The last month has been very busy with our Academy classes and numerous young athletes.  We have implemented a new testing system which gives us a very unbiased system to evaluate our young athletes.  The testing system is broken down into the skills required to be a competent golfer.

• Putting
• Driving
• Chipping
• Irons (7 iron)
• Wedges
• Scrambling
• Fairway woods
• On Course play

The great aspect of our new testing system is that it allows us to objectively gauge our players and highlight strengths and weaknesses.  It also gives us the chance to track progress over a longer period of time.

Each aspect of the testing system consists of a game.  The chipping test is one of my favorites and really highlights our player’s ability to hit a quality chip shot at a variety of targets, our players get to play a game of baseball.

The goal is to move around the bases and score as many runs as they can.  Home plate is 20 ft. away, 1st and 3rd are both 30 ft. away and 2nd base is 40 ft. away.  To move to 1st base players must hit a ball within a 4 ft. radius of the target, 2nd is a 5 ft. radius and home is a 3 ft. radius.  It sounds simple but this really allows us to evaluate different shots at different lengths.  It’s also fun for the kids, which is my primary goal with every player, MAKE IT FUN!    We play lots of games, I use lots of color and I try to make sure I have bright green golf balls to match my pants (as you can see in the above picture).

Our young players love to earn a new hat and our new evaluation system allows us to give players a chance to show their skills by hitting great shots and having fun at the same time.

We have nearly 60 young athletes in our program.  Their improvement and enjoyment is my primary focus.  We have 3 goals in our program;

1. Ensure golf is FUN
2. Improve golf specific skills
3. Improve athletic abilities

Our players have shown great improvement over the past few months and we are very excited for the future in golf.

Yes…..golf changes lives!