Tales of Tannenhauf

Northeast Ohio Junior Golf Championship

              Alliance, Ohio, June 28th, 2021 — Our fourth year in a row out at Tannenhauf. The wonderful staff and fantastic course conditions allow us to keep coming back to this beautiful American style golf course. Let’s see who was able to grab some much-needed double POY points early in the season!

               Round 1 – Saturday, June 26th — Whew, it is June in Ohio. Temperatures were high and the humidity was peaking for out early afternoon rounds. Thankfully a large breeze was blowing through the course to give our players some much needed relief out on the course.

              The Girls 14-19 started off a little rough out at Tannenhauf finding the first hole to be the toughest in Round 1. The first 3 holes out at Tannenhauf are a brutal set. Two Par-5’s and a tough Par-4. Get yourself through these monsters and your day will get much easier as the Round goes. The first hole has large creek running right through the middle of the fairway. A tee shot from the Buckeye-White Tees of 200 yards is the perfect landing spot for this long Par-5. Any further or shorter than that will make for a tough go into the green. A simple double bogey on the hole was a fine score on this brutal hole in Round 1. Hole-7 was the easiest hole for the Girls in Round 1. This is a straight forward hole that only sits at 296-yards. There is a large dip right before the green so make sure you take that into account on your approach. Halle Ellis from Uniontown, OH helped herself to the top of the Leaderboard at the end of Round 1 by Birdieing this hole. She was followed closely behind my Grace Prentiss from Wadsworth, OH.
The Boys were also struggling coming out of the gates having just as much trouble with Hole-1. Pars from Ethan Rice from Connellsville, PA and Shiv Bhaskar from Falls Church, VA led the Division. The Boys started off the Back-9 on a hot note, however, playing Hole-10 the best in Round 1. Hole-10 resembles Hole-1 with the large dip and the it being long Par-5. However, the creek does not really come into play, so just grip it and rip it down the fairway. Ethan Rice continued his strong performance with a Birdie on the hole which helped him to the top of the leaderboard after Round 1. Shiv Bhaskar followed closely behind Ethan starting Round 2, 2 shots back.

               Round 2 – Sunday, June 27th – Once again it was extremely hot and humid with large wind gusts coming in. Thankfully, we started with early tee times so the heat was not as much of a factor.

          The Girls were once again struggling to deal with Hole-1. This hole was a bear all weekend for everyone. Halle Ellis was the only one able to conquer this hole and continue her strong play with a Par. Hole-15 played the easiest for the Girls in Round 2. This is an extremely easy hole, ranking in at 3rd-easiest on the entire course. The extreme downhill play is the real difficulty. Sitting at just 103-yards a ¾ swing with a pitching wedge with good accuracy will sit you nicely on the green. Kavya Chada from Hinckley, OH and Campbell Young from North Canton, OH had the short game working both picking up Birdies. Halle Ellis was just too strong in the tournament to overcome and came in as our Champion. Halle put together the flush and led the Girls in every major statistical category. Congratulations on your Championship finish in your first ever BJGT tournament Halle! Grace Prentiss came in as our Runner-Up. Grace was consistent as usual and her Bogey Free Streak on the final 4-holes in Round 1 gave her the chance to challenge Halle in Round 2. Congratulations on a great tournament Grace!
Hole-9 proved to be the most difficult for the Boys in Round 2. This hole has a slight dog leg to it which adds some distance. There is also a large hole at the front of the green and the back left that can make it much harder. Concentrating on accuracy and distance is a tough ask from any player but Ethan Rice continued his stellar performance by being the only player to Par the hole in Round 2. The Boys finished the 36th-hole of the tournament very strong. This is a tough 412-yard, Par-4. That same pesky creek from Hole-1 shows its face again and you want to make sure you land over the hill on your drive to have a clear shot into the green. Gavin Batdorff from Berlin Center, OH played the hole to perfection and earned himself a well-deserved Birdie. We want to wish Gavin the best of luck as he continues his golf and academic career at Westminster College next season. Ethan Rice had just a fantastic tournament. Leading his division in Pars (20) is a great way to move up the leaderboard in any BJGT. Ethan also took advantage of the easy Par-3’s out at Tannenhauf leading his division on those holes, as well. Congratulations on your Champion finish in your first BJGT tournament Ethan. Shiv Bhaskar came in as our Runner-Up to continue his run of strong performances in BJGT tournaments recently. Shiv played the much easier Back-9 the best in his division. Shiv also went on a Bogey free streak of 4 in holes in the middle of Round 1 to keep the pressure on Ethan. Congratulations on another great tournament Shiv! 

                 Another year out at Tannenhauf. We have been coming to this course since our first year of the tour in 2018. The wonderful staff out at Tannenhauf make you want to keep coming back. We want to thank all of parents, players and spectators for joining us at the tournament. Now for the big one. BJGT’s Tour Championship at Penn State Golf Course-Blue is our next event on July 10th-11th. This tournament will offer AJGA PBE Stars, Taylormade Gift Cards to our winners and runner-up’s, fittings from Taylormade professional staff, tons of college coaches and Taylormade golf balls to all of our players. We hope that you can all make it out to this great tournament!