Golf tour lands in area

The Golf Channel Amateur Tour has landed in Spokane, giving local golfers a chance to play some of the region’s finest courses while attempting to qualify for the cable network’s national championship, Sept. 21-27 in La Quinta, Calif.

“It’s a chance to play in a competitive environment and have a professional-type tour experience,” said Charles Brant, director of The Spokane Tour, which will kick off its inaugural season with the first of 11 scheduled events at the Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Club on April 11.

Brant, a private contractor who will pay the Golf Channel a per-player fee to publicize, organize and operate events under its name, is a retired Coast Guard veteran who played on the Austin/San Antonio Tour and qualified for the National Championship two years ago while living in Texas.

The 44-year-old Brant, a scratch golfer, moved to Spokane with his wife, Jyll, in January 2008 and began lobbying the Golf Channel for the chance to start a local tour event. He got permission to do so in February, and has been scrambling to put together a tournament schedule ever since.

Along with the season-opening event at the Coeur d’Alene Resort, Brant has also scheduled regional tour stops at Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman (May 23) and the Links at Moses Pointe in Moses Lake (June 27), to go along with local tournaments at Prairie Falls GC (April 25), Downriver GG (May 2), Avondale GC (May 16), Hangman Valley GC (June 13), The Fairways at West Terrace (July 11) and Esmeralda GC (July 26).

The Spokane Tour Championship will be Aug. 29 at Circling Raven Golf Club.

The annual fee for membership in the Golf Channel Amateur Tour is $199 and includes a variety of extras, including an Amateur Tour Logo golf shirt and hat, along with a $20 gift card from Callaway Golf, a major sponsor of the nation’s largest amateur tour, which includes 73 sites in the United State and Canada.

After becoming a tour member, golfers are eligible to compete in events at any of those 73 sites by paying a tournament entry fee that varies from course to course.

The entry fee for the opening event of The Spokane Tour at the CdA Resort is $175, while the entry fee for the Downriver event is $100.

“The quality of the course definitely makes a difference,” said Brant, who uses a business model supplied by the Golf Channel that limits what he can charge for entry fees to a certain amount above the course fees he pays out of his pocket.

Each event features gross score competition in six handicap divisions in an open and senior flight, with handicap differentials limited to less than four per division. Brant is also hoping to spark interest in a women’s flight on The Spokane Tour.

“I know there are a lot of women golfers around here, and when I was on the Austin/San Antonio Tour, I noticed it didn’t cater much to the women,” Brant said. “One of my main goals is to get women more involved, because there are a lot of good collegiate golfers, high school golfers and women who just like playing competitively within their own women’s league, no matter what handicap they’re at.”

Each tournament on The Spokane Tour will be a one-day event in which competitors can earn points toward qualifying for the national championship.

“This is a chance to play in a first-rate amateur tour, where you can build points and build friendships while trying to reach regional and national goals,” Brant said. “It’s fun, competitive golf, but it’s not cutthroat. I know all the guys I played with in when I was on the tour were rooting for each other.”

Anyone interested in joining the Golf Channel Tour can go to the Golf Channel’s Web site at www.thegolfchannel.com and follow the “Amateur Tour” link. Once there, a list of tour stops, including The Spokane Tour, can be accessed via a dropdown menu, and individual tournament entries can also be made on line.

Brant said golfers not able to register online can do so at tournament sites, where they can also pay their membership fees to join the Golf Channel Amateur Tour.