Bringing a Jr tour event on the home course?

Sean and I had discussed for a while how cool it would be to have our golf club host a 2 day Jr event run by our regional Jr tour. Sean has played in several of their events, and they do a really good job of it.

Sean will claim as his the idea of 'hosting' an event at our club. And he's probably right.

I finally got off my duff to do something about the issue. I had lunch today with the tour director, who was in town for an appointment of his own. We chatted about some of the issues involved.

The next step is to put together a package to present to my club's decision makers, to see if there is something we can do. Our membership is loath to give up their course to outsiders, if even for a day. They cherish their sanctuary, and rightly so.

However, I think we can come up with a proposal that will disrupt normal club activities minimally, and provide the club with both direct and indirect benefits.

College day-

Our metro Jr golf circuit held an informative college day, which Sean and I attended together. Over a 3 hr period, a panel of golf coaches, spanning a range from a tippy top Div I program to an NAIA school, gave some insight into their programs and their approaches to recruiting and managing their teams.

It was a real eye opener, for the both of us.

Probably the three most important take home messages:

• Academics are incredibly important. The golfer really has to be a good student. High school academic performance can be both a door opener and a deal breaker. Football academic standards don't appear to apply to golf.
  
• College coaches don't want high maintenance, tantrum-throwing kids who are disrespectful to their parents any more than a parent wants a bratty kid in his house. Duh.
  
• Just shoot the rounds, and compete in the events he can compete in. Have fun shooting good scores and finishing as high as he can. Make that the objective, and college golf will take care of itself.
  

As if to say that the secret to nurturing a budding golf prodigy is to be a good parent. To emphasize first what is important-academics and character. As for his golf, his preparation and dedication will earn him the success he deserves. No more and no less.

Whew! That takes all the pressure off! Should be a snap! LOL!

Seriously, the college day seminar couldn't have come at a better time. Sean is discovering his new high school is far more demanding academically than his middle school. He needs to step up his effort. If he had any doubts as to whether the hard work his school demands is worth it, the golf seminar seems to have persuaded him otherwise.

Setting a schedule

The nicest thing about having exempt status for the AJGA Gilchrist events is that we can pretty well plan out his season well in advance. We'll have him play in 5 AJGA events, compete in our state Jr Am tournament, and try to qualify for a couple more events (US Jr Am and state Am). We'll also try to get him into a couple of qualifiers for AJGA open tournaments, and see if he can bank some performance stars for the next season.

Last year, the focus was to play as much tournament golf as possible. This year, the focus will be to learn how to prepare better for a more limited number of events.

The other big difference this year is that Sean will play high school golf rather than baseball this spring. Tryouts for the team will commence in another 3 weeks or so. Sean has a good shot at making the team, but hard to say whether he'll see a lot of tournament action. Either way, I think he'll have a lot of fun being on a team.