Have you ever wanted to tee up a golf ball for a shot at a million dollars?

Two golfers will get the chance Sept. 15 at Oakview Golf Club to conclude the first Butler County Tourism Golf Tour.

The event features five two-person best-ball or scramble qualifying tournaments at selected courses in Butler County. The top seven teams from each of those qualifiers — plus 75 randomly selected golfers — will compete in the tour finale at Oakview.

The two winning golfers at the final tournament will have the opportunity to sink a hole-in-one off the tee of a selected par-3 hole at Oakview. If either golfer gets the hole-in-one, he or she receives $1 million.

"We took out an insurance policy for the million dollars,"said Jack Cohen, executive director of the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau. "If the shot goes in, the money goes out."

The idea of this tour is not to give away $1 million, however. It is to promote golf in Butler County.

"We've talked about putting together an event like this for quite a while now,"said bureau media relations specialist Patti Jo Lambert. "This is the year we decided to pull the trigger on it."

Qualifying tournaments will be held April 28 at Cranberry Highlands ($75 entry fee), May 12 at Aubrey's Dubbs Dred ($59), June 30 at Hiland Golf Course ($54), July 28 at Saxon ($54) and Aug. 25 at Suncrest ($59).

Fees are for individuals and cover greens fees, cart and lunch at the turn.

Twelve county golf courses are connected with the bureau. The six participating courses this year were randomly selected. The other six courses will be used when the event returns next year.

The nonhandicapped qualifiers are open to men, women and junior golfers. A maximum of 144 golfers will be permitted to play in each tournament. Two-person teams of either gender may enter, and a male and female can form a team. Individuals who enter will be paired with another golfer.

Teams need only finish among the top seven teams in one qualifier to be eligible to play in the final event. All golfers must be amateurs.

"The idea is to encourage local golfers who may only play one course to get out and try other courses,"Cohen said. "This format also encourages folks from outside the area to try our golf facilities."

At each of the six tournaments, a minimum of 30 percent of the golfers — based on a full field — will win at least $1,000 in merchandise gift certificates.

Besides the $1 million hole-in-one attempt, the final tournament will have more than $5,000 in team cash prizes.

"We've been promoting this event at golf shows,"Cohen said. "We've had booths at golf shows in Cleveland, Buffalo and Pittsburgh. There were nearly 10,000 people at the Pittsburgh show, and everybody was stopping at our booth."

Lambert said the additional 75 spots for the finale will be randomly chosen, with each golfer getting one chance for each qualifying tournament he or she plays.

Each overnight stay in a Butler County hotel or bed and breakfast establishment between April 15 and Aug. 26 results in an additional chance.

"We want as many local establishments as possible to benefit from this,"Lambert said.

Aubrey's Dubbs Dred pro John Aubrey said a best-ball format would benefit golfers choosing to play at his qualifier.

"I'll set up the course however they (bureau) want, easy or difficult,"Aubrey said. "Golfers have a lot of fun playing best-ball on our course, but it's a little tough for the average golfer if he has to play his own ball."

The tour is being coordinated by Pittsburgh Golf Events and the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau.

For information or to register for any of the tournaments, visit www.visitbutlercounty.com.