The eyes of the high school golf community will be on the Foothills next week.
The Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association Golf Provincial Championships swing into the area with the Oilfields Drillers playing host to the event at the picturesque Turner Valley Golf Club and Highwood Golf Course on Sept. 26-27.
“It’s great for our kids,” said Leigh Bretzlaff, athletic director at Oilfields and provincial chair.
“I just think it’s great for the community, you bring people to the community, to the school and it brings excitement. We’re proud of our school, proud of our communities and we’re grateful to be able to have the opportunity to do that.”
Organizers are expecting upwards of 110 male and 70 female athletes to take part in the provincial championships.
The Drillers will have five athletes in the field of competitors: Grade 12s Jaedon Bretzlaff, Jordan Fenton, Caleb Wintemute and Mikayla Brown along with Grade 11 Ryder Anderson.
“It’s super exciting,” Jaedon said. “It’s a super cool experience and I’m definitely excited to get to play at a course I’ve been around my whole life and with lots of friends I’ve been golfing with my whole life.
“It will be pretty exciting to see how we can do there.”
The provincial event will feature both courses for all competitors as the girls have a first round at Highwood and close the event the next day at Turner Valley with the boys doing the reverse.
“You want to bring people to the community and both are beautiful courses and our area is gorgeous,” Bretzlaff said. “You want to bring people here from across Alberta because lots of kids have never been to this area.”
Jaedon, part of the grounds crew at Turner Valley who plays the course four times per week on average, knows the 18 holes inside and out and has a bit of experience with the High River loop as well.
“This (Turner Valley) course I definitely have to play a lot smarter and keep the ball in the fairway and make sure not to have any mishits because I will lose the ball in trees if I do,” Jaedon said. “The greens are also smaller here so you’ve got to be more accurate with the shots, but I know the greens here a lot better and where they break so I should be putting less on this course.
“At Highwood, it’s pretty open for the most part so you can really give it your all when you’re swinging and try to get tight at pins. You have more room for error there, then again I don’t know the greens there as much.”
Oilfields was set to host the 2021 event last September before it was postponed to the spring due to pandemic measures.
It’s a team effort behind the scenes to get to the finish line with Bretzlaff crediting the head professionals at both courses in Cory Seaman, J.D. Scheller and Dan Warwaruk along with a litany of sponsors from local businesses, community members and volunteers, many of whom are club members at both courses.
The Highwood Mustangs athletics staff is also playing a large role in putting on the event at the High River course.
“It’s been busy,” Bretzlaff said. “Really without their sponsorship of people going, ‘I’m willing to help and donate to the provincial championships’ we couldn’t do what we’re going to do.”
For more information on the event, go to asaa.ca/championships.
