The Greater Muskegon Junior Tour has made three stops in Oceana County already during its 2026 season. Its first three events of the summer took place at Benona Shores Golf Course, Oceana Golf Club and Grand View Golf Course respectively.
The tour travels throughout the Muskegon area each summer, inviting young golfers to hone their skills over the course of several weeks. The tour will take next week off before returning to action for four more Mondays, starting July 13 at Old Channel Trail Golf Course in Montague. The season concludes Aug. 3 at White Lake Golf Club in Whitehall.
Fifty golfers participated in the June 22 Oceana Golf Club meet, 29 of them in the boys 9th-12th grade division. Boys and girls have separate divisions for high school and middle school play, with players up to fifth grade competing in a coed division.
Ethan Balon, a Montague player, led the boys 9th-12th grade division, shooting a 78. Two county players were on the boys leaderboard; Gavin Macher, a Pentwater Falcon junior-to-be, placed third with an 82. Shelby’s Landyn Yanna posted a 107, tying for 24th place.
In the girls 9th-12th grade division, Maddy Erndteman of Ludington posted an 89 to lead five players.
Landen DeRuiter of Hart was the other county golfer to compete June 22. He shot a nine-hole score of 65 while competing in the middle school division.
The action continued Monday at Grand View. Rhodes Verplank of Spring Lake led the boys high school division with a score of 74, just three over par. Macher and Yanna again competed from Oceana County; Macher tied for fifth place out of 19 players with an 81, and Yanna shot a 105 to place 19th.
In the girls high school division, Whitehall’s Riley Shafer led the way among 13 players with an 84. DeRuiter again played in the boys middle school division, shooting a nine-hole 61 to place 12th out of 14.
For more information about the tour, visit greatermuskegonjuniortour.com.
