Local Golf News

Three Arizona Courses Do Their Part 

ORLANDO, Fla. - Marriott Golf, one of the world’s premier golf operators, announced the Company will be hosting the 2nd annual “Hit The Green” fundraiser for Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) throughout the 2008 calendar year. Beginning in April, 20 of Marriott Golf’s domestic properties will each be hosting promotional days to help raise funds for CMN.

In 2007, participating Marriott Golf properties raised nearly $40,000 for CMN, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to saving and improving the lives of children by generating funds for children’s hospitals across North America. 

Three Arizona golf courses are participating in the program. They are the Camelback Golf Club in Scottsdale, Starr Pass Golf Club in Tuscon and Phoenix's Wildfire Golf Club .

Three years ago, a Scottsdale kid with a big idea found a way to help other children his age cope with illness and anxieties that come with hospital treatments or surgeries. Now 14, Michael Young, a freshman at Phoenix Country Day, is really making a difference.

On May 8, 2008 Young hosts the Third Annual “Swing Fore Kids Golf Classic” at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort Wildfire Golf Club’s Arnold-Palmer-designed championship course in Phoenix. The event will benefit Phoenix Children’s Hospital Animal Assisted Therapy Program.

The golf classic includes a continental breakfast and a lunch reception with a live and silent auction. The cost is $275 per person and also includes on-course contests. Early bird registration concludes Monday, April 14.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Some of golf’s most influential leaders and members of the game’s most prominent associations converged on the nation’s capitol to celebrate a bipartisan Congressional resolution which declared April 16, 2008 as National Golf Day.

The golf leaders discussed the game’s impact on society, in particular its role to the U.S. economy.

The golf industry is the sports and entertainment worlds’ largest contributor to our economy, generating $76 billion in direct economic impact according to a recent study, the 2005 Golf Economy Report, commissioned by World Golf Foundation’s GOLF 20/20 initiative completed earlier this year and released at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Fla.

To read the executive summary of the The 2005 Golf Economy Report, click here . 

The courses have been manicured and the golf clubs are ready to go for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s 4th Annual Links Fore Leukemia Golf Tournament. The tournament will take place at the prestigious Grayhawk Golf Club at 8620 East Thompson Peak Parkway, in Scottsdale, Arizona on June 9th.

Registration and check-in begins at 11a.m. with tee time at 1p.m. The event will take place on both the Talon and Raptor courses and will conclude with a catered reception on the Grayhawk grounds, with a live and silent auction. All proceeds benefit LLS’ programs of patient services, public education, financial aid and research. 

The original “Links Fore Leukemia” Golf Tournament started in 1997 in Dallas, Texas. It was created by Bob Barker and Jim Willis. At the age of 37, Willis lost his personal battle against leukemia just months after the inaugural tournament. 

Tournament Golf Foundation (TGF) and Safeway, Inc. today announced that the 2008 Safeway International Presented by Coca-Cola will mark the conclusion of Safeway’s sponsorship of the Phoenix area LPGA event.

“After this year’s tournament, we expect Safeway’s involvement in the Phoenix tournament will have resulted in more than $4 million in charitable contributions to local charities through The Safeway Foundation,” said Tom Maletis, President of Tournament Golf Foundation, the tournament owner and organizer. “We sincerely thank Safeway for six great years of support in Arizona and look forward to continuing our long-running relationship via the Safeway Classic in Portland. At a total of $2.1 million, it is important to note that the Safeway-sponsored tournaments contributed the largest and second largest amounts to charity of the 2007 LPGA tournaments. ”

The mission of the First Tee of Phoenix is to impact the lives of young people in Maricopa County.

The program provides learning facilities and educational programs that teach the nine core values which promote character development and lifeenhancing values through the game of golf. 

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - For the third consecutive year, Desert Mountain (www.desertmountain.com), a premier Scottsdale Arizona Golf Course Community, has been named among the top 100 golf communities in the United States by Travel + Leisure Golf magazine.

The annual list is compiled by the staff at Travel + Leisure Golf and is based on criteria including golf and non-golf amenities, residential architecture and style, location and environmental stewardship.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - OB Sports Golf Management’s Director of Sales and Marketing, Kris Strauss was honored by the American Junior Golf Association Friday, Feb. 29, at its Annual Meeting with the 2007 “Media Leader Award”. The Media Leader Award is typically given to the tournament or media chairperson that receives exceptional media coverage and publicity for the AJGA event, the host course, sponsors and participants.

Each year during the Annual Meeting’s Digger Smith Awards Banquet – named after AJGA Chairman of the Board Jordan R. “Digger” Smith – the AJGA presents awards to the tournaments with the best media coverage, junior-am fundraising tournament, volunteer support base and hospitality. At this time the Association also recognizes its golf professional of the year, new tournament of the year, and overall tournament of the year (the latter of which was actually awarded to the OB Sports-managed Dalhousie Golf Club).

Last year, Golf Magazine and the National Golf Foundation joined forces to compile a countdown of America’s 10 Best Golf Cities. After receiving a slew of feedback, the magazine opened up the ballot boxes to its readers, who in turn produced their own list.

After more than 1,000 votes were tallied, Phoenix emerged as the new No. 1.

While the seven deciding factors didn’t necessarily have to be taken into account by the readers, they certainly wouldn’t disqualify Phoenix from its new perch.

The initial rankings took the following criteria into account: affordability, weather, quality of courses, accessibility, number of courses designed by esteemed architects, availability and crowdedness.

foreHim golf ministry proudly presents Golfing For God, a two-day golf event to be held Sunday, April 27 & Monday, 28, 2008.

This modified scramble event will be played Sunday at the highly-rated Golf Club at Vistoso and culminate Monday at exclusive Stone Canyon Club.

foreHIM is a non-profit organization with the vision for developing people of high character and a mission to teach the game of golf and offer spiritual direction. The net proceeds from this event will be used to develop golf mentoring programs throughout Greater Phoenix during 2008.