Hi everyone,
There’s no sugar coating this… it’s more bad news…
When organizing a Horseshoe Tour Tournament, at the 30-day point prior to the tournament we always strive to have everything in place so that we could theoretically run the tournament right then. Typically, the only thing we are missing from there on is all the player entries. Everything else is ready to go. Well, we are almost to that point in time right now with our 2020 Lowell, NC tournament and we have nothing but unknowns.
North Carolina just started Phase One of their recovery plan which does not allow public gatherings of more than ten people. Their six feet social distancing orders are still in place and face masks are still part of the picture in close public situations. All restaurants are currently closed for dining. Plus, there are many other restrictions still in place. We could never run a tournament under these current conditions, nor would we ever even try. The earliest any of this could change is May 22. But even if the state actually reaches Phase Two by tournament time, it will still include some form of social distancing, masks in close contact situations, group size restrictions, and heavily restricted restaurant dining options.
So, even Phase Two is extremely challenging for us and we have no idea if North Carolina will even be there by then. Not only that, but long-distance travel is still very risky for our players and many of your home states still have travel bans in place or self-quarantine orders upon return from travel which are likely to extend well into June. By this point, we were hoping to see many June sanctioned horseshoe tournaments being planned, but instead it’s the opposite. So, with things as they are, we feel we have no choice but to cancel the Lowell, NC Horseshoe Tour Tournament originally scheduled for June 20-21.
Beyond that, I’m sorry to report that it’s been decided by the Winnemucca, NV site to cancel the August 2020 Horseshoe Tour tournament there as well. So, that leaves us with just one tournament left on the 2020 schedule… Morgan City, LA in mid-October. We have no intentions of cancelling that tournament and right now, we are focusing all our efforts on having the best possible event we can have there in October. Morgan City is always one of the highlights of the season for us anyways and we sure hope you can all join us there in October. We’re going to do everything we can to make it one of our most amazing tournaments ever!

Sincerely,
Bobby White, President
The Horseshoe Tour

I am sorry to report that the Bryan, Texas Horseshoe Tour Tournament scheduled for May 23-24, 2020 has been canceled. As we did for Newberry, any entry fees paid will be immediately refunded. Unfortunately, the host site was forced to cancel due to the Covid-19 virus restrictions within their area and in surrounding states. With many states extending travel restrictions deep into May and beyond, and not knowing whether social distancing orders will be lifted by then in East Texas, there was no choice but to cancel. It’s a shame because a lot of effort over the past year went into working out this event. We’d especially like to thank Jeff Finke, all the Bryan area club members, and the local CVB people who helped organize the event. On the bright side, we’ve been told that Bryan, Texas will be on the Tour schedule for 2021… so that’s some good news!

Now, we must look ahead to the next scheduled Tour event in Lowell, NC scheduled for June 20-21, 2020. We still have a green light for Lowell, so please send in your entries as you normally would and as soon as you can so we can get a gauge on what to expect for this one. It was a great tournament last year and we sure hope to repeat that. One other thing… with everything being so uncertain right now, I’ve decided to postpone the Hall of Fame and Tour Achievement Awards Ceremony until 2021 in Newberry, SC. We just won’t be able to do it justice trying to squeeze it in somewhere this season and I don’t want to do degrade the experience for those involved.

As I’m sure it is for you, it is very discouraging for all of us involved in the Tour to watch our season erode away like this. A lot of the seeds for what should be taking root this season were planted one, two, perhaps even three or more years ago and seeing it just fall apart really hurts. Be assured that the last thing we want is to cancel and that every effort is being made for each one of these events to go forward. That’s why we’re taking this one event at a time… with three events still in play, we’re hoping to still salvage some assemblance of a Tour and for now we remain hopeful that we can complete the 2020 Tour season. We will continue to update you on all events through the website and Facebook.

Sincerely,

Bobby White, President
The Horseshoe Tour

Horseshoe Tour Tournament Cancellation, Newberry, SC SummerFun (April 18-19):
To all those planning on attending the Newberry, SC Horseshoe Tour Tournament on April 18-19, I have made the decision to cancel this event due to the Covid-19 concern across the USA. With all indications of a worsening threat to the US population, an immediate decision was needed to address this growing concern. With the majority of our players being elderly, the highest risk age group, and the fact that many will travel through multi states to get to Newberry, stopping in hotels, restaurants, rest stops, and other very public places along the way, it just doesn’t make sense to take such risks at this time. By tournament time, the danger could be far greater, and I feel we have an obligation to protect our players, our staff, and the Newberry community from this threat. After several discussions with Newberry and Tour staff on how best to do that, I’ve decided that cancellation is the only viable option.
What about the rest of the 2020 Horseshoe Tour schedule?
We expect it to become less and less likely to cancel future 2020 tournaments, but being just down the line from Newberry, our tournaments in Bryan, TX and Lowell, NC are still very much a concern for us. We’ve decided to deal with each tournament as they come along. We do not expect the August and October events to be affected by any of this, but we will post updates down the line as we know more on those events. We remain hopeful that no other events will be cancelled.
Please proceed as normal with entries and don’t fear losing your entry fee or anything like that. The earlier you can enter the better for us, so we can get a good gauge on who plans on attending each tournament, which will aid us in our decision on each event. All entry fees will be immediately refunded in full for any cancelled tournaments.
What about Hall of Fame Inductions planned for Newberry?
We are looking at moving that to the Lowell, NC Tournament in June and will post more on that as soon as we know more. If we can’t work it out for Lowell, we will just move it out to 2021 in Newberry.

Bobby White
Horseshoe Tour President

The 2020 HOF induction ceremony will be held at the Firehouse Conference Center, located just behind the Opera House, at 6:00 PM on Friday evening. No current players have earned the required number of points this year, but three supporter/organizers will be inducted. More info later……

The address is 1227 Mckibben St, Newberry, SC 29108.

Newberry will again host the “Pork in the Park” Festival on the same weekend of the SummerFun Tour event. The activities are located in the square, across from the Hampton Inn, if you like bar-b-q, you will love this.

The room block for the host hotel in Newberry has been set, and once again, because of the festival that weekend, we only have limited number rooms available at the Hampton Inn, and will be on a first come, first serve. When you call, ask for the “SummerFun” rate. The direct number to the hotel is 803-276-6666. The Hampton Inn is located in the center of town, adjacent to the Opera House, and the Pork in the Park festivities. Only about a mile from the courts. The final day to reserve a room is March 27th, check in time is 3:00 PM.

Hampton Inn, Newberry Opera House
1201 Nance Street
Newberry, SC 29108
Phone: 803.276.6666

Address to Park:
Marion Davis Park
2905 Fair Avenue
Newberry, SC
(located on Highway 121 at Nance Street)

Additional Hotel Information

Holiday Inn Express and Suites
2012 InterContinental Hotel Group Torchbearer Award Winner
I-26/Exit 76 (Main Street/SC Hwy. 219) 121 Truman Avenue
Newerry, SC 29108
Phone: 803.321.3955

Newberry Manor
1710 College Street
Newberry, SC 29108
Phone: 803.597.5031

Econo Lodge
1147 Wilson Rd
Newberry, SC 29108
Phone: 803.276.1600

Days Inn
I-26 & Hwy. 34 Exit 74
Newberry, SC 29108
803.276.2294

Campgrounds

Dreher Island State Park
3677 State Park Road
Prosperity, SC 29127
803.364.4152

Lake Greenwood State Recreation Area
302 State Park Rd
Ninety Six, SC 29666
864.543.3535

Saluda River Resort
1283 Saluda River Rd
Silverstreet, SC 29145
803.276.7917