Hit 'Em Straight! (a real life journal)

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Following the footsteps of our very own Breeze and his fascinating story of his kids' journey through competitive swimming, I've decided to create my own journal about my daughter and her endeavor into the sport of golf. My goal for this journal, aside from providing an entertaining read, is to put in writing my thoughts and expectations about her game, posting her tournament scores, and recording any of her own insight she might happen to share with me.

Let's get right to it, shall we?

Name: Skye
Age:8
Birthdate: March 2011

Description:
'Skye' is actually her second given name. She regularly goes by her first name, but I won't share it here for fear of any unwanted Google searches being directed here. She is a sweet little one, makes friends easily, and cares about them greatly. Sensitive... almost to a fault. She'll cry at any part of a movie whenever the antagonist gains the upper hand and the protagonist struggles. This is practically Every.Movie.Ever.

She's a creative and imaginative person. Loves to write stories, makes up her own lyrics and belts them out at the top of her lungs.

Athletic history:
Any American parent has some sort of aspiration for their kids in athletics. I'm no different. We've tried most, but none ever stuck. Soccer at age 4 ended when a little boy crashed into her during a running drill. Gymnastics/tumbling from age 4-5 went well, until I realized other kids were progressing while Skye just wanted to keep jumping into the foam pit. Dance/ballet didn't even get through the initial trial class.

Besides golf (which began at age 6), her most recent endeavor is volleyball this past year. She really enjoys volleyball, which I'm pleasantly surprised at, since she dislikes getting hit by flying spherical objects - a fear she shares with her mother. In fact, the reason she picked up golf so readily is that she is "the one hitting the ball, not the other way around."

So in December 2017, I took Skye to group lessons at a local golf course. She picked up her first club, hit her first ball, and instantly fell in love. It was by good fortune that her school has a golf team and she looks up to a pair of sisters (6th and 8th graders at the time) on the team. The sisters' parents suggested to me that Skye take lessons. If not for the school golf team, we would've never discovered the sport.

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Space Reserved

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2/11/2020 First Birdie (Practice Round) - DKGC - Hole 5.

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Junior golf is a year round sport. I've found youth tournaments offered all over the Southern California area. I hope to eventually put Skye into some of these events. But for now she'll just get her feet wet in the school events.

Catholic Youth Organization - Los Angeles
CYO is the governing body for Catholic youth athletics. They offer only three golf tournaments during the school year: Fall, Winter, and Spring Tournaments. Golfers are separated into three levels, "A" level (7th-8th grades), "B" level (5th-6th), and "C" level (3rd-4th). School team scores are calculated from the top 4 golfers in both "A" and "B" levels combined. "C" level is considered as development level, and its scores are not counted toward team scores. Individual awards are still considered, however.

Being in 3rd grade Skye is on the "C" team for her school in the CYO Los Angeles region. I'll call the team by their school mascot name: the Bobcats. She didn't play in the Fall Tournament, but did participate in the Winter Tournament held on January 26 of this year. I'll post the results in a separate post.

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SCGA Jr.
Skye takes her instruction/lessons through SCGA Jr., a branch of Southern California Golf Association. This is notable because from time to time, I'll also post about her development within the organization. SCGA Jr tracks juniors' progress via score based assessments on various skills. Skye is currently level 2 of 9. At level 3, she can play in SCGA Jr hosted tournaments. At Level 6, she can sign up for Learn to Compete classes - those more focused on competition development.

I haven't been taking advantage of doing these assessments, but that'll change here, now. I'm sure she'd progress up the levels pretty easily.

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Don Knabe Golf Center & Junior Academy - Norwalk CA
I'm going to note this golf course as Skye's "home course" as this is the facility of choice for her school's practices as well as SCGA Jr's instructions and assessments.

Don Knabe is a nice little course, perfectly tailored for junior play. 9 hole, par 3, a total of 662 yards. The longest hole (hole 6) is only 100 yards. Twice a year Don Knabe hosts a junior tournament series of about 4 monthly tournaments. They also run some league play which runs 6-8 weeks. I'll be posting results of these plays here as well. Throughout this journal, Skye will know this course intimately.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by AnalBumCover

"the one hitting the ball, not the other way around."

I love it

Wise beyond her years I'd say

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Skye is no golf star by any stretch. I wouldn't claim her to be until I witness otherwise. Last weekend was her first ever competitive tournament.

Heartwell Golf Course is an 18-Hole, Par 3 course. Juniors only play 9 holes. A & B teams played on the front 9, and the C teams played on the shorter back 9. (Schools who didn't want their team scores counted could register their A & B junior golfers on the back 9). Important CYO scoring rule: the maximum score on a par 3 hole is only 5 (Par + 2) in order to keep the game moving.

33 local schools were represented here, with almost 250 kids. The Bobcats finished in 6th place among 15 schools who fielded enough golfers for their scores to count (top 4 A/B golfers).

Skye finished a respectable 7th place among 20 in the Girls C team group with a 43 (+16). 7 strokes back from the first place winner. Of note: her classmate (also 8yo) placed 2nd, 1 stroke back, and took home a nice 2nd place trophy. Something concrete that Skye can now see and to strive for.

Hole      10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18
Yardage   119 103  85 130  85 118 119 136 121 1016
Par        3   3   3   3   3   3   3   3   3   27   
Score      5   5   5   5   4   5   4   5   5   43

Still plenty of room to grow. But like I said, it was her first competitive tournament, and I am just happy to get her the experience.

[edit] I should add here that spectators were not allowed on the course during this - or any CYO - tournament. Thus, I won't be able to add any of my own observations in her play. If I enter a tournament where spectators are allowed, I'll will definitely provide any color to the round to the best of my abilities.

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I'll rewind a bit here. In my last post I said the CYO tournament was her first competitive tournament. But here I am, writing about a tournament Skye entered in November 2019. I told her only to treat this as practice for the CYO tournament and to just get some tourney experience under her belt, so here we are.

The Knabe Cup is a series of junior tournaments hosted twice a year by the golf course. I think there are 4 or 5 tourneys in the series, and placement within each tourney earns points toward the final race for the Knabe Cup. I'm certain Skye will not be in competition for the Cup this series... We've already missed the 2nd leg in January.

Scoring note: Max score per hole is Double Par + 1 (for a par 3 hole, max 7).

Skye shot 45 (+18) for 11th of 13 in the Girls 8-11 group. Top scorer in this group was 28 (+1) .

Hole       1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9 
Yardage    80  77  75  70  60 100  50  65  85  662
Par        3   3   3   3   3   3   3   3   3   27   
Score      5   4   6   4   5   4   6   6   5   45

I think after today, we'll take these tournaments a bit more seriously.

[Breeze]

Awesome...looking forward to this...

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Originally Posted by Breeze

Awesome...looking forward to this...

Thanks Breeze. Looking back at your journal. It dates back to Dec 2011. That's over 8 years in the sport! And to add that you would print out the journal as your kids approach the tail end of their respective careers... That's just really moving... I hope to do the same for my kid. Even if it only lasts a couple of years. It's still a big part of her life that I'm able to capture and see the growth from the beginning.

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I'm marking this day because Skye scored her first-ever Birdie! 60 yard Hole 5. Her tee shot landed about 10 feet from the pin. It was then a slight uphill putt, and she drained it! High fives and hugs all around.

Then she said to me, "You owe me five bucks!"

Yeah, I made a deal with her, $1 for a par, and $5 for a birdie. Turns out I owed her $6 for the evening.

One other observation, Skye had 5 of 9 Greens in Regulation (GIR). A much better rate than usual. In her GIR holes, she scored 2-4. In all others, she scored 5-7. She finished the round with a 42 (+15).

Hole       1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9 
Yardage    80  77  75  70  60 100  50  65  85  662
Par        3   3   3   3   3   3   3   3   3   27   
Score      6   4   3   7   2   7   4   4   5   42
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GIR            *   *       *       *   *       5/9
Putts      3   3   2   x   1   5   3   3   2

Note: Got stuck in the sand on the 4th hole. Picked up after 6th stroke.

[Breeze]

very cool...a birdie on a par 3. I don't do that often, even when I'm playing regularly...

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This weekend will be filled with golfing fun for the family.

On Saturday, I'm taking Skye to The Genesis Invitational for her first ever PGA Tour event. Saturday events feature STEM activities, a youth golf exhibition, and designated youth viewing areas next to certain greens. I hope to get a glimpse of Tiger as he shoots for #83.

On Sunday, a local Catholic school is hosting its inaugural youth golf tournament at Don Knabe GC. It's a non-CYO sanctioned event. And there will be about 30 kids representing three local schools. It should be good times.

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Sunny skies, 75°

A local school tournament held at her home course. Skye had all sorts of trouble hitting the greens off the tee box (0-for-9 GIR). But her putting saved her today for a 39 (+12). Good enough for T-4th of 9 in the Girls 3rd-5th Grade Group. Seven strokes off the lead, and 4 behind the podium.

Hole       1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9 
Yardage    80  77  75  70  60 100  50  65  85  662
Par        3   3   3   3   3   3   3   3   3   27   
Score      5   6   5   4   3   4   4   5   3   39
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GIR                                            0/9
Putts      2   3   2   1   1   1   1   3   1

Note: A tough second shot out of the bunker in the 7th landed 
just outside the green. With her recent history in bunkers, 
she was lucky to escape with a bogey. 

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With the coronavirus pandemic upon us, as school districts close and restaurants shuttered, it appears our school golf season is over. The last tournament of the year, scheduled for March 29, has been suspended indefinitely. SCGA Jr cancelled the last few weeks of their winter session.

With sporadic rain falling over So Cal in the next couple of weeks, Skye will be hanging up her golf bag until everything settles down. At least we have a putting mat where she can practice indoors while we're stuck at home.

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Back after months away from the course, Skye and I played an abbreviated 6 holes on Father's Day. We were both very rusty to start, but we settled in and she scored her 2nd ever birdie on Hole 4.

I'm a proud Papa. And glad she's back on the course, and her desire to play had not wavered during the shelter-in-place order.