GOLF'S POPULARITY STILL GROWING AMONG AREA YOUTHS

If the sixth annual Jim Belknap Junior Classic at Jackson's Bent Creek Golf Course is any indication, golf's popularity explosion among youngsters is still in bloom.

A tournament-high total of 88 youth golfers participated in the two-day event last week, which was shortened by one day due to heavy rains on the morning of the final round Tuesday.

"The tournament has grown ... and our goal is to someday host 150 to 200 juniors in this tournament," said Bent Creek co-manager Mike Lizelfelner. "I think it can be done with a lot of hard work and the right marketing. We have to get the word out and take care of (the golfers) when they're here."

Despite having to cancel the final round of play, the Bent Creek staff did its best to take care of the young golfers that expected to play two rounds of golf in the tournament. After the weather cleared later in the morning, several of the competitors were allowed on the course to play another 18 holes.

Adam, 13, and Ryan Hutson, 16, of Poplar Bluff were still out on the course Tuesday afternoon honing their games. The two brothers started golfing five years ago, before the huge Tiger Woods' craze, and have noticed the dramatic rise in popularity golf has seen recently.

Said Ryan: "A bunch of people have started golfing."

A lot of them happen to be young people.

"We've seen at our place," said Litzelfelner, "a lot more younger people getting involved in golf this year more dramatically than any other year we've been open. You can call it `Tiger-mania' if you want, but that's what's doing it."

Golf certainly isn't just for the older generation anymore and its new-found popularity is also turning it into a mainstream sport among the younger generation.

"There was a day when, if a kid played golf, he was kind of considered a pansy," Litzelfelner said with a grin. "Now its just the opposite. It has become more accepted and (the young golfers) are being more looked up to."

Adam and Ryan both play other sports, but enjoy the individual aspect of golf best. During the summer, they play everyday and enter about 12 tournaments. During the winter, they play about twice a week.

"There's a lot of competition," said Ryan, who finished one stroke out of first place last week in the boys 15-16 age division. "You have to work at winning."

For some young golfers, the most challenging aspect about the sport is having enough money to play.

"From an affordability standpoint, it's still pretty tough," Litzelfelner said. "Not every young person can play. We have junior rates and we try to encourage young people as much as we can to play, but the cost is still somewhat prohibitive.

"It's not a real inexpensive sport by any stretch of the imagination so we've got some real challenges ahead of us in the industry to make sure that these young people have an opportunity to play golf as much as possible.