About our Event

Current

The ESPN National Golf Challenge presented by Callaway Golf is an amateur two-person better ball tournament designed to find "America's Best 2 Some" in both Gross and Net divisions. Two-person teams from all over the US will register at our Local Qualifying Host Sites and attempt to play their way to our National Finals. In 2006, our desire to recognize and reward our Club Professionals for their tremendous support allowed us to create the ESPN National Golf Challenge Club Pro Tournament. Club Pro's from all over the country are invited to attend based on the results of their Local Qualifying events with the ESPN National Golf Challenge. The Club Pro Tournament was also a tremendous success and is now held in conjunction with our National Finals.

For the 2008 event, Local and Regional qualifying sites are being registered to accommodate our anticipated participation of over 30,000 golfers. Host Courses are initially allocated 1 Gross and 1 Net team slots in our Regional Finals. Additional regional team entries are available to Local Qualifying Sites as participation warrants.

Teams may consist of any combination of male and/or female participants with a maximum allowable handicap of 24 strokes (in the Net Division). Suggested entry fees for the event are $60 per player. Local Host Sites may add an additional charge for greens, cart fees, and special services, if applicable. Players may attempt to qualify for the Regional Finals at as many Local Host Sites as they wish. Gross and Net winners from each Regional Finals location will advance to the 36 hole National Finals, to be held in Las Vegas, Oct 24, 25 and 26, 2008. Please review our Rules and Regs page for more detailed information.

National Finalists will agree to participate in the filming and broadcast of our event in a one hour special broadcast of the ESPN National Golf Challenge Finals on ESPN2.

History

The event began in 2002 as a dedicated effort by ESPN to enhance contributions to one of their major charities, the V Foundation. During the preliminary development of the tournament PGA Tour Professional Fred Couples graciously accepted the position as our National Spokesperson.

Initially, over 120 public golf facilities were registered as inaugural Host Sites and winning teams representing each site were invited to the first National Finals at Lost Canyons GC in Simi Valley, CA. This initial effort proved to be a resounding success and the event has been restructured to include approximately 500 golf courses in the United States.