2011 Begins

The year started well for the kids. In February, they played in the Desert Junior Tour at Club West (in Phoenix, so fairly close) where Jack placed 1st. Alisa did great too, taking 4th place, playing with the 15-18 year old girls. Her tee's were set farther back than Jack's.

In March they played in the JGAA (Jr. Golf Association of Arizona) at Encanto. It seems the kids like to alternate their first place standings. This time Alisa took 1st, leading the pack by 12 strokes. Jack took 5th place with about a one stroke difference between each place.

In April we traveled to the Las Vegas area playing the Future Champions Junior World Qualifier at Primm Valley Golf Course. Primm Valley had two 18-hole courses: Lake Course and the Desert Course. It was a two day tournament (as usual) and played one course each day. The first day they played the Lake course with Alisa in the lead by one stroke. Jack was only 4 strokes behind the leader. On the second day they played the Desert course, a bit tougher and the wind really picked up. Jack finished 10th out of 32 boys. Alisa finished 2nd, losing by 1 stroke. That's golf. On the good side, with Alisa's finish, she qualified for the 2011 Callaway Junior World Championship in July, held in San Diego. Now, we need to get Jack qualified.

The End of 2010

The kids have had a great year. They started playing the Future Champions (FC) Tour, which is based out of California, so, of course, most of their tournaments are in California. This has given the kids a lot more competition to challenge their skills

With that in mind, Alisa was very excited about being named the FC Player of the Year for the Fall Series in the Girls 11-14 year old group.

In September, the kids played another FC Tournament at the Sandpiper Golf Course in Santa Barbara, California. The golf course is known as being the mini-Torrey Pines. It was beautiful. Alisa placed 1st in the 13-15 year old age category. Plus, she was the 2nd lowest score in the entire tournament. We had an added bonus while we were there; Jackie's nephew, Jeffrey, goes to school at University of Santa Barbara so we were able to spend some time with him. The kids really appreciated that Jeffrey watched the them play. Later that night we all went out to dinner. A very enjoyable weekend.

In early December we went to Sycuan for another tournament on the FC tour. Unfortunately, it poured down rain and the 2nd day was cancelled.

And, to finish the year off right, we spent 10 days in the Dominican Republic for a family vacation. We had a beautiful room (after 3 moves) on the ocean. The room also looked over the sand volleyball court, which was a great benefit since the kids lived there the entire vacation. What, "golf" you ask; well of course we golfed. The kids played 3 times while in Dom Rep at some gorgeous courses on the ocean. Jack missed a hole-in-one by an inch. We also did something called Scuba Doo'ing; it's like scuba diving with a motorized vehicle. Pretty cool. You don't have to be certified and it only goes about 15 feet deep; which is plenty. The kids loved it and, I have to admit, it was fun.

Summer 2010

WOW, what a summer. It's hard to believe its over, with a whirlwind of tournaments. The kids played U.S. Kids Tournaments and JGAA (Jr. Golf Association of Arizona) Tournaments throughout the summer, ending the summer with the U.S. Kids World Championship in Pinehurst, North Carolina.

The World Championship was great. We had a nice condo on Pinehurst #5 that was between the two courses Jack and Alisa played. Jack played the LegacyLinks, while Alisa played Talamore, the same course she played last year.

Dick Robbins caddied for Jack; Dick was Alisa's caddy the last two years and Scott caddied for Alisa.

Jack played well, but had a difficult time with the condition of the course (as did everyone else). The area had a lot of rain and the maintenance crew at the Legacy just tore up the fairways with their equipment. The greens were in bad shape, with a lot of "weeds" all over. The ball would be going straight towards the hole and hit a weed and jump. It was very frustrating for the kids.

Alisa's course, Talamore, was in great shape. It's a beautiful course and very difficult. All the greens are elevated and very hilly.

Overall, the kids had a vast improvement over last year. Jack improved his overall score by 25 strokes and moved up in position from 105th to 88th place this year. Although, Jack wasn't very happy with it, we thought he did well. Alisa had an amazing season. Her new swing definitely showed. She moved from 41st place last year to 19th, this is in the WORLD!! YES!!! She took off 35 strokes from last year. The top 20 players earn exemptions for the next year for any tournament. Mom and dad are extremely proud of the kids; it's hard not to be.

The week after Pinehurst, Jack played the U.S. Kids Tour Championship for the Summer 2010 season. Jack was lucky to have Jake Chanen caddy for him and we thank Jake for coming out in the heat of the summer to help Jack. Jack shot 1 under par and, in a sudden death play-off on two holes, won 1st place taking Player of the Year, again. Jack and Jake tee'd off at 1:10 PM in 110 degrees and played 20 holes. Phew, nasty. Alisa had Player of the Year wrapped up, so she didn't need to play the tournament and received her trophy with her brother.

This fall the kids will be the playing the Future Champions Golf tournaments in California starting in September. These are two day tournaments and allow the kids to earn AJGA exemptions. The exemptions are important after they turn 12 in October. This tour also allows Alisa to play in the 11-14 age group, giving her the competition she needs. We just hope that Aunt Laurie has enough room in her house for us, as she continues to accumulate Uncle Robby's kids to California.

Alisa Win's 2010 PIng Match Play

On July 15th Alisa played the JGAA 2010 Ping Match Play and Jack caddied for her, since only JGAA members can be on the course. Match play is where two players play each hole and earn points if they win (score the lowest) for that hole. So, if Alisa gets a par for a hole and her opponent gets a bogey, Alisa gets one point.
On the first day, Alisa and her opponent were neck-n-neck throughout the course. On the 18th hole, Alisa won by sinking her birdie putt. On the second day, Alisa was doing so well she was ahead by 5 points by hole 14 with her opponent conceding the hole. This gave Alisa the win for the girls 11-12 years old.

Just prior to the Ping Match Play, Alisa played the Mesa City Championship at Riverview and took 2nd place. Alisa was doing great, winning on the 2nd day until disaster hit. Alisa had parked her pull/golf cart (which doesn't have brakes) by the side of the green and went to putt when she looked back and saw her pull cart rolling down the hill into the lake. The golf pro at Riverview was nice enough to remove his pants and shirt and jump in to get her clubs. That pretty much psyched her for the rest of the tournament, with a bogey on the remaining holes, and taking 2nd place. Since then, we purchased both the kids new pull-carts, with brakes. :)

The Start of Summer Golf

The first picture is of Alisa receiving her trophy for Player of the Year for the Desert Junior Golf Tour during the Winter season. Excellent job Alisa!!

The first day out of school and the kids already had a golf tournament.

Then, as soon as they returned from Alaska, they had two more tournaments. But, all went extremely well.

Jack shot a 70 and 72 at his tournaments prior to Alaska at The Wigwam and Seville, respectively. Alisa tied for third at the Phoenix City Open and then shot two under par the U.S. Kids Tournament at McCormick Ranch.

The summer has started and let the tours begin!!

They have quite a few tournaments before Pinehurst, which is the first week in August.