Rotary hears of Junior Golf and YHC Golf

L to R: Kyle Mack, Morgan Bentley, Michelle Hudler, and Brett Beazley.

The Rotary Club of Union County had the pleasure of getting an update on junior and college golf in the area. Brett Beazley, General Manager of The Ridges Resort and Club, and Kyle Mack, Head Golf Professional at The Ridges spoke to the club this past Thursday. Both gentlemen serve on the Board of Directors of the Tri-County Junior Golf Association (TCJGA), Brett as co-founder and vice president, and Kyle as tournament director. The gentlemen also serve as coaches of the Young Harris College Golf team.

The Tri-County Junior Golf Association is designed to teach the value of sportsmanship, honesty, self-discipline, integrity and competitive spirit through the game of golf. The association had 84 junior players last year participating in 7 golf tournaments on The Ridges Junior Golf Tour. Each year the number of players has grown and is reaching near capacity. The limitation is the number of players that can compete on a given afternoon, playing after school. They thanked the local area golf courses of Butternut Creek, Brasstown Valley Resort, The Ridges, Chatuge Shores, and Cherokee Hills for providing their facilities for the youngsters who come from the surrounding seven counties to compete. At the end of the tour, a banquet was held in honor of the junior players where each boy and girl received a trophy, a pull over jacket, golf balls and numerous door prizes. This year over 230 people attended the banquet which was a standing room only event. Two Union County junior golfers took honors this year: Corbin Carter took The Ridges Junior Golf Tour Champion for the 13-14 boys division and Morgan Bentley took The Ridges Junior Golf Tour Champion for the 13-15 girls division and the TCJGA Grand Champion for the same age group.

The Young Harris College Golf Team is beginning their season with one of their best female golfers, Ashley Panter. Ashley is from Blue Ridge, GA and also played on the Tri- County Junior Golf Association for several years where she was TCJGA Player of the Year for the 15-17 girls division in 2005. Both the men's and women's teams will be competitive this year and Brett and Kyle invited everyone to come out to watch them play at YHC's home course, The Ridges in Hayesville, NC.

Michelle Hudler, President of the Rotary Club of Union County, presented a sponsorship check to Brett Beazley in support of the TCJGA. Also in attendance at the meeting was Morgan Bentley who introduced the speakers.