Dear New RDGA Junior Golfers and Parents,

Being new to RDGA events can be a bit confusing as there are procedures which you may be unfamiliar with.  Following are a few topics which we find new participants have questions about.  Entry forms, Divisions, Age Groups, Eligibility, and Prizes are all addressed below.  Please take the time to look over our policies regarding these and other topics and feel free to call the RDGA office with any questions or concerns at (585) 292-5950. 

Registration: Registration for RDGA events may be made by ON-LINE application only, at RDGA.org.  NOTE: Your registration will be acknowledged promptly, but you are not entered in the tournament until you receive specific confirmation of your entry by return e-mail after registration is closed. Your entry fee will not be collected unless your entry is confirmed. (Register)

Age-Based Groups: The RDGA events are broken down into different groups based on age and gender,  Juniors (Ages 15 – 17), Sub Juniors (Ages 12 – 14), and Pee Wees (Ages 11 and under).  Children will compete only against others who are in the same age and gender category as themselves. 

Divisions: The groups are further broken down into divisions based on geographic (East & West) location.  Classic Medal Divisions are typically determined by the club at which you are a member. (See attached list of clubs and their respective (East & West) divisions).  For the RDGA Future’s club members, it is up to each family to decide which division is closest and most convenient.  Whichever division you choose to participate in, however, you must remain in that division for the entire tournament season. You may not play in both divisions.  Please pay careful attention to ages and divisions on the entry forms because they have different dates and courses. 

Low Girl Participation: If we have more girls at one site than another, we may relocate all of the girls to one place.  This may, in turn, change the date and location of the event for some girls who were registered in another division.  If this is a problem for anyone, please feel free to voice your concern and we will see if other options are available.  One objective of the Futures program is increase the girls involved so that we can avoid problems of low numbers and site changes. 

Eligibility:

• All Future’s members are automatically eligible to participate in the Classic Medals, Qualifiers, & Junior/Adult tournament without need for qualification or invitation. For the other tournaments, you must qualify or be invited based on the number of points you accumulate throughout the season.  Points are determined by your ranking at each of the RDGA Classic Medal Tournaments, New York State Golf Association (NYSGA) Tournaments, American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) Tournaments, Western New York PGA Junior (WNYPGA) Tournaments, and USGA Tournaments throughout the season. 
• Due to the small number of girls we have participating each year, girls are not required to qualify for the Championship.  They must simply submit an entry form and they are automatically entered in the Match Play Championship.  The number of girls we have playing in the Match Play Championship determines the number of days they will play.

Prizes:  Prizes will be distributed at each event within the divisions and age groups.  They are based on the lowest stroke play score.  The number of prizes at each tournament depends on the number of players in the field.  The prizes typically consist of gift certificates to the host club’s golf shop or similar rewards of that manner. 

We know this may be a lot of information for anyone new to the RDGA Junior Golf Program. We understand there will be plenty of questions.  Please, feel free to contact either of us at any time and we will be happy to assist you in preparation for the upcoming tournament season! 

We look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Mike Sorce                                                      Fred Lapple
RDGA Junior Chairman                                     RDGA Assistant Junior Chairman                                   
Email - MikeSorce@rdga.org                             Email – FredLapple@rdga.org
Cell Phone– (585) 350-5717                              Cell Phone - (585) 269-1584
RDGA Office – (585) 292-5950                          RDGA Office – (585) 292-5950