I will be starting a weekly look into the world of golf. I will be covering a variety of topics across the golf spectrum from equipment to swing tips to what is going in local golf news.

I want to congratulate three local golfers who all had great accomplishments last week. Rixie Hardy, Wanda Cormier and Kirk Mitchell all carded a HOLE –IN-ONE. Rixie and Kirk made their great swings on hole 11 and Wanda made hers on hole 15. Three in one week, that’s incredible……Great Job!!!!!

As a PGA Professional, I have been teaching golf for 17 years and I am currently listed as one of the Top 100 Junior Instructors in the country for 2012. Not only do I teach the golf swing, but I have also been trained in Bio-Mechanics by The Titleist Performance Institute (TPI). With this training, I can set up individualized strength and flexibility programs to meet each individual golfer’s fitness needs. I am one of four Level 3 golf fitness instructors in Louisiana and one of five Level 2 junior instructors in Louisiana.

This week, I am announcing a junior development program starting in April. This is a program I have had great success with in Lafayette and now I want to build it here in Abbeville. This program was needed because the European juniors were developing faster and were performing better than the juniors from the USA in competition. This program is the result of years of work by.

some of the brightest golf and sports performance minds on the planet. There are less than 100 programs like this across the country.

I am bringing that knowledge to my junior development program at the Abbeville Country Club. It is a weekly FUNdamental training program using the Cyclone and Smash Zone programs set up by TPI. This program uses similar movements from many sports to train and strengthen the body to perform at peak levels. The main ingredient for the junior program is FUN. "If it is not fun, they will not continue."

I use a hat system similar to the belt system in martial arts. When the kids can perform golf specific goals as well as physical fitness goals they will advance to the next hat "rank." They are not only training to be outstanding golfers, they are training to be better athletes.

The program runs with the school calendar. Classes are 80 minutes long and are given on Saturdays. The first one for 6-9 year-olds will be from 11:00-12:20 and the second for ages 10-13 will be from 12:30-1:50. The cost is $75 per month. The program will start April 7th and continue through November. Space is limited to insure each student gets the most out of the class. The program is for all levels from beginners to those that have played before. If your child is interested, contact me at the Abbeville Country Club 893-5203 to register or for additional information