Nathan Lentz chips onto the fourth green during the Butler Eagle County Amateur last year at Hiland Golf Course. This year’s event will be held Aug. 9 at Lake Arthur Golf Club. Harold Augthon/Special to the Eagle

The Butler Eagle County Amateur annually attracts a healthy number of golfers, and this year is expected to be no different.

The challenges presented by the course at Lake Arthur Golf Club are waiting for them.

The 32nd annual event, which will include 18 holes of stroke play across four flights, will be held at the course Aug. 9 with shotgun starts at 7:45 a.m. and 1:15 p.m.

“The course forces golfers to hit clean shots,” said Salvatore DiDomenico, who works in Lake Arthur’s pro shop and has golfed the course “more times than I can count.

“For big hitters, they often have to sacrifice a bit of their power to hit more technical shots.”

A good example is the 442-yard, par-4 No. 18 hole, one of five water holes on the course.

“There’s a pond on either side of the fairway as you approach the green,” DiDomenico said. “The strip of land in between is about as slim as you can get, and the green has a drastic slope to it. Golfers have to lay up, they don’t have much of a choice.”

Eagle Amateur committee member Bill Black golfed the course last week.

“The fairways and greens, the whole course is in fantastic shape,” he said.

The championship flight is for golfers with a 0-6 handicap, first flight 7-12 handicap, second flight 13-18 and third flight 19 and above.

Cranberry Township’s Jeremy Plaisted was last year’s overall winner, defeating Troy Loughry on the second playoff hole at Hiland Golf Course.

Loughry won the event in 2023, the last time it was held at Lake Arthur.

Chloe Fritch, of Chicora, has won the last three women’s crowns at the Eagle Amateur.

Plaisted, Loughry and Fritch have yet to register for this year’s event.

“It’s still early. We still have three weeks and we always get a late push of golfers who register shortly before the deadline,” Black said. “We had 176 golfers last year and expect another good turnout. Eleven women competed (in 2025), and if we could get more than that, around 15 or so, that would be great.

“We welcome high school or college golf teams, even individuals, to come out and play.”

The entry fee is $70 per golfer and the deadline is Aug. 4. Entry forms can be found in the Butler Eagle. For more details, contact Bill Black at 717-592-9984.

1995-Mark Young, 1996-Jim Hepler, 1997-Bill Black, 1998-Dave Hungerman, 1999-Sean Swidzinski, 2000-Greg Minda, 2001-Chuck Young, 2002-Mark Young, 2003-Chris Morrow, 2004-Mike Toubakaris, 2005-Doug Knox, 2006-Nathan Bilski, 2007-Rob Voltz, 2008-10-Sean Knapp, 2011-Bennett Smith, 2012-13-Sean Knapp, 2014-Mike Marron, 2015-Scott Vice, 2016-Rob Voltz, 2017-Scott Vice, 2018-Jeremy Enslen, 2019-Brent Rodgers, 2020-21-Geoff Patterson, 2022-23-Troy Loughry, 2024-Ryan Pinkerton, 2025-Jeremy Plaisted