Bay Point Golf Club in Panama City Beach has always been a big advocate of junior golf in the Panhandle, but now with the help of some former members, they will be able to give back to the young golfers of Bay County even more.

The Bay Point Men’s Golf Association, in partnership with the Florida State Golf Association, are now offering scholarships for Bay County senior high school golfers, called the “Barry Masters Annual Scholarship.”

Barry and Joyce Masters moved to Bay Point in Panama City Beach when they retired. Barry even became the President of the Bay Point Golf Committee and the Bay Point Men’s Golf Association.

He passed away in 2005 and his wife, Joyce, in 2017.

“Evidently, he and his wife both supported junior golf and when she passed, she left us this money,” President of the Bay Point Men’s Golf Association Van Johnson said.

Mrs. Masters sent them a check for $94,000 to fund scholarships for local golfers.

They are offering an annual scholarship for a male and female golfer for $1,000 each semester over four years of college.

They already gave out the inaugural scholarship to a former North Bay Haven golfer, Cooper Foist, who’s currently attending Florida Gulf Coast University.

“Just a fantastic kid and the epitome of what the scholarship should be going towards, he wants to stay in golf his whole life, he wants to get into the golf business so it was an absolute perfect marriage for the first Barry Masters Scholarship,” Bay Point Golf Club general manager Ryan Mulvey said.

To keep the scholarship funds going and to keep Mr. and Mrs. Masters mission alive, Bay Point will host an annual Barry Masters Scholarship Tournament to raise money for future scholarship recipients.

They will hold that tournament on Dec. 4 this year.

“What a great cause to play for, obviously there’s a lot of charity golf tournaments in our area, but to have the funds going directly to education for Bay County golfers who are juniors, it’s awesome,” Mulvey said.

They hope that this scholarship will not only give high school golfers in the area something to strive for, but that it will also keep junior golf growing in the Panhandle.

“We’ve got a lot of high school teams in the area and the rosters aren’t big, there’s not a lot of kids coming up through the ranks. So to have a scholarship to offer to kids who play on high school teams to help continue their education, it’s just a huge incentive to keep high school golf and junior golf going in Bay County,” Mulvey said.

To apply for the scholarship, head to the Florida State Golf Association’s website.

To watch the video, click here!