Unique Events: Preseason Invitational Provides Tennessee Golfers a Head Start to Season

In Tennessee, one of the top high school golf events of the year is a scrimmage that takes place before the first bell of the school year even rings.

For the past five years, Happy Valley High School in Elizabethton has hosted the 1913 Invitational at Johnson City Country Club, bringing together some of the state's top golfers for an exhibition to tee-off the high school golf season.

While technically a scrimmage, the event has quickly developed a reputation for attracting an elite field. Happy Valley head coach Gene Renfro said golfers have traveled as far as five hours to participate, and typically 20 to 30 percent of the field goes on to qualify for Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association tournaments in October and November.

The invitational is also unique for another reason: Boys and girls compete together. Since both seasons take place in the fall, the event allows coaches to enter teams with any combination of boys and girls. Renfro said one team, for example, entered six boys and four girls, while another had an all-boys lineup during this year’s event in July, which attracted 14 teams and more than 100 golfers.

Since the event doesn’t count on a team’s record, it also gives coaches an early opportunity to experiment with lineups and evaluate their rosters before the season officially begins.

Renfro said the idea for the invitational came from a desire to bring an elite-level event to the Johnson City area. Hosting it at Johnson City Country Club, Tennessee's last operating A.W. Tillinghast-designed course, adds another element to the event. Tillinghast courses, such as Bethpage State Park Golf Course in New York, are known for rewarding thoughtful shot placement and punishing golfers who don’t carefully consider their angles into greens.

Coaches from across the state have embraced the invite’s concept. The tournament now maintains a waitlist of teams hoping to participate each year.

Reid Burton, head coach of the boys and girls golf teams at Dobyns-Bennett High School, said the invitational provides an ideal way for his players and coaches to shake off the "early-season jitters" while also helping him determine his lineups.

"It's a great event because it's highly competitive," Burton said. "You get to see a lot of schools that you don't get to see throughout the season. But it's also a preseason tournament that we aren't 'playing for anything,' so that takes a little pressure off."

Austin White, coach at Powell High School, said the invitational provides his teams with a similar opportunity.

"The primary reason I take my team to the invitational is because I want our kids to get out of Knoxville and play in a high-level tournament before the season starts," he said. "It allows us the opportunity to reward kids who have been practicing during the offseason, get them a little uncomfortable to see how they respond at a new course and get to compete with different schools they normally wouldn't play against."

White also appreciates the combination of competition, affordability and variety the event provides.

"You get a nice blend of the cost being lower than the entry fee locally, you're playing against teams and individuals who have been sending kids to the state tournament annually, and the event is pulling schools across the map of Tennessee."

With interest continuing to rise, the 1913 Invitational could continue to serve as a premier high school golf event in the Volunteer State for years to come.