The GolfCourseHome Life

The Landings, GA Savannah Challenger Tennis Tournaments Coming This Spring

The Landings on Skidaway Island, GA will hold its 2013 Savannah Challenger tennis tournament for aspiring pros at its tennis complex April 20-28. The winner gets automatic entry into The French Open.

You can test your mettle against these up-and-comers by playing in the Wildcard Tournament at Franklin Creek Feb. 22-24 which is free to the public.

Wildcard winners get a place in the Challenger main draw. The Challenger benefits the America’s Second Harvest food program for the needy. Send me more information about The Landings!

NGA Pro Golf Tour's Savannah Lakes Village Classic to Return in April 2012

Savannah Lakes Village, SC: NGA Pro Golf Tour returns in 2012.

Savannah Lakes Village & Golf Club in McCormick, SC, has announced that The National Golf Association (NGA) Pro Golf Tour will return to the club on April 23 - 29, 2012 for the Savannah Lakes Village Classic.

The annual tournament has not only has provided major contributions to local charities, but it has also proven to be a significant and memorable stepping-stone for many aspiring professional golfers. Request more information.

Recent success stories include Ted Potter, Russell Knox, Will Wilcox (past winner), Matt Hendrix, Josh Broadaway, Will Claxton, & Casey Wittenberg who have moved up to The Nationwide Tour.

Additionally Eric Onesi & Zack Sucher have attained conditional status. Both Ted Potter and Russell Knox appear to be in a prime position to move on to the PGA Tour in 2012 because of how high up they are ranked on this year's Nationwide Tour. Philip Pettitt (2011 winner) recently made it through the first stage of The European PGA Tour qualification school.

Plan to visit the area April 23 – 29, 2012 for some great professional golf on Lake Thurmond at the Savannah Lakes Village Monticello Golf Club. This will be the 10th year that Savannah Lakes Village has hosted the Pro Golf Tour.  As always, tournament admission is free.

Peter Burwash International to Manage Tennis at Cliffs Communities

Peter Burwash International (PBI), one of the the world's best known tennis management groups will direct the tennis programming at The Cliffs Communities. The engagement of PBI is the latest in a series of moves by The Cliffs to continue to provide first-class programs and amenities for its luxury developments based in the Blue Ridge Mountains of the western Carolinas.

Coinciding with the agreement, PBI has named veteran PBI tennis professional, Jack DeAndrade, as Director of Tennis at The Cliffs beginning from May 15. Under DeAndrade’s direction, members at The Cliffs at Glassy, The Cliffs Valley, The Cliffs at Walnut Cove, The Cliffs at Keowee Falls and The Cliffs at Keowee Vineyards will be able to experience PBI’s internationally recognized Tennis For Life® instruction program, a personalized, practical approach to the game that trains players to become their own coach. PBI tennis programs are also well known for exceptional customer service and a highly professional approach.

DeAndrade, a 25-year member with PBI, has an established track record of developing players of all ages and abilities, from beginners to juniors to competitive tournament players.

An extremely talented and popular coach, DeAndrade comes to The Cliffs from Maui, where his program at the Makena Beach Resort became one of Hawaii’s most active and earned recognition by TennisResortsOnline.com as one of the Top 50 in the world.

Originally from Connecticut and a graduate of High Point University in High Point, North Carolina, DeAndrade coached with PBI nearly 20 years in Tokyo at two of Japan most prestigious tennis clubs. He will be moving to The Cliffs with his wife, Miwako, and 11-year old daughter, Zayn.

DeAndrade and PBI will offer The Cliffs’ members a variety of adult and junior tennis programs, including lessons, clinics, camps, social mixers, tournaments and special tennis events.

Scotch Hall Preserve Readies for NGA & Hooters Tour Inaugural Avoca Classic

A beautiful layout for the upcoming Avoca Classic.

Scotch Hall Preserve in Merry Hill, NC, is getting ready for the inaugural Avoca Classic, a bright new event on the he National Golf Association (NGA)/Hooters Professional Golf Tour.  Running the week of May 23rd through May 29th, the competitive phase of the event will begin Thursday, May 26th.

Scotch Hall Preserve provides an attractive backdrop to the event, sitting on a 900-acre cape bounded by the Albemarle Sound. A master-planned, upscale enclave for second-home and pre-retirement buyers, the community’s private golf course was named by Golf Digest as the No. 9 'Best New Private Course' in the U.S. in 2009. The 7,254-yard layout is an Arnold Palmer Signature design, with several holes paralleling the sound and scenic Salmon Creek. Request more information about Scotch Hall Preserve

A Full Tournament Week
A week full of activities begins with the Monday Qualifier which will offer aspiring professionals the opportunity to play their way into the tournament.

Tuesday will feature the Tommy Davis Nationwide Insurance Shootout that will have 10 two-person teams, each comprised of a Hooters Tour Professional and an amateur in a fun 9-hole event where one team is eliminated after each hole until there is only one team standing.

Also, on Tuesday afternoon, Tour Professionals will hold a Free Junior Clinic.

On Wednesday afternoon the Pro-Am will tee off with a 1 pm shotgun start. Teams of three amateurs will be paired with the Tour’s top-performing professionals in a scramble format. Come early and you can watch some of the biggest hitters compete in the Long Drive Contest.

Thursday through Sunday a field size of 168 golfers will contest 72 holes of professional golf beginning at 7:30 every morning. The public is invited, and admission is free. After two rounds the field will be cut to the low 65 and ties.

Many of these players will eventually be stars on the Nationwide and PGA Tours in the near future, so the Avoca Classic at Scotch Hall Preserve is a great opportunity to see these players on their way up. The NGA/Hooters Tour is the nation’s 3rd largest 72-hole, walking men’s tour behind only the Nationwide and PGA Tours. NGA/Hooters Tour alumni includes the winners of 12 major championships, so expect to see great golf.

Tony Mule Wins Landings Challenger Wild Card, Four Semifinalists Earn Main Draw

Mule wins his 2nd consecutive Landings Challenger wild card.

For the second year in a row, Tony Mule has captured the Wild Card Event for the Savannah Challenger championships at The Landings on Skidaway Island, GA. The 30-year old Greensboro, NC, resident thrilled the supportive crowd by coming back from a deep deficit in the final to defeat Alexandru Pasareanu, 17, Blufton, SC, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 on February 28.

Mule and Pasareanu, along with the two losing semifinalists, all advanced to the main draw of the 2011 Savannah Challenger tournament which will take place at The Landings April 30- May 8. A total of 19 players from Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama and Pennsylvania had traveled to The Landings to compete for the right to play in the Challenger event.

Pasareanu & all semifinalists advance to Challenger main draw.

A Tight Final
Mule and Pasareanu clearly stood above the crowd with Mule losing only 13 games in three matches en route to the final and Pasareanu dropped only seven.

The final was a close match, pitting the power and speed of the younger Pasareanu against the grit and experience of Mule. Pasasreanu took a quick early lead and maintained it for the entire match, winning the first set 6-3 and leading 5-3 in the second.

However, when serving for the match at 5-4, Pasasreanu's game deserted him and Mule ran off six straight games to take the second set 7-5 and go up a service break at 2-0 in the third. Pasasreanu then steadied his game and from that point on it was evenly contested with both players having multiple chances to go ahead. In the end Pasareanu saved a total of nine match points, but Mule held serve to win the match.

The Landings Well Represented
The Landings had two members in the draw, Grayson Lowenthal, 15 and Alex Gold, 21. Both lost in the first round, but gained valuable experience in competing against other top players. The final was refereed by Landings Club member John Remmert. Club members served as ball people.

The Savannah Challenger will bring some of the finest tennis players in the world--with rankings from 40 to 200--to The Landings as they try to gain ranking points and advance to Grand Slam events such as the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. 

Additional special events, including Kid’s Day (April 30), a Pro-Am to benefit Special Pops Tennis-Savannah (May 1), Player Party (May 2), and Ladies’ Day (May3) will also be a part of the Challenger week. Tickets are on sale now at The Landings Club Pro Shop. For information, call 912-598-3500 or visit www.SavannahChallenger.com

 

 

A Cost-Effective Idea--GCH Network VideoFest Debuts at Boston GolfExpo

Get a preview of Frenchman's Creek, Palm Beach Gardens, FL, at the GCH VideoFest in Boston.

Introducing a new, cost-effective marketing opportunity for your golf community--the 'GolfCourseHome VideoFest,' to be held at the Boston GolfExpo at the Seaport World Trade Center, March 4-6.

More than 20,000 golfers from the surrounding Greater Boston/New England market will come through the turnstiles to attend this popular annual event and they will have the opportunity to watch your community video in the GolfCourseHome Screening Room.

Your Virtual Sales Team
Sending your community video instead of a costly booth and sales team, which can consume a sizable portion of a marketing budget, is a smart, cost-effective way to promote your community.

Your video will shown on a continuous rotation in the GolfCourseHome VideoFest Screening Room where GCH representatives will capture names and addresses of prospects for your sales team to follow.

Daily prize drawings give you the oportunity for exclusive name capture when you offer a Discovery Package as a prize.

Communities from Canada, South Carolina and Florida have already committed, but space is limited. So contact us today.

For more information, contact David Lott, Publisher, via email, or call 203-270-9357.

Features & Benefits

GolfCourseHome VideoFest at the Boston Golf Expo
Seaport World Trade Center, Boston, Mass. 
March 4, 5 & 6, 2011

    * GolfCourseHome Network will present a private screening room where visitors will have the opportunity to watch up to 18 golf and waterfront community DVD/Blu-rays on a 50" screen
      
    * The GCH VideoFest will be your opportunity to present your community in a big screen format while GCH staffers collect names and addresses for your sales team
      
    * Save on travel, booth and personnel costs by having your video presented continuously over three days
      
    * You also have the opportunity to provide a Stay'n Play/Discovery Package as a prize for drawings that will be held throughout the weekend

For more information, contact David Lott, Publisher, via email, or call 203-270-9357.

Q-School Is Here Again & So Are the Great Dreams of Rookies & Might-Have-Beens

Q-School--crunch time for every starry-eyed rookie and wizened veteran who wants to play their way to, or return to, the big time, the PGA Tour--is here again. It's a tough road and it's a long one.

The first three stages--pre-qualifying, first stage and second stage--consist of 72-hole tournaments. The pre-qualifying stage, which is for players with no prior history of competition, took place in mid-September. We are now up to the second stage which began on Tuesday.

This week the pressure builds to yip-inducing intensity as PGA TOUR members who finished outside the top 150 on the 2010 money list will join the competition and will be desperate to keep their cards. For example, two-time PGA TOUR winner Daniel Chopra is among those entered at the Southern Hills Plantation Club event.

Not Your Ordinary School
Q School is not a traditional school, but there is a classroom where the lessons can both scar and save you. There are no teachers who will pass you just to get you to the next grade. Your teachers are the course, your competitors and yourself. And the mantra for many competitors is try, try, try again. And that's why the stories from Q School are so rich. The dream never dies as long as you can swing a club.

When it's all over and the final putt has been blown or made, the still-standing survivors will have earned their PGA TOUR cards for the 2011 season and their lives will never be the same.

December Is the Decider
In the first stage, tournaments were held on 13 different courses across the country over two weeks. A set number of players from each first stage event then advanced to one of six second-stage venues. The second-stage survivors will then move on to the final stage at Orange County National in Winter Garden, Fla., and commence the final march to fulfilling their dreams Dec. 1-6.

That finale is a marathon of golf contested over six rounds--108 gut-twisting, OMG holes--that determines whether a player goes home to dwell on what might have been or advances either to the Nationwide Tour or, as one of the low 25 finishers, are exempt on the PGA TOUR for 2011.

One of the best books about Q School, "Q School Confidential: Inside Golf's Cruelest Tournament," was written by David Gould, former Links Magazine Editor, and currently an editor for GolfCourseHome.

Here's this week's schedule:

Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2010
Round 1 Redstone, Humble TX

Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010
Round 1 Southern Hills Plantation, Jacksonville, FL
Round 1 Hombre Golf Club, Panama City Beach, FL
Round 1 Bear Creek Golf Club, Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX
Round 1 TPC Craig Ranch, McKinney, TX
Round 1 Bayonet Course, Seaside, CA

 

Quail Ridge's Bill Ely, a Retired General, Shoots His Age in the Game for a Lifetime

Quail Ridge Country Club Member Bill Ely, 98 years young, relates how shooting his age keeps him focused on the game he first tried at West Point in 1929. Photo by Scott Wiseman

By Bill Ely, Golf Member
Quail Ridge Country Club
Boynton Beach, Florida

A lot of people get excited when a top pro such as Arnold Palmer or Gary Player shoots his age. I used to get excited about shooting my age, but not so much anymore. I guess that's because I've done it more than 2,000 times—2,005 to be exact.

At least that's how many times I've done it since 1987, when I started keeping a record in a book. I was 75 then and shooting my age or better every day, so I figured I might as well keep track of it. The lowest I ever shot below my age was 16 strokes. That was eight years ago, when I was 90. I shot a 74 on my home course, Quail Ridge Country Club in Boynton Beach, Fla.

____________________________________________

Ely, 98, has shot his age 2,005

times since he was 75 years old

____________________________________________

Pulling off the feat was exhilarating at first, but then I began to expect to do it every time I played. Now, whenever I play, people around the clubhouse want to know if the General—that's what everyone calls me because I was a lieutenant general when I retired from the Army in 1966—shot his age again. Luckily, the answer is usually yes.

It's a pretty good accomplishment since I never swung a club until I went to West Point in 1929. In my third year I was required to play an intramural sport, so I tried golf. I loved it the first time I had a club in my hand.

I didn't get to play much after leaving West Point because I was serving on Midway and in the Philippines during World War II. But I was lucky enough to get some assignments in Washington, D.C., afterward, so I started playing a lot at the Army Navy Country Club in Arlington, Va.

Ely's playground, Quail Ridge Country Club's two Joe Lee courses.

I have the distinction of winning the club championship there at four ranks: colonel, brigadier general, major general and lieutenant general. My handicap has been as low as a three, but it's up to a 19 now.

I think golf is the best game because it tests you physically and mentally. You have to think clearly and keep your emotions under control. The game changes every day and with every swing, and you're constantly trying to analyze to get better.

I wish I could tell you there's some secret to what I've done, but there really isn't. I've always been a very good putter. And I guess I have good genes. I never had health problems, even when I was playing four times a week. At 98, I don't have a sore joint in my body. My hips and shoulders are good, although circulation problems have slowed me down recently.

People don't believe it when they hear I've shot my age so many times. With them I share my greatest bit of wisdom: It gets easier every year.

______________________

This article originally appeared in the Sept. 20, 2010 edition of Sports Illustrated and on Golf.com

Bay Club Member Peter Uihlein tops David Chung to win U.S. Amateur Championship

Another highlight: Uihlein celebrating going undefeated at last year's Walker Cup.

Peter Uihlein, a junior at Oklahoma State and a member at The Bay Club golf community, Mattapoisett, MA, delivered a dominating performance Sunday at Chambers Bay, beating David Chung, 4 and 2, to capture the 110th U.S. Amateur Championship--a sublime 21st birthday present to himself and his home club. It's been an exhilarating year in golf for Uihlein who went undefeated for the U.S. in Walker Cup match play last September. For compete coverage, go to Golfweek magazine.

Celebrities & the Courses They'll Play Announced for BMW Charity Pro-Am

Celebrity course rotations for the upcoming BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by SYNNEX Corporation golf tournament were announced today.

Celebrities that are scheduled to compete in this year’s event include: Catherine Bell, Lucas Black, Javier Colon, Don Felder, Thomas Gibson, Oliver Hudson, Rob Marciano, Branford Marsalis, Jennifer Mills, Terry O’Quinn, Michael Pena, Jerry Rice, Jim Rice, George Rogers, Joe Don Rooney, Kurt Russell, Stefanie Schaeffer, Sterling Sharpe, Kevin Sorbo, Kordell Stewart, Dabo Swinney, Paula Trickey, Gary Valentine, Patrick Warburton and Ben Wright.

Celebrities will play the following course rotations:

Thursday

The Carolina Country Club
Catherine Bell
Javier Colon
Oliver Hudson
Terry O’Quinn
Jerry Rice (pro)
George Rogers
Joe Don Rooney
Kurt Russell
Dabo Swinney
Patrick Warburton

Bright’s Creek Golf Club
Thomas Gibson
Rob Marciano
Stefanie Schaeffer
Sterling Sharpe
Kordell Stewart 
Paula Trickey
Gary Valentine
Ben Wright

Thornblade Club
Lucas Black
Don Felder
Branford Marsalis
Jennifer Mills
Michael Pena
Jim Rice
Kevin Sorbo

Friday
 
The Carolina Country Club
Lucas Black
Don Felder
Branford Marsalis
Jennifer Mills
Michael Pena
Jim Rice
Kevin Sorbo

Bright’s Creek Golf Club
Catherine Bell
Javier Colon
Oliver Hudson
Terry O’Quinn
Jerry Rice (pro)
George Rogers
Joe Don Rooney
Kurt Russell
Dabo Swinney
Patrick Warburton

Thornblade
Thomas Gibson
Rob Marciano
Stefanie Schaeffer
Sterling Sharpe
Kordell Stewart 
Paula Trickey
Gary Valentine
Ben Wright

Saturday
 
The Carolina Country Club
Thomas Gibson
Rob Marciano
Stefanie Schaeffer
Sterling Sharpe
Kordell Stewart 
Paula Trickey
Gary Valentine
Ben Wright

Bright’s Creek Golf Club
Lucas Black
Don Felder
Branford Marsalis
Jennifer Mills
Michael Pena
Jim Rice
Kevin Sorbo

Thornblade
Catherine Bell
Javier Colon
Oliver Hudson
Terry O’Quinn
Jerry Rice (pro)
George Rogers
Joe Don Rooney
Kurt Russell
Dabo Swinney
Patrick Warburton

Sunday
All golf is played at Thornblade Club (only the 14 lowest scoring pro-amateur/pro-celebrity teams advance to play Sunday’s final round).

The 2010 BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by SYNNEX Corporation will be played May 13-16, 2010, at Bright's Creek Golf Club, The Carolina Country Club and Thornblade Club golf courses. All four rounds will be televised live by the Golf Channel.

Champion Hills Members Off to "Ballgame Night" With Luxury Accommodations, More

Champion Hills, NC is close to Asheville.

Champion Hills, NC is set for a member outing to Fluor Field in Greenville this Thursday, Aug. 6 for “Take Me Out to the Ballgame Night.” The Greenville Drive, a Boston Red Sox affiliate, will host the Lexington Legends. Fluor Field, opened in 2006, is modeled after Fenway Park in Boston, down to its own own "Green Monster" wall in left field. Champion Hills members will be in a private luxury suite along the third base line, with an excellent view of the players and the field. Click here for more information about Champion Hills!

Heritage Wake Forest, NC was featured on Raleigh television station NBC-17 on Wed., July 29th  in a special report titled “What’s Selling?” in which the community was used as an example of a property that is responding to demand in the marketplace. Heritage continues to enjoy brisk activity in 2009, reporting 13 sales in July. Click here for more information about Heritage Wake Forest!