DELAWARE — Those who golf know that a friendly wager on a hole or two can bring some extra competition to a round with friends or family.
Five bucks for the longest drive. Bragging rights for the best shot. Loser has to turn in their cart and walk the back nine. There are all kinds of ways to create a game within the game.
But the Finneran family’s special challenge on the 7th hole at Hidden Valley Golf Course means a lot more.
More than 30 years ago, Pat Finneran started the tradition of the “Ice Cream Hole” — whoever lost the designated par-three hole had to buy ice cream for everyone after the round.
Sadly, at the age of 61, Pat peacefully passed from pancreatic cancer on April 11, 2020. But his tradition lives on.
Today, a commemorative bench bearing Pat’s name sits just off the 7th green at Hidden Valley, with the rule that started it all inscribed on a plaque.
And the Finnerans still play.
“Balancing two careers and raising five children didn’t leave much free time, but whenever we got the chance, we loved to golf,” said Pat’s wife, Lisa Finneran. “To us, it was always one of our favorite family sports.”
Over the years, Hidden Valley became the family’s go-to course, and its par-three 7th hole became the permanent home of Pat’s challenge.
“The tradition started over 30 years ago, when we took our son Ryan golfing as a thank you for babysitting the younger two children,” Lisa said. “It continued as each one of the children started playing golf.”
Pat would designate a par-three hole as the Ice Cream Hole whenever the family played, Lisa said. Hidden Valley worked particularly well because if there was a tie on No. 7, the family still had the 8th and 9th holes to settle it.
Lisa and Pat’s oldest daughter, Shannon Strait, had the idea for the bench and brought it to life at the golf course through the city’s commemorative bench program.
“After Pat passed in 2020 we agreed to golf every year on his birthday, April 8th,” Lisa said. “It has been a standing joke that dad is in heaven laughing at us as we golf in rain, snow and sleet.”
The family briefly surrendered to Ohio’s unpredictable spring weather in 2026, moving the outing to June and wearing shirts that read, “Ohio: four seasons in one week.” But they’ve since decided April weather is part of the tradition, and plan to return to Pat’s birthday for future outings.
Carrying on their father’s legacy
Pat’s outlook on life — and his cancer diagnosis — comes through in a message he wrote to his family on May 16, 2019, which Lisa later shared as part of a fundraiser to fight pancreatic cancer.
“It’s 3:30 a.m., but I can’t sleep. I keep thinking about major life events that happened recently,” Pat wrote.
“I turned 60, celebrated my 25th wedding anniversary with my incredible wife Lisa, and found out I have pancreatic cancer. And I am so amazingly blessed!”
Those who knew Pat understood that this level of positivity was just how the man was.
“Whether cheering from the sidelines of sporting events, building homes with Habitat for Humanity, carrying a toddler on his shoulders, or hosting a family meal, Pat was a light around which folks wanted to gather,” the letter said.
Despite battling chemotherapy, Pat stayed active and ran in the Columbus half marathon beside 17 family members and friends. To Pat’s surprise, the group finished the race in under three hours.
Pat also got involved with the Columbus chapter of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network during his fight. To this day, the Finneran family carries on that legacy by reuniting each spring for the PurpleStride event.
Proudly donning “Finn’s Fighting for Hope” on the back of their t-shirts, the family has been a top fundraising team at the event for the past six years.
Fundraising and fighting against pancreatic cancer aside, the letter noted how Pat loved a good sunrise and sunset: “He saw magic in the natural world. Sunrises and sunsets were met with awe and wonder.”
At his place of rest, Pat has a “perpetual view of the golden hour.”
Pat Finneran is gone, but certainly not forgotten through the Ice Cream Hole, his family’s fundraising efforts, sunrises, sunsets and so much more.
Pat’s granddaughter Caydence knows that.
“Caydence recently called [her dad] over to a window, [and said], ‘Look at that sunrise, Dad. Papa would’ve loved it,” the letter said.
