When school’s out for youngsters in Central Oregon, golf is in.

Juniors looking to keep their game fresh this summer can participate in a weekly tournament series. Meanwhile, beginner players – young and old(er) – can take advantage of a variety of group lesson programs and camps aimed at introducing novices to the game. And, most of these instructional opportunities are offered at a fraction of the cost of private lessons.

Nearly every Central Oregon golf course offers discounted rates for junior players. But at Redmond’s Eagle Crest Resort, young golfers can take advantage of an especially good deal.

Juniors accompanied by an adult play for free after 3 p.m. on Eagle Crest’s Resort and Challenge courses. Unaccompanied juniors pay $5 after 3 p.m. On the Ridge course, Eagle Crest offers 50 percent off the prevailing greens fee at all times for junior players.

One of the most popular venues in the area for youth competitive play is the Central Oregon Junior Golf Association’s weekly summer tournament series.

The organization is set this summer to host eight tournaments for boys and girls ages 9 to 17, all staged at different Central Oregon golf courses.

The series culminates in August with the COJGA Tournament of Champions, held at Sunriver Resort’s Woodlands course. Players must participate in three events and accumulate enough points throughout the series to earn an invitation to the championship.

Younger players, too, can get in on the action. COJGA’s ”golf experience” program, for golfers ages 6 to 8 years old, gets kids on two of the area’s shorter courses for five tournaments this summer.

With nearly 250 participants in last summer’s COJGA program, association president Mark Ostrom says he’s ”cautiously optimistic” about more growth.

”We’ve grown every year … as far back as I can remember,” says Ostrom, who has served as COJGA president for four years and previously held positions on the association’s board of directors. ”We’re getting to a point where we’re getting so big. It’s hard to comprehend that we could be bigger than we are.”

Ostrom says some of the area’s best high school players, and many who go on to compete in state and regional junior tournaments, got their start in COJGA.

”If you were to check the high-school scores, those are names very familiar to us,” Ostrom notes. ”The vast majority are COJGA kids. We have a significant number of our COJGA kids playing in the OGA (Oregon Golf Association).

”We feel like we’ve played a role in developing these kids,” he adds.

COJGA is a tournament-based organization, and it doesn’t offer instruction for beginner players, although it may in the future, Ostrom says.

”We’re a development organization designed for kids that have some knowledge of golf and some ability,” Ostrom explains. ”You don’t have to be elite by any stretch. You can be somewhat of a novice golfer.”

The organization hosts two qualifying events for first-time players to the COJGA program (see dates at right), in which a player’s golf knowledge and ability are evaluated.

One of COJGA’s primary goals is to prevent economic barriers from keeping kids off the golf course. To that end, yearly membership fees range from $15 to $35, and weekly tournament fees are $8 to $15.

”We take all comers,” Ostrom insists. ”We offer scholarships to kids who come from low-income families. We want all kids to play golf, and we work very hard to keep it affordable.”

Ostrom adds that the organization leans heavily on support from the community and from local businesses to help sponsor the program, not to mention the golf courses that open their playing facilities to COJGA.

”We’re so fortunate to have the support of the courses,” says Ostrom. ”They’re making a tremendous sacrifice to allow us to come out and use their facilities.

”We take up a whole day of tee times,” he continues. ”And we’ve never been told ‘no.’ ”