Competing on Junior Golf's Greatest Stage

Setting yourself up for a summer of success on the American Junior Golf Association circuit requires attentive planning and organizing. Building your schedule relies on multiple factors – and getting ahead of the curve can be helpful. The first factor is the amount of AJGA PBE Status a player holds when applying to gain entry into AJGA tournaments. The second factor is the amount of time players are available in the summer months to compete – and using that time to its fullest potential. The third factor is what schools, conferences, or locations are players looking to pursue in terms of playing college golf.

The AJGA’s summer schedule features 72 tournaments across the U.S. These tournaments are classified as Open level, Junior All-Star level, or Invitational level. Open level tournaments are standard level events. The AJGA Junior All-Star Series is a collection of events specifically designed for boys and girls age 12-15 years old. The competition provides an opportunity for younger members to develop their skills and build Performance Based Entry status to earn entry into Open tournaments. Top-5 finishes for Boys and Top-3 finishes for Girls in Open Level tournaments awards Fully Exempt AJGA Status while Champions earn 12 stars in Junior All-Star series events (top-5 earn 8 stars for Boys and top-3 earn 8 stars for Girls). Players may compete in a maximum of 5 events in a year (excluding invitationals), and are limited to competing in 4 Junior All-Star series events.

A good measure for determining potential coaches in attendance and potential AJGA PBE Status required to gain entry into events is to view previous year’s information. By looking at the tournament microsite from last season – The Killington Junior Golf Championship required a status of 8 or more Performance Stars to gain entry, and 5 players gained entry via PBE tiebreakers. The Girls tournament field required a status of 7 Performance Stars or more to gain entry. Coaches in attendance last season included Boston College (Men’s and Women’s), Colgate University (Men’s), Columbia University (Men’s and Women’s), Harvard University (Men’s and Women’s), Holy Cross College (Men’s), Penn State University (Men’s), U.S. Military Academy (Army) (Men’s), University of Connecticut (Men’s), Quinnipiac University (Women’s) Rutgers, the State University of N.J. (Women’s) Williams College (Women’s).

For reference to how much AJGA PBE Status is required to gain entry into Junior All-Star events, the event requiring the least amount of Performance Stars to gain entry into in 2018 was the AJGA Junior All-Star at Butte Creek in which all players who applied gained entry into the event. The tournament requiring the highest level of AJGA PBE Status to gain entry was the AJGA Junior All-Star at Wood Ranch. The Boys tournament field required 6 Performance Stars to gain entry while the Girls tournament field required 9 performance stars, and one player gained entry with 8 Performance Stars via PBE tiebreakers.

In terms of Open Level tournaments, one of the events requiring the least amount of Performance Stars to gain entry was the Circle K Junior Championship hosted by Otter Creek. The Boys initial tournament field required 6 Performance Stars to gain entry while the Girls initial tournament field required only 4 Performance Stars. The tournament requiring the highest level of AJGA PBE Status to gain entry was the Under Armour® / Jordan Spieth Championship presented by American Campus Communities. The Boys tournament field required 62 Performance Stars to gain entry while the Girls tournament field required 30 performance stars.

Do your research, apply to the events that will be best for you, and most importantly, have fun competing on junior golf’s greatest stage.

To visit the AJGA, click here.