It’s Official!
The McLennan Ross Junior Golf Tour in Alberta is now legal on both sides of the border.
The tour has provided Alberta junior golfers with an opportunity to play in organized tournaments around the province and this year marks the 21st year of tournament play.
“Twenty-one years. I can legally vote for Donald Trump,” joked Dunc Mills who has been the executive director of the tour since day one.
He says the secret to the longevity of the tour is simply the great opportunity these young boys and girls have to play competitive golf at solid venues around Alberta. Some good timing helped as well.
“Our first five to seven years was really the peak of junior golf participation in Alberta,’ said Mills, pointing to the boom golf saw in the 90’s with Tiger Woods making such an impact on both sides of the border.
He says the numbers have dropped off the last few years but the sport appears to be on the rebound as those juniors back in the 90’s now have kids of their own playing the game.
“There’s a big resurgence in junior girls in Alberta. There are a lot of clubs that are really promoting golf. Alberta Golf has the new program” She Swings, She Scores” that’s exposing junior golf and golf in general to young girls and they’re really targeting that demographic through hockey and ringette,” he said. “I’m very hopeful for the future of junior golf in Alberta. I don’t think it’s going anywhere.”
Support from the golf courses has been a key factor in the tour reaching past two decades. Charter members like Innisfail, Lacombe, Ponoka , Nanton are still part of the rotation. The Wolf Creek Golf Resort continues to be the host of the tour championship in late August.
“We get 130 to 140 kids coming out here and it’s a big deal to them,” said Ryan Vold, Director of Golf at The Wolf. “They come out here and they’re excited. They get to play in the final and this event has become very strategic for them. A lot of kids have gone on to college from here and some have turned pro.”
Vold calls this a grass roots type of program which is why he decided to get on board the tour 21 years ago.
“I want to see the golf pros in the smaller clubs bringing up their junior program,grow their junior program and then get them to a certain level where they can play tournaments,” He said. “Not all of them are going to be tournament golfers but give them something to compete in and then a goal at the end and that growth is going to continue.”
The tour has become a part of the overall junior program within the structure of Alberta Golf and Mills says he gets plenty of help from rules officials with Alberta Golf during these events. He adds it’s a great training ground for those officials as there is no shortage of rules questions during a McLennan Ross event.
“ These kids are learning what might seem like simple things like taking drops from water hazards, cart paths and how to proceed with a lost ball and stuff that more experienced players just take for granted. These kids have got to learn that at some point and I have endless patience with helping these kids learn the game and learn the rules.”
Thirteen year old Nicholas Mah from the Glendale club says he met some new people on the tour while at the same time finding out the rules of the game are a bit different when playing competitive golf.
“Hitting out of bounds, we have to hit off the tee again because when I played before my dad would say oh, just go drop one here,” he said. “Putting with the flag stick in is a stroke penalty. I used to putt with the flag stick in all the time when I was little.”
The tour has seen some very talented players graduate onto bigger and better things like Dustin Risdon, Danny Sahl , Ryan Yip and James Love to name a few who have gone on to play the game professionally. In fact, there were four professional wins last year by former tour players.
Mills says there’s a new generation coming out now like Jennifer Ha, who won the tour championship six years ago. She is just finishing up her schooling at Kent State, turned pro and has two wins under her belt on a tour in Florida.
Mills says some of those in this current crop of juniors may follow in their footsteps but he doesn’t view the tour as a place where juniors are groomed for professional golf tours.
“I’d like to think that we want this tour to be a platform for these kids to learn life skills like honesty and integrity and dedication and learning how to meet new kids and play different golf courses and getting along with people.”
Sam Hamelin, who plays out of Pheasantback near Stettler, says he and a buddy joined the tour after seeing a poster. Last year, his third on the tour, he won two events and could easily get the “Most Miles Travelled’ Award. He was in ten events in 2015 and with each course about 100 kilometres there and back, well you can do the math. He’s quick to add he doesn’t regret it for a minute as he feels he’s grown as a person and a player.
“Just to play with pressure and nerves. To play with a bunch of new people and very competitive people,” he said.
The tour kicks off May 28 with a tournament at Drayton Valley with the tour championship August 29th at Wolf Creek Golf Resort.
