Experience Ulster!

This is the first entry in Ulster County Tourism's weekly blog about golf and other recreational sports in Ulster County. As tourism director, I'll also keep readers updated on anything interesting that relates to tourism in Ulster County. We welcome your comments. There's a lot to talk about on the golf scene now that we're into the month of July. One thing I'm excited to talk about is the tremendous golf played recently by Chris DeForest of Cottekill and Kingston's Doug Kleeschulte Jr. DeForest, who graduated from the University of Illinois this year, made the most of his professional debut when he was on the U.S. Open leaderboard at Congressional Country Club on the first day. Friends and relatives were whooping it up at Congressional as DeForest got it to 3-under-par in his round and there was a lot of cheering amongst Rondout Golf Club members in the club's restaurant when DeForest was shown live on national television during his round several times. He ended up shooting a 1-over 71 in the first round and a 6-over 76 in the second round to miss the cut by one shot. But it was truly an impressive performance by DeForest who will continue to try to qualify for PGA Tour events this summer. Kleeschulte, a Western Kentucky University star, also had a great run in last month's Ulster County Men's Amateur Golf Championship, becoming only the third player in the 61-year history to win three straight Herdegens. He joined the legendary Leon Randall, the all-time Herdegen kingpin who captured 16 titles, and Jon Rubinstein of Ellenville 25 years ago, to accomplish the feat. And the great thing is that Kleeschulte has already said he'll return next summer to try to make it four in a row. Both DeForest and Kleeschulte, who grew up playing many of Ulster County's fine golf courses, are tremendous young men and great ambassadors for local golf. Who said you have to hail from Florida or California or other warm-weather climes to excel in golf at the highest level? Good luck to both DeForest and Kleeschulte as they continue to build on their illustrious golf careers. We'll keep you posted on any other developments in both their careers.