Michael Parker saw a good thing and wanted to keep it going. He also saw a void he could help fill.
Parker is the director of instruction at Tri-Mountain who also leads the junior program at the Ridgefield course.
“We just had more than 40 kids in our PGA Junior League program this summer, and many of them just wanted to keep it going in the fall,” Parker said.
During a normal year, Parker’s after-school hours would be dedicated to coaching La Center’s High School boys golf team. But with prep sports put on the shelf this fall, Parker had time in his schedule to devote to a junior league in the fall.
But then Parker recognized many high school golfers would be looking for some instruction and competition this fall. So he decided to offer a fall league just for players ages 14-17 to go with the other junior league for players ages 7-13.
“We only have 20 spots for the high schools,” Parker said. “I’d like to offer more, but that’s about all I can handle with our other junior players. I was just looking to offer something to fill the void.”
As of Saturday afternoon, only five spots remained for the high school league. It’s available for both boys and girls of all abilities, playing on teams.
For $275, players get 1.5 hours of instruction for eight weeks, starting this week on Wednesday at Tri-Mountain. It also includes nine holes of competition each week on Thursday, running Sept. 24 through Oct. 29.
“We’ve got some flexibility with the high school program to offer different formats – alternate shot, match play – depending on what the kids want,” Parker said.
Registration remains open for both age groups – 7-13 and 14-17. Instruction for the 7-13 age group begins Monday.
“I need to know by Monday at the latest so we can get them schedule for this week,” Parker said. “Players can still register after that, but they’ll just miss the first week of instruction.”
Players can register by contacting Parker at (503) 803-0656 or online at thrivsports.com.
