Moccasin Creek Country Club is no stranger to the big stage, but the course will experience something new this weekend when it plays host to the South Dakota Golf Association Men’s Mid-Amateur Tournament Saturday and Sunday.

“We’ve never hosted this event before. This is the first time we’ve hosted the Mid-Am,” said Dean Zahn, director of golf/general manager at MCCC. “We’ve hosted almost all the other SDGA events, but this is the first time that I can recall in 30-plus years that we’ve hosted the Mid-Am.

“It’s just the way it worked out. They asked us to host it last year, but we were in the middle of that clubhouse construction project,” Zahn said. “We just felt like it wasn’t a good time to put our best foot forward, so to speak, but now we’re really feeling good about it, so we’re happy to host it.”

Zahn said the tourney is unique in that it’s for males 25 and over, which for the most part excludes current college players and those who have time to play a lot.

“It’s (for) the average working guy,” Zahn said. “A lot of these guys, they’ve got families, they’ve got jobs and they’ve got responsibilities, and this is kind of the event for them. It’s kind of a neat event in that regard.”

Zahn said there are 64 players in the field, including many local golfers.

He is excited about the chance for the local course to get back into the SDGA rotation.

“It’s nice to be hosting an SDGA championship again,” Zahn said. “We took a couple of years off because of the big clubhouse project. It’s always nice to host state championships.”