With all due respect to the International Federation of PGA Tours and the World Golf Championships, the most interesting an
d
iverse international field in the game last
week was not in Arizona. It was in Jekyll
Island, Ga., a normally quiet state park
between Savannah and Jacksonville, Fla.,
that sprung to life on Valentine’s Day as 300
juniors, ages 14-and-under, descended on
the south Georgia enclave to compete in the
Jekyll Island Cup, a regional championship
run by U.S. Kids Golf, the Atlanta-based
club manufacturer that has become the
premier organizer of international events
for young players.
Most known for their World Champion-
ship, a 1,300-player extravaganza held in
Pinehurst every August, U.S. Kids Golf has
branched out with regional events in Scotts-
dale, Ariz., Palm Beach Gardens and Tampa,
Fla., Gullane, Scotland, and Jekyll Island.
“We added the regional events thinking
they would attract a mainly regional field,”
said U.S. Kids Golf founder and CEO Dan Van
Horn.
But nature abhors a vacuum. Once
parents found competitive outlets for their
elementary and middle-school kids, demand
burst all regional seams. The entire 7-and-
under girls division at Jekyll hailed from
New York, and 20 of the kids needed pass-
ports to play.
The Jekyll Island Cup brought out
more than 300 child competitors.
U.S. Kids Golf:
PG for Parental Guidance Enforced
STEVE EUBANKS
Families from Canada, Mexico, Ecua-
dor, Colombia, Great Britain, Aruba, South
Africa, Germany, Russia and the United Arab
Emirates braved a barrage of bad Georgia
weather and numerous flight delays to get
to a two-day tournament where the oldest
participant in the field was born the year
Tiger Woods turned pro (1996).
These are not your typical top-a-few-
shots-and-chase–butterflies kids. Two of
the boys had already set competitive records
with eight consecutive birdies in tournament
play, and two other kids had already carded
four competitive holes-in-one before at-
tending their first day of high school. All had
trophies at home, and all appeared comfort-
able with life on the junior tour.
It took Rebecca McGeehan 46 hours to
get to the event – three hours in the car
from her home to the Frankfurt airport,
then delays getting from Germany to Dallas,
canceled flights from Dallas to Atlanta, and
more delays from Atlanta to Jacksonville.
She is 14.
“We play in as many of the U.S. Kids Golf
events as possible,” Rebecca’s father, Keith,
said. “The competition is so much better
over here. Obviously, qualifying for the Ger-
man nationals is a big thing, but other than
that, U.S. Kids golf is a great competitive
outlet, and a way to meet other families.”
McGeehan practices four days a week
in Germany, hitting balls at a heated driv-
ing range. “You can’t play in snow-bound
Germany this time of year,” Keith said.
“She’s been playing seriously for about five
years, and about four years ago we realized
that this girl could be quite a good golfer if
she wanted to be. There’s a long way to go,
obviously. Lots of things can happen in life.
All I can do is give her guidance toward her
dream of being a pro golfer. That’s what she
wants to do, as do all of us, I guess.”
Some want it more than others. The
range at the Jekyll Island Club was filled
with caddy-fathers (“Daddy Caddies” as
they’re known in U.S. Kids Golf parlance),
who fancied themselves the next Earl
Woods. Unfortunately, their demeanor was
closer to Bobby Knight. One father went
chair-throwing postal on his daughter dur-
ing the opening round, berating the young
girl far past the point of tears. It was such
a scene that other parents filed a formal
complaint, and the offending father had to
be warned that any further outbursts could
result in banishment from future events.
complaint could lead to suspension.
“We’re doing what we can,” Crum said.
“We’re touching so many families, and obvi-
ously filling such a void in terms of a competi-
tive outlet for these kids. This was obviously a
need waiting on a product. There was nothing
going on in that 12-and-under range, so peo-
ple from all over the world found us. I mean,
we started with a small database of people
who had bought our products, but now we’ve
got a database of 125,000 families. We fill
these events up, even in this economy. These
kids are starving for access to the game. Our
mission is to provide that.”
After her travel travails, Rebecca McGee-
han battled frost delays and unseasonably
cold temperatures to shoot 166 and finish
in second place, four shots behind Madison
Manning of Thomasville, Ga. “It was OK,”
Rebecca’s father said. “We will keep playing,
as long as it’s what Rebecca wants. It’s up to
her … really.” l
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