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.

Alaska Trip

The kids and Scott enjoyed a cool and beautiful vacation in Alaska. They flew into Anchorage and rented an RV for 10 days traveling around the Anchorage area. Mom stayed home and watched the dogs, and a pretty quiet, relaxing time alone.

With 20 hours of daylight everyday, Scott and the kids did plenty of fishing; they were up til midnight and sometimes two in the morning. The kids had a great time traveling around in the RV. They fought over who got to sleep in the overhead bed so Scott made a rule that they take turns. They spent the night in Homer, where they went Halibut fishing and then camped on the beach.

They saw plenty of eagles, moose, but no bears were seen anywhere (thank goodness). They had the best time fishing on the Kenai and Kasilof River where they fished for King Salmon. Alisa and dad both caught a 15 pound King Salmon. A special thanks to their guide, Brennan Norden, the best fisherman on the Kenai and Kasilof River. It was the most fun fishing Scott ever had. Brennan is currently preparing to race the Iditriod in March. We will be watching and wish him the best of luck. If you decide to go to Alaska and want to catch King Salmon, his contact info is mailto:morningbear25@hotmail.com. 907-252-8868.

The day before they left they took a float plane ride on Hood Lake, the busiest seaplane port in the world. They flew in a Cessna 206. Pretty cool.

Spring Break 2010

It's just wonderful living in Arizona, as we have almost every climate within a 6 hour drive. With that, we took advantage of having the beach and a beautiful golf course in one package. For the kids spring break we spent a few days in La Jolla, California at the Torrey Pines Golf Course (home of the Buick Open and the 2008 U.S. Open).

The first day we spent exploring the Village of La Jolla. A very cute downtown, but the kids were more interested in the waves crashing on the rocks. They spent a lot of time getting eachothers pictures of the wave crashing behind them. There was also a cave in the rocks the kids walked through and they thought the seals and pelicans on the rocks were pretty cool.

The second day was spent entirely on the golf course. The kids played the north course at Torrey Pines first and then played the south course. A total of 36 holes in one day, minus one hole that was closed on the south course, so 35 holes. They did great!! Jack thought the south course had a lot of sand traps and rough. Alisa mentioned that the rough (thicker grass) at Torrey Pines was a lot harder than the rough in Arizona. She had to add two clubs to get the same distance as in Arizona rough. Another interesting point is the Marshals at Torrey Pines actually wanted you to drive down the fairway because they were very proud of their rough. They said that the North course gets 80-90 thousand rounds a year and the South course gets 70-80 thousand rounds a year; so, if everyone drove on the rough it woudn't be so "nice".

We also looked around at UC San Diego, which is just down the road from Torrey Pines.

The third day Jack played another 18 holes on the north course, shooting an impressive 3 over par. Jack said that "the Torrey Pines north course is his favorite course" he has ever played. While Jack played the north course, Alisa and mom explored some of the hiking trails by Torrey Pines. Just gorgeous.

The next great course the kids get to play is Troon North (rated one of the top 25 courses in the U.S.) for the Desert Junior Tour championship, May 3rd. Alisa is currently in 1st place for girls 8-11 years old. Jack is playing the boys 10-11 years old and is in 3rd place. They have a month to prepare. Anyone is welcome to watch the kids play, so hopefully we'll see ya there!!!

Winter Tour

After Pinehurst, the kids took a month break, as usual, to give them time to get used to the new school schedule and relax from all the hard work through the summer.

We realized after two years and the kids performance at Pinehurst that the kids old coach was a novice at teaching and decided it was time to step-it-up. So, in September, we hired a new coach for the kids, the 2009 Southwest Section PGA of America Teacher of the Year, Kent Chase. Kent is rated in the Top 50 coaches for U.S. Kids and the first to be named Master Teacher of Junior Golf by U.S. Kids. His credentials just keep going and going.

Kent had to make quite a few changes to the kids swing, especially Alisa. She's been a real trooper having to acclimate herself to all the changes and Kent has been patient, but persistent with her.

All the new changes have REALLY paid off; Jack has been shooting in the mid 70's for the first time and has placed first, twice in tournaments so far. Alisa is finally hitting the ball straight and much longer than before. Her confidence in herself has really improved in such a short time.

The family took a trip to California to Aunt Laurie's just after Christmas for the Rose Bowl (Ohio State WON). While we were there we met with Kent and LPGA pro's, and sisters, Danielle and Dina Ammaccapane. What an honor and a joy! Danielle has had 7 tour victories and is in the Top 50 money-makers in the history of the LPGA tour. Danielle wants to play with the kids the next time she's in Arizona, which will be very soon. I'll definitely update the blog after that.