The Do's and Don'ts of Junior Golf.

By Louis Honore Sr.

Chapter 5. Local vs. National Tournaments

I’m sure if you could afford to do so, your young golfer would probably be attending one of the year round golf schools in Florida. They teach high school courses and golf. They cost between 40 and 60 thousand a year, and they have their own tournaments as well as ensuring their students are entered in any and all Nationals they qualify to play. But if you were in that category, you probably wouldn’t be reading this little booklet. So I will assume you are like us, wanting to play every tournament but can only afford to play a select few.

First, let’s explore why play tournaments at all.

If your goals are limited and you are not looking to play on a high school or perhaps on a college team, then your decisions are easy to make. Golf is a great recreational sport and you and your child will have many years of golfing fun ahead of you without the expense of tournaments.

However if you have made the decision to allow him/her to go as far as this game will take them, then sacrifice on your part and hard work on their part is inevitable. Tournaments then become a necessity, not a choice. Tournaments teach the golfer the rules and fundamentals that they will need to compete in high school and later in college. The better they compete in local tournaments, will determine how well they compete in the nationals. And if you hope to attain a scholarship to a college or university, you will want them to compete in the nationals.

By now, assuming you are now in the high school years, you should be keeping a record of their accomplishments, tournaments played and place they finish, as well as their scores are important. High school tournament records and awards in golf and academics will be reviewed by college coaches, and will play an important part in scholarship considerations. This resume, submitted to college coaches when you write to them about your golfer in their senior year, can be a persuading factor when others are also vying for the same limited scholarships. Its tough out there and colleges only have a few scholarships for golf, and full golf scholarships are rare. A quarter scholarship at USC, still leaves about $18,000.00 left to pay. That’s a very hefty sum unless you get academic assistance also. So if you want to impress the coach, you’ve got to play tournaments, and you’ve got to keep good records. YGAA has a good resume format to use to track your child’s progress, check it out.

After your golfer has mastered the fundamentals and is prepared for competition, choosing the right tournament will become your main focus as you prepare him to play against the top jr. golfers in America. Local tournaments are similar to tune up fights that a manager puts his prizefighter in to get him ready for prime time. Put him in over his head and you can discourage him forever. So as you both grow in your knowledge of his game, you will began to know the type of courses he plays well on and those he doesn’t. Why put him in those tournaments that he has two strikes against him to begin with? Does he have length, great; put him in those tournaments that have lots of par fives and long par fours. Is he short off the tee, look for tournaments that have few par fives and decent par fours. You can work on his length in between those long courses.

Par-three tournaments are great to play, for they give you an opportunity to work on that approach shot and short game. More bogies are scored on par threes than any other holes. Play them often and tell him to pretend they are par fours or even par fives if they are longer than 200 yards. Tell him he has already hit a great drive with his driver, and he has a perfect lie, just pull out that iron and send that ball to the green. Tell him to hit it off of the ground, just as he would if it were in the fairway. It’s great training and will prepare him for those difficult par four approach shots that are inevitable. SCPGA hosts many par-three tournaments early in the year. Use them to prepare for the more difficult days ahead.

SCPGA tournaments are some of the local events that you should consider spending your time and your money on, unless there are free charity tournaments you could play in just for fun. They are well organized, give trophies and also help to establish his index for future USGA tournaments. You can join the beginner, intermediate, and advanced section of the SCPGA, and participate against golfers of the same age group and same class. They are an excellent preparation for the national tournaments hosted by the AJGA. Here you can practice all those tips of pre-tournament practice and preparation we spoke of earlier. Once your golfer has mastered those techniques, he will began to win some of those events suited to his game. These tournaments also will prepare him for those tough high school events that he will play against some of the same jr. golfers he faces in the SCPGA. His success and his willingness to work hard at practice will give you the proof you need when he is ready for the nationals.

National tournaments are all AJGA sponsored events as well as the Teens on the Green, Optimist International and Jr. World tournaments. They are played all over the U.S. and as I said earlier are difficult to enter, and expensive to play. Once when I completely lost my mind, we received and exemption, through YGAA and NMJGA to play in a nationally ranked championship in Florida. It cost $250.00 to enter $600.00 roundtrip airfare and $250.00 for lodging. And though I tried to talk him into packing a four-day lunch, food cost about $100.00 for the four-day trip.

It rained the entire tournament, unlike Southern California, Doral was huge and he was alone. He was not prepared and did not get the proper rest the night before. He didn’t have the proper raingear, and he got wet. He couldn’t break 80. For that same $1200.00 I could have and should have, sent him to the Jim Mclean Golf School in Palm Springs, where we could have learned if he was ready to travel alone across country to compete against the best jr. golfers in the world. Needless to say from then on, until he was ready, we mostly applied for those tournaments that were closer to home and only competed in the cross-country ones we both felt he was ready to play. I researched the weather, the course and other factors. I also made certain that he had what ever he needed to compete with the other golfers.

Those choices are yours to make depending on your circumstances, and the level of his play. It took my son a long time to recover from his poor play in Florida and I never put him in that kind of disadvantage again.

Choose well coach.

 top of the page

For information or additional news, contact the editor at marilyn@ygaa.org