Heading toward The Optimist

With three district tournaments having already been played in South Florida, Tennessee, and Atlantic Central and with two more events being held this weekend in North Carolina and British Columbia, I think we can say the race to the 2012 Optimist International Junior Golf Championships (The Optimist) is on.

Junior golfers hope to advance to The Optimist from the
Pacific NW District Tournament in British Columbia

The Optimist takes place near the end of July each year. With more than 5,000 junior golfers participating in qualifying tournaments each year, The Optimist has developed into one of the largest and most prestigious junior golf tournaments in the world.

While there are some at-large entries and international players, about 600 junior golfers qualify by advancing through club and district level tournaments in North America.

Like all Optimist Club programs, the Optimist International Junior Golf Championships is designed to give children of all abilities the opportunity to participate.

However, it goes a step further by ensuring those golfers with outstanding skills have the opportunity to test themselves against other outstanding players from around the world at The Optimist. Only those meeting qualifying criteria are eligible to advance to the big show where they are treated to clinics, entertainment, lots of food and new friends, and the opportunity to play at the PGA National Resort & Spa in Florida.

Optimist International is largely known for the great projects performed by Optimist Clubs on a local level. However, the Optimist International Junior Golf Championships is a major event on the junior golf circuit that spans our district, state, province and country boundaries. It teaches discipline, diplomacy, and friendship and highlights achievements. Most of all, it is another avenue to share optimism with the world.

My apologies for my rather stilted, press release style of writing today, but I wanted to get the word out about the tournaments and it seemed the most efficient way to do that was to follow the Optimist Junior Golf lead.

Find out how you can be a part of the The Optimist by joining Optimist Club today.

Junior golfers, please find a tournament near you at this link: http://www.optimist.org/e/juniorgolf/qualify2.cfm.