AJGA Haul!

For a $250 tournament entry fee, the AJGA has got to be one of the best deals on the planet. Here is what Sean and all his fellow competitors have in store for this weekend, as he plays his first AJGA event of the season:

• One practice round
• Two guaranteed tournament rounds
• A third tournament round if your player make the cut (top 48 players + ties)
  
• Great competition against a deep, international field of fellow juniors
  
• Great pace of play for the rounds at only a bit more than 4 hrs
• A warm and friendly AJGA staff, plenty of them, along with great volunteers
• A dozen Titleist ProV1x golf balls ($45 retail value)
• A dozen Taylor-Made Penta golf balls ($45 retail value)
• A Winn brand putter grip
  
• A smart looking Adidas/AJGA logo golf shirt ($60 retail value)
• Three hats, including the all-important "Dustin Johnson" flat bill style Taylor-Made hat. ($20 each)
• A pair of Adidas adiPure nuovo golf shoes ($200 retail value)
• A bag towel ($20 retail value)

The shoes are definitely, absolutely over the top and not something he'll see in most AJGA events. They are also brilliant marketing. He loves them already. And he's been a Foot-Joy kid all his life.

But everything else, except maybe the second dozen balls, is pretty typical.

If AJGA were to ask my opinion, I'd tell them, "You had me at well-run events."

And if they were to ask Sean his opinion of the one tee gift he could not do without, he'd definitely only "need" the bag towel. Junior golfers meeting on the tee for the first time size each other up through their bag towels. It is to the junior golfer what the mane is to the lion.

When to quit other sports for golf

We've run across a couple of instances, reading or hearing college golf coaches mention that they'd prefer to have players who play other sports, in addition to golf.

One evening not long ago, Sean was talking about the workouts his classmates were doing and announced that he was thinking about going to his high school's football team spring drills the next morning.

At 6 am.

He's pretty athletic looking, and at 6'1" and about 175 lbs, has the size and strength package his high school football coaches desperately want.

I asked, "Did you have a conversation today with one of the football coaches?"

"Not really."

"Do you want to play football next year?"

"I dunno."

Then I asked, "Well, do you like to play football."

"Not really."

"Is it because you think playing football will help get you recruited by college golf coaches?"

"Yessir."

The approach we've taken since Sean was a little kid was to let him play the sports that he wanted to play, and never force him to play a sport he didn't want to play. I learned that from my own Dad.

As his passion for golf grew, and with it his dream of playing at an elite level, I could see the time might come when Sean would like have to make a choice between golf and another sport. And that decision came this spring, when Sean made his final decision to try out for golf, and not to play baseball for the first time in maybe 10 years.

It has been a good call. In fact, a spectacularly good decision. His golf game has improved tremendously this spring. In just a few months he's gone from a 4 handicap to scratch. All but a few rounds, whether tournament or practice rounds, have been scored in the 70s.

For the first time, he won't start his summer golf season trying to catch up, or even have to fit tournament golf around a heavy baseball schedule. Focusing on the one sport has helped him really improve his golf game, and if things stay as they are now, he'll be rolling into his summer tournament schedule with a lot of confidence.

I can fully understand why college golf coaches like the idea multi-sport athletes. Playing other sports testifies to greater athleticism, to learning how to deal with a coach and a team environment. It makes a lot of sense for a golf coach. But not always for a player.

But in Sean's case it really wasn't a difficult decision for him, or hard for me to guide him. He knew the time had come, and that it was the right call. Golf is where his passion now lies. He's having as much fun working on his golf game as he did throwing a knuckle curve ball for a strike on a 3-2 count, or banging a hard grounder up the middle for a 2 run single!

And it sure as hell beats football drills.

Happy Masters weekend!

What a weekend it was!

Beginning on Friday, when Sean learned at his golf team meeting that he had made the eight-boy team that would play in the regional and state tournaments. He still has a bit to go, beginning with a couple of tournaments this week. He needs to continue to score so he gets one of the 6 playing spots in each event. But the bottom line is that these six players and two alternates are the eight boys, about half of the kids on the golf team, who will earn varsity letters.

Earning a varsity letter as a freshman at his school seems to be a pretty big deal. In golf, like in most other sports, the freshmen have a lot of bodies to climb over to get the playing time necessary for the award.

Then on Saturday, Sean and I played a round at the club with Dan, a young kid who plays on the Nationwide tour. I was afflicted with a bad case of double bogeyitis, turning in a round of 82, with five doubles and a bogey to offset my lone birdie. But as poorly as I played it was still fun being in a group with a couple of talented golfers.

Sean had a much better day than I. He turned at -1, had a hiccup on #11, and then another bogey on 13 left him at 1 over. He grinded out birdies on #14 and #15 to get back to -1, but finished #18 with a disappointing bogey, at even par 72. Four bogies and four birdies. Dan, the Qschool grad, shot a 71.

It makes your head spin to watch your young son hold his own, shot for shot, with a Nationwide tour player.

I sensed during the round that I was watching Sean make one of those quantum leaps. His game was just really well under control. His ball striking was crisp. There is a new air of confidence in him. At the turn, he spoke openly of breaking 70. It didn't happen for him, but he was really grinding hard to pull it off. It was a casual round and he was playing with a mission in mind.

Still, the three backside bogeys were inexplicable: one from the middle of the fairway, another a 3 putt from 10 feet, and the last failure to hit the green with a wedge. It should have been a round in the 60's.

And for the first time ever, I think he finally recognized those as mistakes that only he has the power to control.

And what I saw, the change, is that he had finally reached the point where he was honestly setting higher expectations for himself; linking them to things that he could control. It was more than just kid play, that good scoring wasn't just something you wish for, or even just expect to happen, but something you will, something you control.

On the car ride over to Augusta, he said, "I really should be breaking par more, even shooting in the 60's. I've just got to stop thinking 75, 76 or 77 is a good score. If I stop making the mistakes that are causing those bogeys, I would have much better scores. I'm going to focus more on making sure my alignment and aim are right, before taking a shot. I did that today and just need to do it better on all my shots."

That admission was like music to my ears. He finally gets it. Bogeys aren't a conspiracy of the gods. His game is something that he and he alone can control, and if he does it well, the sorts of scores he hopes to be shooting will follow.

And then on Sunday, as we walked onto the Augusta National grounds, just as he seemed to become more mature and more realistic about what he is doing with his game, I couldn't help but go, perhaps in the other direction, and give in to a fantasy, to imagine that he'd compete in the Masters some day.

Preparation in a practice round

Sean has an AJGA event scheduled for later this month at a nearby course, where we played a practice round yesterday. We brought a couple of his buddies from the club along.

One thing I noticed out of the gate was how much the three boys enjoy playing with each other. I hadn't really been in the mix like this since they were much younger. There was ton's of good natured ribbing and laughs, they are so familiar with each other. They have become best friends, bound by their passion for golf, though I don't think they know it yet.

In a post-mortem after last season, one of the things Sean's coach Bobby suggested he try to do this season is to prepare for tournaments better. He suggested Sean get a practice round in well before an event, if possible, and to go back home to work on any special shots it might take to get around the course.

After a few holes I noticed Sean was sort of lagging behind, before I realized he was taking measurements and jotting down notes. Using his rangefinder to sight targets from landmarks.

In watching him, my dominant thought was how cool it was not to have to tell him to do any of this. He just did it all on his own, quietly and without any fanfare.

The kid's head is definitely in the game. And while there was a sense of purpose to the round, he was also having a blast just goofing around with his buddies.

I felt very fortunate to be a part of this light-hearted day. If more Dad's knew how much fun a day like this could be with their sons, there would probably be a lot fewer kids going into soccer and baseball and football.

Taking advantage of high school tournament chances

Sean's team has a few more than a dozen players. From the sounds of it, ~8 players are vying for a spot on the squad that will compete for the high school state championship. Six of these players will compete, two will serve as alternates. The whole season is geared to this goal.

It is fair to say ~4 kids have a spot on that squad locked up. Sean doesn't think he is among these four. He is battling for the 5th or 6th spot with another 3 or 4 other kids.

The team seems to have the talent and the depth where they could make a run at winning the state championship, which would be a big feather in the cap of all involved. Three players return from last year's squad, which finished fifth at 315. The champions shot an even 300.

The coach seems to be doing a good job of giving all a chance to play in matches and tournaments, to post scores and see how they stack up. So when he does get a chance to play an event, Sean goes in knowing that he has to take advantage of the chance, to put up a number.

Sean made a big claim for one of those coveted spots yesterday, posting a four over par 76 to pace the varsity squad, including the locked four, in an event on a tight, hilly course with winds gusting in the 30's. The other scores of his teammates were three 79's and two 80's. Sean's finish was a T5 in a 72 player field.

He's doing a good job of taking advantage of his opportunities to compete in these high school tournaments and matches, putting up numbers that the coaches probably will find hard to overlook. We'll see.

Going into this, his first, high school golf season, I'd read and heard a few things about how the short high school golf team season isn't as important as his summer tournament schedule. Sure, the fields in high school tournaments aren't as deep as those on the regional and national junior golf tours.

But there is a new dynamic I hadn't really anticipated, the intrasquad competition. This grinding to establish a position in the pecking order. It offers an interesting, and refreshing, flavor to the soloist grind of the summer. It is more than the fun and pride of being on a team with some buddies. It is about a season-long competition that hums in the background, where every opportunity to play serves a longer term objective.

Grinding out a varsity team letter

A few weeks back, Sean survived tryouts to make his high school golf team. He is really enjoying golf as a team sport. He takes a lot of pride in carrying his high school bag, wearing the logo hats and shirts, and most especially playing golf with a group of boys sharing a common purpose, and having a blast with them all.

As a high school freshman, his goals all along have been to make the varsity golf squad, and to earn the letter that comes with it. To earn that letter, he tells me he has heard, means that he has to play on the 6 man squad that competes in the state high school state golf tournament in early May.

I'm not exactly sure how many boys made the team, but it sounds like a bit more than a dozen. The coach mixes them up to assemble varsity and JV squads to go out to play in various matches and tournaments. There is one senior on the team, four or five juniors, two or three sophomores, and a handful of freshman.

It sounds like everyone older than freshman are rotated onto any given daily varsity squad, to get their chances to put up numbers. A group of freshman don't quite have the games for this just yet, and appear to be JV specialists. Sean and one other freshman, however, have feet in both camps and are getting ample opportunity to play on the varsity.

Slowly but surely, Sean appears to be earning his way on varsity. He probably won't be sent to any more JV matches, because he is clearly well ahead of that group. But he is also clearly on the bubble, in a dynamic that involves not only scores, but also the coaches dilemma of what to do with kids who don't score as well as Sean but who've been on the team a few years.

Presumably, he'll send to the state tournament the six boys who have the best shot at putting up the four scores that will be needed to win the event, which is likely to be 290 or less. Sean and some of the other kids are counting heads, and it seems like Sean might be as high as #5 in terms of scoring, but the presence of an upper classman probably bumps him to #6, or even #7. I don't doubt Sean is getting a good luck from the coach.

Chats about the situation with Sean provide ample opportunity to remind him the only thing that matters is the scoring. It is the only thing he can really control. His 18 hole avg right now is 77, with only one round in the 80's (an 81).

He's been consistent, but so far all he offers the coach is confidence that he'll put up something in the 70's. From the coaches point of view, Sean hasn't really shown the ability to go low, to show he can put up one of those low numbers, around par, a few of which will be necessary to grab that state title.

Because Sean's consistency includes making too many mistakes out there, throwing away strokes on three or four holes every round. And intellectually and emotionally, he's not quite at the point where he really "gets" that part of golf.

He'd rather think about his strengths than about his weaknesses. Talking about what he does great versus what he needs to improve. Talking about bad shots as random injustices of creation, rather than as the outcome of poor execution. This all seems to me nothing more complex than a reflection of his level of maturity in his development. If you would ask them, the vast majority of teens would tell you they can do no wrong. He'll grow out of this eventually, the kid is only 15 years old, after all.

In terms of that goal to make the state squad and earning the coveted letter, in the few remaining matches he'd probably best help his chances by putting up something less than 75, perhaps even something closer to par than that. He's got the ability, and just needs to figure out a way to limit the mistakes. His coach needs to see a low score from him as solid evidence that he can actually go to a tournament and put up one of those scores that can help the team win.

I really like the idea that Sean imposes these broader goals upon himself, like getting a varsity letter. But there is a significant tension there, too, where he needs to better understand the relationship between his game management and that broad goal.

Because that goal only frames what he can really control, which is his scoring. His score at the end of the day is a direct reflection of how well he manages the series of decisions that face him during a round.

He needs to get to that point in his maturation where he understands that executing each and every of the 70 to 80 odd shots, and the myriad moments and issues that pop up in the course of a round, are all important goals in and of themselves.

He'll figure it all out. Talk about a life lesson....