With several holes laid out and the regular cups as their target, the young golfers must get the ball into the cup with two putts or they go to the sidelines and become part of the group that harasses the others.
I’ve never seen so much excitement on a practice green. It’s just a part of the unique golf program at Incarnation for boys and girls in grades 5-8.
Believe it or not, they’re going to have a club-throwing contest next week. But before you get the impression this is golf gone berserk, you need to know there is a reason for this event.
Anyone who throws a club is suspended for a week. To give the players an opportunity to have a little fun while seeing how foolish it looks when a club is thrown, there is a club-throwing contest once a year.
“I’ve been involved with the Incarnation golf program for four years,” said Mark Lehner, a Stebbins High School teacher who now is commissioner of the program and coordinator of Incarnation’s CYO golf effort.
“When I first moved to town, Jon Kreusch (former coordinator) asked me to meet him for lunch to discuss his vision for the Incarnation golf program. He told me, ‘These kids are going to have so much fun that they won’t know what hit them.’ I don’t think either of us had any idea what would transpire after this meeting.
“The number of Incarnation golfers has grown from 40, to 55, to 80, to almost 150 kids in four years. We had three girls in the program four years ago, and now we have 50.”
He did not include the 50 third- and fourth-graders who are signed up for a new cadet program.
At Wednesday’s practice (the girls practice on Tuesdays) the boys — all wearing green shirts with a white letter “I” on the chest — were divided into four groups with at least two supervisors.
Each group hit balls with drivers and irons for 15 minutes, practiced chipping for 15 minutes, putted for 15 minutes and had a 15-minute skull session in the clubhouse to learn about golf etiquette, procedures and strategy.
There was constant activity, and none of the participants appeared bored. These kids have discovered a worthy diversion from their smart phones and tablets.
“As kids become increasingly hooked,” Lehner said, “we (parents) are watching them exchange hours on their devices for long hours on the golf course, and in the process, making friends and learning the importance of integrity, patience, sportsmanship, and the value of hard work in a way that no other sport can teach.”
For the golfers, the fun of competing comes on the six Sundays when the CYO program operates. Incarnation has 12 six-person teams competing this year. CYO matches will be played at 10 different golf courses.
Fifteen Catholic parishes in the Dayton area, including one each in Xenia and Springfield, supply 350 participants in the CYO program. Lehner said more than 100 parental volunteers appear each week to plan, coach and manage matches.
Aside from CYO, Incarnation is sending its best golfers to 23 non-conference middle-school matches arranged by Bernie Holtgrieve. There are also Night Golf events set up at Armco Park by Matt Scheimann, who serves as practice coordinator.
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