My personal project of the season….
We have a good student policy to reward any student, living at home with a 20% discount on all products if they are on their school team and carry a 3.0 or better GPA.
Occasionally, I will see a student on the boys or girls golf team who, for whatever reason have some odds stacked against them, but who love and want to play better golf….when we find such a person, we will pull the person aside and assist them with getting better equipment and provided one on one lessons for free.
A couple weeks we found a qualified individual….she is a freshman and comes from a home where I understand is not the healthiest of environments (parents fighting, divorced, living together again...etc..)…she is a sweetheart of a person, does not smile a lot…seems real withdrawn, but loves the game…she practices and I heard was getting frustrated with her slow advancement.
Her best friend is a daughter of a friend of mine from another highschool who confirmed this girl has had her share of hard knocks and golf has been an outlet…so my friend's daughter asked me if I could meet her and give her a lesson…but could not pay me.
I was happy to do so…
That meeting was a bit awkward…she was brutally shy, had trouble even looking me in the eye when I was talking to her. Her immediate issues were unable to get loft on any club and absolutely no short game….she played softball and had a good swing…we just needed to refit her current set and work on basics.
She is ranked at the bottom of her team, very close to being cut….so I told her this would not be an overnight fix…she had to practice and work…she agreed and this past week I know she’s been out playing and practicing daily, even under some adverse weather conditions…we had three more lessons…I got her a new, higher lofted driver and gave her a chipper….She had never seen a chipper before and I showed her how they work….like most beginners, her feel and touch around the greens was off…she seemed to adapt to it nice.
Anyway, today was their first meet and she was playing in the last, lowest ranked group (at least she was playing!).
I was able to watch her practice before the meet and while the other kids were goofing off, hitting drives or chatting…she was practicing diligently with the chipper.
Being a shotgun start, I saw her walk off to the #9 hole with the others in her foursome with her head down and kinda sad it seemed….. but she started to play well (or so it seemed) she looked MUCH better than before…had a couple wonderful drives and was stellar around the greens with her chipper….she won the tee box in her foursome 4 of the five holes I watched… To the point where as she walked off one green, she had a BIG smile on her face and waved at me… I thought I was gonna start crying! She was SO happy!
All of a sudden, instead of walking hunched over and looking at the ground, she was standing tall and head held high...she was walking in FRONT of everyone instead of behind!
I was SO PROUD!
I cannot wait to find out how she did…. And look so forward to helping her achieve the game she wants…and hopefully, the confidence she needs as a person….I will keep you all updated as this progresses.
I apologize for my rambling... but as a person who has no children of my own...and went thru my own hardships as a child, I felt wonderful seeing her today.
We have a good student policy to reward any student, living at home with a 20% discount on all products if they are on their school team and carry a 3.0 or better GPA.
Occasionally, I will see a student on the boys or girls golf team who, for whatever reason have some odds stacked against them, but who love and want to play better golf….when we find such a person, we will pull the person aside and assist them with getting better equipment and provided one on one lessons for free.
A couple weeks we found a qualified individual….she is a freshman and comes from a home where I understand is not the healthiest of environments (parents fighting, divorced, living together again...etc..)…she is a sweetheart of a person, does not smile a lot…seems real withdrawn, but loves the game…she practices and I heard was getting frustrated with her slow advancement.
Her best friend is a daughter of a friend of mine from another highschool who confirmed this girl has had her share of hard knocks and golf has been an outlet…so my friend's daughter asked me if I could meet her and give her a lesson…but could not pay me.
I was happy to do so…
That meeting was a bit awkward…she was brutally shy, had trouble even looking me in the eye when I was talking to her. Her immediate issues were unable to get loft on any club and absolutely no short game….she played softball and had a good swing…we just needed to refit her current set and work on basics.
She is ranked at the bottom of her team, very close to being cut….so I told her this would not be an overnight fix…she had to practice and work…she agreed and this past week I know she’s been out playing and practicing daily, even under some adverse weather conditions…we had three more lessons…I got her a new, higher lofted driver and gave her a chipper….She had never seen a chipper before and I showed her how they work….like most beginners, her feel and touch around the greens was off…she seemed to adapt to it nice.
Anyway, today was their first meet and she was playing in the last, lowest ranked group (at least she was playing!).
I was able to watch her practice before the meet and while the other kids were goofing off, hitting drives or chatting…she was practicing diligently with the chipper.
Being a shotgun start, I saw her walk off to the #9 hole with the others in her foursome with her head down and kinda sad it seemed….. but she started to play well (or so it seemed) she looked MUCH better than before…had a couple wonderful drives and was stellar around the greens with her chipper….she won the tee box in her foursome 4 of the five holes I watched… To the point where as she walked off one green, she had a BIG smile on her face and waved at me… I thought I was gonna start crying! She was SO happy!
All of a sudden, instead of walking hunched over and looking at the ground, she was standing tall and head held high...she was walking in FRONT of everyone instead of behind!
I was SO PROUD!
I cannot wait to find out how she did…. And look so forward to helping her achieve the game she wants…and hopefully, the confidence she needs as a person….I will keep you all updated as this progresses.
I apologize for my rambling... but as a person who has no children of my own...and went thru my own hardships as a child, I felt wonderful seeing her today.
