The Cape Region continues to expand its reputation as a great place for junior golfers.
Rehoboth Beach Country Club hosted the Philadelphia PGA Junior Open for decades, and more recently has also hosted U.S. Kids events. Other local courses such as Mulligan’s Pointe and Baywood Greens have held junior tournaments sponsored by Under Armour.
In addition, every Cape Region course supported scholastic golf for Henlopen Conference teams for many years. The First Tee – Delaware has also seen a major increase in junior golf programming in the last few years, both in southern Delaware and the nearby Eastern Shore of Maryland.
This spring, Rehoboth Beach Country Club is adding to this great level of local support by hosting a new American Junior Golf Association tournament April 26-28.
AJGA, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Georgia, runs more than 140 tournaments throughout the country aimed at promoting talented high school golfers to prospective college coaches and teams. First started in 1978, AJGA helps generate more than $25 million annually for college golf scholarships. With more than 9,000 members from all states and 60 foreign countries, it also helps juniors raise millions of dollars for their choice of charities as part of its Leadership Links program.
Cape Region juniors have played in and won AJGA events, such as Sawyer Brockstedt of Rehoboth Beach and Sarah Lydic of Ocean View, who also won a state high school championship. Lydic’s sister Hannah, another Sussex Academy standout, high school champion and current star of the University of Richmond Spiders golf team, also played in AJGA tournaments, including one held at DuPont Country Club near Wilmington.
As an AJGA Preview Series tournament, openings for the 78-player field this April are limited to boys and girls aged 12-19 with no prior AJGA experience.
AJGA Northeast Senior Regional Director Patrick Plank said, “The AJGA is excited to return to the state of Delaware after a successful four-year run at DuPont Country Club from 2019-22. We are grateful for Rehoboth Beach Country Club's support in bringing a national-level junior golf tournament to the area. Through our Preview Series event, top-ranked players will have their first opportunity to showcase their talents in front of college coaches and begin their path toward earning a college golf scholarship.”
RBCC Director of Golf Pat Mastrian said, “RBCC is excited to host the AJGA for one of their preview events. The club continues to show its support for junior golf not only within the club and the local community, but also now on an even larger stage through the AJGA. We are excited to see the next generation of golfers at RBCC in April.”
The tournament will begin with a qualifier round Friday, April 26, with an official practice round following. Formal play will begin Saturday, April 27, and conclude the next day. Spectators are welcome.
Naturally, none of this is free, so the organizers are seeking sponsorships and other support, including in-kind donations, to help offset the expense.
For more information about sponsorship opportunities or other issues, contact Mastrian at 302-227-3616. To volunteer to help with the event, go to https://volunteersignup.org/HWALD.
E-Z-GO’s 70th Anniversary
Congratulations to E-Z-GO for the Georgia company’s 70th anniversary in the golf cart business.
Considering how many golf-related businesses have come and gone in the last seven decades, that is an accomplishment.
At the 2024 PGA Show, I chatted with Erin O’Shea, one of the company’s newest marketing employees. We first discussed the RXV line of carts, part of E-Z-GO’s continuing commitment to lithium batteries throughout its electronic fleet. “People love it, and the course owners are happy with it,” O’Shea said.
The carts come with a variety of potential upgrades. The GPS mapping screen is a regular add-on at most clubs. The system provides golfers with valuable yardage information while also giving the course operators space to promote their amenities such as food and beverage options.
In addition, when combined with other software, the carts’ GPS systems give operations staff the electronic ability to fence off areas of the property where carts are unwanted – such as the greens, the woods or the occasional pond.
Geo-fencing, as it is called, can be set up for all carts, while also permitting some bypass authority. For example, the systems can make it easier for disabled golfers to reach the greens.
E-Z-GO staffer Carl Boehm also showed me the company’s Tru-Pin device, which heightens the accurate representation of hole location and yardage data for the onboard GPS displays. As he described it, when a hole is cut for the day, the course operator can trigger the Tru-Pin directly above the new hole. The new information is then uploaded to the system, updating the hole location for the displays.
The operators can also use the Tru-Pin device at the tee boxes for the par 3s, providing an accurate yardage from tee to pin for the golfers.
Add-ons like this are among the reasons why E-Z-GO has stayed in business for 70 years. At first glance, one might think the golf cart business is a bit stodgy. Nonetheless, adopting ways to improve golf course use and operations shows a certain nimbleness of mindset that helps explain the company’s continued success.
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Fritz Schranck has been writing about the Cape Region's golf community since 1999. Snippets, stories and anecdotes from his columns are included in his new book, "Hole By Hole: Golf Stories from Delaware's Cape Region and Beyond," which is available at the Cape Gazette offices, Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach, Biblion Books in Lewes, and local golf courses. His columns and book reviews are available at HoleByHole.com.
Contact Fritz by emailing fschranck@holebyhole.com.
