The 2017 version of the McLennan Ross Junior Golf Tour lineup will see some familiar faces as always and some old friends back in the loop. The charter courses, Innisfail, Ponoka, Lacombe and Nanton are back along with Wolf Creek, host of the tour championship.
One course back in the fold is Blackhawk Golf Club in Spruce Grove.
“This is the fifth time we’ve been there,” said tour director Dunc Mills. “We were there, not in 2016 but we had an event in 2015 and I think prior to that maybe 2010. Al (Prokop) is a big supporter of junior golf and he gave us a date.”
Trestle Creek Golf resort west of Edmonton got on the tour when it was just a nine-hole layout and is still part of the rotation, growing to 18 holes two years ago.
Mills says the payback for these courses is being able to contribute to junior golf simply by being good corporate citizens. A player might be charged $60 to enter a tour event with a part of that going to the food laid out for the players and the rest being ploughed back into prizes.
“It’s not a money maker for these courses like a corporate event. They’re not taking money that goes to the bottom line for green fees. They give up the courses for the betterment of junior golf and to provide a platform for these kids to get out and play.”
Mills says the reputation of the tour, which has entered its second decade, might also be part of the reason courses are willing to be a part of the road travelled by these young men and women.
Mills says last year should be viewed as a success saying the quality of play has risen as has the number of junior girls teeing it up for events.
The tour can also be a path for players to move into that next level as Mills says he might see a young girl who stands out but maybe isn’t on the radar of Alberta Golf for some reason.
“It’s a way for these kids to get their name noticed at a young age and I feed this information into the Alberta Golf office in Calgary.”
Tour grads like Ryan Yip, James Love and Riley Fleming have moved onto bigger things and most recently Jennifer Ha of Calgary was the first McLennan Ross graduate to gain full playing status on the LPGA Tour.
Now not every player on the tour is going to end up like those examples but if they don’t have something like the tour to play on the chances of any of them moving up the golf ladder decrease.
“I don’t think it’s a dying game,” said Mills, adding the numbers have leveled off at this point. “I think we’re going to see in the next five to ten years we’re going to have resurgence in the number of junior golfers. I strongly believe that.”
There is a good chance the McLennan Ross Junior Golf Tour will still be around for that next generation of players to get out and learn the game.
For more information check out the tour at http://www.mrossjrtour.com/about-us
