The First Tee winter tour

By Greg Hensley
TFTBC ace-level participant
Some of Brunswick County’s best young golfers joined coaches from The First Tee of Brunswick County for four rounds of winter golf competition at one of the area’s finest facilities, Ocean Ridge Plantation. The first two rounds were contested in a team scramble format and the final two were individual medal play. Contestants earned points for their finishing positions in three divisions with the winners being those with the highest point total.
TFTBC and Ocean Ridge Golf paired up to host the winter tour, a tournament of competitive golf. The tour was designed to help us keep our games in shape during the winter break. Ace- and eagle-level participants took part and the players encountered some challenging weather along the way, but that didn’t stop us. It’s called perseverance, one of TFTBC Core Values.
The tour gave us junior golfers a chance to come out and compete and have fun at the same time. The players included Holt Durham, Zack Flaccavento, Tyler Caron, Holden and Landon Patterson, Chandler and Harrison Taylor, Chris Clendenin, Nick Caison, Wade Currie, Tim Bringard, Ashley Sloup, Janzen Jones, Cameryn Smith, River Corbett, Bailey Watts and myself.
We were all competing for the prize and no one really knew what it would be. Coach Dennis Miller joked one day the grand prize winner would be awarded the opportunity to “mow my lawn.” Coach Walt Stachura added, “Second place gets to mow mine.” So we stopped asking.  
At competitions’ end, the winners received a copies of Harvey Pennick’s “Little Red Book, And If You Play Golf You Are My Friend,” and ”For All Who Love The Game: Lessons And Teaching For Women;” some of the most famous golf volumes ever written and considered a must read for serious golfers. Nice touch, coaches.
I believe the winter tour is a great concept and was a big success. On behalf of all of the tour players, a huge thanks to coaches Walt and Dennis, Martin Sludds of The Nick Bradley Golf Academy, Terry Mauney, Rebecca Albin, Dave Sheppard, Bob Larkin, Ed Fort and Mike Reaves.  Special thanks to Roxanne Shearon, our host at Ocean Ridge Golf for making this opportunity available to the ace and eagle participants of TFTBC. We’re already looking forward to next year.