My oldest took a week long golf camp last summer and decided she loved golf. We bought her intro clubs and after a little research we enrolled her into the Junior PGA Operation 36 program with Cypress Golf Academy this spring.
She's taken to it and seems to enjoy the program and the tournaments. We're about 6 months in and she wanted to sign up for the Drive, Chip, and Putt after watching the finals on TV from Augusta this spring. We've practiced once or twice a week the last month at our local goat track driving range in addition to her weekly class. Some days were better than others with not much consistency.
Not knowing what to expect we set what we thought were fair, but stretch goals of 50 points and top half finish in her local qualifier in Houston. We didn't realize the one we signed up for had the most entrants in Houston.
Well, things started off on the wrong foot. Her one advantage is usually being a long hitter for her age, but nerves got the better in the first event (drive) and points were hard to come by. After a little encouraging and a what do you have to lose pep talk, she rallied hard and vastly over achieved chipping and putting. And what do you know, she won her qualifier!
I've been beaming all day and over the moon she won. But I'm more proud of her for fighting back after a bad start and finishing strong. She's a smart kid and has all the athletic ability in the world, but has struggled with anxiety for the last couple of years. She's been working on it with professional help, but starting off poorly in a competition where no one can coach them while competing was my worst nightmare.
Today was a good day.
She's taken to it and seems to enjoy the program and the tournaments. We're about 6 months in and she wanted to sign up for the Drive, Chip, and Putt after watching the finals on TV from Augusta this spring. We've practiced once or twice a week the last month at our local goat track driving range in addition to her weekly class. Some days were better than others with not much consistency.
Not knowing what to expect we set what we thought were fair, but stretch goals of 50 points and top half finish in her local qualifier in Houston. We didn't realize the one we signed up for had the most entrants in Houston.
Well, things started off on the wrong foot. Her one advantage is usually being a long hitter for her age, but nerves got the better in the first event (drive) and points were hard to come by. After a little encouraging and a what do you have to lose pep talk, she rallied hard and vastly over achieved chipping and putting. And what do you know, she won her qualifier!
I've been beaming all day and over the moon she won. But I'm more proud of her for fighting back after a bad start and finishing strong. She's a smart kid and has all the athletic ability in the world, but has struggled with anxiety for the last couple of years. She's been working on it with professional help, but starting off poorly in a competition where no one can coach them while competing was my worst nightmare.
Today was a good day.
