Golfers in Monday’s Eden Prairie Lions Charity Golf Tournament can get some help on one hole — a drive that can travel 400 yards or more.

Joseph Kavanaugh, a World Long Drive competitor who filled the same role at last year’s tournament, is scheduled to hit tee shots for participating teams on Hole 11 at Dahlgreen Golf Club near Chaska. Kavanaugh said golfers who pay or donate at the hole can use his drive as their first shot. If they hole the next one, they can win a $5,000 golf trip.

Kavanaugh said golfers react differently after watching him hit a drive.

“Some people are like, ‘Oh, cool.’ Some people are like, you know, ‘It’s the sickest thing they ever saw,’” Kavanaugh said.

The long-drive challenge is one of several contests at the event. The Lions revived the tournament at Dahlgreen in 2022 after a 16-year absence, then held it at Bent Creek Golf Club for three years. This year’s tournament returns to Dahlgreen.

Michael Moriarity, who co-chaired the event last year and is serving his first year as tournament committee chair, said 25 teams had registered by Friday. Registration is now closed.

Moriarity said money raised supports Eden Prairie Lions Club service projects and community groups, including the PROP Food Shelf and PROP Shop.

The Lions also support the Minnesota Lions Gift of Sight Eye Bank, Minnesota Lions Hearing Foundation, The Bond Between, an animal welfare organization, and True Friends Camp Eden Wood, according to the tournament website.

Check-in and a grab-and-go lunch begin at 11:30 a.m., followed by a 1 p.m. shotgun start. A cocktail hour is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., with dinner, awards and prizes at 6 p.m.

The outing is a scramble, with each foursome playing from its best shot. Every golfer must contribute two drives.

Three sets of tees will be used. Women will play from the Platinum tees at 5,108 yards, men over 65 from the Bronze tees at 5,831 yards, and men under 65 from the G/B tees at 6,230 yards.

Moriarity said the middle tee should give older players a better chance in contests such as longest drive.

The prize list includes $800 for the first-place foursome, $600 for second place, $300 for a randomly selected foursome and $200 for the last-place team.

Holes 2 and 12 will each carry a $10,000 hole-in-one prize. Other competitions include closest-to-the-pin, longest-putt and longest-drive contests. Financial prizes are limited to eligible amateur golfers under tournament rules.

Kavanaugh said he lives in Burnsville and grew up in south Minneapolis, where he spent much of his childhood hitting buckets of balls at Hiawatha Golf Course. By age 18, he said, he was hitting drives of about 400 yards.

“My record of all time is around 500 yards at a charity event,” Kavanaugh said. “It was on a par five, and I hit the green.”

He said firm ground helped the ball roll after it landed. In World Long Drive competition, Kavanaugh said, his drives can reach about 450 yards.

Kavanaugh said he works about five charity outings each summer through Charity Golf International. He said the events can last four to six hours and may involve drives for roughly 150 people.

“By halfway through, I feel like I’m running on empty,” Kavanaugh said. If he paces himself, he added, “I can make it all the way through, hitting pretty solid shots the whole way through.”