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.

U.S. Kids World Championship Update

We drove from Gatlinburg to Pinehurst on Monday (8/3) and checked into our condo for a little relaxation. Nice condo, but couldn't hook up with the internet.

The kids played a practice round on Tuesday and Wednesday; Alisa plays Talamore and Jack plays Little River. Talamore is a tough course. Very hilly and the greens are hard to read.

FIRST ROUND - First day jitters. Jack shot a 86 and Alisa shot a 98. They have the girls on EXTREMELY long holes.....410 yard par 5. Crazy for 10 year old girls.

SECOND ROUND - Alisa did much better, a beautiful 87. The Kids Golf people must have received enough complaints, plus the best score was 74, that they moved up 6 holes; all the par 5's and two par 4's. Jack had a nice day too, shooting a very nice 82, to include 4 birdies.

After the kids were done we drove to Pinehurst Village and stopped at a cool golf store called Old Sport & Gallery, run by Tom Stewart. It had a ton of old golf memorabilia from the time golf started until now. While we were there Jim Derr, the first commentator for CBS Sports for the Augusta Masters and commentated on golf for 35 years. Mr. Derr told us some great stories and what a icon to listen to. He told us a story about meeting Albert Einstein at Princeton and upon meeting him asked him if he played golf. Mr Einstein answered in a husky voice, "No, it's too complicated for me." Mr. Derr very impressive and a healthy 92 years old. I could have listened to his stories all night.

Round 3 is tomorrow morning and I'll try to update when we get internet service. Alisa tee's off at 7:40 AM and Jack's tee time hasn't been posted yet.

Pictures to come.......