Here are the junior events, tournaments that will get you noticed
Staff Report
In the past 10 years, the number of junior golf events in the United States has doubled each year. Junior golfers at any age now have many opportunities to play competitively. The American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) has been the leader and most competitive junior golf tournament series for the past 20 years. With alumni like Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Grace Park, and Jenna Daniels, it's easy to see why the AJGA is known for producing strong players.
A recent survey showed that 98 percent of AJGA players went on to college and nearly 75 percent of the players received some type of athletic scholarship. It's clear that the best juniors in the country are playing in AJGA events. If you play at that level, college coaches will come find you. The main thing to remember is that not all college players played in the AJGA and there are a lot of other tournaments that will get you noticed.
For new junior golfers, the place to start is at the local level. Hopefully, your local golf course has a junior golf program where kids can get some basic instruction and competition. There are also many golf camps and schools where juniors can go and get instruction as well as some competition with other junior golfers from all over the country.
Once the junior golfer has received some instruction and is ready to start playing some tournaments, look locally for some events. A good place to start is your city or county. There are more and more junior golf tournament associations popping up all over the country. Hopefully there is one within driving distance (car, not golf ball-though if your kid does hit the ball that far, run don't walk to the next event).
After having some success at the local level, it's time for the junior to move on to the regional and state level. Each state has a state golf association. These associations run junior events. Another good regional tournament association is the PGA of America's section offices. Each section of the PGA runs a strong tournament program. If a junior is fortunate enough to have some success at the regional level, the next step is some national events.
Here is a list of regional and national golf associations that college coaches consider strong tournaments:
Regional
PGA of America Sections (pga.com)
State Golf Associations
Regional Golf Associations' Junior Championships
City Championships
High School Tournaments & State Championships
Local Country Club Inter Club Matches
National
United States Golf Association (usga.org)
American Junior Golf Association (www.ajga.org)
Future Collegians World Tour (fcwtgolf.com)
International Junior Golf Tour (ijgt.com)
Nike Winternational Junior Series of Golf (nikejuniorgolf.com)
PGA Junior Series (pga.com)
Plantations Junior Golf Tour (pjgt.com)
Power-bilt Junior Tour (juniorgolf.org)
Southeastern Junior Golf Tour (sjgt.com)
"The Junior Tour" (thejuniortour.com)
There is also a good Web site that lists many of the local and regional junior events in each state: juniorgolfscoreboard.com.
The following guide is simply to help parents and juniors determine what level of play each player is ready for:
Level 1 - Local Level Tournaments
Tournament 18 Hole Scoring Average Local Golf Course & CCs
Boys - 110 & below City and County Associations
Girls - 125 & below
Level 2 - State and Regional Tournaments
Tournament 18 Hole Scoring Average State Golf Associations
Boys - 89 & below PGA Sections
Girls - 95 &below High School Championships
Level 3 - National Events Tournaments
Tournament 18 Hole Scoring Average USGA Junior Events
Boys - 78 & below National Events such as AJGA
Girls - 84 & below
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Al Defisser wrote on: Sep 20, 2011
This article and the first response omits that players and families can find events that are affordable and local. We are from North Carolina and find that some tournaments are too expensive. The North Carolina Junior Golf Foundation, North Carolina Junior Tour and the State Golf Association provide great events at the lowest entry fees. Their fields are large and strong. The rankings of local events don't appear to vary too much. The "strength of filed for all local NC events are all about the same on junior golf scoreboard.
I agree the AJGA events and some other events of prominence are the best route PGA Junior Championship, US Junior, State Junior Championships, etc. However the IJGT and FCWT do not have the strongest fields, just the highest entry fees. Others such as the Tarheel Golf Foundation try to copy them and have higher entry fees as well. Play local events that attract decent fields and are lowest prices, then use your money to pay entry fees for the AJGA events. Also don't pay up in local events for AJGA exemptions, since it takes 3-4 "exemptions" to get into one AJGA event. you can enter AJGA qualifiers for $100, again save your money. In North Carolina that means play in NC Junior Golf Foundation, NC Junior Tour and TYGA events, in Florida that means South Florida PGA or Florida Junior Tour.
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Patrick Binvenue wrote on: Nov 11, 2009
To me the guidelines stated here are too broad. If you want to play college golf, you need to compete against the better players and play in fields that attract better players.
We drive 5 hours to have my step son play in events in NC on the Tarheel Junior Golf Tour because the state of NC is one of the higher ranked for competitive junior golf ( top 5) and the players this tour gets include some top 50 players in the nation. College coaches attend these events to see the 4-5 top players and other kids get exposure as a result. For school year events it is a great value, much less than AJGA, FCWT or IJGA and the competition and courses are really good.
THE AJGA events are mostly summer events and the reason they are so popular is that good competition is part of what they offer, so college coaches seek out competitive events with better players. That is exactly what the Tarheel Golf Foundation offers us when we play Duke University Golf Club or another really good course in NC. Some events have players from 9-10 different states.
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G Risborn wrote on: Nov 13, 2011
My grandson is from Maryland and plays on the Elite Junior Tour, a local tour that has teamed up with this Tarheel Tour group in North Carolina. Out initial experience is one of disappointment. We have had one event go from an "elite invitational" at a private club in Pinehurst to an open event playing a public municipal style course a couple of towns away. The Tarheel Tour has terrible communications and has lied about the reasons for moving the event. The golf course management at the private club, made it clear to me that the TJGT overbooked from their original field, and then did it again after gaining concessions from the golf course. I can only assume that the rates at the public muni-style course are much lower. It is terrible but when a group lies to the parents and takes advantage of the kids to make a few bucks you have to wonder what else is not kisher.
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