Coming in 2026
Ace Cup Logo

Ontario’s Most Unique Men's Amateur-Charity Hybrid Golf Tournament

A brand-new Stud & Dud team tournament built for everyday golfers. Choose your local qualifier and register your team.

2-person team format
Alt-shot, combined handicaps, beginners and high handicaps welcome.
Ontario-wide qualifiers
From Windsor to Ottawa, with regional finals and a championship weekend.
  • • Regional Finals in Southwest, Central, and Eastern Ontario
  • • Championship golf retreat weekend + skills showcase
  • • Generous merch, services, and cash prizing at different levels
  • • Starting at $100 + HST
Register for a Qualifier How It Works

Pick the qualifier that works best for your team.

Stud
A lower-handicap golfer (14.9 or under)
+
One unforgettable team format
Dud
A higher-handicap golfer (15.0 to 36.0)
Charity Impact

More Than Just Golf

Every qualifier supports local hunger relief and the people who make Canadian golf possible.

We partner with 18 local food banks and food hubs across Ontario including Feed Ontario (which supports over 1,200 local food banks and hubs) to fight hunger and food insecurity across the province and in the communities where our qualifiers take place. Through food drives and charitable giving, 25% of net proceeds from ticket sales + 25% of gross proceeds from sponsor revenue from each qualifying tournament will support a local food bank and help feed those in need. 25% of gross sponsor revenue from the Regional and Provincial Finals and the Big Win Skills Challenge will go directly to Feed Ontario.

We also donate 10% of the full event's net proceeds, split equally between the NGCOA Canada Foundation and the PGA of Canada Foundation. These organizations support the golf course employees and professionals who make Canadian golf possible.

25% ticket net proceeds 25% qualifier sponsor revenue 10% full event net proceeds

Choose Your Qualifier

Select a local Ace Cup qualifier below and complete registration on the tournament page.

Registration is open
  • Pick from Southwest, Central, and Eastern Ontario qualifiers
  • Register directly through the tournament page
  • Local qualifier spots are limited
  • Each team includes one Stud and one Dud
  • Winning teams advance to Regional Finals
Ace Cup Flyer Art

Ace Cup Qualifier Registration

Choose your region and local qualifier.

Southwest Region

Ace Cup Logo Grand Valley Golf
Name Ace Cup Challenge - Grand Valley
Course Grand Valley Golf
Food Bank
Date Sat July 18 @ 1:30 PM
Entry $105.00 (including service fee) + HST
Register Now
Ace Cup Logo Cardinal Lakes Golf Club (Heron)
Food Bank TBD
Name Ace Cup Challenge - Cardinal Lakes
Course Cardinal Lakes Golf Club (Heron)
Food Bank To be announced
Date Sun July 19 @ 1:00 PM
Entry $115.00 (including service fee) + HST
Register Now
Ace Cup Logo Ambassador Golf Club
Name Ace Cup Challenge - Ambassador
Course Ambassador Golf Club
Food Bank
Date Sat July 25 @ 9:00 AM
Entry $115.00 (including service fee) + HST
Register Now
Ace Cup Logo Southbrook Golf Club
Name Ace Cup Challenge - Southbrook Golf
Course Southbrook Golf Club
Food Bank
Date Sun July 26 @ 1:00 PM
Entry $115.00 (including service fee) + HST
Register Now
Ace Cup Logo Echo Valley Golf Course
Name Ace Cup Challenge - Echo Valley
Course Echo Valley Golf Course
Food Bank
Date Sun July 26 @ 1:30 PM
Entry $115.00 (including service fee) + HST
Register Now
Ace Cup Logo Ariss Valley Golf and Country Club
Name Ace Cup Challenge - Ariss Valley
Course Ariss Valley Golf and Country Club
Food Bank
Date Sun July 26 @ 1:30 PM
Entry $166.40 (including service fee) + HST
Register Now

Central Ontario

Ace Cup Logo Keystone Links Golf & Country Club
Name Ace Cup Challenge - Keystone Links
Course Keystone Links Golf & Country Club
Food Bank
Date Sat July 11 @ 2:30 PM
Entry $115.00 (including service fee) + HST
Register Now
Ace Cup Logo Oliver's Nest Golf Club
Name Ace Cup Challenge - Oliver's Nest
Course Oliver's Nest Golf Club
Food Bank
Date Fri July 17 @ 1:00 PM
Entry $115.00 (including service fee) + HST
Register Now
Ace Cup Logo Port Hope Golf & Country Club
Name Ace Cup Challenge - Port Hope
Course Port Hope Golf & Country Club
Food Bank
Date Thu July 23 @ 9:00 AM
Entry $130.00 (including service fee) + HST
Register Now
Ace Cup Logo Glen Eagle Golf Club
Name Ace Cup Challenge - Glen Eagle
Course Glen Eagle Golf Club
Food Bank
Date Sun July 26 @ 1:30 PM
Entry $140.40 (including service fee) + HST
Register Now
Ace Cup Logo 4 Seasons Country Club
Name Ace Cup Challenge - 4 Seasons CC
Course 4 Seasons Country Club
Food Bank
Date Tue July 28 @ 1:00 PM
Entry $115.00 (including service fee) + HST
Register Now
Ace Cup Logo Tyandaga Golf Course
Name Ace Cup Challenge - Tyandaga
Course Tyandaga Golf Course
Food Bank
Date Thu July 30 @ 1:30 PM
Entry $115.00 (including service fee) + HST
Register Now

Eastern Ontario

Ace Cup Logo Pine View Golf Course (Championship Course)
Name Ace Cup Challenge - Pine View
Course Pine View Golf Course (Championship Course)
Food Bank
Date Sat July 11 @ 1:00 PM
Entry $105.00 (including service fee) + HST
Register Now
Ace Cup Logo Casselview Golf & Country Club
Name Ace Cup Challenge - Casselview
Course Casselview Golf & Country Club
Food Bank
Date Sun July 12 @ 1:00 PM
Entry $115.00 (including service fee) + HST
Register Now
Ace Cup Logo Rivendell Golf Club
Name Ace Cup Challenge - Rivendell
Course Rivendell Golf Club
Food Bank
Date Mon July 13 @ 1:30 PM
Entry $55.00 (including service fee) + HST
Register Now
Ace Cup Logo Greensmere Golf & Country Club (Premiere)
Name Ace Cup Challenge - Greensmere
Course Greensmere Golf & Country Club (Premiere)
Food Bank
Date Sun July 19 @ 1:00 PM
Entry $115.00 (including service fee) + HST
Register Now
Ace Cup Logo The Meadows Golf & Country Club
Name Ace Cup Challenge - The Meadows
Course The Meadows Golf & Country Club
Food Bank
Date Sun July 26 @ 1:00 PM
Entry $115.00 (including service fee) + HST
Register Now
Ace Cup Logo Trillium Wood Golf Club
Name Ace Cup Challenge - Trillium Wood
Course Trillium Wood Golf Club
Food Bank
Date Thu July 30 @ 1:00 PM
Entry $125.00 (including service fee) + HST
Register Now

What is the Ace Cup Challenge?

The Ace Cup Challenge is a new amateur golf tournament built around a simple idea: One Stud. One Dud. One unforgettable team experience.

Together, teams compete in an alt-shot, combined handicap format designed to make competitive golf more accessible, more social, and more entertaining for everyday golfers.

This isn’t built for just scratch golfers and club champions. It’s built for the players who make up the vast majority of the game.

Most amateur tournaments ignore most golfers
  • 10 handicaps
  • 15 handicaps
  • 20+ handicaps
  • Beginners learning the game
  • Friends and family with different skill levels

How the Ace Cup Works

Step 1 — Local Qualifiers

Teams enter local qualifying events hosted at golf courses across Ontario within a 30–60 minute drive of major population centres.

Step 2 — Regional Finals

Winning teams advance to regional finals in Southwest, Central, and Eastern Ontario.

Step 3 — Championship Weekend

Top teams advance to the championship experience and the Big Win Pure Skills Showcase.

Two Events. One Championship Experience.

The Ace Cup Championship

  • 18-hole team competition
  • Alternate shot format
  • Combined handicaps applied
  • Merchandise prizes and special perks only

The Big Win Pure Skills Showcase

  • Studs compete against studs
  • Duds compete against duds
  • Longest drive, closest to the pin, long putt, target and bunker challenges
  • Cash and merchandise prizes through standalone skills contests

Participating Clubs

We have secured the following qualifying host club locations.

Southwest Region

Central Ontario

Eastern Ontario

Do You Need a Partner?

To compete, you’ll need a Stud & Dud team. On the waitlist, you can tell us whether you already have a partner or need help finding one.

This helps us understand how teams might form across Ontario and where golfers may need matching help.

A Tournament + A Story

The Ace Cup Challenge grew out of the Zero To Ace Golf media concept and the Stud & Dud dynamic that made those matches so entertaining.

The goal is bigger than one event: build a new format, a new community, and a more inclusive amateur golf experience.

Zero To Ace Golf Banner featuring Clayton Elliott and Brad Milligan

Meet The Organizers - Clayton Elliott & Brad Milligan

The Original Dud & Stud duo

The Ace Cup Challenge didn’t begin as a tournament idea. It started as a social media golf series called Zero To Ace Golf, where PGA of Canada Professional Brad Milligan taught complete beginner Clayton Elliott how to play golf from scratch—at 41 years old!

The first episode was filmed on July 4th, 2025 at Caledon Country Club using nothing more than Clay’s phone. To keep the experiment authentic, Clay made one promise: no practicing off camera. Every swing, mistake, and improvement happened during filmed rounds.

In less than four months and roughly 20 rounds, Clay dropped nearly 80 strokes from his game, proving how quickly total beginners can improve with consistent play and by embracing and enjoying the learning process. After wanting to play golf for over 20 years, it took just over three months to make massive improvement and become a golfer for life.

The Season 1 finale took place at Keystone Links Golf & Country Club, where Brad and Clay played a 2-on-2, matchplay scramble against two Trent University golfers. What made the match so entertaining was the dynamic: a strong player paired with a beginner.

That round sparked the idea for The Ace Cup Challenge — a two-man team tournament built around the same concept.

Each team includes a Stud and a Dud: a lower-handicap golfer and a higher-handicap golfer competing together in alternate-shot play with a combined team handicap.

The result is a unique tournament where everyday golfers can improve their game, compete seriously, have fun, win big, and be part of a bigger story.

The Ace Cup Challenge is proudly sponsored by Clay & Brad's software company, AceCall.ai, and supported by the Zero To Ace Golf media platform: all working together to serve courses and players, grow the game, and create unforgettable golf experiences for the everyman golfer.

Support

Watch The Journey. Subscribe and/or Follow To Support.

To maximize our reach and impact for all our partners, players are asked to subscribe or follow Zero To Ace Golf and Ace Cup Challenge on their preferred social media platform.

Check out the full episodes and shorts, then subscribe or follow on the platform you use most.

Frequently Asked Questions

The tournament is open to male amateur golfers who are Canadian residents and 19 years of age or older. Teams are made up of two players: a "Stud" (lower handicap) and a "Dud" (higher handicap). For complete eligibility details, please review our OFFICIAL RULES OF COMPETITION PDF.

It is highly recommended, but not strictly required. If you have a Golf Canada handicap, simply enter your membership number at checkout and it will sync with the Dash3 app. If you do not have an official Golf Canada handicap, you must provide a current handicap from a recognized tracking app. If you don't have any handicap, use your best estimate for now to complete registration. DUDs without a history must establish a handicap based on a minimum of 54 holes prior to game day.

The tournament uses an Alternate Shot format with combined (net) team handicaps applied automatically through Dash3 Golf app. Your team's playing handicap is calculated by combining both players' individual handicap indexes and dividing by two: (High Handicap + Low Handicap) / 2. You can read more about handicapping in the Ace Cup Challenge Local Qualifiers, Regional Finals, and Provincial Championship rounds here: OFFICIAL RULES OF COMPETITION PDF.

The Ace Cup is a hybrid amateur-charity event. To participate, every player is asked to bring a non-perishable food or hygiene item to their local qualifier. Furthermore, we automatically donate 25% of all net ticket sales (gross revenue minus green fees, carts, and HST) and 25% of gross sponsorship revenue to local food banks and Feed Ontario. Local Food Banks may offer additional games and prizing contests at Local Qualifiers that players can voluntarily participate in to help them raise more funds. Beyond purchasing a tournament entrance fee and donating to the Local Qualifier food drive, nothing is required of players to support our charity partners for them to participate in the tournament.

Integrity is everything. During qualifiers, you will keep score on the Dash3 app AND on a physical scorecard alongside the team you are paired with. Both teams must attest and submit photographic proof of the scorecards. We take sandbagging seriously. Providing false handicap data will result in immediate disqualification. Please review our strict Player Code of Conduct within the OFFICIAL RULES OF COMPETITION PDF.

Winning your Regional Final earns you an invitation to the Provincial Finals and the Big Win Pure Skills Challenge. This is a separate event held after the Ace Cup Championship golf tournament concludes where players compete for cash and merchandise in pure-skill events (like Long Drive, Closest to the Pin, Long Putt, etc.). Players are separated into pure skills challenge "flights" (Studs vs. Studs, Duds vs. Duds) based on their individual handicap indexes, but the skills challenge itself uses pure gross skill with no handicap adjustments.

In tee-to-hole tournaments, no. In skills challenges played as part of a tee-to-hole round, no. But in pure skills challenges, yes. The Ace Cup Challenge is structured in strict compliance with Golf Canada Rules of Amateur Status. The tee-to-hole tournament (Local Qualifiers, Regional Finals, and Provincial Championship) awards merchandise prizes only (max value $1,200 CAD). Any cash prizes are awarded exclusively during the separate Big Win Pure Skills Challenge, which is classified as a "Skills Competition" under Golf Canada Rule 3, exempting it from amateur prize limits. For full legal details, see our TERMS, CONDITIONS & PARTICIPANT WAIVER PDF.

We allow a maximum of two (2) substitutions per team over the course of the entire tournament, subject to strict approval by the Tournament Committee. Substitute players must fit the same Stud/Dud classification as the original player. For the exact deadlines and rules regarding replacement players, please read the Substitution Policy located in the OFFICIAL RULES OF COMPETITION PDF.

Want To Participate In The Coolest Amateur Golf Tournament in Canada That Also Supports An Important Cause?

Choose your local Ace Cup qualifier and register your team.

Register for a Qualifier
Register