NEPGA Junior Tour Newsletter - June 2013

In this ISSUE Welcome by Jacy Settles … 2 College Golf Seminar … 3 Meet the Interns … 4 Tips to Lower Your Score … 4

by Chris Carpenter, PGA Player Spotlight … 5 Contact Jacy Settles Director of Jr. Golf Operations New England PGA jsettles@pgahq.com Phone: 508-869-0000 ext. 204 Fax: 508-869-0009

Junior Tour Events … 6 Rules by Ron Green ,PGA … 7

Connect with us on www.nepga.com/juniorgolf

Welcome

with Jacy Settles, NEPGA Director of Jr. Golf Operations & Player Development Dear Junior Golfer, We’re excited to begin another year of the New England PGA Junior Tour (NEPGA Jr Tour). If you’re a returning junior member, we’re happy to have you back. If you’re a new member, we would like to welcome you to a fun and exciting golf opportunity for juniors!

The BASICS: • Membership is $125 (per junior). Also, the Sibling Membership is for families with multiple juniors. We are offering a $25 discount to any brother or sister (ages 9-21) of a full paying member of the New England PGA Junior Tour. Full membership is $125 and the Sibling Membership is $100 (additional brothers or sisters) Click here for the application. Benefits of joining the NEPGA Jr Tour include the ability to register online for all NEPGA Jr Tour tournaments and tee gifts. These include a USGA rules book, a NEPGA Jr Tour decal, a Srixon sleeve of golf balls, bag tag, and NEPGA Jr Tour towel.

• Please ALWAYS refer to the tournament information page for details on each event. In the tournament schedule click the info tab next to the event. This is where you will find all starting times/pairings, results, cancellations, delays, etc.

• The Junior Handbook is posted on our website, www.nepga.com/juniorgolf. This has all rules & regulations, player of the year point distribution list and will answer most questions.

• Divisions: Your division is based on your age as of September 1, 2013. i.e. if you turn 14 before September 1, 2013 then you will play in the 14 year old division. If you need to update your division just email (jsettles@pgahq.com) or call the Section office (508.869.0000).

• Elite Tour: NEPGA’s Elite Tour is designed to provide junior golfers in New England top-level competition in a local setting. All of our events will be submitted to National Junior Golf Scoreboard allowing participating Junior Golfers the chance to accumulate points, earn national recognition, and provide them with the resources and experience needed to continue competitive golf beyond the junior years. Boys and girls must be 14-18 years old as of September 1, 2013 and boys must have a 9.9 handicap index or lower and girls 18.1 or lower as of the tournament deadline. ~ Elite Tour Exemptions: Overall winners on select Elite Tour events, will be awarded exemptions in to the 2013 International Junior Masters, 2013 Hudson Junior Invitational and 2013 Collegiate Players Tour National Championship. Additionally, on select events overall winners will receive an AJGA Performance Star (Note: Elite Tour must meet certain AJGA requirements in regards to the ability to distribute performance stars).

• Florida Trip: The NEPGA Jr Tour will be making a golf trip to Florida in April 2014. We’ll keep you posted as we confirm more information about dates and sites.

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS: • Ping College Golf Guide discount: Normally the price for the expanded version is $79.99, but through your membership with the NEPGA Jr Tour it is only $35! The Ping College Golf Guide is the #1 resource for college golf since 1989; This program is an additional cost to your junior tour membership. If you would like to register for Ping College Golf Guide, email (jsettles@pgahq.com) or call the Section office (508.869.0000).

• Free GHIN # (Handicap): NEPGA Jr Tour Members can get a free GHIN# to establish a handicap through the NEPGA. The application is at nepga.com, click “NEPGA Jr Tour” from the Junior Golf Drop down menu and you will see the application on the right hand side.

• The NEPGA will administer all events in a professional manner and will provide junior golfers an opportunity to compete at their highest levels. PGA professionals are the leaders of promoting golf and the NEPGA Jr Tour is an avenue to showcase the top juniors in the area while growing interest in the game to our younger juniors. Our goals include promoting sportsmanship, etiquette, and playing by the Rules of Golf.

If you should have any questions, feel free visit our FAQ page by clicking HERE. or you can email (jsettles@pgahq.com) or call us at (508) 869-0000.

Sincerely, Jacy Settles NEPGA Director of Jr. Golf Operations & Player Development 2

NEPGA Junior PGA Championship Mickey Herron, PGA Head Coach of Bentley University’s Men’s Golf team took the time to answer a few questions about collegiate golf.

Q) What’s the best method to contact a college coach?

MH) Email is the best way to contact coaches due to their busy schedules. Juniors need to include the name of the coach or else it will be tossed aside as another form letter.

Q) Should all players look to play Division 1 golf?

MH) Huge question. Kids should do their homework and look at teams’ websites first and then figure out if they are at the right level.

Q) Do all divisions (college divisions) offer scholarships?

MH) Scholarships are all over the place, but most scholarships are “partials”, even in D1. Remember, all scholarships can even be taken away.

NEPGA Note: Remember, there are three areas noted for scholarships – need, academics and playing ability. The Ouimet Fund offers tremendous scholarship opportunities. It is the second largest golf scholarship provider in the United States. It awards financial aid (based on need) to college students who have worked for a minimum two years at Massachusetts golf courses. Visit: http://www.ouimet.org/ for more information.

Congrats to the following players who have already qualified for the 2013 NEPGA Junior PGA Championship being held at Marlboro Country Club – July 8-9.

Qualifier: Qualifier: North Kingstown Highfields John Lazor John Froberg Benjamin Wescott Robert Cole Tyler Hemingway Andrew DiPetrillo John Seymour Ryan Quinn Hannah Gelfi John Richard Karolyne Shieh Dante Newman Chloe DiPetrillo Andrew Giacchetto Brett Krekorian Raymond Dimestico Qualifier: Pitch Riley Sugarbush GC Kevin Maynard Sophie DiPetrillo Mark Carpentier Christopher Shieh Jordan Dahl Andrew Card Julia Ford Any Dang Jessica Le Catherine French

Qualifier: Bay Pointe Stephen Galanis Jacob Eno Brett Thomas Ryan Delaney Colin Devin William Bertelson Paul Parrish Jared Sullivan Ethan Plotkin Christopher Pasto Zachary Smith Alexander Ensign Alec Dempsey Matt Daley Ben Slater Chelsea Sedlar Lauren Thibodeau Lina Kim Emma Mehta

There are still opportunities to qualify for the 2013 NEPGA Junior PGA Championship at Marlboro CC: Qualifier Jr. PGA Champ -Acushnet River – June 24 Qualifier Jr. PGA Champ - Links at Outlook – June 25 Click HERE to register for either qualifier on www.nepga.com/juniorgolf.

College Golf Seminar The New England PGA will be hosting a College Golf Seminar on Sunday, June 30, 2013 at Nashawtuc Country Club in Sudbury, MA. Enjoy a complete program of special guest speakers from 4pm-7pm. This will be a great way to learn about playing college golf. This event is free to 2013 NEPGA Jr. Tour Members and $20 per additional attendee (max of 3 persons to attend per family). Food will not be provided however there will be water stations.

Panelists: Tara McKenna, PGA – Florida Gulf Coast University (Director of PGM Program) Mickey Herron, PGA – Head Coach of Men’s Golf at Bentley University (Division II) A.J. Broderick – Head Coach of Men’s Golf at Johnson & Wales University – North Miami, FL. Tom Smith, PGA – Head Coach of Men’s Golf at Endicott College (DIII) *note: more guest speakers to confirm, speakers may change at any time.

Dress: Golf attire (no jeans, shorts or cargos).

Registration Deadline: All paper applications must be received by Friday, June 21, 2013 at 12 noon Registration: Pre-registration is required (no on site sign ups). No refunds will be issued if cancellation occurs after the deadline.

Click here to download the application, which is also available on www.nepga.com/juniorgolf.

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Tips to Lower Your Score

with Chris Carpenter, PGA, NEPGA Junior Golf Committee Chairman Having invested the past two decades developing competitive junior golfers, shooting lower scores is always near the top of every junior’s written goals. If your child is struggling to overcome a scoring barrier, try these three simple steps to break through:

Pitch & Putt. Shooting better scores requires a dependable short game.

When juniors and parents identify a lack of

consistency as the trouble spot in the player’s game, it is often caused by underdeveloped short-game skills. Take a look at the top finishers in the next event and you will undoubtedly see above-average short game skills.

Juniors should focus the majority of their practice time on shots inside 80-yards utilizing a variety of clubs to improve imagination and feel. Additionally, players should work to play shots of various trajectories.

Drive. Starting each hole with a solid drive in the fairway will improve scoring opportunities and boost player confidence.

Few juniors will overpower a golf course, but routinely swing too hard to make consistently solid contact. Start with solidly hit shots and let the power develop gradually.

On your next visit to the store, pick up a spray can of Dr. Scholl’s powder foot spray. At least once per week, juniors should hit five 10-ball sets (50 total) of drivers. Prior to each 10-ball set, spray the face of the driver with the spray powder. It will be easy to gauge how solidly each bally is struck just by looking at the clubface. After each set of 10, take a photo of the clubface with a cellphone or iPod. After a few weeks of practice, you should see a noticeable difference in the consistency of center hits. Better yet, more drives will end up in the fairway!

Go Low. Shooting lower scores requires a combination of physical and mental readiness.

Often times, the perceived pressure of shooting a career best is enough to derail even the best of rounds. Juniors must become comfortable with shooting lower scores and the more opportunities they have, the more consistent they will become.

To expedite this development, encourage juniors to play from the shortest tee possible. Start at 100 yards on each hole and see how low they can score on nine holes. Once he or she can shoot 5-under par for nine holes, back up 25 yards and repeat the process. If he or she cannot score even par or better from 100 yards, move to 50 or 75 yards until the target score is achieved. Before they know it, the mental barriers are gone and they are very close to playing from their normal tees.

If you are searching for answers related to junior golf, please email Chris Carpenter at chris@carpentergolfinc.com to suggest a topic for next month’s Junior Golf Newsletter.

Chris Carpenter is the PGA Head Golf Professional at Nashawtuc Country Club in Concord, MA. Mr. Carpenter is the 2013 New England PGA Professional of the Year, 2011 NEPGA Junior Golf Award Winner, 2002 & 2004 North Texas PGA Junior Golf Award Winner. Mr. Carpenter is also the Northeast Region Director of the USA Junior National Golf Program.

Meet the 2013 NEPGA Interns!

Claus

Quigley 4

Wyman

Burke

Erlichman

Marcoulier

Bennett

Castellano

McBride Click on each picture to learn more ab out our interns! Their bios can also be found on www.nepga.c om/juniorgolf.

Junior Golf Q) What High School do you go to?

AZ) Sharon High School

Q) What High School do you go to?

SP) Milton Academy

Q) What Year are you in High school?

AZ) I am an junior graduating in 2014.

Q) What Year are you in High school?

SP) 2014

Q) What are your plans for the summer?

AZ) I plan to have a pretty fun and eventful summer! I have signed up for quite a few golf tournaments, and I am super excited to get to play. I hope I get to travel out of New England this summer though and play some new courses and meet new girls. Unrelated to golf, I also plan on doing some research and work in my dad’s ANGELA lab to further explore in the field of sciZHANG ence as I would love to pursue biomedical engineering in college. Most importantly though, I can’t wait to get to kick back and relax by enjoying time with family and friends!

Q) Are you planning to go to college? If so, do you have a few you would like to get into?

AZ) Yes, I am planning on going to college. A few schools I would love to attend are Yale, Brown, Northwestern, Duke, and Stanford.

Q) What's your greatest moment in golf?

AZ) One of my greatest moments in golf is hard to think of but I do recall a certain round of golf I will never forget.

Thanks to NE Jr. PGA, I had an incredible opportunity to get to play at The Country Club which hosted numerous USGA tournaments including the 1913 US Open. Although I didn’t compete that day, I got to play 18 with three other girls and we had an awesome time out on the course and even got a tour of the facility after! It was an experience I will never forget!

Q) If you could play any golf course in the world, which one would it be and who would complete your foursome?

AZ) If I could play any golf course in the world, I would love to play at Augusta National. One of my favorite major championships to watch is the Masters and it would be amazing to get the opportunity to play at the venue where the tournament is held! The three other golfers I would choose to compete against would be Annika Sorenstam, Phil Mickelson, and Jack Nicklaus. It would be an honor to play with three of my greatest idols.

Q) Besides golf, what else do you enjoy?

AZ) Other than golf, my hobbies include tennis, photography, music (piano and violin), writing, dance, and having fun with family and friends!

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Q) What are your plans for the summer?

SP) I plan to Caddy and play in a full schedule of tournaments. I also plan to go on several trips to visit colleges.

SAM PROCTOR

Q) Are you planning to go to college? If so, do you have a few you would like to get into?

SP) Yes, I definitely plan to go to college.

My top five choices at this point are Amherst, Williams, Tufts, Georgetown and Pomona.

Q) What's your greatest moment in golf?

SP) When I got my hole in one on the 17th hole at Walpole when I was 14 . It was the best 4 iron I’ve hit in my life.

Q) If you could play any golf course in the world, which one would it be and who would complete your foursome?

SP) It’s a hard choice but it would probably be Cypress Point in California and my top 3 Milton teammates would make a great foursome.

Q) Besides golf, what else do you enjoy?

SP) I enjoy playing hockey and I also have fun playing Fantasy sports (especially football) with my friends.

Note from Sam: The NEPGA introduced me to tournament play, and I still remember my first tournament when I was 11 at Larry Gannon. I have met amazing people through my play in the NEPGA, and it has been really fun to see it flower into quite a competitive junior golf tour with the newly established Elite Tour. The Elite Tour is now one of the premier tours in the region, and no tour gets on better courses than it. The NEPGA has been fun, but it has also introduced me to the competitive side of the game, that has taught me so much and that I have come to love.

We’ll be featuring more of our junior golfers in future issues of this newsletter.

Be sure to check them out!

June Schedule Event/Location Qualifier PGA Jr Champ - Sugarbush Sugarbush GC - Warren, VT ELITE TOUR - Green Mt. National Green Mountain National - Killington, VT NEPGA Jr. - CC of New Bedford CC of New Bedford - New Bedford, MA NEPGA Jr.- Gannon #1 Larry Gannon - Lynn, MA ELITE TOUR Abenaqui CC & Candia Woods Abenaqui - Rye Beach, NH Candia Woods - Candia, NH NEPGA Jr. - Billerica CC of Billerica - Billerica, MA NEPGA Jr - Cape Arundel Cape Arundel GC - Kennebunkport, ME NEPGA Jr. - Louisquisset Louisquisset GC - North Providence, RI NEPGAJr. - Cranberry Valley Cranberry Valley GC - Harwich, MA Qualifier PGA Jr Champ -Acushnet River Acushnet River Valley - Acushnet, MA NEPGA Jr. - Falmouth CC Falmouth CC Championship - E. Falmouth, MA NEPGA Jr - Beverly Golf & Tennis Club Beverly Golf & Tennis - Beverly, MA Qualifier Jr PGA Champ- Links Outlook, ME Links at Outlook - South Berwick, ME NEPGA Jr. - Ballymeade Ballymeade CC - North Falmouth, MA NEPGA Jr. - Needham Needham GC - Needham, MA NEPGA Jr. - Bass River GC Bass River Golf Course - South Yarmouth, MA NEPGA Jr. - Franklin Park Franklin Park Golf Course - Dorchester, MA NEPGA Jr - Village Links GC Village Links GC - Plymouth, MA

Find the entire 2013 season schedule and event results at www.nepga.com/juniorgolf

Date 1-June June 15 June 16 17-June 18-June June 18 June 19 19-June 20-June

Bayberry Hills April 15th Boys 16-18:

Jack Kade 36-40--76 +4

Boys 14 – 15:

Mithran Denbow 41-40--81 +9

Boys 12 -13: Boys 11 & Under: Girls 14-18:

Harry Grosso 44-39--83 +11 Conner Willett 44--44 +8 Alexandra Yarosh 39-40--79 +7

Girls 13 & Under:

Kristina Thimme 47--47 +11

24-June 24-June 24-June 25-June

Captains Course April 16th

25-June

Boys 16-18 Boys 14-15 Boys 12-13

Jack Kade 40-36--76 +5 Michael Plansky 40-40--80 +9 Zachary Stewart 50-45--95 +24

25-June

Boys 11 & Under

Conner Willett 49 +13

26-June

Girls 14-18 Girls 13 and Under

Alexandra Yarosh 43-45--88 +17 Hayley Marie Lemke 65 +29

26-June 27-June 27-June 28-June

The Golf Club of Cape Cod April 18th Boys 16-18

Michael Pergola 32-44--76 +4

Boys 14-15

Matt Daley 35-45--80 +8

Boys 12-13

Justin LaVoie 39-38--77 +5

Boys 11 and Under

Max Hutter 47 +11

Girls 14-18

Anna Haynes 40-43--83 +11

Girls 13 and Under

Hayley Marie Lemke 59 +23

Boys 11 & Under and Girls 13 & Under are 9-hole events

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Ron Talks Rules

with Ron Green, PGA, NEPGA Director of Rules & Competitions What’s on Ron’s mind this week? Rule 26 Did any of you watch this year’s Masters? If you were, you probably saw the world’s best player make a simple mistake that would end up costing him two strokes.

If you were

...

...would you have known what you could or could not do in that situation? If you play golf, whether in tournaments or just for fun with your parents or friends you should always play by the Rules.

spot, not two yards further back. When he played his shot from that spot he had played from a wrong place and was subject to a two-stroke penalty, which the Masters Rules Committee eventually applied to his score for that hole.

So let’s go back to the 15th hole at Augusta and see what Tigers options were.

But, what if the same water hazard had been defined with red stakes and lines? It would then, by definition, be a lateral water hazard.

First, we must establish what type of hazard this was. It was a water hazard whose margins are defined by yellow stakes and lines.

So what can we do if our ball has come to rest in a water hazard? If we are able to, we can play our ball from within the hazard. DON’T touch the water in the hazard with your club if you decide you are going to attempt this.

But if we can’t play our ball as it lies, what are our relief options?

There is one option we always have, no matter where our ball has come to rest; we can proceed under Rule 27-1 or the Stroke and Distance penalty as most of us call it. To simplify, go back to where we played our last shot from and drop a ball as close as possible to that spot, adding a penalty stroke to our score for that hole. When you look in your Rule Book this is Rule 26-1a.

Remember this option, it’s what Tiger almost did.

Another option is to drop a ball behind the water hazard, keeping the point where the ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped. With no limit to how far behind the hazard the ball may be dropped. This is Rule 261b. Remember this option, it is what Tiger thought he was entitled to do. Unfortunately he wasn’t.

So how did Tiger mess up? He basically combined the two Rules in to one. He went back to the spot where he had previously played from (26-1a) but then proceeded to drop on a spot two yards farther back (sort of like in Rule 26-1b) from where he had originally played. The key is Tiger chose to proceed under Rule 26-1a and when he did he was required to drop a ball, as close as possible to that

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What does that mean to us when taking our relief? It simply gives you a couple of more options.

If your ball last crossed the margin of a lateral water hazard, you still have the options (26-1a & 1b) we discussed above and additionally under Rule 26-1c you may drop a ball outside the water hazard within two club-lengths of and not nearer the hole than the point where your ball last crossed the margin of the hazard. This is Rule 26-1c(i).

In some rare situations, there might even be a spot on the other side of the lateral hazard that is the exact same distance from the hole as the spot we discussed above, and you would be able to drop a ball within two-club-lengths of that spot. This is Rule 26-1c(ii).

Why are some hazards containing water marked with yellow and others with red? It is up to the Committee (the people in charge of running the event) to define the golf course. If they have done their job correctly we should always have a reasonable spot play our next shot from when taking relief from a water or lateral water hazard. As a player it is your job to know what those options are.

Read Rule 26 and become familiar with it, it may seem confusing at first but it really is quite simple.

And if you are struggling to learn it, remember, even the great Tiger Woods can get it wrong some times.