Brad Haynes, General Manager at Zoar Village Golf Course in Tuscarawas County, began a series of competitive tournaments for the region last year with great success.
He brings those events back again this year, plus adds a couple of brand new ones: the Zoar Memorial and the Tuscarawas County Senior Amateur Championship.
Northeast Ohio Golf talked with Brad about his first season and his expectations for 2015:
Brad Haynes: I gotta tell you Allen, when the weather co-operated, we were busy. That first quarter plus the rain in April and May were troublesome, but all in all we finished up pretty good.
NEOHgolf.com: What are you seeing at your course?
BH: A lot of seniors! They have the time and finances to afford it. We have some very aggressive hotels that book a good number of packages too. The one demographic I focused on was the lady golfer. The pro shop staff says we are succeeding too. That’s a growing market and Zoar has friendly forward tees so we’re seeing a nice increase there.
NEOHgolf.com: You had a nice run at River Greens Golf Course with a number of popular tournaments. Talk about doing the same thing at Zoar.
BH: Thanks, yes 15 years at River Greens. Everyone should be as fortunate as I have been. To have worked for George and Doug Davis was a treat. They allowed me to be pretty creative with tournaments and dream big, so I did. I started the 54 hole Eastern Ohio Amateur, The Powerade Fall Collegiate, we hosted the NCAA Division II Super-regional, and the National Christian College Association National Championship. Tournament golf was one thing my new bosses wanted, and we had pretty good first year.
NEOHgolf.com: Tell us about your schedule at Zoar.
BH: Well, along with the two man scrambles, we have the Zoar 2 by 4. The format is two, 2-man scramble teams using the better score on each hole. But all red numbers count! So if both teams birdie, then you are two under on that hole. It was met with great favor and the guys are already talking about it. It’s the only tournament that we promote “how low can you go?” For the other tournaments, I set the course so par is a premium.
This year for the first time we’ll have The Zoar Memorial on Memorial Day weekend for the accomplished amateur and a one day Tuscarawas Senior Amateur in June.
NEOHgolf.com: Have you finalized all of your dates?
BH: Yes, and I’m sure it will be on your website. Or players can find them on ours at zoarvillagegolf.com. Or call me and I’ll mail it.
NEOHgolf.com: How were the tournament-day golf course conditions last year?
BH: Well, as you know Allen, part of the successful equation is having a very, very good Superintendent and Zoar has that in Eric Crone. I’ll put our greens up against anyone’s. He’s a good player too. I kinda wonder how good he could be if he didn’t work so much.
NEOHgolf.com: It’s pretty obvious you love running this stuff.
BH: Yea, I love tournament golf and really enjoy seeing the best compete. It makes the long hours worth it. So this is an open invitation to all to come down and check us out. And thanks for promoting these events, Al…
(Brad Haynes is the General Manager at Zoar Village Golf Course in Northern Tuscarawas County. He can be reached at 330-874-4653 and brad@zoarvillagegolf.com)
