"IF YOU LIKE GOLF"
weekly online golf column
by
Chris Dortch

May 6, 2003

The Tennessee Golf Association and Golf House Tennessee exist to serve all amateur golfers in Tennessee, but a significant faction of those golfers had been under facilitated—until now.

With the advent of the College Connection Tour—which kicks off at Bear Trace at Harrison Bay May 26-27—high school juniors and seniors, as well as college players from around the region, now have a place to hone their skills in tournament situations. Previously, only the very best high school or college players from the state were able to find competitive challenges, either by qualifying for or being invited to significant national amateur tournaments.

The College Connection will have a two-fold benefit in that it will provide competition for college players, but also serve as a showcase for high school or junior college golfers hoping to be recruited.

"Our motto here is to give an opportunity to play for everybody who needs it or wants it," said Hank Menefee, the TGA’s Director of Junior Tours. "We’ve got something for everybody here—we get kids when they’re four years old and train them at our golf camps, we give them tournaments to play up through high school, and then when they’re adults, we’ve got our TGA events. But college players didn’t really have a place to play except for the state amateur. If they weren’t good enough to qualify for the U.S. Amateur, they might have had their club championship and a couple of local events to play in, but that’s it.

"With the College Connection Tour, they’ll have what we hope will become a strong competitive atmosphere to either work on their games or attract the attention of college coaches."

This new tour, which will be played at Bear Trace courses across the state, will serve a useful purpose for players such as Ricky Honeycutt, who won last week’s Signal Mountain Invitational. Honeycutt plays for Cleveland State and is looking to sign a Division I scholarship. If he hasn’t signed after leading the Cougars to the NJCAA Championships next week, he’d have a great opportunity to keep his name in front of college coaches by competing in the College Connection Tour.

"This tour is all about a player like that," Menefee said. "Hopefully, the kids who compete in this tour can put up some scores and give themselves a better chance and an added recruiting tool.

"We’re not going for the Brandt Snedekers [the Vanderbilt player and Tennessee native who’s currently ranked among the top five college players and was recently chosen the SEC’s Player of the Year]. Brandt’s the type player who’s going to compete in the U.S. Amateur and the British Amateur. Obviously, he’d be welcome to play if he wanted to, but this tour is for college players who want some strong competition, but might not be fortunate enough to qualify or get invited to a national amateur event."

The tour is open to male and female college players, or even college-age players hoping to earn a scholarship, as well as rising high school juniors and seniors. And out-of-state players are welcome.

"If there’s a kid from California who plays for UT or Memphis and he wants to take part in our tour, he’d be welcome," Menefee said. "And if players from the surrounding region want to play, we’d be glad to have them."

Menefee, who along with TGA executive director Dick Horton came up with the idea for the tour, has done all the groundwork to make this concept a success. The Bear Trace has come aboard as essentially a title sponsor, with eight tournaments to be played at the five statewide courses.

"It’s definitely in conjunction with the Bear Trace that this tour is possible," Menefee said. "This gives us leverage as far as marketing is concerned. We sure don’t have to sell the golf courses."

Menefee has just about enlisted Callaway Golf as another sponsor.

"That would be a big lift for us," Menefee said. "I’m hoping to make this a first-class tour. We’ll make this a quality, competitive atmosphere, not just put up a starter’s tent at the first tee and that’s it."

The tour will be a relative bargain. For $100 a tournament, players will get two rounds of golf, lunch and range balls. Even counting an overnight stay in a hotel, a competitor could play the entire tour for less than it would cost for one trip to a national amateur event while getting eight times the opportunity to compete or impress a college coach.

To find out more about the tour, go to http://sites.clubessential.com/JuniorGolfTenn/ and click on the College Connection link.

May 26-27— The Bear Trace-Harrison Bay

June 9-10—The Bear Trace-Tim's Ford

June 16-17—The Bear Trace-Cumberland Mountain

June 24-25—The Bear Trace-Ross Creek Landing

July 7-8—The Bear Trace-Chickasaw

July 11-12—The Bear Trace-Cumberland Mountain

July 28-29—The Bear Trace-Tim's Ford

August 11-12—The Bear Trace-Chickasaw

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