Do you want symbolism? Just look at the trophy.
The Ralph Pool Memorial Trophy is the perpetual cup honoring the winner of the Volusia County Amateur Golf Championship each year since 1992.
One of the four golf figures on the corners of the base is missing, but stored safely inside the cup. The names of winners from recent years are also missing. A good varnish could also be helpful.
It’s a mess.
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And while the real Volusia County Amateur isn’t a mess, it’s not quite what it once was. And according to the people who care, that’s a far cry from what it could be.
“I think most places where golf is played, the County Am is a big thing and it attracts a lot of good players,” says Ethan Wagner, the 2011 champion.
This year’s edition will take place next Saturday and Sunday (October 12-13) at Venetian Bay in New Smyrna Beach. Host professional Ben Herring is managing the tournament for the second year in a row and is one of the tournament’s local advocates. He knows what a County Am should be.
“For sure. That’s how you get your amateur golfers, your junior golfers and your high school golfers excited about competing at a higher level,” he says. “If you win the amateur championship of your county, that has weight.”
Herring expects around 80 competitors this week in a tournament featuring three divisions: Championship, Senior (55+) and Super Senior (65+). That would match last year’s number, but still well short of the 120 or so entries the County Am has regularly attracted in previous years.
A timing dilemma
Over the years, the County Am was almost always a summer event. Although summer golf in this region presents its climatic challenges, it is a time of year when golf courses – particularly high-end private clubs such as Sugar Mill (New Smyrna Beach) and Plantation Bay (Ormond Beach) – are ready and even eager to open their doors to an outdoor event.
It’s their off season, so they have a weekend of work while many of the competing golfers get to play a quality course that they probably don’t get to play very often.
“It’s really helpful to be able to play a course you wouldn’t normally play,” says 2006 champion Kevin Aylwin.
The problem is that most courses are not at their best in the summer. And of course, there’s summer weather, which can often alter plans to play a 36-hole golf tournament over two days.
However, October is generally a great time for classes in Florida.
“When you do it in the summer, you avoid storms, you avoid aeration. The courses are not always at their best,” Herring says. “But by pushing it back to October, you’re almost guaranteed that the weather will be better and the golf course will be absolutely at its best for the winter.”
You also take a course over a weekend before peak season picks up in November and December and before the snowbird invasion from January to March.
But yes, there is also a downside to this.
“Some of the students I know who go to college can’t come back here and play a tournament during their season,” Aylwin says. “So you’re going to miss the college kids if we don’t play when they can play. If you are while trying Missing them is okay too. But you won’t get player quality.
The list of past winners includes many golfers who won while competing at local high schools or at the college level.
“A lot of guys played golf in high school, junior high and college,” says Wagner, who was 16 when he won his County Am. “Everyone played it growing up. It was always something we played.
Wanted: A leader with the help of the club
Local car dealer Roger Dean, a familiar face for years on the local golf scene, was a pair of boots on the ground when Craig Connors launched the modern County Am in the early ’90s. After a few years, Dean took in charge of promoting the tournament, while participating in it every year, and benefited for a few years from the help of Randy Helle, the 2005 winner.
“At its peak, Roger and Randy had a very positive impact on and fueled the event. It was considered one of the biggest events,” says Derek Morrison, who served as professional host at County Am at Plantation Bay and later at Sugar Mill, where he is the longtime club professional. “With their departure, it created a void.”
“It’s more work than people think,” Dean says. “We went looking for sponsors. Flyers printed and posted in all local clubs. I would have guys coming to the dealership to pay their entry fee. I’ve been doing it for at least 10 years, probably longer, and it’s a lot of work.
So the current goal seems to be to find another Roger Dean, as each year’s professional host has enough on his plate without taking on the responsibility of promoting and organizing an annual event.
“This is what needs to happen. The tournament needs a leader, or a female, amateur golfer from the area, to organize it,” says Rod Perry, whose Crane Lakes club in Port Orange hosted the County Am three years ago. (By the way, Rod’s brother Brian won the County Am in 1996.)
“A lot of us would help support it if someone spearheaded it,” Herring says. “Obviously, we’re all very busy. But if we had someone to advocate for him, we could get him back to where he was at one point, and maybe go a lot further.”
Tyler Gulliksen, 2010 champion and currently among the top-ranked amateurs in the state, is a recent retiree from the U.S. Navy (and former Mainland High and Naval Academy golfer) who wants to be part of the County’s needed improvements Am.
“It’s going to take someone to manage this,” he said. “But it takes more than that. All the clubs in the neighborhood need to get involved. I would love to be involved in this.
Roger Dean agrees with the hope of a group effort approach.
“It would be nice to have a nice County Am again,” he said. “You might have to go to a sugar mill or Plantation Bay to attract players. This might take a high-end position that they can’t access easily. That would draw a better crowd, I think.
“But someone has to come out and promote it.”
And along the way, upgrade this trophy.
Past winners
Annual winner and host club of the Volusia County Amateur:
1992: Bill Bailey, Riviera Golf Club
1993: Jason Pientka, DeBary Golf Club
1994: Ken Staton, Cypress Head
1995: Daniel Hunter, Plantation Bay
1996: Brian Perry, Deltona Hills
1997: Eric Labitzke, Pelican Bay
1998: Brad Schwartz, Plantation Bay
1999: Daniel Hunter, DeBary Golf Club
2000: Johnny Thompson, LPGA International
2001: Brad Schwartz, LPGA International
2002: Eric Labitzke, Sugar Mill
2003: Rick Scott, LPGA International
2004: Daniel Venema, Victoria Hills
2005: Randy Helle, Plantation Bay
2006: Kevin Aylwin, Cypress Head
2007: JC Horne, Plantation Bay
2008: Wesley Graham, Plantation Bay
2009: JC Horne, Sugar Mill
2010: Tyler Gulliksen, sugar mill
2011: Ethan Wagner, Plantation Bay
2012: Don Bell, Plantation Bay
2013: Shane White, Plantation Bay
2014: No tournament
2015: Zach Horne, Crane Lakes
2016: Michael Saccente, sugar mill
2017: Brad Schwartz, sugar mill
2018: Michael Saccente, Crane Lakes
2019: Ryan Anderson, French Riviera
2020: no tournament
2021: Ian Ball, Crane Lakes
2022: Derek Sanderson, Spruce Creek
2023: Bo Howard, Venetian Bay
Would you like to play ?
Registration for the 2024 Volusia County Amateur continues through Wednesday this week. Here are the details:
Host club: Venetian Bay in New Smyrna Beach.
Dates: Saturday-Sunday October 12-13.
Cost: $150.
Format: 36 holes, Stroke Play, no handicap used.
Divisions: Championship (for the overall county championship), Senior (55 and over), Super Senior (65 and over).
How to participate: Call Venetian Bay at 386.424.5775, ext. 21. 1.
Also: All competitors must be residents of Volusia County. Senior golfers may choose to play in the Championship division. The registration fee covers the Sunday post-round lunch and awards ceremony in the clubhouse.
This article originally appeared in the Daytona Beach News-Journal: Volusia County Amateur Golf Championship Approaches; help wanted
