By STEVE HUFFMAN

Only a freshman at Western Alamance High School, Justin Newton showed some pretty remarkable poise in May while competing in the state 2-A golf championship at Chapel Hill's Finley Golf Course.

Newton, just 15, fired rounds of 74 and 72 to lead the Warriors to the state 2-A team championship. As an individual, Justin's score was good enough to land him a fourth-place finish in the tournament in which he was one of the youngest participants.

Justin admitted he was a bit nervous about participating in the tournament, though he said he didn't have nearly as bad a case of butterflies as he'd have had were it not for his experience on the Triad Golf Today Junior Tour.

The son of Dennis and Beth Newton, Justin has been playing on the tour since he was 10. He claimed his first points championship on the tour when he was just 11.

"It helps with the pressure and all," Justin said of the experience he gets playing on the tour. "Every tournament you play in, there's going to be pressure. But once you get used to it, it's not nearly as bad."

Justin is one of the many success stories involving young people who have played, or who are currently playing, on the Triad Golf Today Junior Tour. Wendell Welch, the tour's director, said that anywhere from 600 to 800 young people through the age of 18 who have participated in the tour since it was founded six years ago.

The tour is divided into flights, with junior golfers as young as 7 competing against participants of their own age group. Participants play a number of golf courses throughout the Triad and beyond.

Welch reeled off the names of numerous former participants – Jason Harris, James Stewart, Derek Brown, Kelli Bailey and Josh Shoaf, to name but a few – who have gone from the tour to collegiate golf.

"But the best thing about the tour might be the friends they make," Welch said of participants. "They make good friends and their parents make good friends. I think it's helped bring a lot of people together."

Welch founded the Guilford County Junior Tarheel Golf Tour. Welch said he founded the tour because his son, Ryan, now 19, was looking for tournaments he could play in as junior.

"There was almost nothing in North Carolina for him," Welch said. "There was no way for these young people to hone their games."

About the same time several Triad area junior golf advocates, Jimmy Sowers at Pine Knolls, Mebane Ham at Stoney Creek, LPGA teaching professional Andree Martin and Jay Allred at Triad Golf Today met to discuss the need for a Triad wide junior golf program to develop junior golfers.

"We knew this area had many interested kids and courses but there was no organization for kids to play competitive golf," stated Jay Allred. "We met and laid out what we thought would be good for the kids. Several meetings later we were trying to come up with a tournament director. We didn't want to step on what Wendell was doing so we asked him if he would be willing to head up the tour. Needless to say he took the ball and ran with it. All he needed us to do was get out of his way. He has done a great job with the tour and probably doesn't get enough thanks."

After a year, the tour was also changed from a primarily summer-only happening to a year-round event.

Welch said he was surprised from the outset at the positive reception the tour received, and said it's grown larger than he dared imagine.

"I'm proud of the number of kids who we've helped develop their golf skills," Welch said. "Playing on the tour helps them with their nerves."

But Welch is quick to point out that the event does more than just help young people knock a few strokes off their golf scores. The tour, he said, also helps boost the confidence of young people who participate and might even help them land college scholarships.

"We do a lot more than just put on a tour," Welch said. "We promote our players to college coaches. We try and let the coaches know the type talent we have on the tour."

Welch said he feels he's a got a number of tour participants who have the ability to earn a living playing golf.

"We've got some who could (go on to play professional golf)," Welch said. "The secret is to keep them from losing that desire. A lot of people come into the sport with pretty much equal talent. You've got to keep them hungry, make them want to make it as a professional golfer."

It's far too early to know if Nathan Spoon will pursue a career as a professional golfer, but thus far, it appears as though the rising freshman at Southern Alamance High is following a path that could lead him in that direction.

Nathan, just 14, is currently leading the tour's 14-to-18 age bracket by a whopping 75 points. Nathan said this is the first year he's been able to participate in the tour year-round, and said he plans to walk away with its points championship.

"It's helped me a lot by giving me experience," Nathan said of his participation in tour events. "If I make the state (tournament) next year, I'm sure this will have helped me in a great many ways I can't even imagine right now."

Nathan said his low round to date was a 63 he fired at Graham's Southwick Golf Course. Though the round, which included a trio of eagles, wasn't part of the Triad Golf Today Junior Tour, but he said that without the experience he ascertained from the tour, he'd never have been able to fire such a low round.

"Plus, we're all good friends out here," Nathan said of tour participants.

"They've got a good group who plays in the tournaments."