For the past few years, I've made it a point (in part because some buddies of mine are golf coaches) to take in some high school golf tournaments, with some corresponding picture threads:
Old Hickory (Beaver Dam, WI):
http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,36792.0/Riverside (Janesville, WI)
http://golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,40066.0/I always make a point of reviewing the Wisconsin state tournament schedule, to see where qualifying tournaments will be held. Here's this spring's schedule for high school boys:
http://www.wiaawi.org/golfboys/tourneyschedule.pdfSome pretty darn good courses in there:
-- Washington County, a fairly well-regarded Art Hills county-run course in the same neighborhood as Erin Hills.
-- Quit Qui Oc and Old Hickory, two courses featuring rolling terrain with lots of (mostly) untouched Bendelow in them.
-- Reedsburg, a pretty solid Killian-Nugent layout about an hour northwest of Madison with very good and quick greens.
-- New Berlin Hills, in suburban Milwaukee, a somewhat quirky muni with grainy greens unlike much of what you find in Wisconsin.
-- Brown County, in Green Bay, stomping grounds of Da' Mayor and his cronies.
-- Johnson Park, a classic tree-lined muni in Racine with some quirk dating back to the 1930s.
-- Trappers Turn, a pretty good Andy North course in Wisconsin Dells, now nearly 20 years old.
And get this -- the smallest division (Division 3) in the state sees two qualifying tournaments at, of all places, Blackwolf Run (River) and the links course at Lawsonia. How cool is that?
Two thoughts:
-- I think all of these courses deserve thanks for handing over their courses for, essentially, an entire day for high school kids. Yes, the schools competing pay a fee, but it probably covers only cost, and the courses (a mix of private, public daily fee, and munis) could probably make more money not hosting a high school qualifying tourney. So kudos to them.
-- Any other good examples out there, of high schoolers accessing good courses? I'm thinking of qualifying tourneys, as opposed to the home courses of teams (although that may be notable as well).