including “Golf Journal” and “Golfin’ Magazine,” and a couple of national columnists have accompanied the group on some of their more spectacular trips.
Now heading into its fourth decade, what’s in store for Jay-Lynn-O Tours? Rinehart once said he’s thought about a multi-province challenge in Canada or maybe even a multi-nation outing including England and Scotland, the country where golf originated.
Regardless of the destination or the number of golfers or the planned (and unplanned) high-jinx, however, the Jay-Lynn-O tradition will endure as long as there are golfers with a love for fun, fellowship and philanthropy.
