The Texas Junior Golf Tour and Mr. Robert Valero, Executive Director of the Texas Junior Masters, Junior Links Open, Texas/Mexico Cup & the Junior Mini Tour are excited to announce a merger to provide more opportunities for juniors golfers across the Texas and surrounding states.
Mr. Valero states, “ After careful evaluation of the various junior tours, the TJGT continues to set itself apart from all the others, second only to the AJGA. Its vision of providing national exposure and educating parents & players on elite junior golf is second to none. Their leadership consists of individuals who have experienced for themselves every level of junior golf and collegiate golf, as well as coaching experience at the high school & collegiate level. I feel the TJGT brings the best opportunity and overall value for all the players and parents. Their relationship with Nike, Golfweek, Junior Golf Scoreboard, high school golf coaches and the AJGA cannot be matched. I am excited about handing over some great events into their care.”
TJGT President, Dave Jones and TJGT VP, Coach Lynn Monzingo stated, “ It is an honor to team with Robert Valero and absorb his prestigious events and the Junior Mini-Tour into the TJGT family. We welcome the opportunity to grow each event and are very excited to have the Junior Mini-Tour players experience the opportunity to participate in the New TJGT Elite-Mini Tour for ages 8-13. Our vision to educate parents earlier on elite junior golf, due to the fact that NCAA recruiting has moved focus to junior golfers at an earlier age, is essential in helping players and parents realize their dream of obtaining a college golf scholarship.
About the TJGT Elite Mini-Tour:
The new Elite Mini Tour was developed as a result of the experiences of the TJGT Board of Directors, staff and Mr. Robert Valero. The purpose of the Elite Mini Tour is to provide high-quality and competitive nationally ranked golf tournaments that allow above average-to-excellent skill level juniors to display and develop their talent in preparation to play the stronger nationally ranked events on the TJGT, AJGA, and USGA.
This will allow players to start playing the AJGA earlier with greater knowledge of the AJGA Performance Based Entry System (PBE). The Elite Mini tour will conduct 36 & 54-hole events for boys and girls ages 8-13 in the following divisions, 8-9, 10-11, 12-13. This allows players to enter the rankings earlier and learn valuable information about navigating the TJGT and AJGA systems.
The Elite Mini-Tour is NOT for the developmental junior. Boys not able to score 92 or better and girls that cannot shoot 94 or better with caddies and without shot limits should hone their skills on tours designed to help player get started. Once the player can consistently shoot the target scores or better, then the Elite Mini-Tour is the place to play.
The Elite Mini tour is also in place to inform and educate parents and players on the road to college golf. This includes extensive discussions on the AJGA PBE process, Golfweek rankings, Jr. Golf Scoreboard rankings, NCAA recruiting process, tournament scheduling and preparation from parents of current and former AJGA players as well as collegiate golfers. TJGT’s staff of high school coaches, former college coaches and board of directors will offer years of experience with their own children and High School players that can save parents hours of research and resources while preparing to play elite junior golf and eventually compete for college golf scholarships. There is absolutely no substitute when navigating junior golf by learning from parents of juniors who have played all levels and experienced the collegiate recruiting process.
For more information and the complete Elite Mini-Tour schedule click on the Elite Min-Tour tab on wwwt.tjgt.com.
