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I rarely am in awe of the way a student strikes the ball. I have played with great players and now teach a great ball striker in Kevin Streelman, and I can say that at times I am in awe of how well he can hit it. But at 11 years old young Weston really had my mouth hanging open today. It was downwind on the range at Lakewood but Weston was hitting 7 irons 160 straight at the flag, then hit my SLDR 3 Hybrid with a stiff shaft 205 yards, and was flying his new full length Callaway Driver 240 in the air. We went out onto the course and he drove it 255 down the fairway on the 1st hole and hit a sand wedge 20 feet past the pin, then hit a U.S. Junior 4 hybrid 177 yards into a cross wind to 15 feet and birdied the 2nd hole. I was shaking my head and almost laughing all along, as I kept trying to keep in mind that Weston is 11 years old. I didn’t even play in a tournament until I was 13, and I probably couldn’t drive the ball as far as Weston hits my hybrid. Weston is supposed to wind up somewhere between 6’3” and 6’5” and will obviously weigh well above 200 pounds. It boggles the mind to think about how far he might hit the ball when he is fully grown. If it were up to Weston we would spend every lesson on the golf course, but every now and then I like to sit him down to look at his swing and talk about how it works and how he can get better. But I can also fit in technique instruction on the golf course, and that’s really where Weston enjoys being the most. Plus, on the course there is so much for a young player to learn about the short game and about course strategy. Weston will need plenty of that in his junior events, as they play from so short sometimes that he has to figure out the best way to score with the way the course is set up. The nice thing about Weston is that he is a good competitor and a very nice young man who doesn’t project any airs of entitlement or overt cockiness. My goal is to keep him improving but enjoying the game, win or lose. So many kids who experience success early on fail to live up to their potential because they never learn how to deal with failure, and golf is a game that delivers far more frustration and disappointment than it does success.
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