Chaldeans and Golf
By Mikey Lossia
As we approach the end of fall, Danny Shaba, Nick Hermiz, and I reflect on another season of golf, full of intense competition, thrilling finishes, and memorable moments. This was a golf season that included winning, losing, and most importantly, creating experiences—experiences that we try to build on every year within the Chaldean community. For Chaldeans, that was not always the case.
When I was a child, my father, Richie Lossia, was one of the few within the Chaldean community that pushed golf as a family recreation. My two older sisters, my older brother, and I grew up playing competitive golf throughout our childhoods and into high school. My brother played in college for the University of Michigan.
During that time, even though golf has been a part of many cultures throughout the world, it was a foreign language for most Chaldean families. However, over the years, especially in the last ten years or so, we as a community have finally begun to embrace golf and its many longstanding traditions, traditions that our future Chaldean generations can embrace, expand on, and be proud of as a community.
Tournaments
As part of building legacies and traditions, we started three non-handicap team tournaments geared toward the top players in the Chaldean community: the Middle East Cup, the Chaldean Cup, and the East-West Cup.
The Middle East Cup is a two-day team tournament, one day at Knollwood Country Club and one day at Wabeek Country Club. Team rosters are comprised of twelve of the top golfers in the Jewish community versus twelve of the top golfers in the Chaldean community. Although Team Chaldean has been the underdog on paper all three years, we are 3-0. Our name was permanently engraved on the trophy each of those years, something we as a team take a lot of pride in, not just for ourselves, but for the entire community.
We started the Chaldean Cup three years ago and it has grown to forty-four players this year. There are two teams, Team Black and Team White. This is a three-day team tournament each September with an opening dinner after day one’s matches. Rounds are held at Shenandoah Country Club and Wabeek Country Club. The tournament is full of back-and-forth matches, ups and downs, joy and sorrow. Above all, it is a weekend full of non-stop fun. The players bond with both teammates and opponents and grow relationships with other fellow Chaldeans that otherwise would not have existed.
The third tournament, the East-West Cup, began last year. We traveled to San Diego to play some of the top Chaldean players living in California. We (Team Michigan) were victorious in year one, but one of the bigger accomplishments was expanding relationships in the Chaldean golfing community from Michigan all the way to California and building a foundation together in a cross-country tournament that will carry on as the years pass.
Next year, the plan is to add a fourth tournament and commence the first-ever Chaldean Championship to crown the best male Chaldean golfer every year. It will be open to any Chaldean golfer with an index of 12 or below. The tournament will be played over three days gross stroke play, with a cut line after day 2. The courses have yet to be determined.
Creating Traditions
We created and organized these tournaments to build on the golfing enthusiasm and momentum within our community and to create new traditions, especially for our children. Golf is a vehicle that allows traditions to grow, that live on for future generations, and a sport that our youth can aim to compete at high levels of competition. It is a sport that we as a community can achieve success at and be proud of.
As a community, we should continue to encourage our youth to strive to excel, not only for continuing and creating new traditions for our children, but also for their personal ambitions. As more Chaldeans start playing golf at younger ages, the number of great players we have in the community will grow.
The tournaments we have created reward mostly the top current Chaldean players; as we get older, it will be the next generation of younger Chaldean golfers that will take our place. For most of us, being one of the best players in the community and being part of Team Chaldean or being the Chaldean Championship winner is a great achievement, but for the younger golfing generations, I hope they grow to aspire not to just be part of Team Chaldean or the Chaldean Champion and one of the best players in our community, but one of the best in the sport amongst all cultures.
Starting tournaments like we have will only fuel the motivation and determination amongst the future generations of Chaldean golfers and I strongly believe that golf, if started young enough, is the one sport that many future Chaldeans can compete at the highest level of competition.
As a small community, Chaldean Americans have many accomplishments to be proud of, but we now have the momentum to incorporate golf as a fixture of our culture. Hopefully, we continue to embrace the sport of golf and maybe one day we will see our first Chaldean male playing in the Masters on a Sunday evening in April walking down the 18th fairway at Augusta or our first Chaldean female playing in the Women’s US Open.
Editor’s Note: The Chaldean Community Foundation hosts an annual golf outing and has been doing it for two decades. The Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce added its own outing in 2020.