One of the reasons I teach golf is because I fully believe that golf is a great way to build memories with family and friends.  Pictures like the one above are awesome to see. Not only are parents supporting their golfers but other families are supporting the other golfers. Family, friends and fun! That's what it is about.  

It is humbling to see the number of Beaver Golf students that participate in Drive, Chip & Putt increase each year.  While I know there were some bumps in the road today for some of the golfers, I am proud of each of them.  Competition is tough even when it is free.  Sometimes the nerves take over and sometimes they drive you to success.  No matter the outcome, they key is to have fun and learn something for next year.  

Looking forward to hearing the results from other Beaver Golf students as they participate in other local qualifiers later this summer. 

Five Beaver Golf junior students are moving on to the sub-Regionals which will be hosted at Ballenisles Country Club on August 19, 2023.

Participants 
Shay Atkins - 1st Time Participant
Xander Trivlis
Zoey Trivlis - 1st Time Participant

Girls 7-9 Division
Zoey Trivlis
3rd Drive, 3rd Chip, 3rd Putt

Boys 7-9 Division
Xander Trivlis
 1st Chip

​Boys 14-15 Division
Shay Atkins
2nd Alternate Overall

Shay's participation was a complete surprise.  Apparently, it was a last minute decision that was made after a lot of encouragement from fellow homeschool student golfer DeMarco who unfortunately has aged out of the competition. This was Shay's only chance to try since he will age out as well. He finished in 5th place and second alternate overall which is awesome.  

The road to Augusta came to an at the Sub-regionals for the golfers but they had a great time competing in what turned out to be an all girls show for Beaver Golf.  Mateo elected not to participate for personal reasons related to his faith.  I commend him for being a person of integrity with his decision.

Abriella Morrison earned a 2nd place medal for chipping in the girls 7-9 division and she tied for 5th overall with 49 points.  While Vivian Sterijevski did not improve her upon her points in this round, she feels like she is definitely a better golfer after all of the practice, extra lessons and the overall experience.  That's what it is all about!!  Who's ready for 2024? ​

My name is Jayda Dookie and I just graduated from Suncoast Community High School. There have been many people who have crossed my path during my tenure in the golf community. Many people are responsible for shaping me into the person I am today, however, none as influential as Coach Glen. 

Coach Glen has utilized golf as a medium to teach life lessons that I will carry for the rest of my life. I met Coach Glen almost a decade ago through the Junior Golf Foundation of America. My past coach had decided to pursue his dreams as a police officer, leaving me coachless. A friend Vrishti, also a Beaver Golf Alum, had just started working with Coach and introduced me. A couple weeks later I had a coach. I was quite shy when we started working together. I wouldn’t speak during my lessons or add any input, that was until Coach took away my driver. My family and I recently learned of my scoliosis. Coach took one look at my drive and determined that my overswing was irritating my diagnosis even more. He took away my woods, and within a month I loathed him. For the next six months I was left woodless, unable to use them until I got my swing under control. Deep down I knew he had taken them away for a good reason, but the rage I held turned into fuel for determination. I spent my time after school every day on the range, practicing for hours, trying tirelessly to control my swing in order to get my clubs back. In those few months Coach Glen taught me unforgettable lessons of self-discipline, patience, and dedication. He made me realize my health is more important than winning and sometimes tough love is the only way to learn. Without Coach Glen I would not have the work ethic or positive mindset instilled in me today. 

Over the past 7 years I have been his student. I have gained life lessons and leadership skills as well as opportunities to further myself through golf. Because of Beaver Golf I was able to learn how to teach young students how to play golf despite my initial shyness inhibiting me. I met so many new people I can share both my life and the love of golf with. Coach Glen also introduced me to caddying and the Evans Scholarship program, a Scholarship dedicated to helping caddies go through all four years of college. Caddying is an experience that has gifted me people and leadership skills while also lighting the path to my future career in international business. I have grown tremendously since the moment I walked on the golf course, and I can say confidently that my development flourished after becoming a part of Beaver Golf .

This weekend, the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) and First Tee invited several Beaver Golf students to participate in the Day in a Life Program at the UNIQLO / Adam Scott Junior Championship! The program provided an opportunity for the golfers to be introduced to an alternate golf career path that includes Tournament Administration, Tournament Operations and Communications.  They also had an opportunity to interact with Adam Scott, who has won 31 times on the PGA Tour.

The tournament was a 3-day tournament at Hammock Creek Golf Club in Stuart.  Lily Bieber, Annika Collado, Cienna Collado and Sydney Rogers participated on Saturday, 5/27/23, while Mateo Muñiz and Danny Tadeo closed out the event on Sunday, 5/28/23.  They were able to assist the starter, finalize scoring, serve as rules officials which were also responsible for pace of play, and sometimes they simply handled housekeeping tasks like delivering lunch to the staff.  The final day also provided an opportunity to assist with course management when a downpour rendered the greens unplayable.   

The overall consensus from the golfers: 
               It was COOL!!!                                          Very enjoyable!! 

           Great experience!!!

Danny left motivated to play more tournaments and to learn more about the golf industry.
Lily is the newest in her golf journey and she was blown away by the skill level of the juniors that  were playing  in the tournament.  She would have gone back for another day but they had family obligations.  
Annika was impressed by how serious pace of play is in the AJGA.
Mateo really appreciated the systems they had in place to communicate and enforce the rules during tournament play.  

Last year, Beaver Golf was able to provide golfers for the Junior Achievement of the Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast in the PLAY4JA Golf Tourney in response to a last minute request for players.  This year, we were proactive in partnering by sponsoring a tee sign, a foursome and providing golfers to complete the foursomes.  Yesterday's event was successful for Beaver Golf in several ways.

The organization is all about junior achievement and I saw this event as an opportunity to showcase the talent of a few of my homeschool students who have the ability to play competitive golf.  One of those golfers is Shay Atkins but when we asked him to participate, he said No.  While this was disappointing, I will never force a golfer to do something they are not ready to do.  Fortunately, after taking some time to really think about the opportunity he chose to participate.  In the following weeks, he would play practice rounds and yesterday he won one of the closest to the pin prizes!!

After receiving his award, Shay went over to shake the hands of his Wawa playing partners and thanked them for the opportunity explaining that he had to leave because he had a football game to get to and he was the quarterback.   Their response: "Shay!! You get to play golf in the morning and go be the quarterback in the afternoon?  You are living our dream!!!"

Three other homeschool golfers were invited to play.  Sofia Mayer, Ike Tobin and Vivian Sterijevski.  Vivian was the only homeschool golfer to play last year and this year she had the honor of sinking a birdie putt for her team.  

It is my hope that this kind of friendly tournament play will instill confidence in these players to the level that they will believe that they have what it takes to play good golf at a competitive level.  The more they play the more confident they will become. ​

Coach Danni Rocco suggested we sponsor a foursome this year because she had two students who are aspiring to make their high school golf team, Lily Bieber and Sophia Nores, and another, Yuvani Bhandary, who wants to become a leader on the Palm Beach Central team.   This tournament provided an opportunity for Coach Danni to offer an on-course lesson to all three at the same time.  Additionally, they were able to meet each other and build new friendships.

"The Play4JA Golf Tournament was a great experience. My students had a fun time meeting new people and playing as a team. It was very nice seeing them take what they've learned on the range and apply it on the golf course. While all three contributed to team birdies, the most memorable moment of the round was when Lily made her first solo birdie ever." -Coach Danni Rocco

Several of my tournament players rounded out the fantastic 12 that represented Beaver Golf.  Annika Collado, Sydney Rogers and Danny Tadeo returned for a second year.  They were joined by graduating senior, Jayda Dookie who took home two of the remaining three closest to the pin prizes.  

It is an honor to develop players that are willing to give up their Saturday mornings to help out a great cause.  The event raised $27,000 for Junior Achievement programming. 

Are golf lessons absolutely necessary to play golf?  The short answer is no.  There are lots of people who play the game every day who have not taken a lesson.  They play because they heard it was fun, they think it would be beneficial to their career or they were persuaded by a friend and got hooked.  If you watch these people closely, the majority offer more in the way of comic relief than they do skill.  Every so often, these players plateau and come to the realization that they cannot improve without proper instruction.  

At Beaver Golf, our goal as teaching professionals is to help our students develop a complete understanding of their swing.  It is our hope that they will be able to replicate what we are teaching them during their practice time.  Each lesson builds upon the other until the student has the confidence to identify and fix issues in their swing quickly when playing.

One strategy that works well is to take notes after the lesson.  We especially encourage this for junior golfers.  A small notebook can be stored in the golf bag so it easy to retrieve when practicing and playing just like the yardage or green notebook that most professional golfers use during a round. 

We receive countless texts from students asking questions that were answered during the lesson.  It makes sense, new information needs time to connect but note taking whether in words or pictures definitely speeds up the process.  Try it!!

Check out this article which highlights several of the points that we discuss with our students at Beaver Golf.