Summertime Team Golf

Connor has been having a great time with his Team Golf tournaments this summer. In addition to the incredible progress he is making in his golf ability, he is learning so much about competition golf and the rules of the game. It has been so interesting for me to experience as well, because I know very little about golf and now Connor is teaching me.

On average, Connor has participated in one tournament per week throughout the summer. I already blogged about his 1st tournament, but it was his 2nd tournament at the River Ridge course in Sealy that was the most fun by far for the season. Connor and his partner, Ben, had an INCREDIBLE game that day -- where one had a bad shot, the other had an amazing one. Their score for the 9 holes was 38, 2 over par! Jeff was beside himself with excitement at how great the boys played.

And to make that day even better, Connor and his partner ended up scoring 1st place in their age division AND first place overall for the tournament. They were all smiles, and deservedly so! What a great event for these young golfers!

A selfie of Connor and his caddy at the River Ridge tournament.

Connor with his partner Ben at River Ridge.

The winning teams at River Ridge, with Connor and Ben in 1st place overall!

Here is their team scorecard for the tournament. I thought Granddaddy might enjoy seeing this :-)

Look at those smiles and that awesome score! They were so excited about their gold medals.

For each of the Team Golf tournaments this summer, I usually take Connor to get registered and get some practice shots in at the driving range before Jeff will arrive and accompany Connor for the tournament play. Thank goodness for that, because even though Kaitlynn begs to stay and ride in the golf cart, she doesn't have much patience (or etiquette) for the several hours it takes to finish up the tournaments.

Connor's partner, Ryan, for the Meadowbrook Farms tournament.

Practice shots at the driving range before a tournament.

Kaitlynn getting some love from her Sweet Daddy before leaving the tournament.

One of the other tournaments this summer was at the highly acclaimed Champions course in northwest Houston. Connor and his fellow golfers were coached quite a bit in advance about what a privilege it would be for them to play at this private course and how they needed to savor the experience. My Dad a.k.a. Grandaddy made the trip all the way down to Houston to accompany Connor in the Champions tournment as his caddy. Connor was so excited to be able to participate in the tournament and have Grandaddy there with him. After all, Grandaddy was the one who introduced Connor to the game of golf!

Grandaddy took the following pictures at the Champions tournament. Connor was partnered up with Ben again for this one, but they didn't have as great of a game. This time they shot a 44 for the 9 holes, not bad but not a winning score this time. When I asked my Dad about Connor's level of play, he reported that he was really impressed with Connor's short game. He said that Connor's putting had improved tremendously and that Connor had made some putts that even he couldn't have made. We sure love hearing that the lessons are paying off, and Connor is having a ton of fun along the way!

Connor teeing off.

The partners get some advice from Ben's dad.

Eyeing up a shot to the green.

Sink that putt!

Practice swing at the tee box.

By the time August rolled around, fall football practices were already underway so we were ready to start wrapping up Connor's summer of Team Golf. There were two remaining tournaments to go. The first one was at the private Willow Fork Country Club in Katy. Connor was again partnered with his buddy Ryan. They had a decent game, made a couple of pars, but didn't expect their score of 47 to be that great. The course must've been tougher than we realized. When it was time for scoring, Ryan and Connor ended up having the 3rd highest score of all the 2-man teams in their 6-9 year division. And imagine their excitement when their 6-man team actually took 1st place overall. His 2nd gold medal of the summer!!

One of the cool takeaways from this tournament was that Connor had another great day of putting. One of the other adults golfing in our foursome was a young golf instructor at Top Golf. After Connor made several outstanding putts, she told Jeff, "That boy putts better than I do, and I'm not kidding!" Great job, Connor!

Connor and Ryan, before their gold medal win. Connor must've known it would be a good day of golf.

The gold medal presentation. Congrats, boys!

The very last tournament of the summer was held last week at Connor's home course, Cinco Ranch. Connor had been wanting to play 9 holes there all summer, so even though he had to skip a football practice, he was excited to play. He was again partnered up with his buddy Ben. They had a great time and shot a 48, and their 6-man team ended up taking 2nd place in the tourney.

The carts at Cinco have built-in GPS on iPads, wow!

Driving range practice.

 

 

Silver medal, awesome!

Connor with his Team Golf partner, Ben.

What an awesome experience we had this summer with Team Golf! I can't say enough about how neat the program is for teaching young golfers the love of the game. Now that he's starting the busy fall football season, he'll be taking a break from golf until next spring. We're already looking forward to picking up where he left off.