Robin Raco had played in the World Am for years and never won a single giveaway. So when it came time to draw random prize winners in 2020, the Albany, N.Y. resident opted for dinner with the girls as opposed to watching the proceedings live on Facebook or Instagram.
The next morning, she didn’t bother to open a text message that said something about winning a trip, but when she arrived at the golf course, it didn’t take long to realize she had hit the jackpot.
“As soon as I got to Carolina National, everyone came up and said, ‘Robin, you won the Trip of a Lifetime!,’” Raco said
Last year, in the heart of the Covid-19 pandemic, Raco won the World Am’s grand prize: the “Trip of a Lifetime,” a 6-night, 6-round vacation to play and enjoy the best Myrtle Beach has to offer.
Accompanied by three friends, Raco took her dream Myrtle Beach golf trip in early May, playing Grande Dunes, the Dye Course at Barefoot Resort, True Blue, Caledonia, King’s North and Pawleys Plantation. Great as the golf was, the highlight of the trip was the time spent with friends.
She brought Stephanie Brown, Michele Walls and Terri Walsh with her, and the decision was an easy one. Raco met all three through golf and they’d played countless rounds together, in addition to helping her get through a tumultuous divorce and surviving a bout with breast cancer.
The trip was Raco’s way of saying thank you.
“It’s amazing because I never would’ve met those women if it wasn’t for golf,” said Raco, who finished in a four-way tie for first place in her flight in 2016. “I went through my phone (when deciding who to bring) and they were in my foursome so many times over the last 10 years, it was kind of a no-brainer who was going.”
The good times weren’t limited to Raco and the three friends she brought with her. Good friends Robin Chater and Les Leavitt, former New Hampshire residents who recently relocated to Myrtle Beach, joined the fun as well, booking tee times alongside Raco and hosting the group for a Cinco De Mayo celebration.
“Just getting to come down and see friends (was the highlight),” said Raco. “We had not gotten to spend that much time together in over a year. It was great to catch up with everyone.”
A Veterans Administration nurse, Raco, who takes an annual girls trip to Myrtle Beach, is always on the go. She runs a volleyball league on Tuesday nights and a golf league on Thursdays, in addition to serving as the director of golf events and education for the LPGA Amateurs Association Capital Region Chapter.
She has a passion for the game and the bonds it can help create, and the World Am’s “Trip of a Lifetime” was a celebration of those virtues.
The next trip of a lifetime could be yours, take a look at all the prizes given away and set to be given away at the 2021 Myrtle Beach World Amateur.
