The Great Junior Golf Design Challenge of 2020 Continues on

We have lost the 2020 Drive Chip and Putt, but The Great Junior Golf Design Challenge of 2020 is on! You don’t need a course, and it even works with social distancing if you have a co-designer because you can collaborate electronically with Zoom or What’sAp or Facetime.

The Great Junior Golf Design Challenge is an opportunity to create a never before seen golf hole. It’s a way to stimulate your creativity. It might be a fun exercise in creating terror on the fairways. It’s up to the junior designer. The event is open only to juniors ages 17 and under. There are three age brackets: 8 and under; 9-13; 14-17.

The activity is sponsored by the ASGCA, The American Society of Golf Course Architects. How cool is that?

"“Families are struggling to keep their children gainfully entertained with schools being closed curing he coronavirus and the amount of ‘at-home time’ for children during this crisis,” said Jan Bel Jan, president of ASGCA. “A few of our members brainstormed the idea, which came to us from Jay Smith, an aspiring golf course architect based in McAlpin, Florida. We’re offering this positive diversion when so many are confined to their homes.”"

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ASGCA will post all submissions on its Facebook and Twitter pages. So, while there’s no cash prize, there is the glory of recognition. Some are already on the ASGCA page.

"“They tell us what par is and offer any written description,” Bel Jan added. “There are no limits to the number of submissions, or to the designs, and certainly no limits to children’s imaginations. I expect some designs will be exotic, others quite fanciful and many will include a variety of hazards, including ‘penalty areas.’ ”"

Steve Forrest, now an ASGCA member, did an 18-hole golf course design of his home in Marion, Virginia when he was 14. He offered on the ASGCA website as an example. It is, by all accounts, rather convoluted, and you can see it here. Some entries that have already been sent into the ASGCA are also on their website.

In Forrest’s course, there was no way to get from No. 1 to No. 2 to No. 3 unless you have a flying saucer, a means to teleport or you have a tunnel, any of which may have been his plan but not explained at the time. He was designing an entire course, using his house as a hub for 18 holes. You can see the spokes from the house to various holes.

Junior designers can send in as many designs as wanted. You can create anything that could possibly – or even potentially — be played by golfers. You can use a pencil, crayon, marker or digital designs. Whatever strikes your fancy.

Remember Pete Dye, one of the best golf course designers ever, designed several of his great courses on a napkin or placemat, so great design doesn’t have to be an oil painting on canvas. This one, however, needs to be done on the proper form and sent to: juniordesign2020@asgca.org

Entries should only have the first name, age, and hometown.

Now, we can imagine the kind of hole some people would like to create. Something with a real challenge. You know, where the drive goes over the volcano, then the second shot curves around some Bengal tigers, followed by a third shot that has to go under Niagara Falls, just skirting the pit of death. Finally, there’s a green with a moat that has real monsters, with a putting surface that has five levels and is polished until it shines like concrete.

Other people are more likely to turn in a design that looks like an Augusta National hole.

Regardless, this is a chance for junior golf designers, who might or might not be junior golfers, to submit their masterpieces to the best in the business: The American Society of Golf Course Architects.

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There is an entry form, and you’ll find it here. There is an explanation for it also, and there is a link to that as well.

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