Best of the best: New format for Quincy City Golf Championships to utilize three 18-hole courses – Muddy River News

QUINCY — The best golfers playing the best courses for the right to be called the city’s best.

Quincy is making that a reality.

The format for the Quincy City Golf Championships will change in 2027 to a three-day, 54-hole event played across the city’s three 18-hole championship courses thanks to the collaboration of course officials with the belief the game needs to be celebrated at its highest level.

The men’s and women’s championships, which will be presented by Muddy River Sports, will take place June 25-27 with 18 holes played each day beginning at Spring Lake Country Club on Friday, Quincy Country Club on Saturday and Westview Golf Course on Sunday.

“This is going to be a big event,” said George Schrage, the assistant pro at Westview Golf Course and one of the event organizers. “It’s going to be a premiere event for the city of Quincy, and being able to showcase all 3 courses in one weekend makes it a big event. We’re hoping to make it the biggest golf event in Quincy.”

The city golf championships date back to 1924 when Herbert “Buttsy” Holtman beat Allen Oakley by seven strokes in a playoff at Quincy Country Club. The first tournament, which was put together by QCC pro Charles F. Clarkson, was a 90-hole affair played over the three days of Labor Day weekend.

The city tournament has been played at Westview since the course opened in 1949. The tournament was not played from 1945-48, and upon its revival in 1949, it was a 54-hole event with one round of qualifying to determine flights and two rounds of stroke play.

The tournament was reduced to 36 holes with no qualifying round in the mid-1970s.

From 1949-2026, the tournament was only played at Westview. Next year, that changes.

“It’s going to be very exciting to have all three courses involved and showcase all the courses here in town,” QCC pro Gideon Smith said. “So I think that everybody should be excited about it. I know that our members are excited about it as well.

“Not only do you get to showcase all three courses, but you’re going to have three different championship-style courses to play. It’s not like you get somebody who’s hot on one golf course. You’re going to have to prove it through three different facilities.”

Each course is different in a variety of ways.

“I’m really excited as a golfer personally who’s played in the city tournament for over 10 years now,” said Andrew Smith, the incoming president of Spring Lake Country Club. “I’m really excited to tee it up at all three courses and really just to see what my game can stand up to over the weekend.”

Following the 2026 tournament, which was plagued by weather and scheduling conflicts, representatives of all three courses began looking at the possibility of combining resources to create a better event. QCC and SLCC took the idea to their members, and over the course of a couple months, a committee put together a plan for 2027 that was approved on all fronts.

“I think getting everyone to sit down and just chat through that we’d love to make it work out if possible made this happen,” Andrew Smith said. “I think everybody was pushing the same direction just to try to make a really cool product for all the golfers in the community.”

Said Gideon Smith, “Our members are all about wanting to grow the game just as much as anybody else is. To be able to do that is exciting.”

Choosing the right date was important, and the city tournament will wrap up one of the busiest golf weeks on the calendar. The Pepsi Little People’s Golf Championships will take place June 21-23, 2026, with the city tournament to follow.

“This is one of those big deals for our golfers in the Adams County area or the city to get to experience this,” Gideon Smith said. “We have a great golfing community and it’s fun to share it with them. And it’s something that I think a lot of potential areas like ours don’t do. For us to be able to do it, I think it’s exciting, both not only for our clubs, but also for the golfers who are going to play.”

It’s a showcase unlike any other.

“It’s focused on putting out the best product for local golfers to get to experience three really, really good golf courses over the matter of three days and get the competitive juices flowing,” Andrew Smith said.

It’s designed to bring out the best in the best.

“If you’re a tournament golfer, or even if you’re not, this is going to be a big event for you to play in,” Schrage said. “It’s just like if you were 12 years old being able to play the Pepsi Little People’s in your own backyard. It’s special.”