So you want to get your kid into golf?

The Roanoke Valley Junior Golf Association's 2013 Spring Tour is the immediate solution.

The tour that has produced more than 40 collegiate golfers since it began in 2000 will tee off its season Saturday at Daleville's Ashley Plantation.

This year's program includes new age groups for younger players - boys 6 and under and girls 7 and under. Any boy or girl age 17 and under is eligible for the competition that will play on seven of the next nine weekends - all on Saturday except for a Sunday, April 28, event at Westlake.

The tour championship will be held May 4 at Hunting Hills. Other courses in the rotation include Hanging Rock (March 9), Hidden Valley (March 16), Blacksburg Country Club (March 23), Blue Hills (April 13) and Roanoke Country Club (April 20).

The older age groups - 15-17 and 13-14 - will play 18 holes each event, while the younger divisions for players 12 and under will be nine-hole competitions. The new younger groups each will be five-hole events played at shortened yardage.

The points champion in the boys 15-17 and 13-14 divisions will receive an automatic exemption into the May 17-19 Scott Robertson Memorial, one of the country's top junior golf tournaments played annually at Roanoke Country Club.

The Roanoke Valley Junior Golf Association will sponsor a summer tour for the 15-17 age division that starts May 25 and runs through July 28. Competitors in younger age divisions will be eligible to participate in the U.S. Kids Golf Roanoke Tour.

Parents wanting to register their children in the RVJGA or U.S Kids Tour programs can contact their local PGA professional or by contacting Hunting Hills general manager Tommy Joyce, who serves as tournament director for both tours. More information can be found at www.RVJGA.com and www.USKidsGolf.com. Joyce can be contacted at gm@huntinghillscc.com.

The RVJGA, which currently includes more than 120 members, has added a new summer program that will run from early June to early August that is designed to help hone the games of middle school and high school players (ages 13 and over).

In search of cheap golf?

If that's the case, golfers can't beat the deal being offered once again by the Roanoke Valley Golf Hall of Fame through its twosome player's card.

The 2013-14 HOF Player's Card, which is good for 44 greens fees (two plays per twosome), went on sale for $250 this week. That computes to $5.68 per player per greens fee, plus a $20 course fee at all courses.

Saturday play is available at seven of the 11 participating HOF member clubs. Waterfront, Blacksburg Country Club, Ole Monterey and Botetourt Golf & Swim Club will permit play on weekdays only. The 12th HOF member club, Hanging Rock, chose not to participate this year.

All proceeds from the cards sold go to the Hall of Fame's scholarship program. Last year, the card accounted for 37 of the 49 scholarships awarded by the organization. Deadline for students applying for this year's scholarship awards is April 15.

Those wishing to purchase a card, which are good from April 1 until March 31, 2014, can contact Jerry English at 521-3618 or via email at golfhip@cox.net. Checks should be made payable to Roanoke Valley Golf Hall of Fame and can be mailed to English at 2609 Bluefield Blvd., Roanoke, VA 24015.

Mini-tour news

Blacksburg's Lanto Griffin recorded his second-best career finish on the eGolf Tour last Saturday, taking third place in the weather-shortened Oldfield Open in Okatie, S.C.

Griffin, whose top finish to date on the highly competitive tour was a playoff loss to Clint Jensen last April in the Forest Oaks Classic in Greensboro, N.C., made eight birdies in a third-round 6-under-par 66 to vault from 21st to third. His 54-hole total of 8-under 208 left him three shots behind winner Brent Witcher of Atlanta.

Griffin, who banked $6,250, undoubtedly would have preferred the tournament to go the scheduled 72 holes, but storms and heavy rain forced postponement of the final round.

Salem's Fielding Brewbaker tied for 34th in the 60-player field, earning $1,025.

In the tour's Feb. 13-16 season-opening event, the Palmetto Hall Championship in Hilton Head, S.C., Brewbaker fired a second-round 66 to surge into contention. The 2009 Roanoke Valley Hall of Fame champion began the final round tied for fourth, but soared to a closing 78 that relegated him to 16th, worth $1,875.

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