Master's Invitation!!!!!

I was approached by a kind, kind member of our golf club who asked if Sean and I could join him and his group for a Sunday at the Master's. We'll stay with them in Augusta on Saturday night. Such a generous gift!

There very few things in this life that are better than a father and son, together, wandering the hallowed Augusta National Golf Club grounds. And on a Sunday!

Milestone: Breaking par

Sean came in with a one under 71 during a practice round at home. His first round below par. Two birdies and an eagle to offset 3 bogies.

I wish I was there to see the round...you want to be a part of these milestones...but I was at the club chatting with the head pro in his office, waiting to pick him up, when he came in off the course and announced his result. Close enough to the moment not to complain, I suppose.

But it was a weird moment....I was both very proud, while at the same time I had to actively suppress myself from blurting out, "It's about time!"

Breaking par was inevitable. Sean's game has improved too much. In fact, we all were getting a little bit concerned that it had not happened yet. A couple of his buddies at the club had broken through, but not yet Sean. He came close at last season's club championship, shooting a 73 with a double bogey on our par 5 18th hole.

So there was a little bit of a concern that par was becoming something impenetrable.

Not too many milestones left: Winning a tournament beyond the confines of the club, breaking 70, a bogey-free round, breaking 60...lol!

Well-deserved recognition for Sean's golf instructor

His name is Bobby Hix. And he is the 2010 Georgia PGA Teacher of the Year!

When Sean started working with him, we sensed we had lucked into something good. Turns out, we had stumbled onto a legend!

Congrats, Bobby!

Getting let down gently

For the past 10 years the golfing relationship between my son and I has passed through several phases.

In the earliest days, he wasn't old enough to go out on the course, so we would spend time on the range. I wouldn't get to hit as many balls as I'd like, because it was mostly about watching him and making sure he didn't get in the way of other guys practicing. He'd hit a few, maybe a small bag at the most, grow bored with it, and off we'd go to do something else.

Once he reached the long-anticipated age where he was allowed out on the course there was still more baby-sitting then golf, but it was good to be out there with him, and with his older sister, too. As on the range, I learned pretty quickly I wasn't there to work on my game, but just to spend time with them. To make sure the two of them scurried along, not holding up anybody behind us. There was some tolerance for playing in a bunker, or rolling down a hill, or a quick dash to a creek to look for fish and bugs. We might play four out of nine holes completely, taking shortcuts or a break on all the rest.

It wasn't always so idyllic, but it was usually pretty good. I made the conscious decision that we'd have fun on those outings, first and foremost. If they were ever to take up the game, Sean and his sister needed to associate fun with a trip out on the course, rather than something to be endured or suffered. So we had carts, rather walking and carrying bags, and candy bars. We scored imaginatively, and were generous with mulligans. And on days we did walk and carry bags, I invariably slung them all on my back at some point, more beast of burden than father.

While his sister, who is 4 years older, began to take on other interests, Sean slowly morphed into a good golfing companion. Over time, he became the one person I'd most like to get out and play with. I'll never forget the day I realized he was no different than any other fanatical golfer. He'd hit a bad tee shot into the woods on our 3rd hole, and I could hear him muttering to himself while he walked over there to find his ball. At 10 or 11 years old, he was not really different from any other middle-aged golfer berating himself for a poorly executed shot. It was a real hoot to watch.

Which is not to say there weren't some trying moments. What followed next was his bad temper period. As his game grew so did his expectations. A poor shot could spin him off into a tantrum that was so amazingly similar to those displayed by Tiger Woods you'd think the latter served as chief choreographer. These would frequently last for two or three holes, bad scores would pile up, and then he'd finally wrestle himself back to earth and start playing better again. These were hardly pleasant times, and on a couple of occasions forced me to banish him from the course. I never really let up on holding him accountable for his behavior, yet for what seemed like a long while things weren't really getting any better. It wasn't necessarily fun, a period to be endured, and one that thankfully came to an end before he turned 15.

Last season's phase was a competitive one. He had developed an ability to beat me fairly regularly in straight up stroke play, but I didn't necessarily need a superb day and he didn't necessarily need a horrible day for me to come out on top. We were both playing to ~4 handicaps, shooting our fair number of rounds in the 70's or in the 80's. And so our rounds together were fun. We never really did much in the way of bets. It was far more important to come home for dinner with bragging before his mother and my wife, an Oedipal competition of sorts, I guess.

But this season, I'm no longer any real threat to Sean. We've played a lot together over the past month or so, benefiting from uncommonly good weather. The way several of those rounds have been scheduled has been kinda cute. I might get an email, for example, from one of the better players at the club asking if Sean and I could join them for a round. It is Sean they want to play with, at the cost of me tagging along. But I don't mind.

But these rounds prove the tables have been turned, and what I mostly enjoy about them is the chance to admire his game up close. His ball striking, shot-making and how his game management has improved. He just hits it so well, so far and so high with a simple fluid swing. It is just a treat to see. There are no more tantrums. He gives me tips now, instead of the other way. Just solid, steady play. He is playing to something a bit better than a 2 handicap while I'm still stuck on my 4, scoring just enough mid-70's days to stay there.

There is a vast difference in skill between a 2 and a 4 handicapper. I can only beat him now if I have what will prove to be one of my best rounds of the season, and only if he plays pretty mediocre. For example, I shot a very solid 75 last weekend. But he bested me by a stroke. Far more often than not, his mediocre rounds will top my typical day at the course. And he has become a 2 the old fashioned way, by not yet having broken par. When that starts happening, I will have no chance whatsoever of ever beating him again.

That long phase, lasting several years from the very beginning when he first displayed interest, season upon season, of a son emulating his dad hoping that he will someday play better golf than his father, has finally come and achieved full closure.

And I can tell you the precise moment that transition occurred.

Last night he came into my room, asking apologetically if it was alright if he didn't play with me in our round scheduled for Saturday.

It turns out he had just received a text message inviting him to play, instead, in a group with three of our club champions. Our top players. He had a chance for a better Saturday game than he could get with me. I'd be lying if I denied a touch of disappointment at missing chance to be out there and tee it up with him again. But this was not one of those, "Honor your commitments, son" moments. He needs to be out there with those guys, rather than with me.

In one sense, Sean is in the same phase he's been in his entire golfing life, getting out there and playing rounds with guys he needs to learn how to beat. Having finally crested the molehill of beating his father, he is now eager to tackle the larger peaks that have appeared on the horizon.

Sean said, "Maybe we can do it some other time this weekend? How about Friday?"

A guy can hope a better option doesn't arise between now and then.

Milestone: Making the high school golf team

A bit over a year has passed since I began writing this blog, and with it another milestone. In March last year, at 14 Sean was playing what we suspected would be his last season of baseball.

In February this year, at 15, instead of daily treks to the batting cages to work on his hitting and catching to get ready for baseball tryouts, Sean stole hours after school and spent his weekends on the golf course, honing his game.

We had good, unseasonably warm weather for the better part of February and he was playing great, putting up a lot of mid-70's scores.

Still, he was extremely nervous about trying out for the golf team. And it showed.

Tryouts involved playing 3 nine hole rounds after school. His first round didn't go well at all, and he carded a shocking 50, including a score of 10 on one of the par 4's! He just wasn't comfortable with the process. But he shook it off and came in with rounds of 37 and 41 on his next two tryout days.

Recoveries that were good enough to secure that all important spot on the high school golf team.

This past weekend his school sent varsity and JV squads to Jekyll Island to play their first tournament of the season in the Johnny Paulk Invitational. Presumably on the basis of his Jekyll&Hyde tryouts, Sean was seated on his JV team for the event.

His attitude going in was very upbeat. He was mostly (99%) happy to be playing for his school and being with his teammates for a week, but also a tad bit miffed (1%) at not being placed on the varsity squad for the tournament. He took it in stride, which was very good.

But he understood he could have earned a spot with a better performance in his tryouts. We talked about how there is some long-term good that can come from having to shoot his way onto the varsity squad for events for the remainder of the high school season. It will provide several opportunities to work on his mental toughness, to hone his competitive mindset.

In the tournament, the best score posted on the team was a 71, by another freshman. Sean turned in a 77, which was the 2nd best score posted by anyone from his team in the event and good for a T10 in the 150 player field.

The next day, the team played an intrasquad event at the Seaside course on Sea Island, where Sean again posted the 2nd lowest score of the day, a 76, in very windy conditions.

So he is making statements, but with his scores. As long as he (and I) bears in mind that he will earn the spot in events that he deserves with his golf scores, nothing but good can come from the experience.

That's as solid a start to the high school golf career of a budding young golf star as you could hope to ask for!

The TV Viewer Rules Official and the Jr Golfer

Controversy swirls every time a TV viewer calls in from home to report a rules infraction during a PGA Tour event. As an avid golfer, I'm of a mixed mind about this. There seems to be an inherent unfairness about disqualifying a golfer long after signing an incorrect scorecard, one he did not know was incorrect.

On the other hand, an infraction is an infraction. The rules can seem complicated, but they do make pretty clear what is disallowed. More significantly, the rules put the responsibility of knowing whether an infraction has been committed squarely on the player's shoulders.

As a golf fan, the thought of 'tattle-tales' existing out there, glued to the TV and looking to score by involving themselves in the event is disquieting.

But as the parent of a budding young golf star, I welcome this stuff when it happens.

Because each instance provides an opportunity to have a brief chat with Sean about not only the rules, about how to react when he finds himself in the situation where he or a a fellow competitor has made a mistake, and about the big picture ideas of responsibility and integrity.

If Sean's experience is any guide, a junior will find himself in the position of having to call out a fellow competitor on the course or in the scoring tent a handful of times each season. These must be pretty uncomfortable moments for the kids. Especially when a marker insists the player has committed a violation, and the player is unaware or denies it.

These conflicts occur, and the kids need to not only come to a resolution but also learn how to deal with the emotion of the situation.

In this regard, the professional golfers almost invariable prove to be good role models for the juniors. They swallow the poison. They defer to the rules. They sometimes indicate their displeasure about how it came about, but in the end they show they have no choice but to abide by the rules. And by teeing up the next week, they also prove the world didn't come to an end.

And in accepting calls from TV viewers, what the PGA Tour officials are doing is making it clear that the championships will be played according to the rules.

For a junior in the scoring tent after a long round on a hot day who finds himself in a situation where the facts are in dispute, at least he the rules of golf in his corner. Which are some powerful ammunition.

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.

Lessons from 2010: Rule #1 Remain calm and don't make a bad day worse

Sean started the 2010 campaign with something of a bang...3 tournaments early in the season comprising six rounds with scores in the 70s. There was no real reason to think things wouldn't improve from that start.

But then Sean started to struggle and began posting scores in the 80s. And he was never really able to shake the 80s for the rest of the season. By some measures, you might even conclude his game regressed as the season wore on. He'd open tournaments with something in the 80's, then close it with something in the 70's, or less frequently, vice versa. In fact, he only had one round in the 70s over the last five rounds of season.

But what a round in the 70s it was! A 73 in the 2nd round of our club's Men's Championship....from the tips on a course that although familiar, was set up as hard as any he had played all season. He would go on to finish in 10th place in that event, solidifying himself as one of the top golfers at our club.

This provides an example of the biggest lesson Sean taught me this season: To focus on the positive. Because that is what he did all season long. Whether he had just finished with a good score or something in the 80's, Sean would climb in the car and regale me with stories of his great shots and missed opportunities. Listening, you wouldn't know he had shot, say, an 84. Among the favorite lines I'd hear him say was, "Dad, you have no idea how close I came to a 68...really, more like a 66!"

Sean never wallowed in self-pity and this season he also pretty much jettisoned the immature micro-tantrums (such as the Tiger club slam). He is learning how to control his emotions, and to be fair to him...or maybe to be a good example, I had to somehow learn the same lessons. I figured if the game wasn't getting him down, at least in any outward way, then I certainly wasn't going to light into him with whatever frustrations I felt when things weren't going well.

So I bit my tongue. A lot. Consciously, and at times with substantial effort. I confess to only one outburst at the start of a long drive to another tournament. For whatever reason, I was thinking he wasn't showing that he was taking scoring seriously enough--the point of tournament golf is to post scores, after all, and I lost my cool and started an argument with him. What was said probably had to be said --the privilege of playing in these more competitive tournaments needs to be taken seriously-- but not the way it was done.

But overall Sean worked hard at his game all season long. He played or practiced every day at the club, in a way that was both fun and serious for him. He grinded hard on virtually every single shot in every single tournament. He may not have executed shots well, and he may have done some bone-headed-let's be nice and call them experimental- things that I surely would not have not done myself, but there is no taking away from the fact that he tried his hardest.

He put a lot of pressure on himself to do well, and he had to deal with the disappointment when he didn't do well. And it slowly dawned on me that he simply has to go through this learning process in order to become a good competitive golfer. And when you see it in that perspective, you see that some good comes from not being able to rise to expectations or hopes.

As a golfer myself, one who carries a 5 handicap, I realize that it is a very difficult game to play well. Tournament golf more so. Sean shot scores out there this summer that I shoot only occasionally, and even more rarely under tournament conditions. He has amply proven he is already a far better golfer than ever was.

Sean has built his self-image cloaked in golf, it is a major way in which he defines himself now. As bad as I want him to succeed, Sean also proved to me this summer that he wants it far more than me.

As long as he shows that attitude, he earns all the support I can provide reasonably in terms of tournaments and travel and equipment and lessons. But more importantly, he has earned my respect and a commitment to do my best to serve as his confidant. When he climbs in the car after a disappointing day, he doesn't need me getting down on him or demanding he perform better. Really, what could be more absurd? He just spent 5 or 6 hrs grinding out a round, putting it all on the line, having sat in the scorers tent testifying to embarrassing failures, only to step into the car so his father can rip into him?

Sean needs me to be a sounding board. For him, going over the round and emphasizing the highlights is a method to consolidate his memories and to create a perspective that he can draw from down the road. If it was a bad day, he needs me to simply say, "Well, that wasn't your best round but hopefully there is something you can learn from it."

And then leave it at that and go out to find a meal, hopefully at a sports bar that can serve me some good beer with which to calm my nerves and pull me back from the edge. LOL!!

This parenting a budding golf star isn't as easy as it looks. So I think the biggest thing I learned from the 2010 season is Rule #1, Remain calm and don't make a bad day worse.

Meanwhile, I just will have to continue to have faith that he gets this all figured out, that he continues to improve and that he learns enough so that he can realize his dreams in competitive golf. He seems to have the knack for throwing up just enough of those 73's to earn another shot at it.

2010 Recap

Sean played his final tournament of the 2010 campaign last weekend, so now we summarize.

Here are the numbers: Twenty-eight completed rounds played in fifteen tournaments, with an overall scoring average of 79.4. His first round average of 81 was improved in the second rounds, where he has a scoring average of 77.2.

Something about a scoring avg of 79.4 seems disappointing and not really reflective of the progress Sean made compared to the 2009 season.

Probably the most impressive evidence of progress over last year is that he scored in the 70s in 14 rounds this season compared to only one round in the previous year, and that he had at least one round in the 70's in 10 of his 15 events. In 4 of these events he scored both rounds in the 70's.

His low rounds included a 71, 73(2) and a 74. His best two-round scores were 150 and 151 (twice), whereas in 2009 his best two-round score was 157.

After every round, Sean and I would climb in the car to head home or to the hotel and Sean would go over his round, recounting the great shots and the near misses. He'd never really focus on the negatives, and he'd never let a disappointing round get him down. He might have been embarrassed by some of his higher scores, but he never wallowed in self-pity after those rounds.

And so, I conclude this season by focusing on the positive, because that is what Sean would have done. He improved this season. It was, by a reasonable standard, a quantum leap and he narrowed the gap between him and the kids his age who are shooting the better scores.

Could it have been better? Of course. Could we have reasonably expected a better outcome? Who knows. It is what it is, which is mostly a sign that his hard work and dedication and simple enjoyment of the game is all paying off and he is moving in a good direction with it.

He called a penalty on himself

I did want to mention one more thing. In a tournament this past weekend, Sean had a ball move on him after addressing it for a green side chip, and replaced it with a one stroke penalty. I wasn't out there watching him, and from the sounds of it neither of the players in his group saw it either.

I had told him some time earlier that the first time I hear he did something like that would be a proud day, indeed. That no shot was more important than preserving his integrity and that of the competition.

What was remarkable is how little fanfare was involved. He mentioned it as if in passing, and I congratulated him, but really didn't make a big deal out of it either.

Still, it was early in the 2nd round, which he started only 3 shots off the lead. For all he knew at the time, it might have cost him a win. As it turned out, he finished 3rd, 6 strokes off the lead.

The big picture and the long view

I've been remiss. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since my last post. Sean's US Jr Am qualifying experience turned out to be the start of a rough patch of water, and I guess it took a bit of wind out of my sails.

Going through it, there didn't seem much to celebrate just as there didn't seem much to grow despondent about.

In fact, seven tournaments worth of water has passed with seven rounds 80 and above, seven rounds in the seventies, but no round better than a 76. You could say that Sean's game hit a plateau while I pretty much just got into the grind of getting him to all of his events.

But I'm back after taking some time to graph things out to get some perspective.
The big picture is that after 13 tournaments this season, Sean's scoring and his game has improved measurably. His tournament scoring average this season is 7.4 strokes improved over last season, and is now pretty much going to stay in the 70's, a Mendoza line of sorts.

There are all sorts of other measures of success. He finished higher in his fields this season compared to the year before. Where last year he was pretty much bringing up the rear, this year he is somewhere in the top third to top half of players in his age group. He has 8 top 10 finishes on the season. Last year he had one score in the 70's, this season scored below 80 in 13 rounds! Last year, a 157 for two rounds was his best effort and had only one other tournament below 170. This year he had 8 tournaments in the 150's, with a 150 marking his best effort. He had a propensity all season to shoot a better 2nd round than his first round, by a margin of 3 strokes on average. His ranking in the Junior Golf Scoreboard has improved from somewhere in the 5000's to somewhere around 2800.

Overall, there is no question that Sean is on the right trajectory.

But to be honest, things fell short of our expectations...of my hopes for him and his plans for himself. We talked about it over last winter and set a goal of a scoring average of 75 and maybe taking home some bling.

But was this even a reasonable expectation? How do you know what is reasonable? I guess we came up with that 75 on the basis of how well he was hitting the ball, how much he was taking to his coaches instruction, and how committed he seemed to improve this year. He just looked like a really solid golfer.

The data indicate that 75 was a stretch, scoring that well in tournaments over a whole season involves being more than a great ball-striker. It looks as if Sean will have to continue to struggle to join the best golfers among his peers. But he is getting closer to them then they are pulling away from him.

As much as I want him to win and be a top golfer as a 13, 14 and 15 year old, I'm convinced Sean wants it a lot more. What most impresses me about Sean is how he bounced back time after time from a disappointing round or tournament, to get out there and do it again. There is absolutely no quit in the kid. And he has incredible focus. I don't mind all the travel and expense for one reason only: I am absolutely convinced that Sean is giving it all his very best effort, an effort that more than earns the privilege of playing the junior tours.

And over this season I've come to accept the long view that this struggle to improve is a very good thing. To get that scoring average down among the best won't come easy to him. He has all the athletic ability in the world. Although I have my pet theories, it is not at all clear to me what more he needs to do, other than knowing that HE needs to figure it out for himself.

As a parent, I can only be grateful for a son possessing the ambition to become an outstanding golfer. More than anything, what the season has taught me is patience, that he will have to learn how to do this on his own. I can hope he gets his game there sooner rather than later, but it will come when it comes, almost as if there is nothing that can be forced.

My role is not to demand better performance on some time table that I impose upon him, but to give him opportunities--from finding his swing coach to signing him up for tournaments to keeping my golf club membership so he has a place to play.

More than anything, I have to be sure not to not act like a moron and steal the fun away from it all.

Disappointment at a US Jr Amateur Qualifier

Not so good, but hopefully a great learning experience. Sean shot an 85...I think he was 10 or 11 over on his 1st nine holes. Most of the damage came as a reverberation from one swing on his 3rd hole of the day, a difficult par 3 where he carded an 8 before the smoke had cleared.

Presumably still reeling from the disappointment, he had double bogies on his next two holes. Nine over par in just 3 holes!!! Ouch.

I suppose there is something to learn from playing well, but I think this one gave Sean an almost invaluable lesson.

You see, he and I had gone up to the course several weeks ago to get in a practice round, but were thunderstormed off the course after the front nine. After returning home, I gave Sean the chance a couple of times to return to the course to finish the back nine practice round, but he insisted he was ready and didn't need it.

On the qualifier day, he started on the back nine and apparently things went pretty well until his third hole, which is a long (~200 yd) par three nestled onto a hill slope that falls from left to right into a lake. Sean said his playing partner had honors and had his tee shot, well struck with a hybrid, come up short into the bank just above the water.

Simply put, Sean was uncertain what to hit. After seeing his partner with that shot and having never played the hole before, he chose his hybrid worried that a 3 iron wouldn't be enough. But thinking it was too much club, he said he probably decelerated his swing and pulled it badly left, into the water. From there, according to his buddy who served as his caddy, things sort of spiraled out of control. Something about making a poor choice on his drop option, and a mistake that followed that.

Remarkably, that 8 was his first hole he scored worse than double bogey all summer long. In contrast, last summer he was averaging two holes worse than double bogey each round. Although, not surprisingly, the next two holes didn't fare well, he then pulled himself together and finished out the rest of the tournament holes at only 4 over par. I believe something right at par qualified for the event, and only a handful of kids made it.

The good to take away from something like this is to recognize that he is almost to that point where all that separates him from really, really solid scores is a swing or two, here and there. You can see his game tighten up almost on a weekly basis.

Besides, it is hard to see the downside of trying to qualify for a USGA event. My guess is that Sean will be eager to have another go at it next year, and probably will be focused to extract his measure of revenge from the event at that time.

It is all good at this stage. As long as he is playing a lot of golf at home and seeing some good competition in his events, it is all good.

A solid tournament and AJGA Status!!!

Sean played well in a tournament far from home a few weeks ago, the Pepsi Little Peoples in Quincy Illinois. He shot a 78-73 (par 71) to finish in 8th place, competing against ~30 players in the event.

The tournament result has much greater significance than playing another event with two solid rounds in the 70's, which is our main goal for his summer.

His top 10 finish in the 14-15 age group, in fact, gave him "Junior All Star" exempt status for the remainder of this year and for next year in the Gary Gilchrist Golf Academy Junior All Star Series of the American Junior Golf Association. JAS exempt status is just a notch below fully exempt status but, because so few kids seem to have fully exempt status, for all practical purposes JAS exempt makes him fully exempt, and will allow us to create a set schedule for next season centered around a handful of AJGA events. We won't need to worry about whether he will be accepted into the fields for these events, which is a really big deal, and can plan accordingly.

We are getting a running lesson through all of this on how competitive junior golf is structured.
To play AJGA events seems not only fairly important, but essential for someone with his aspirations. As a 14 year old, the most important reason to play AJGA is simply because their events have deeper fields. Competing in stronger fields will give him a better sense about how much he'll need to improve to continue on the path of playing golf at the collegiate level. Because he will only be 15 years old next summer and just finishing his freshman year of high school, I'm far more concerned that Sean uses these AJGA events for younger kids to learn how improve than as a way to impress college coaches.

We entered Sean in the Little Peoples tournament mostly because of the way they dangled generous AJGA exempt status for the top finishers. We looked at their tournament records from past years and felt that Sean would need to play solid, but that shooting a 150 was well within reason, that something around 150 had a good chance of earning him a top 10 finish. Playing in that tournament seemed like a much quicker route towards earning better AJGA status than grinding away in his regional tour events for 'performance stars.' We weren't sure how many regional events he would be able to enter for the rest of the summer, and even though very competitive, these events don't earn players too much in the way of AJGA status.

Sean started the Little Peoples tournament with the mindset of finishing in the top 10 as his primary goal. We thought the Westview Golf Course, a small town muni track, would be a fairly straightforward course. A practice round dissuaded us of that notion fairly quickly. It was a remarkably challenging test of golf, with thick rough, dog-legs, blind tee shots, well placed hazards and out of bounds, and very challenging greens, many with very significant back to front sloping. Add to this the fact that the course, already long playing at over 6800 yards, was pretty wet from record rains.

Sean's first round 78 was worse than he had expected of himself, but left him in 12th place and within touch of the leaders. His second round 73 was remarkable for a few reasons. He asked both myself and his mom to walk along with him to watch him play, which seemed to telegraph that he was growing in confidence. Second, it was just a fantastic round to watch. He really ground it out, sinking several good putts to save par on greens that played much faster the 2nd day. His game management was superb. He just played real steady all day, and only made what you might consider two mistakes. In the end, he was one of only 3 or 4 players among the top half of the field to improve his score on the 2nd day.

Something important was on the line, and he rose to the task. We were very proud of the way he played and stepped up to the challenge. And his reward: we signed him up for the AJGA so he should get one of those big red AJGA bag tags in the mail any day. These things seem to be the ultimate junior golf status symbol, and veritably shout out that a playa has just arrived onto the tee box!

Good stuff.