Development Tour
presented by Addie and Baylor Kirchgessner Foundation
The Development Tour is a tournament series we have created to introduce youth participants to competitive golf. Those participants who are interested in golf beyond just programming classes and want to learn on-course play will benefit the most from these tournaments! We created this tour in order to foster a safe environment to learn competitive golf. This tour seamlessly integrates the game of golf with our Five Key Commitments. In 2022 we hosted nine different tournaments across Metro Louisville. We host a variety of tournament types in this tour to allow participants a stress-reduced experience. In stroke play tournaments we encourage players to bring along a caddy. We also have team scrambles with other participants or family members! It is relaxed, fun, and a great place to start your competitive experience! beginning in 2024, to create a better understanding of the Development Tour vs. PGA Junior League, the Development Tour will be strictly nine hole stroke play events. Players are allowed ONE caddy with them as they play.
For any questions please contact our Director of Golf Blake Hardesty, PGA at [email protected]!
Schedule:
| Tournament Dates: Saturday, April 20 at Quail Chase Golf Course Saturday, June 1 at Sun Valley Golf Course (tee times starting at 4:00 PM) Sunday, June 16 at Long Run Golf Course Saturday, July 20 – Junior Club Championship at Shawnee Golf Course (tee times starting at 2:00 PM) Saturday, August 24 at Charlie Vettiner Golf Course (shotgun at 5:00 PM) Saturday, September 8 – Development Tour Championship at Bobby Nichols Golf Course (tee times starting at 3:00 PM) |
Policies and Procedures
First, we ask that if your participant has to cancel, that you cancel before the deadline to sign-up ends, unless it is an emergency situation. The Development Tour tournament events have become more popular and more participants want to sign up. If you no-show to an event or cancel the day of the event, this takes a spot away from participants who want to play but could not because all of the slots were full. If you no-show or cancel day-of (not an emergency) your participant will receive a warning. If this happens twice then the participant will be suspended from playing in other Development Tour tournament events. Part of our First Tee values are to create responsible and respectful youth. Part of playing competitive golf is showing up for your tee time.
Another reminder is that once we send out the tee sheet, those tee times/pairings are confirmed and you cannot change. In competitive golf, youth must learn to play with different people you might not know, thus we want our youth to practice meeting and greeting new people. The same goes for our First Tee participants. We want them meeting new friends and getting to know different people as they play golf. In our stroke play events tee times/pairings are based off of age divisions. Players will play with other youth that are a similar age therefore playing the same tees helping pace of play. In scramble events, teams are created by our programming staff to ensure we have a mix of experienced, new, and younger players on teams that way one team cannot dominate the whole event and win. We try our best to pair everyone up so each team has a fair chance at winning. We understand many parents have multiple children and we will always pair siblings in consecutive groups, but we are trying to encourage our participants to meet and play with different youth. The only changes that are allowed after the tee sheet has been sent out must be approved by me and will be due to late cancellations/no-shows!
We will also be instilling a new pace-of-play policy. We would like our groups to play their respective nine holes in about 2 and a half hours. We will be enforcing the “Double Par Max Rule.” Once players reach a score of double par, they must pick up their ball and move on to the next hole. We will also be out monitoring pace-of-play and if a group gets out of position (too far behind the group ahead of them) they will get a warning, if they continue to be out of position they will be asked to skip a hole to get back in position and therefore will not qualify to receive an award at the end of the evening. If participants play in about 2 and a half hours, this should not be a problem!
PGA Junior League is an initiative in partnership with the PGA of America to get more youth on the course in a comfortable environment. PGA Junior League matches are played with other local youth interested in learning how to play the game of golf on the course. Players play scrambles with three other players for 9 holes. So if your youth does not have a lot of experience playing on the course, this would be the first step!
We greatly encourage youth who have not played much or at all to do PGA Junior League before the Development Tour as the format is less pressure! Why? Because the youth are playing scrambles! Scramble format is when everyone tees off and the group picks the best ball they want to play from there and repeat this process until the ball is holed. So if a player hits a bad shot, that is okay, they will pick up and play from the better ball that was hit as a group!
Since this opportunity is in partnership with the PGA of America, registration is done through pgajuniorleague.com and when you register for it, you are registered for all of the matches and practices – coaches will just reach out beforehand to see who can make the match that day and pair you into teams! Any youth ages 6-17 can participate in PGA Junior League! When players register they will get a tee gift consisting of two jerseys – one orange and one blue, a hat or visor, and other goodies! The First Tee – Louisville PGA Junior League teams are coaches by your First Tee coaches!
You can register NOW on pgajrleague.com