Pro Kids Golf Academy Big Winner This Week At Junior

By David Shefter, USGA

Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. – The 156 contestants who gathered at Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club this past week were here for one reason – to win the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship. After all, it’s one of the biggest junior competitions in the world.

But another group also is a major benefactor from this event. At Junior Amateur Media Day on June 28, Pro Kids Golf Academy – also known as The First Tee of San Diego – received a check from RSFGC for $100,000 from monies raised through fund-raisers. The grass-roots youth program, which gives kids ages 7-18 a chance to learn life skills through golf along with getting high-level instruction and playing opportunities, started 13 years ago and has become one of the most successful in the country.

And any leftover funds from donations made by the championship’s patrons will also go directly to Pro Kids. The non-profit organization also is a previous USGA grant recipient and tournaments such as the Accenture Match Play and Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines also bring in charitable dollars. Recently, the USGA granted the program $50,000 for instruction.

Standard bearers Melissa Nou (left) and her brother Mark Nou update the status of the Kevin Tway-Wesley Graham quarterfinal match.

On Friday, several youths from the program ranging in age from 11 to 18 acted as standard bearers for the quarterfinal and semifinal matches. They included Mark Nou (11), Melissa Nou (12), Luis Rodriguez (12), Jennifer Gastelum (14), Tudel Riek (12) and Chris Durso (18).

Durso, a recent graduate of Montgomery High in San Diego, also served as a caddie for Clayton Rotz, a 17-year-old left-handed player from Chambersburg, Pa. Rotz advanced to match play and lost his opening-round match to defending champion Kevin Tway of Edmond, Okla., 2 and 1.

“This is amazing,” said Durso of the competition here this week. Durso plans to play golf this fall at Palomar Junior College. “Just watching how they are and how good they are. I picked up a lot of pointers … like staying in the fairway.”

Gastelum started 18 months ago and is already shooting in the low-90s. She will enter Mt. Miguel High as a freshman this fall and hopes to play on the girls’ golf team. This was not her first time serving as a standard bearer. She also worked an event at The Farms about six months ago.

“They just asked me to come and I said sure,” said Gastelum on how she found out about working the U.S. Junior.

Earlier this year, she was selected by Pro Kids to attend The First Tee National Academy leadership conference in Richmond, Va., a special camp where kids from all over the country come to learn about not only golf, but life skills. At the end of the conference, Gastelum was named the Most Improved Player.

“Right now, I need to improve my drives,” said Gastelum of the current state of her game. “My short game is pretty good.”

One of the benefits of the Pro Kids program is that participants don’t have to pay green fees to play, whether it is at their home base at Colina Park or such posh places as Torrey Pines, La Jolla Country Club, San Diego Country Club and even tony Cypress Point Club in Pebble Beach, Calif.

Ten fortunate kids earned enough points (200) to get the chance to make the trip to the Monterey Peninsula Aug. 9-11. Besides Cypress, one of the world’s great courses, the kids will also play at The Reserve, another posh club.

“I am amazed at how many points they accumulate,” said Todd Smith, the director of golf who started in his position just two weeks ago. Smith came from Seattle where he was the head pro at two of the city’s three public courses, Jefferson Park and Jackson Park. PGA Tour pro Fred Couples grew up on Jefferson Park.

Points are awarded based on grade-point average, community service and citizenship. Players in Pro Kids cannot participate if their GPA falls below a 2.0, but they can gain valuable bonus points for a GPA that’s over that figure. The standard bearers working the U.S. Junior each received 50 points.

Those same points can also be turned into dollars to purchase top equipment from the many manufacturers that have set up their headquarters in the Carlsbad area.

For instance, the cost to play Colina Park is two points, while places such as Torrey Pines or one of the local private country clubs might cost between 10 and 50 points.

“We’re the only program in the country where kids don’t pay to play golf,” explained Smith.

Instruction is also given free of charge to the participants. About 970 kids participate on a weekly basis and Pro Kids draws some 1,700 kids annually. Smith is about to get his third full-time assistant to help with the teaching. Smith, who played collegiately at the University of College and has spent time on the Canadian Tour, also worked for Ken Morton Sr., who runs Sacramento Area Youth Golf (SAY Golf), at Haggin Oaks for six years. SAY Golf is another highly successful program that has received USGA grant funding. The 35-year-old Smith later spent two years at Resort Golf Schools in Scottsdale, Ariz., working under Scott Sackett.

But golf instruction and playing opportunities isn’t the only thing Pro Kids offer to its participants. The Pro Kids Learning Center has 16 flat-screen computer terminals that serve as learning tools. And besides being a First Tee chapter, Pro Kids also serves as a facility for USGA-LPGA Girls Golf, another nationally funded USGA program.

And in just 13 years Pro Kids is starting to see plenty of success stories. Tiffany Joh, who got her start in the program, won the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links title in June. She will be a sophomore on the nationally-ranked UCLA women’s team this fall.

“Nobody really taught me how to play; I just went and hit balls,” said Joh in an interview with USGA Fellow Matt Hazard for an article that is on juniorlinks.com. “For the first year, I didn’t take any lessons, so I would just step up and hit it over and over again.  When I realized I wasn’t really doing it as well as I could, I went to The First Tee of San Diego (Pro Kids Golf Academy) and got hooked up with some of the professionals who assisted with the program.  So, I really consider Pro Kids my start.”

Last week, 14 Pro Kids participants competed in various age divisions at Junior Worlds held at different San Diego-area golf courses depending on the division and gender. The 6-and-under competition was held at Colina Park, Pro Kids’ home course.

On Saturday, Smith left with four kids from his program to compete in a national qualifier in Manhattan, Kan., for The First Tee Open, which will be held this fall at Pebble Beach Golf Links. To participate, the kids not only had to demonstrate golf skills, but they needed to go through an interview and write an essay.

“We’ve given out $450,000 in college scholarships,” said Smith. “We plan to give 20 more scholarships this year. What we do is start the kids in the mentoring program to teach them all aspects of the game and then as they go through the program, we have them become mentors for the little kids. And we try to give those kids money to pay for college. The scholarships range from $10,000 to $15,000.”

In the coming years, you can look for the program to expand to north San Diego Country, possibly near Oceanside. Smith said money has already been raised to construct the facility, and now it’s to the point where they have to nail down a site.

“We’re in the access stage,” he said. “This will give more kids a chance.”

David Shefter is a USGA staff writer. E-mail him with questions or comments at dshefter@usga.org.