...Carolina Golf News Line                          Amateur Golf Tour in Pinehurst, NC Golf Hole

Pinehurst Amateur Tour’s New Season Begins March 3 


PINEHURST, N.C. – Golfers in the Sandhills will again have a tour to call their own. The popular Amateur Golf Tour returns to the Pinehurst region with a solid schedule for 2007. The AGT hosts a lineup of local tournaments beginning March 3 at Sapona Country Club and concluding Oct. 6 at Longleaf Country Club.

The tour is for all amateurs, regardless of age or ability. Members are placed in one of four flights based on handicaps. Flights are: Championship (0-5 handicap), A Flight (6-10), B Flight (11-15) and C Flight (16-21).

Tournament format is gross stroke play, with USGA rules in effect. A software program tracks each player’s handicap to ensure participants are placed in their proper flight.

Local tour director Bruce Hallenbeck has a 27-event schedule on some of the area’s top courses. In addition to the opening and closing venues, tour stops include: Foxfire Country Club, Anderson Creek, The Legacy and Pinewood Country Club. All events take place on Saturdays.

"Because the tour is flighted, you compete against golfers of your own ability, and the prizes are the same in the C Flight as they are in the Championship Flight,” said Hallenbeck. “It is perfect for golfers wishing to compete in traditional stroke-play tournaments.”

At each event, the top three golfers in all flights win gift certificates from Carolina Custom Golf in Cary, Winston-Salem and Charlotte. Meanwhile, all participants earn points toward a championship in their flight.

Golfers may join the tour at any time for an $80 membership fee. That fee includes a gift bag and tour packet, and allows members to play in Pinehurst tournaments, as well as other AGT events around the country.

Entry fees for Pinehurst area tournaments range from $70-$75. Those fees include cart and green fees, range balls and prizes, plus closest-to-the-pin and long drive awards. Results and points standings are posted within 48 hours at: www.amateurgolftour.net.

Golfers finishing in the top 10 in their flight receive invitations to the 2007 Amateur Golf Tour Championship, Oct. 27-28 at Palmetto Dunes Resort in Hilton Head, S.C.

For info, call Bruce Hallenbeck at (919) 499-9749, or visit www.amateurgolftour.net.
For more information, visit www.amateurgolftour.net