Youth golfers starting to soar in week four, thanks to some Hawks
By Bill Houston
July 12, 2011
277
They keep getting better and better, and thats why theyre here, to learn to play the game, explained Hiland senior golfer Caleb Schlabach, out on the links at Fire Ridge Golf Course, in the middle of the afternoon on Tuesday, July 12, helping to teach some possible future Hawks and West Holmes Knights linksmen the finer points of the game during the fourth week of the Holmes County Park District youth golf league. Its a lot easier for them to learn how to play now than it will be when they get older.
Park District golf league coordinator Scott Rucki couldnt agree more.
I didnt golf until probably after my first year of college, said Rucki, who maybe knows a little more about putting a different kind of ball into a different kind of cylinder, after growing up with his father, Rob Rucki, an assistant basketball coach for the West Holmes Lady Knights. I kind of wish I would have started earlier. I think this will definitely help them if they want to continue to golf. A lot of them didnt have any experience. They might have played last year or the year before, but a lot of them, I know, never played before.
And the scores have all gotten better.
But those whose scores have really gotten better are now grouped with the rookie coordinator, Rucki, on Tuesday afternoons instead of having an opportunity to spend the day with some of the countys brightest young golf stars.
The kids who are more experienced, Ill take them out, explained the first-year league coordinator. Calebs one of the better golfers, so I put him with some of the kids who maybe need a little more help.
And thats not a bad person to get a little more help from, as Schlabach is coming off a junior season at Hiland last fall during which he averaged 42 strokes per nine holes throughout the regular season, while jockeying back and forth with B.J. Miller all season long for the number one spot on the Hawks varsity squad.
The first week, when we were just getting started, they were having trouble getting off the tee box, said Schlabach, who has helped coordinate some of his Hawks teammates to help out with the youth league as well, including Hiland sophomore Logan Miller who led his own group of youngsters through the front nine on Tuesday, July 12. Now, in week four, theyre all making much better contact and hitting the ball harder, cleaner and straighter.
Obviously, that was part of the goal when the league got under way back on June 14, five days after the Holmes County Park District put on a three-day instructional golf clinic, June 7-9, at Black Diamond Golf Course.
A lot of what we have done is just try to stress the importance of quality repetition, added Schlabach. Getting that same good swing time after time is key. There is still a lot to learn, but this is a good start for them.
And theyll each have an opportunity to show off what theyve learned on Tuesday, August 2, when the camp wraps up with a nine-hole child/parent scramble.
I like the feeling you get after you make a good shot, said fourth-year camper Phillip Schlabach, who showed off some of what hes learned already by putting for birdie on hole number two, en route to a low-score for the day of 41 through eight holes -- Bridger Cline was second with 50, just one stroke ahead of Nick Rohr (51).
I like putting, agreed 10-year-old Brett Mirich. But I really just like playing with my friends.
And thats part of the goal of the camp too.
Right now, its just basically getting them out there and playing and having fun with it, instead of waiting until theyre in high school to start, said Rucki. Thats basically the goal of it all.
For more information about other camps and activities, contact the Holmes County Park District at 330-674-3353.
