- Sep 1, 2004
- 6,546
- 4,982
A very proud day for me yesterday. My 13 year old teed it up representing his club in a junior match for the first time. It was a 5 man team, home /away format and the club ended up winning 6.5-3.5. My boy only played in the away leg but he won his match 4/3 at the away venue. It is an under-18 tournament for all the clubs in Ireland. I played in this tournament many moons ago and still have great memories of it.
The rules state that I wasn’t allowed to caddy but I walked round and watched the match along with the F-i-L. He was playing another 13 year old from a neighboring club and despite a bit of a breeze they both played some very good golf in great spirit.
One interesting moment. My son hit his tee shot through the green of a par 3 and into thick rough beside a boundary wall. We found his ball but he had no shot. He addressed it and I thought he would then take a penalty drop. Instead he proceeded to scoop the ball out. I looked at the F-i-L in surprise but we both said nothing. He then chiped it stiff for a bogey. His opponent missed a 5 footer for his par, so they agreed a half. I had to point out to him that he had played an illegal shot and that he had actually lost the hole. Here's the thing. Neither he nor his opponent had a clue that it was against the rules. I felt bad 'calling out' my son but both of them needed to know the rules. So he was one down and proceed to drive OB at the next, looking like he was going to go 2 down. He was a bit down so I told him to keep battling and he ended up making double with a great second drive and second shot. His opponent Speith'ed a couple of chips and my son got an unexpected half in double bogies.
They have a good team of young players (13,14, 15 year olds) but probably won’t progress past the first few rounds. Some of the bigger clubs have some very talented players. The club that won it last year had five boys playing off 1,2,2,3,4 indexes.
But here's hoping he will get another game or two in the meantime. He really enjoyed it and so did I!!
The rules state that I wasn’t allowed to caddy but I walked round and watched the match along with the F-i-L. He was playing another 13 year old from a neighboring club and despite a bit of a breeze they both played some very good golf in great spirit.
One interesting moment. My son hit his tee shot through the green of a par 3 and into thick rough beside a boundary wall. We found his ball but he had no shot. He addressed it and I thought he would then take a penalty drop. Instead he proceeded to scoop the ball out. I looked at the F-i-L in surprise but we both said nothing. He then chiped it stiff for a bogey. His opponent missed a 5 footer for his par, so they agreed a half. I had to point out to him that he had played an illegal shot and that he had actually lost the hole. Here's the thing. Neither he nor his opponent had a clue that it was against the rules. I felt bad 'calling out' my son but both of them needed to know the rules. So he was one down and proceed to drive OB at the next, looking like he was going to go 2 down. He was a bit down so I told him to keep battling and he ended up making double with a great second drive and second shot. His opponent Speith'ed a couple of chips and my son got an unexpected half in double bogies.
They have a good team of young players (13,14, 15 year olds) but probably won’t progress past the first few rounds. Some of the bigger clubs have some very talented players. The club that won it last year had five boys playing off 1,2,2,3,4 indexes.
But here's hoping he will get another game or two in the meantime. He really enjoyed it and so did I!!
United States
