GLENCOE — Sunshine, storytelling and a strong sense of community filled the fairways Thursday at Silver Lakes Golf Course as country music star Riley Green hosted the Buford Bonds Foundation Golf Tournament.
The event brought together more than 130 golfers across 31 teams to raise funds for the Buford Bonds Foundation, which Green established in 2023 to honor his late grandfathers, Buford Green and Lendon Bonds.
Before the tournament began, Green mingled outside the clubhouse, reconnecting with old friends and fellow golfers.
“I don’t get home as much as I’d like to, but it’s always nice to be able to catch up with everybody,” Green said.
While currently in the midst of his 2025 Damn Country Music Tour — a string of sold-out shows across North America and Europe supporting his latest album, Don’t Mind If I Do — Green said returning to his roots in Jacksonville always brings perspective.
“We started in Canada. All the shows are sold out up there, and it’s still crazy to be from Jacksonville, Alabama, and see people singing songs about Mountain Street all the way up, you know, in another country like that. It’s been great,” he said.
Thursday’s tournament marked a different kind of stage for Green — one where golf clubs replaced guitars and the focus was giving back.
“It’s great, you know. It kind of takes it back to when I was playing shows around here in Calhoun County,” Green said.
When Green was picking his guitar years ago he said that everyone was really supportive of him and that support has carried on into his career.
“And to come back home, put on a golf tournament for charity, and it’s the same thing,” he said.
The Buford Bonds Foundation supports a variety of charitable causes, including military-focused organizations like Folds of Honor and Tunnel to Towers, as well as children’s health charities like St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and ACM Lifting Lives.
“A lot of our charities that we support with the foundation are military stuff, Folds of Honor, things like that, and they were both in the armed forces, but just great role models,” Green said. “My granddaddy Lendon played golf at Stoney Brook about every day with his brothers, and I learned to play golf with him. And my granddad, Buford, was a real witty guy, and probably where I got a lot of my songwriting ability from.”
The roots of Green’s musical career run deep, with some of his earliest performances taking place at a family-built venue.
“That was my great grandparents’ house that me and my granddaddy Buford turned into a music hall,” Green said of The Golden Saw, a converted sawmill where he played early shows.
As Green looked ahead to the next leg of his tour in Missouri, he took a moment to address the crowd over a public address system before play began.
“Thank you all so much … It’s been great to take the success that I’ve been able to have on the road, and how blessed I am to be able to put it into something that’s a positive thing for everybody, much like all the years I played in every Mexican restaurant around here, always had a lot of support in this area. So thank y’all so much for coming out,” he said.
Ed Lett, director of the Buford Bonds Foundation, was instrumental in bringing the event to life.
“Well, it’s organized chaos, the first Riley Green music, Buford Bonds Foundation, golf tournament,” Lett said. “All of it goes to charity for Riley’s foundation, and his foundation will decide where to use the money on the people that need it the most in organizations.”
Lett, who previously worked in Jacksonville State University’s NIL program and served as assistant athletic director, joined the foundation last August at Green’s request.
“Riley hired me back in August. I was doing the NIL for Jacksonville State, and he thought I should be doing this for him, and so I couldn’t tell him no,” Lett said. “And before that, I was the assistant AD at JSU.”
A former JSU football player himself, Lett added, “I was a freshman in ’78 and ’82 was my last fall.”
Among the event’s supporters was current JSU head football coach Charles Kelly, who praised Green’s character and community commitment.
“Tell you what, it’s an honor to be here. He does a lot of good things for a lot of people,” Kelly said. “And Riley’s one of the most unselfish, most giving people there is. And you know, it’s good to see people give back to their community and things that help other people.”
Though Kelly wasn’t able to participate in the tournament due to the school’s spring football game later that evening, he took in the sights.
“But you know, it’s good, it’s good for all the people out here. It’s great to see this many people support this foundation.”
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