March 2020 Philadelphia Junior Tour Month in Review

Philadelphia Junior Tour

2020 March In Review Presented by:

COVID-19 SITUATION

COVID-19 Situation As the COVID-19 situation stays ever-changing, the Philadelphia PGA Junior Tour staff is committed to staying in touch with our membership through this unprecedented time. We hope our communication will keep everyone informed and educated and we hope to be able to resume normal operations and events sooner than later. If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the team at info@phillyjuniortour.com or (267) 6226170 Thank you, PJT Task Force

James Wilkes, PGA

Mark Anderson, PGA

Scott Yurgalevicz

Have a question about playing golf in college? Want to know what it takes to bring your game to the next level? The Philadelphia Junior Tour will be sitting down with Mark Anderson, PGA (Head Women's Coach - Penn), James Wilkes, PGA (Head Men's Coach - Villanova) and Scott Yurgalevicz (Head Men's and Women's Coach - LaSalle) on April 8th and asking them your questions!

Submit questions here!

COLLEGE COACH Q&A

College Coach Q&A

Season Kick-Off Night at Topgolf

March Memories

Know the Rules

What’s it all about? Rule 16.3 covers when and how the player may take free relief by playing a ball from a different place, such as when there is interference by an abnormal course condition. The player normally takes free relief by dropping a ball in a relief area based on the nearest point of complete relief.

How does it work? It happens every Spring. We are all eager to get back out on the course after a long wet winter. Unfortunately, many courses are still dealing with a lot of left over participation which leads to temporary water and a lot of embedded balls. Embedded is defined as when a player’s ball is in its own pitch mark made as a result of the player’s previous stroke and where part of the ball is below the ground. Since this condition is not treated as part of the challenge of playing the course, free relief is generally allowed except in a penalty area.

Rule 16.3 In Action: John drives his ball and it plugs into an uphill slope in the general area. He has hit a good shot off the tee, but when he walks up to his ball he finds that his lie will be very tough to play from. To determine whether his ball is lying in an abnormal course condition, he must determine if it is embedded. Since his ball is lying just off the fairway in the rough he knows that the bottom part of his ball is below the ground, but it appears that it is not in contact with any soil. John calls a rules official over to ask if he may take free relief. The official reassures John that he may take free relief under Rule 16.3 and that grass may be in between his ball and the soil as long as part of it is still below the level of the ground. John then proceeds by marking a spot directly behind his ball and dropping within one club length no nearer to the hole than his reference point.

Why is Rule 16.3 Important? Rule 16.3 is important because if you do not know this rule, you may be penalizing yourself for hitting a good golf shot. If you hit a drive straight down the middle of the fairway and then make a stroke at your embedded ball when you could take free relief, this could very well cost you strokes.

KNOW THE RULES—RULE 16.3 Embedded Ball

16.3: Relief from Abnormal Course Conditions (Embedded Ball)

2020 PJT MAJORS PREVIEW

2020 Major Tournaments Philadelphia Boys Jr. PGA Championship (Bellewood Country Club) 6/22/20—Bellewood CC is the host for this years Philly Boys Jr. PGA Championship. This one day, 36 hole event is a qualifier to the national Boys Junior PGA Championship which will be held later in July at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, FL. The top-2 Boys will claim the qualifying spots to the national event. The par 71, 6,825-yard layout is sculptured through 171 acres of naturally rolling terrain. Two distinctive nines give the player the best of both worlds. This will mark the first time Bellewood will host the Boys Championship.

Philadelphia Girls Jr. PGA Championship (Old York Road Country Club) 7/6/20—The second of the Jr. PGA Championships hosted in the Philadelphia Section is taking place at Old York Road Country Club. The Philly Girls Jr. PGA Championship is visiting one of Montco’s best in July. Old York Road last hosted the PJT in 2018 for the Junior Tour Championship, but now steps into the spotlight for the Girls Jr. PGA. The top 2 girls will advance on to the national Junior PGA Championship to be held in late July and will take place at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, FL.

Valley CC will host the inaugural fourball championship on its venerable Grace course. A first of its kind on the PJT Schedule, the championship will feature teams of two in a best-ball stroke play format.

Teams will be made of either boys or girls and will compete for the title of Fourball champions in their respective genders. Sure to become a popular event on the schedule, this is one championship not to be missed!

Harry Hammond Invitational (Penn Oaks Golf Club) 8/4/20—A yearly tradition on the PJT, the Harry Hammond Invitational will be hosted by Penn Oaks GC. The event, which is an invitational, is open to any PJT member aged 16-18 who has finished 1st or 2nd in their age division in a PJT tournament in the last 2 years. Harry Hammond is a past Philadelphia Section Golf Professional of the Year (1991), past Section President (1986) and past Junior Golf Chairman.

Philadelphia Junior Tour Championship (White Manor Country Club) 8/17/20—The PJT’s year end event and flagship event, the Tour Championship, is headed to White Manor Country Club for the first time. Redesigned in 2003, the par 71 Chester County layout will host the Tour Championship for the first time in 2020. This 18-hole event marks the end of the season and 2019-20 Player of the Year points race and Scoring Average leaders.

2020 MAJORS PREVIEW, CONT.

Junior Fourball Team Championship (Saucon Valley Country Club Grace Course) 7/21/20—A new championship to debut in 2020, Saucon

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