By Terry Boehmker, Post staff reporter
Most of the youth golf tournaments Justin Jolly played in last summer were more than 100 miles away from his home in Alexandria.
This summer, Jolly, 15, will get plenty of tournament experience without taking any lengthy road trips thanks to the the new Northern Kentucky Junior Golf Tour.
''I'm really looking forward to it because I won't have to go as far to play,'' Jolly said. ''You need this kind of competition to improve so I think it should help my game a lot.''
Jolly is one of 218 golfers between the ages of 9-18 who registered for the tour that begins Monday with a 9-hole tournament at Highland Country Club.
There are 15 events on the junior tour schedule. Points will be awarded to golfers in four age groups - 11-under, 12-13, 14-15 and 16-18 - depending on how they place in each event.
The four golfers with the highest point totals in each age group will play in the tour championship Aug. 19 at Traditions Country Club.
''I've entered all 15 events,'' said Ben Reisenbeck, 13, of Hebron. ''My goal is to get to the tour championship.''
Jolly plans to play in 10 of the junior events. He has a different goal in mind this summer.
''I'm just in it to stay sharp for the high school season,'' he said. ''I'll probably try to work on my game a little bit.''
Daryl Landrum, a local teaching pro and coach of the Northern Kentucky University golf team, created the junior tour to give local golfers a chance to compete close to home during the summer.
''The response has been overwhelming,'' Landrum said. ''I expected to get 80 to 100 golfers sign up the first year and here we got over 200. I knew we needed something like this in our area. I just didn't know how badly we needed it.''
The Pepsi Tour and Baker-Geary Tour used to offer the only junior events in Kentucky. But Landrum remembers how far he had to drive to get his son, Steve, to those tournaments.
''That was the reason I started one around here,'' Landrum said. ''I went through it myself. (Steve) got to be Kentucky state champion when he was 11 and 13 years old, but, even then, I thought it was a bit too much driving.''
Landrum charged each golfer $25 to register for the tour and most courses are charging $15 for greens fees and lunch.
''The pros at the golf courses all thought it was a great idea,'' Landrum said. ''They lowered their green fees for us and some of them are even letting us use their facilities for free.''
Landrum expects the junior tour to improve his future recruiting prospects at NKU. Two of his most recent recruits - Tom Leone and Drew Von Lehman - are competing in the 16-18 age group this summer.
''It'll help get the level of play up and hopefully more of our local player will filter into our program at NKU,'' Landrum said.
N. Ky. Junior Golf Tour
Here are the dates and sites for Northern Kentucky Junior Golf Tour events:
June 15 Highland Country Club
June 22 Boone Links
June 24 Sugar Bay
June 29 A.J. Jolly
July 6 Kenton County
July 13 Glenwood Hall
July 15 Fairway
July 20 Ft. Mitchell Country Club
July 24 Eagle Creek Country Club
July 27 Devou Park
July 29 Flagg Springs
Aug. 3 Twin Oaks
Aug. 10 Summit Hills Country Club
Aug. 13-14 Pee Wee Classic at World of Sports (13-under only)
Aug. 17 Pendleton Country Club
Aug. 19 Tour Championship at Traditions
Publication date: 06-10-98
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