Cragun's Legacy Courses will be one of 256 sites across the United States to host the Drive, Chip and Putt qualifier June 30 at the Par 3 Course and driving range.
Deacon's Lodge hosted the event last year with solid participation numbers. This will be the second year the area has hosted a qualifier, which has PGA golf professional Chris Foley excited for the turnout.
"It's co-sponsored by Masters Tournament, the PGA of America and the United States Golf Association and this was the third year of it," Foley said. "The finals are at Augusta National the Sunday before the Masters Tournament. It's quite a cool deal. All kinds of players show up and I think they use the ninth and the 18th green and then the driving range. To get to go experience that at Augusta National is exciting."
The local qualifier consists of three drives, three chips and three putts with the average distance and accuracy calculated to determine the winner.
A boy and girl winner from the four age groups-7-9, 10-11, 12-13 and 14-15-advance to a regional in Fargo. The state championship will be at Hazeltine National, which will land right before this year's Ryder Cup in September. The winners at Hazeltine will advance to Augusta National.
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"The kids that did it last year loved it," said Foley. "You don't have a lot of shots so you're either on your game or you're not."
The Drive, Chip and Putt Championship is a free nationwide junior golf development competition aimed at growing the game by focusing on three fundamental skills. Participants who advance through local, regional and state qualifying in each age/gender category earn a place in the National Finals, which is conducted at Augusta National Golf Club the Sunday before the Masters Tournament and is broadcast live by Golf Channel. For more information about the Drive, Chip and Putt Championship visit www.DriveChipandPutt.com .
For actual golf competition, the Lakes Cup is back for its eighth year. Originally started as a team event, the Lakes Cup has become an individual series of events, which begins with a 3:30 p.m. shotgun start Sunday at Deacon's Lodge. The three remaining events will be 3:30 p.m. July 10 at The Classic at Madden's, 2 p.m. July 24 at The Preserve at Grand View Lodge in Pequot Lakes and 3:30 p.m. July 31 at Cragun's Legacy Courses.
"This is to create some nice playing opportunities for the lakes area residents and those that summer in the area," Foley said. "They'll get to play some golf on the area's best golf courses where most probably don't have access to.
"It's individual scoring and we break the players into age groups. Participants can play in as many events as they wish. The three best scores out of a possible four events are used to determine the season champions."
For more information or to register, visit chrisfoleygolf.com and click on junior golf on the top of the page.
Looking for golf instruction? well, that's where Foley's focus has always been. This year is no different with FUNdamentals for players aged 4-6 to introduce them to the game of golf. The developmental 1 group is for ages 6-10, development 2 is for ages 10-14 and the future stars/pre-elite category is for players preparing for high school golf.
"The program that I'm probably most excited about is our girls golf excellence program," said Foley. "It's one day of instruction and two days of playing per week. It's really focused on scoring, so we'll primarily concentrate on short game and the playing aspect of it. This gets them out playing in an organized way where we're really focused on scoring and improving their score.
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"Contrary to what you hear on the state and national level, girls golf is very healthy here. There are pockets of really healthy golf all around Minnesota. Golf in Minnesota is on the upswing in general. The reason for that is we have people across the area who are really committed to growing the game and we also have access to it. Those are the two things that are key to keeping the game growing."
JEREMY MILLSOP may be reached at 855-5856 or jeremy.millsop@brainerddispatch.com . Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jeremymillsop .
