Local Golf Report: Rotary week at Prairie Farms

With the Fourth of July falling right in the middle of the week, competitive golf took a backseat to the holiday last week.

Though local courses were booked solid with golfers, families and plenty of fun in the sun last week, men’s and women’s leagues took the week off, and will resume starting tonight at Prairie Farms.

The local tournament scene also took a week off, but that will get right back into the swing of things Sunday at Prairie Farms as the annual Rotary Blast Tournament will be held. The Rotary Blast, which took over the old Burrito Blast some years back, is a two-person, 18-hole modified stableford tournament. The tourney is one of the few nonscrambles around the local golf tournament scene right now, and it’s an exciting format.

For those who aren’t familiar with the format, the system essentially counts up instead of down. Bogeys, pars, birdies and eagles and better are all worth points, while doubles and worse get you no points. Players also start out a certain number of points to the minus based on their handicap, so the idea is, to make up that number of points in as few holes as possible, then start to pile up the points to the plus side. The team with the highest number of points wins the gross portion of the tournament.

Up until 2006, the PGA Tour actually had a modified stableford stop on its schedule, with the International at Castle Rock, Colo. That tournament went away, however, but just this summer, the scoring format will return to the PGA Tour as the Reno-Tahoe Open has adopted the format. The pros play it a tad different, though, as bogeys cause players to lose a point, while a double bogey or worse will cost the pros three points. The system is also used at Reno-Tahoe for the infamous American Century Celebrity Golf Championship each year, the tournament which features some of the top non-professional golfers around, mostly professional athletes, movie stars and politicians.

Teams can still sign up for the Rotary Blast tournament by calling the Pro Shop at Prairie Farms.

It’s also a very busy week for the Rotary Club out at Prairie Farms. Starting today, the annual Rotary Golf Camp will be held, and for someone who really hopes to see further growth in the youth golf movement in Havre, I am really proud of the folks who put this camp on. It’s become very popular over the years, and is a great starting point for beginners, as well as a great way for more-advanced youth golfers to learn even more about the game.

The Rotary Golf Camp is really the first golf event geared towards the youth golfers in our community since the Taco Johns Youth Tour disbanded. That event was a great way for kids to play golf, and the Rotary Golf Camp is furthering youth golf now, and it’s really exciting to see.

Prairie Farms Men's League Standings

Tuesday night

1. Bing ‘N’ Bob’s 43.5; 2. Wagner Plumbing 42; 3. Stockman Bank 39; 4. Northern Edge 37.5; 5. Prairie Farms 37.5; 6. Tilleman Motors 36.5; 7. Hole 19 36; 8. Hi-Line Drilling 36; 9. Korb Construction 34; 10. Spencer’s Hi-Way Bar 33.5; 11. Rock Solid 33.5; 12. Bosch, Kuhr, Dugdale, 32.5; 13. Patrick Construction 31; 14. Schubert Insurance 26.5; 15. Havre Muffler 26.

Wednesday Night

1. Valley Furniture 60.5 ; 2. Havre Ford 56.5; 3. Master Sports 55.5; 4. Taco Johns 55.5; 5. Michelob Light 55.5; 6. Bear Paw Credit Union 54.5; 7. Waddell & Reed 54.5 ; 8. D.A. Davison 54; 9. Mariani Insurance 54; 10. Hi-Line Audio Video 51.5; 11. Independence Bank 50; 12. Property West 47.5.