AUBURN - It's typically too cold to celebrate Christmas on the golf course.

That's not the case for the Christmas Elf folks.

The holiday season may be months away, but for the Christmas Elf program, it's never too early to start planning.

Christmas Elf works each year to ensure that children in Cayuga County have gifts at Christmas time. On Friday, the Christmas Elf sponsored a golf tournament at Lakeview Golf and Country Club to help raise funds.

Christmas Elf holds fundraisers each year, but there are high hopes set with the golf tournament.

“We collect toys at the holiday parade,” Moore said. “We thought this would be something a little different so we figured we'd give it a try and see how it goes.”

Many supporters were eager to lend a helping hand at the tournament.

“My wife and I worked with the program last year,” said Mike McCole, a tournament organizer. “It is a really nice cause and we've been very happy to be involved. So when Carolyn told me about this I wanted to get involved again. It is very rewarding to be able to help give kids a Christmas, that's as good as it gets. So I'm glad to be able to help put this together.”

Moore and McCole also found the community to be incredibly supportive. Numerous local businesses chipped in, donating money and raffle items.

“The Christmas Elf is so well known,” McCole said. “So many people already know what it is, so when you go and say you are doing something for the Christmas Elf people know that it is a good organization. I think that has helped make the community and businesses so supportive and responsive to what we are trying to do.”

Many committee members would've liked to hit the links themselves, but running a tournament is no small task.

“Unfortunately, I'm too busy (to play),” McCole said. “I'd like to get out there. But we've approached everybody we know that has swung a club, to get them out there. There is a lot going on, running something like this, that I didn't know about going into it or I'd be out playing, too.” With numerous organizations and charities hosting golf tournaments throughout the summer, no one on the committee was sure exactly how the Christmas Elf Tournament would be received. It did come as a pleasant surprise when 18 teams of four were signed up prior to Friday's event.

“We didn't know what to expect at all,” McCole said. “We weren't sure if we were going to break even or what was going to happen. When we sat down to organize this we didn't know if we'd make $100 or $1,000 or what. But we had a pretty good feeling that we'd be all right and I think the support we've received and that number of golfers we've had sign up for this has proven us right.”

And all fears of whether the tournament would break even or turn a profit were quickly assuaged and organizers are already looking toward the future.

“We still have to tally everything up,” McCole said. “But we've probably raised a couple (thousand dollars) for the Christmas Elf. I think this is something that we could make an annual event.”