January 11, 2006
Students take a swing at the game of golf
Junior Golf Association offers in-school program for 2,500 elementary students
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Left thumb on blue, right thumb on red… point the arrow at the target… hit the ball.
The beginning of a recipe for success in golf, Bob Lober of the Traverse City Junior Golf Association will be bringing to 2,500 area third, fourth and fifth grade students thanks to the new In-School Golf Program.
Traveling to 25 schools throughout the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District, Lober and association volunteers will work with school physical education teachers to teach the basics of the game. The program kicked off this week with schools in Leelanau County and will come to its first Traverse City elementary schools - Long Lake and Eastern - the week of January 23.
After more than two decades working with youth ages 5-21 in the Junior Golf Association, Lober is pleased to reach out to a new constituency. He hopes to instill a love of the game in some kids, which may last a lifetime, and bring a basic appreciation of it to all.
"Our objective is to give kids an opportunity to be introduced to the game of golf," said Lober. "Really the 7-10,11-year-old is the age group we've always targeted because we felt that physically they were more able to learn the skills necessary to play the game."
The program is made possible because of a grant from the 2 Percent Fund of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.
Lober began talking with physical education teachers a few months ago to choose an age range for the program and design it. In-School Golf will include two hours of hands-on and instruction time for students; the number of actual classes will vary depending on the length of each school's PE period.
"We figure that during that period of time, we can talk about golf and have them do some hands on because that's what PE is all about anyway," he noted.
The students will use oversized balls, special putting and chipping clubs as well as a miniature Velcro green and target to practice the fundamentals. Ages Golf created the equipment Lober purchased for the program specifically for use in gymnasiums.
The clubs have color coding on the handle to ensure the proper grip while a bright red arrow at the base shows where the ball will travel after being hit. The In-School Golf Program will have 30 clubs for right handed players and six clubs for left-handed players.
"It's not as intimidating as taking a regular golf club and a regular golf ball," said Lober. "The balls are between a tennis ball and a golf ball [in size], they bounce like a tennis ball but not as far - they are designed to be used in a gym."
"Safety is very important, if somebody gets hit by one they're not going to get hurt," he added.
In addition to teaching the fundamentals of this wildly popular sport, In-School Golf is designed to instill six life skills. The volunteer instructors and PE teachers will teach honesty, integrity, confidence, respect, playing by the rules and good sportsmanship to children using the game of golf as the vehicle.
Because golf is essentially an individual sport, Lober noted that it is well suited to teach these personal skills. A veteran basketball and football coach, Lober knows that teamwork is very important to success, for a team as well as the members. However, he believes that the individual life lessons that can be learned through golf are also crucial to success - at the game and in life.
"There's so many games or activities that kids do now in their lives today that don't necessarily teach some of those life skills," he said. "They give them opportunity for teamwork or being part of a team, which is important, but the individual things are sometimes left out."