Laughing for a good cause? Pat Coslett’s in. Inspired by a video he saw online, the Simplicity Furniture owner recently rallied some friends, rolled up to a charity golf event, and made some noise.
The Hole Hecklers debuted Aug. 8 at the Retired Police & Firefighters Association’s scramble at Cambridge Golf Course. Armed with a harmonica, trombone, air horn, and more, the gang — with the association’s blessing — turned golfing etiquette upside down. While being pitched the idea, the association’s board of directors learned Coslett was behind the hecklers and roared with laughter. “That’s exactly the kind of reaction I want people to have,” Coslett says.
Along with Coslett, John Schroeder, Rick Walker, Chuck Knoll, Jeff Townsend, and Fred Schmalz dressed in garish clothing and deployed props to “support” golfers. An air horn disturbed the peace during a backswing. A hit into the lake was met with a tossed life preserver. A leaf-blown ball knocked off its tee was covertly replaced with a powder-filled sphere. “We had bullhorns, which we really didn’t need, because we all have loud mouths,” Coslett quips. “We threw everything but the kitchen sink at them. I’m not a golfer, but I had fun.”
Only one golfer didn’t think it was funny, Coslett says, but “I was waiting for him. I said, ‘Oh no, sir, you’re not good enough to get mad.’” Even the rebel rousers themselves didn’t make it out unscathed: Tom Harvey, retired from the Evansville Fire Department since 2018 and a friend of Coslett, emerged on the course just to heckle the hecklers.
Call Coslett if you want to “rent” the Hole Hecklers for your event, but he cautions, “‘Us’ and ‘serious’ do not get along. If they’re serious golfers, we’re not for them. If they want to have fun and put a little levity into the game, that’s what we do.”
