Grassroots Development
Tour Growing the Game
G
olf’s stated challenge the last
By the same token, the Summer Tour has
few years has been to “grow the
a different feel, Joyce said, with teens whose
game.” Tommy Joyce, Jr., has
goal is to make their high school teams and
talked that talk. In fact, long
beginners trying to figure out whether golf
before that phrase became the mantra of the
is worth their time and effort.
millennium, he was walking the walk.
Summer Tour events will be contested at
In 2000, Joyce, a former mini-tour
Roanoke Country Club, Ashley Plantation,
competitor who is now the general manager
Ole Monterey, Blue Hills, The River Course
at Hunting Hills Country Club in Roanoke,
at Virginia Tech, Hunting Hills, Hanging
got together with some fellow local pros to
Rock and Blacksburg CC. It doesn’t get any
form the Roanoke Valley Junior Golf Tour
better than that. The Tour Championship, an
(RVJGT). What began with 20 or 25 players
invitation-only experience, will be staged in
has blossomed into a unique community
August at the Homestead.
service that helps kids of all ages
either develop their competitive
skills or, more fundamentally,
The RVJGT has produced more
ascertain their level of interest in
than 45 college golfers since 2000.
the game.
“We kept trying to do these interclub (matches) and one club one
year would have a bunch of kids
and another club wouldn’t have any,
and another club would have only
a few,” Joyce said. “So we decided
that since it’s an individual game,
let’s make a bunch of one-day
tournaments and try to make it more
of a developmental tour. It wouldn’t
matter how many kids came from
certain clubs.”
Two vital factors contributed to
the health and welfare of a threeseason tour that has grown to
between 120 and 150 members,
with age divisions from 7 and under
to 15-18. The first is that all of the
clubs that participate offer their
courses at no charge. That enables
Joyce to keep the cost down, as
do contributions from the Junior
Golf Foundation of Virginia. That’s
the fund-raising arm for the Scott
Robertson Memorial Tournament, the area’s
The price: $65 for an annual membership
First Tee program and the Roanoke Valley
in the Association and between $20 and $25
Junior Golf Association.
per tournament. At a time when parents can
The second was a savvy agreement Joyce
spend four times as much on entry fees, not
cut with the Robertson Memorial that
to mention a fortune in travel time, meals and
resulted in a couple of exemptions into what
motels, the RVJGT is an amazing bargain.
is always a prestigious field of the nation’s best
“Kids can play on the weekends without
young amateurs. The Spring Tour is filled
the expense . . . It gives them a chance to say
with the area’s better players, all hoping to
‘Hey I want to play golf. Am I good enough
qualify for a berth.
to go to the next level?’ ” Joyce said. “Some
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