By STEVE HUFFMAN

GREENSBORO - Before the summer is through, the Triad Youth Golf Foundation will play a role in introducing golf to more than 500 Triad young people who might not otherwise have had the opportunity.

The TYGF, a nonprofit organization started last May with a $57,000 grant from the U.S. Golf Association, offers young people golf lessons and the chance to play the game.

Many of those young people come from single-family homes and are involved in programs such as Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Many come from backgrounds that might otherwise preclude them from a sport not typically associated with minorities or others in lower-income brackets.

Every junior golfer involved with the TYGF plays for free.

"The majority of our kids would never have gotten to play if we didn't

give them the chance," said Chris Haarlow, the TYGF's vice president. "They love it. They eat the game up."

Though the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro pitched in with a $10,000 grant to the TYGF in December, the organization still needs considerable help from throughout the Triad, Haarlow said.

The Triad Youth Golf Foundation Charity Classic, planned for May 18 at Greensboro National Golf Club, offers the opportunity for people throughout the community to get involved.

The tournament is planned as a fundraiser for the TYGF. It will include the opportunity for participants to make $1 million on a hole-in-one, as well bid on a variety of items through silent and live auctions.

Haarlow said corporate sponsors who can contribute several thousand dollars to the organization are being sought; though individuals can play in the tournament for as little as $200.

Proceeds will be returned to the TYGF.

The tournament format is a "Texas Scramble." All team members will hit their tee shots, and then play from where the best tee shot landed. From there, participants will play their own balls until the ball is holed out. All participants are also invited to a dinner at Top of the Mart in High Point the night prior to the tournament.

Haarlow said this marks the first fund-raising tournament the TYGF has attempted. He said organizers hope for 128 golfers.

"The more I tell people about what we're doing, the better we'll do," Haarlow said. "We'd really like to have the community behind us 100 percent."

Already, the TYGF has accomplished some pretty major things. It offers everything from golf instruction to actual playing rounds for young people.

The TYGF also introduced Little League Golf to Greensboro last year, with 24 competitors involved.

The organization does much of this at a junior friendly golf facility -

the Triad Golf Center on Tolar Road in Greensboro. It also offers a rewards program that instills a sense of accomplishment for the young people involved.

"The continued success of the program will be determined by the support it receives from the community and local corporations," Haarlow said. "The more awareness the Triad Youth Golf Foundation establishes, the more sponsorship can be realized to provide our future leaders and role models with the values embodied by the game of golf."

A pair of other May events are intended to promote awareness of golf and the TYGF. The first of those events is Epochs of Courage and Accomplishment, a traveling exhibit of African-American golf to be exhibited at the library in N.C. A&T State University in Greensboro from mid-April through the end of May.

The other event is a Junior Golf Day to be held at the Triad Golf Center on May 19. Included in that event will be a clinic by LaRee Pearl Sugg, an LPGA pro who is featured in the Epochs of Courage exhibit. Also as part of the days events will be a parent-child tournament, a cookout and a club demonstration.

Individuals interested in playing in or corporations interested in helping sponsor the Triad Youth Golf Foundation Charity Classic are asked to call the TYGF at 336-852-2155.

HIGH POINT - Tim Eller, golf coach at High Point's Wesleyan Christian

Academy, said he was looking at his team this year when something dawned on him.

"I realized, I've got a state-caliber team that will be together for two

years," said Eller, the golf professional at Meadowlands Golf Course who has served as golf coach at Wesleyan for eight years.

Wesleyan, which finished the regular season with a record of 21-8,

finished fourth in the state last year in the 3A ranks of the N.C. Independent School Association. As was the case a year ago, the Independent School Association's state tournament will be played this year at River Run Country Club in Davidson.

From last year's team, Eller has back almost his entire squad, including no. 1 player Matthew Parker, a junior, but an elder statesman as far as the rest of the team is concerned. Rounding out the remainder of Wesleyan's top four golfers are A.J. Eller (Tim's son), a sophomore; Tyler Littman, another sophomore, and David Martin, a freshman. Adam Trask, a sophomore, and Rocky Manning, a junior, will be the no. 5 and no. 6 players for Wesleyan.

Tim Eller said his team's stroke average was 78.95 two years ago. Last year, that average fell to 77.8 strokes. He said he expects this year's team to produce a stroke average of about 75 or 76.

"We may not win every match we play, but we'll have the potential to win every match," Eller said.

He said the key to his team's success and the key to recent improvement in junior golf overall is the number of developmental and junior tournaments available throughout the Triad these days.

"Kids are playing more golf than they've ever played before," Eller said. "It's gotten to the point where the high school spring golf season is just a warm-up for the summer tournaments these kids play on."

He said college coaches typically realize as much.

"Those coaches have gotten to where they look more at the summer

tournaments these kids play in than they do the regular season," Eller said. "The summer tournaments are really more important."

Stoney Creek is playing host to The Golf Channel’s Drive, Chip & Putt Junior Golf Skills Competition April 7 at 9:30 a.m.

The event is open to the first 120 youngsters who are between the ages of 7 and 12. There will be divisions for boys and girls for ages 7-8, 9-10 and 11-12.

Winners at Stoney Creek advance to the next round at Myrtle Beach.

Entry deadline is April 2. Entry forms are available at Stoney Creek.