LCGA’s 2025 schedule affords county players opportunities to play local golf

The Lebanon County Golf Association’s mission is to promote local golf, honor the game’s storied past and provide opportunities for local players to play in competitive settings.

The association’s 2025 schedule very much reflects that mission.

“There’s a lot that goes into it (the local amateur golf schedule),” said Jon Day, who’s been the LCGA’s president for two years. “We want it to be fair and we want to draw people into it. The main goal is to set up a tournament that players want to play in and have enough of a prize pool.

“At the end of the day, we want it to be good competition, but we don’t want the golf courses to be too difficult. Everybody wants to compete, even if it’s for the first or second flight.”

The LCGA recently unveiled its six-month, five-event tournament schedule for 2025. The slate includes events at five Lebanon County golf courses, including Iron Valley and Royal Oaks.

Royal Oaks has not hosted an LCGA tournament in 11 years. The last LCGA event staged at Iron Valley happened in 2013.

“I really like that we’ve been able to include two golf courses where we haven’t had tournaments over the last 10 years,” said Day. “Just getting those two locations back in our rotation. I’m excited to see the turnout for the better ball at Iron Valley.

“Overall, we want to have our tournaments at the best courses in the county at a price point that’s going to be favorable to most people. We do try to rotate the courses. We want to include those golf courses. You also have a group of guys who you want to see there.”

The 2025 LCGA season will kick off on May 2 with its two-man scramble at Pine Meadows. Then on June 21-22, the championship of local amateur golf will be decided at Lebanon Valley when the association presents its signature event, the 66^th annual Lebanon County Amateur. Craig Kleiwer captured the 2024 crown at Pine Meadows.

Royal Oaks will host this year’s Lebanon County Senior Amateur tournament on July 18. Last year, Dave Albright took home the senior trophy.

“I’m really looking forward to playing in the Amateur,” said Day. “It’s at Lebanon Valley this year and I really feel like I can do well there. But the event I’m actually looking forward to most is the better-ball, because I get to play competitive golf with my dad for two days. I help him and he helps me. We just go out, have fun and do our best.

“We don’t make money on our golf tournaments. We try to bring in sponsorships. They’re the ones helping to fund our expenses throughout the year. We give back everything we possibly can.”

This year’s edition of the Lebanon County better-ball-of-partners – LCGA’s most popular event – will be contested at Iron Valley on Aug. 16-17. The KK boys – Cody Kersey and Josh Kreiser – are the reigning better-ball champions following their victory at Lebanon Country Club in 2024.

Speaking of LCC, the club will host LCGA’s final event of the season on Oct. 4-5, the county match play tournament, which features the top local individual players based on their performances at previous LCGA events earlier in the year.

“The mission of the Lebanon County Golf Association is to promote competitive golf in a fun environment,” said Day. “We want to get back to promoting junior golf. We all have full-time jobs, so being able to commit to kids is sometimes tough. We want to give people a different experience than playing with their buddies on the weekend.

“The golf association has seen increasing participation at its events over the last few years. When we talk to the golf courses, they tell us their rounds are up significantly since 2020. I think over the last five years, the number of people playing local amateur golf is up and it has benefitted the golf association.”

For additional information, visit the Lebanon County Golf Association on Facebook.