Well, in our last post, we said we wouldn't get into the specifics of the competitive youth golf schedule within geographical areas in which you may live. However, we decided to do it anyway. So, we decided to copy the last two paragraphs from the last post in order to bring you up to speed and then we'll continue... Now that we are looking to REALLY get our child engaged in competitive golf, we have to get real serious. What do we mean? There are a number of players all over the world who are extremely great players and many of them have been groomed from an early age to compete and win at their age level or, even, at the next age level. This is where it gets serious and when it can cost alot of moolah!! The best players score in the seventies the majority of the time if not lower. If your child is 15 or older and NOT shooting below 80 most days on his/her home course, you may not want to enter them into outside tournaments just yet, but, if they are persistent and want to play against the better players, then search in your area for the local USGA Junior schedule and/or PGA Section tournament schedule. Get ready to shell out the bucks, but, this is the best way to show your child what the competition is REALLY like and either frustrate them or invigorate them to get better..... and do it. Your Child's life ... is about becoming a great person AND a great golferSo, how do we do it? What? How do we start and continue the process of grooming our young golfer into greatness? Keep in mind, and we're sure you get this as a parent, but, keep in mind that your child's life is not only about becoming a great golfer, it is about becoming a great person AND a great golfer. We'll provide our perspective on building great people in our next post. So, for now, we'll drive toward giving your young golfer the best opportunity to become the best player they can become. Let's revisit the coach or golf instructor requirement again. Remember, if you have had outstanding success developing young golfers to greatness than you can put this book down and do your thing, again. If you have not, start looking for a coach for your young golfer. This is very important as establishing the proper fundamentals in your golfer's swing, short game, putting, on course strategies, mental game etc, basically establish the roots of your child's golf game for the rest of their lives. You'll need to find and develop a lasting relationship for your child with their golf coach..
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Oh, how I wish I knew Jesus earlier in my life. As I was praying about what the Lord wanted me to share this week, He directed my thoughts back to a time in my Club Professional career that proved to be a critical point in my life. I had been an Assistant for eight years, newly married and was blessed with starting a family; so of course, the next progression in my career was to become a Head Professional. Not in God’s time, in MINE! And the time was NOW! I was serving at a great club, for a great HP (Paul Marchand) and he knew I was getting anxious, his encouragement was consistent, “Bill, be patient, your time will come”. I “heard” what he was saying, but I wasn’t “listening”. I went on to make an impetuous decision, and that decision caused a solid seven years of financial and marital stress, had I known, I would have stayed put at Houston C.C., and waited patiently. Making the daily decision to follow Jesus, is HARD!“Patience” is one of the nine-character traits of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. At that time of my life, I wanted NOTHING to do with God. My experience in the Church (religion) wasn’t very positive, so our Heavenly Father who gives to those who ask (Luke 11:13) needed to know me personally, before, by His grace would lead me to ask for the gift of His Holy Spirit. I was full of pride at 28 years old and once again, as I think back to that time today, how true His word was and is as I read Proverbs 16:18 “Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall”. I would like to tell you that since I received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, that everything in my life has been perfect, but that would be a lie. Making the daily decision to follow Jesus, is HARD! But His promises that I now know are for His children, gives me hope, peace and joy that money can’t buy.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for such a beautiful day. Thank You for blessing our PGA Professionals with a servant’s heart, with knowledge and skills in the game of golf to impact people for Your will. Holy Spirit move in the hearts of ALL professionals across this Country and save those who are lost and encourage Your children who You’ve found. I ask these things in the powerful name of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen! Have a wonderful weekend! I appreciate what you do! Your teammate in Christ, Bill Dando, PGA FCA Golf-Georgia (706) 296-4873 “He is not impressed by the strength of a horse; He does not value the power of a man. The LORD values those who fear Him, those who put their hope in His faithful love.” Psalm 147:10-11 Most of you are probably not familiar with the way this outreach to golfers began and where we are now.
Back in 2017 or so, I was involved in a Christian Leadership Concepts (CLC) fellowship with 10 other men and we had come to the module titled something similar to "Building Your Business" as a Believer in Jesus Christ. As I studied this subject in the curriculum and in the Scriptures, I was convinced of my business idea, "To give the Gospel through the game of golf and to build community on the web and at the golf courses for fellowship, golf and discipleship." I built the website over a few days as I had experience constructing websites, but, wasn't a true web developer who fully understood the construction, navigation and "back end" parts of an effective web site for business. Also, I had some experience with business development as I was an advisor in small business development with the Small Business Development Center in Rutherford County, TN and through this experience decided to launch my Golf From the Heart (GFtH) business as an L3C. Now you can click here for information on an L3C, but, suffice it to say it is a declared Low-Profit company with a philanthropic bent toward religious sports and recreation as it's core identity. Additionally, I had developed a close relationship with Wally Armstrong, a renowned PGA Tour Player, author and entrepreneur who had shared the idea of introducing the Gospel to every golfer and, especially, an idea to assist PGA Golf Pro's with discipleship training which he called ProLinks. Next, I had experienced a Game Day Fellowship of Christian Athletes experience at the Waste Management Open around that same time and began to see how we might develop a Christian Golf Community in Phoenix and anywhere in the world through the www.golffrontheheart.golf website and community. In January of 2019 I met Kent Chase at a PGA Golf Pro discipleship event and he introduced me to Tom Loegering, the owner of the Sun City Country Club and the President of the Board of Golf Program in Schools (GPS). Tom had implemented his model for introducing middle-schoolers within his community to the game of golf and his intent was to also introduce them to God. I volunteered to assist with Golf Program in Schools (GPS) and did engage by assisting in writing their business plan and helping to implement the Godly outreach portion of the program. I could see the possibilities of assisting GPS which could lead to implementing the Christian Golf Community idea within Phoenix as well as the opportunity to build relationships with PGA of America golf instructors in the community to, possibly, develop a ProLinks type fellowship. It was not until mid-2020 that the entire vision began to take shape and it has been truly amazing how the Lord has blessed us with people, resources and gumption to get Golf Program in Schools to the next level. This is where the Phase 2 of GFtH comes in; GFtH was challenged to implement the business plan due to funds, people and clear guidance from the Lord. The development of GPS in late 2020 afforded us the opportunity to raise a donation for the work needed for GPS. Since GFtH helped secure the donation, we were granted a stipend for our part. This allowed us to implement the first task which was to shore up our website and brand while determining a social media marketing plan to build our communities. We engaged with M is Good, a social media marketing company that assisted greatly with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (Ice Hockey) program. We have spent several months now walking the G7 process through Dave Jones, the President of M is Good. Dave was instrumental in helping us focus on the key demographic to reach out to. We decided to fashion our program toward the Parents of Junior Golfers and their young golfers and we decided to focus our campaign in the Phoenix, AZ area as we were working closely with GPS there and could draw parents and their junior golfers to our programs at Sun City CC in Peoria, AZ and Shalimar GC in Tempe. So we're on our way and we are excited about the Lord's answering our prayers for our first Christian Golf Community in Phoenix, AZ. Stay tuned..... Bill Alright, we're cookin' now. Our kid is a natural and he/she can't get enough of the old "Pasture Pool". It's time, that's right, it's time to begin to spend some greenbacks on your child to better prepare him/her to play competitive golf. Now, we didn't say 'every' kid should be given this opportunity. It's critically important that your child have the athletic ability to hit the ball, the intelligence to understand the game and have an insatiable passion to play!! If we have those ingredients, now's the time to get serious. You as a Dad or Mom may believe that you have the capability to teach your child the game and, especially to be their swing coach. You may be right!! I was my kid's swing coach until he went off to college (Division I, Temple University - no braggin', jus' sayin'). I believe the instruction and guidance I gave him during his early years produced a kid that could play with a solid handle on the fundamentals of the game. But, I, personally, had years and years of developing my own game, reading and practicing as well as competing at the higher amateur levels of the game. Do you, as a parent have that background? Do you have enough knowledge of the golf game, golf swing, short game and putting as well as the strategic and mental necessities to develop a competitive golfer? If not, let's be honest now, then we need to do this.... How much will this cost us?We've gotta find a professional golf instructor. Begin your research by asking anyone you know who is deeply engaged in the game, possibly your local high school or college coach who might be the best junior golf instructor in your area. NOTE: It doesn't have to be a PGA of America Golf Professional, but, most likely the best one around will be a member o the PGA of America. Contact the first two or three that you hear about and ask them a few questions; 1. What children have you instructed that have been successful as a competitive junior golfer? 2. How many of your students have made it to the college ranks as golfers? 3. How often do we have to have lessons with you? 4. How much will this cost us? I would use the answers to these questions and the general feeling I got from the interview (especially Mom's gut feel) to determine which instructor I wanted to bring our kid to. The first lesson should be an evaluation of your child's swing and knowledge of the game. This is the beginning of a long process and YOU control what's going to happen with your child's golf game. I pray it goes well for you and your child. Golf is a great game for the ages. By the way, my son is now 40, a plus 2 handicap and plays regularly at the highest levels of amateur competition. Our relationship is bolstered due to our mutual enjoyment and love for the game. Pretty cool, huh!? Next Post ............ Ne Playing golf for recreation is a great activity for children, but, when do we get our child golfer into competitions? We may want to say that competing is not really the goal, somehow it is quite natural for everyone, including or, especially kids to compete at everything and golf is no exception. This may even be the ultimate goal for you and your child as they progress in their golf game. The ultimate objective may be a college golf scholarship and, even, the professional Tours. Competing is what it's all about. The beginning of all of this is when your child, of course, becomes obsessed with the game and wants to play all the time. No matter where they play regularly, hopefully, there are other kids they can compete against; whether its putting and chipping, aiming at various targets on the driving range, a few holes or nine to eighteen; there's plenty of ways to compete. Getting in the habit of competing is a great way to challenge any kid and get them in the mode of measuring their progress in the game. When your child gets better and better, you, Dad and Mom, will have to make a decisionWe mentioned in an earlier post that the PGA Junior League is a great way to begin competing in the game. It's pretty simple to engage with the PGA locally on this League. Just click on the website above to find the right connection. The First Tee also has developed competitions, but, not necessarily ongoing and increasing in skill level competitions, but, it can be a great place to begin. Many middle schools have begun to offer golf programs. The few that I have observed don't seem to have a great number of skilled players nor coaches, but, the opportunity to play and practice several times a week is beneficial to any young golfer as they not only are around the game regularly, but, the natural tendency to compete is, now, available everyday; putting, chipping, longest 5 iron, wedge to a target, 9 hole and 18 hole competitions... heck, we used to compete by seeing who could hit off of the cart path closest to the hole or any silly challenge we could think up. It's great.... High school is when the game gets pretty serious, but, not too serious in many schools. If you're living in Arizona or Florida, even, Texas, the golfers in high school become very competitive and this is great to bring your young freshman if he or she has been competing regularly. Hopefully, you have a great golf coach at this level, but, many high schools do not. Don't fret, there are alot of other places to compete. Alright, now we're really gettin' into it!!! When your child gets better and better, you, Dad and Mom, will have to make a decision if your child has the capacity to play with the big boys and girls.... What do we mean? There are a number of players all over the world who are extremely great players and many of them have been groomed from an early age to compete and win at their age level or, even, at the next age level. This is where it gets serious and when it can cost alot of moolah!! The best players score in the seventies the majority of the time if not lower. If your child is 15 or older and NOT shooting below 80 most days on his/her home course, you may not want to enter them into outside tournaments, but, if they are persistent and want to play against the better players, then search in your area for the local USGA Junior schedule and/or PGA Section tournament schedule. Get ready to shell out the bucks, but, this is the best way to show your child what the competition is REALLY like and either frustrate them or invigorate them to get better..... and do it. Lastly, we don't want to list every junior golf event across the globe and we will do this in our Facebook Groups.
But, for now, we'll just list this web address to get a flavor for the tournaments out there, then, you search and search and become more and more familiar with the events available for your child. https://www.amateurgolf.com/amateur-golf-tournaments/TheMajorsOfAmateurGolf/junior Best of everything. If you need more guidance, don't hesitate to contact us at bill@golffromtheheart.golf. Next Post .... |
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