It is hard to believe that it is August.  As I look back on the summer, I am once again humbled.  In June, I mentioned that several of my homeschool students participated in Drive, Chip and Putt with varying levels of success.  Since then I have had several more,  both homeschool and traditional school, take a chance and I am very proud of them. ​

Camille Adam     Girls 7-9  (1st in putt)
Celine Adam    Girls 7-9  (3rd in putt)
Gideon Ladicani     Boys 7-9
Tristan Ladicani    Boys 7-9
Zoe Ladicani   Girls 10-11 (2nd in chip)
Londyn Leon    Girls 7-9
Thomas Nevico   Boys 14-15  (2nd in drive, 2nd in putt)
Danny Tadeo   Boys 12-13  (1st in putt)

This summer also marked the first time that Beaver Golf participated in the Mayor's Golf Tournament at Madison Green.  I asked Coach Danni, Coach Mike and my right-hand Mayda to join me in supporting the Mayor's scholarship fund.  A couple of my adult students also sponsored foursomes which allowed a few of my junior students (Thomas Nevico, David Peschansky and Danny Tadeo) to play.  Everyone had a blast and I even won the 50/50.  

One of my favorite while exhausting memories has to be golf summer camp.  Each week we had a great group of golfers.  They were ready to improve their skills and knowledge but they were also ready to let loose and have fun.  Never underestimate the power of a good water soaker.  Mayda did a great job of capturing the memories and sharing them on our new facebook page.  

I am especially grateful for my volunteers. Their presence and willingness to invest in my younger junior golfers made the experience even more memorable.  Thank you Annika Collado, Cienna Collado, Jayda Dookie, Blake Leon, David Peschansky, Micaela Riudias, Sydney Rogers and Troy Thartimanont.

If you have had more than one lesson with me, it is very possible that it was interrupted briefly by a phone call from my daughter or my son.  They are the best part of my life so I make myself available to them if they should need me.  

Last year, my daughter, Brianna, graduated from college and started working at Family Promise of South Palm Beach County.  She is the Transitional Housing Manager and she works with Emergency Housing Voucher recipients. The organization provides these families with case management, mental health services if needed, and assists with finding housing.

When she initially moved here from Chicago, I thought she was going to become a nurse but after the first few classes she felt like she was trying to assist with a symptom and not the deeper issue.  As a result, she changed her major to social work because I had raised her with the understanding that everyone will have ups and downs and at any given moment something can happen to put someone in financial turmoil.  Now  she gets to be a part of the solution while also impacting the community.  

Since Family Promise of South Palm Beach County is a nonprofit organization, they host fundraisers periodically and they asked if I would partner with them for Beer and Bayou which is kind of ironic since I do not drink.  I agreed to donate a package of golf lessons.  That's what we do for family, right? Right. 

When my students are encountering challenges in their golf game or during the practice time the first thing I tell them to do is to STOP doing what they are doing.  In most cases, they are overcomplicating things, so they need to clear out the junk that is playing in their mind and just relax. 

Once the mind is clear,  THINK about where the ball could land. Visualize the shot and ANTICIPATE the potential outcomes.  Swing and then RESPOND to the resulting outcome.  It is important to focus on one shot at a time.

Golf is a mental game.  The only way to persevere is to stay calm, relax and speak positively to yourself.  There is always something to learn and achieve no matter how bleak you think it looks.  

The stories below are great examples.

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If you were watching Olympic golf, you know that the U.S. won gold in Men's and Women's Golf.  Xander Schauffele, 27 and Nelly Korda, 23 won gold by sticking to their game even after facing adversity on the course.  It is really inspiring to see young golfers exhibiting these traits on a world stage.  Highlight videos of their final rounds are posted at the very end for your reference. 

After watching them both win golds, I was curious about when they started playing golf.  Xander started at the age of 9 but did not start playing seriously until he was 12.  His family, however, could not afford the travel expenses associated with competitive play that could rank him nationally, so he played college golf and then worked his way onto the PGA tour by playing the Web.com Tour (now called Korn Ferry Tour). 

Nelly started playing golf at the age of 6 when her older sister, Jessica (also an LPGA tour player) started becoming serious about the sport.  When she qualified for the U.S. Women's Open 2013 and made the cut, one month before her 15th birthday, a desire to play on tour awakened.  She would eventually join the LPGA 4 years later after a tough year on the Symetra Tour. 

Two very different and difficult paths towards becoming a professional golfer.  Both remained committed to their goal, never giving up and I believe it is that same grit that carried them through to win gold.  

There are tons of video clips online of golf shots that make the crowd roar.  Whether the it is an Ace, a hole out, an amazing putt or a shot from tough lie. I believe they all have one thing in common.  Imagination.  If you cannot imagine the ball going in the hole or making it to your intended target before you make the shot then you probably should find another sport to play. 

Most golfers give up too easily, allowing their emotions to take the lead.  If you want to set yourself apart from the pack, start looking at every situation as an opportunity to use your imagination.  First, take a breath and relax.  Next,  change your perspective of where your ball lies and look at the shot from a different vantage point.  Now imagine the path of the ball and think about the approach you need to take to make it happen.  Take the shot.  Does this mean that the outcome is guaranteed?  Absolutely not, but instead of giving up, you gave yourself a chance.  
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​I remembered seeing this concept among others in the movie Seven Days in Utopia and I was inspired to share it with my junior golfers by challenging them to make Christmas socks.  The socks, however, had to be socks that they already owned or created from materials that they had available to them at home.  No outside purchase of materials was allowed.  

A week later, they returned having had a lot of fun using their imagination.  They discovered that it did not require a lot of effort to make the socks.  It was easy to create the socks because they thought about what the socks could look like first.  They thought about how to change the appearance of the socks which is basically the same as changing your viewpoint of a difficult shot of the golf course.  Then they made the changes which is same as taking the shot on the golf course.  

Imagination!