Rosie Cook pitches out of the tall grass in the hazard on the par-5 13th hole at Bend Golf and Country Club on Sunday. Cook made birdie on the hole and went on to win the 50th Bend Ladies’ Invitational.Kevin Duke / The Bulletin

Female golfers in Central Oregon will find no shortage of clubs, tournaments and clinics geared toward getting them — and keeping them — in the game.

While women’s clubs at area courses are strong and offer regular weekly games for their members, a couple of groups in the area have been established to allow players to get out to more than just their home course.

The Executive Women’s Golf Association and the Central Oregon Senior Women’s Golf Association offer their members opportunities to tee it up all around the region.

EWGA

The Executive Women’s Golf Association is a national organization with chapters all across the country. Established in Central Oregon eight years ago, the group has grown considerably, according to Wink Jackson, marketing director for the EWGA.

The Central Oregon chapter was founded “with just seven or eight members,” Jackson says. She adds that most of the women were from the Portland chapter and established the Central Oregon chapter after moving to the region.

“We now have more than 60 members in Central Oregon and were recognized nationally as the fastest-growing chapter in the country,” Jackson says. The group hosts regular weekly events throughout the year, including league play on Monday mornings and Tuesday evenings and clinics for members about once a month.

“The morning and evening games gives everyone a chance to play,” Jackson notes. “The clinics are regularly scheduled and are usually a series, with more than one day of instruction.

“Our emphasis is on learning how to play and socializing. We’re not really ultracompetitive.”

EWGA tournaments are scheduled this year at Juniper in Redmond, Lost Tracks in Bend and many of the resort courses in Central Oregon.

For those looking for competition, the local chapter championship, a qualifier for the regional and national EWGA championships, is set for July 9 at Black Butte Ranch. Low gross and net winners will move on to the regional competition against women from nine other chapters in the Northwest.

Women looking to join the local chapter of the EWGA can sign up at ewga.com. Dues are $135 per year, and members receive discounted green fees at each tournament site.

COSWGA

Established in 1991, the Central Oregon Senior Women’s Golf Association also gives members the chance to play an array of courses in the region.

The group now boasts more than 150 members from women’s clubs at 10 area courses, including Awbrey Glen, Widgi Creek and Lost Tracks in Bend, Juniper and Eagle Crest in Redmond, Desert Peaks in Madras, Prineville Golf Club and Meadow Lakes in Prineville, Crooked River Ranch and Sunriver.

Each club hosts a tournament at its home course every season.

“Even though you have very good intentions of going to play at other clubs, somehow it never happens unless you have a mechanism for it,” says Carmen West, a co-representative for COSWGA from Awbrey Glen. “This is the perfect mechanism for women to do that.”

COSWGA is probably a little more competitive than the EWGA; its tournaments offer members the chance to compete against women from other clubs in the area.

The format for each COSWGA tournament is individual low gross and net play, and the top four finishers in every flight earn prizes at each event.

West notes that tournament organizers pair women from different clubs in each foursome, so participants are playing with different golfers most weeks.

Senior players — women from age 50 to 90 and older — are among the COSWGA regulars, West says, noting that several have shot their age or better.

COSWGA members pay yearly dues of $125 for the season, and they play at reduced rates on the days of the tournaments.

The deadline for COSWGA registration this year was April 30, but West notes that some spots may still be open, so women interested in playing should contact their club representatives for more information.

Ultimate tournament

For the 51st year, Bend Golf and Country Club will host the most prestigious women’s tournament in the region, the Bend Ladies’ Invitational.

Many of the best women golfers in Central Oregon and from around the Northwest will compete for the championship in the area’s longest-running women’s golf event.

Awbrey Glen’s Rosie Cook is the tournament’s two-time reigning champion and is expected to aim for a three-peat this year.

This year’s tournament is set for June 10-12 and is open to any woman 18 years of age or older with an established USGA handicap.

The entry fee of $190 includes a Friday practice round, 36 holes of stroke play, and breakfast and lunch for two days. Prizes will be awarded for the overall best gross and net scores, and gross and net payouts will be awarded for four flights.

Learn to play

Women-only clinics in the area are scheduled throughout the golf season.

The Bend Park & Recreation District offers women’s group golf lessons at River’s Edge, taught by PGA professional Mike Palen. Classes have just begun for the May series, which runs through the end of the month.

Black Butte Ranch plans a three-day instructional series for women scheduled at the end of June, and three different sessions are scheduled in July.

Crooked River Ranch is just beginning its summer series for women. Classes are scheduled every Thursday through the end of September.

— Reporter: 541-617-7868, kduke@bendbulletin.com