Any of you sign your kids up for PGA Jr League?

[eddiecut]

I know there is a JR golf section but, just looking to get insight from the parents. 

 

What did you think of it? 

[Hawkeye77]

2 hours ago, eddiecut said:

I know there is a JR golf section but, just looking to get insight from the parents. 

 

What did you think of it? 

That's where the parents post!

[BFD3]

My 12 and 9 yo kids are doing it for their 4th and 3rd years, respectively. We have spring and fall seasons. They no longer want to play individual tournaments but love the camaraderie of Jr League. Our head pro loves working with kids and keeps it fun. We have some really good players and we’ve won our city championship every year but we’ve also taken on younger kids each year and they all have a great time. My son goofs off with his friends (and sometimes the other team) between shots. I’d definitely recommend Jr League, particularly if your kids are new to golf.

Edited April 6, 2021 by BFD3

[eddiecut]

3 hours ago, BFD3 said:

My 12 and 9 yo kids are doing it for their 4th and 3rd years, respectively. We have spring and fall seasons. They no longer want to play individual tournaments but love the camaraderie of Jr League. Our head pro loves working with kids and keeps it fun. We have some really good players and we’ve won our city championship every year but we’ve also taken on younger kids each year and they all have a great time. My son goofs off with his friends (and sometimes the other team) between shots. I’d definitely recommend Jr League, particularly if your kids are new to golf.

Awesome! thanks for this post. 

[heavy_hitter]

Jr. League was awesome.  I have heard the price has gotten really steep.  Talking to a couple of buddies whose courses are charging $400.00 a kid.  That is too steep in my opinion.

[tiger1873]

Do you have access to a course?  I think the value is for kids who do not have easy access to practice.  Last time I checked the fee's were pretty steep.  I have access to driving range and course so I not willing to pay for it.

[kcap]

I loved PGA jr league, wish my son could still play it.  He was mentored by the older kids initially and then took on the responsibility as he became a better golfer.  I would highly recommend it.  

We have to access to ranges and course but it is a great way to teach introductory, stress free, golf to juniors that are not looking to compete in a stroke play competition.

 

There is also the option of trying to join a super team, assuming you kids are good enough and making it to Nationals is priority.

 

 

[ncalgolf]

2 hours ago, kcap said:

I loved PGA jr league, wish my son could still play it.  He was mentored by the older kids initially and then took on the responsibility as he became a better golfer.  I would highly recommend it.  

We have to access to ranges and course but it is a great way to teach introductory, stress free, golf to juniors that are not looking to compete in a stroke play competition.

 

There is also the option of trying to join a super team, assuming you kids are good enough and making it to Nationals is priority.

 

 

My kid has done it in the past.  I thought it was a lot of fun and was a good opportunity for older kids to act as leaders and help out the younger kids and gave the younger kids an opportunity to learn the game.  In general I think all the kids I saw play really had a good time.  Its cool when a bunch of kids from the area play for the local course. 

 

I don't like how golf coaches at courses recruit the best kids from all over some travelling as far as 100 miles in hopes to get into the finals and on tv (not sure if its still on tv.)  Some may disagree, but just not my cup of tea. 

 

My kid played in section where it was a mix of local kids.  She made the all star team at 7 years old.  The best part was at the all-star match when she had to tee it up against a teenager that was 6'2 and probably bombed it 280 -  She did hit a bomb as well but her ball only went about 120 yards - needless to say her team never won a hole. 

 

I say sign your kid up they will have fun

[Pinewood Golfer]

11 hours ago, heavy_hitter said:

Jr. League was awesome.  I have heard the price has gotten really steep.  Talking to a couple of buddies whose courses are charging $400.00 a kid.  That is too steep in my opinion.

We bailed on ours this year cause it got to $275. That’s insane. 

[yo5454]

Definitely sign up!

If your kids are beginners, they will learn faster with fellow kids especially more experienced ones than from parents or coaches. Also they will get to know more playing buddies down the road for futurr tournaments too,  they will love tournament as an opportunities to meet old buddies.

 

For more experienced juniors, you may choose a team not in your area, you will get a chance to compete at regional or even national, that's a cool experience.

 

My kid went to regional a few times and national at Grayhawk, PGA treated them like a king or real PGA pro, with buffet food/ice creams and game room, personal locker. A lifetime experience !

[BeerPerHole]

Jr. PGA is a fantastic program. My son really enjoyed the team approach. I certainly recommend it. 

[eddiecut]

Some of the courses are $400 here but the course I belong to set their fee at $175. I am signing her up

[BFD3]

Just had our first practice for the spring season. Our team is really young and our odds of repeating as city champs (for the 5th or 6th time in a row) don’t look good, but my son made two new friends and we could hear them yelling and laughing from one green to another. 

[DannysDad]

My son has play many seasons of Jr League, he really enjoys it. It’s fun, moderately challenging (but more fun) and he has fun with the coach and his team. The playoffs were a fun challenge as well.

[leezer99]

Skipped it this year and it's my son's last year of eligibility.  He's bummed but I wasn't happy with how our league was put together at the last minute, excluded a very important muni team (we are a group of private clubs) and how the coach called my son by my name.  Like, if you can't even get his name right and he's the best player on the team at least learn his name.

[Hellstorm]

My daughter did it the last two years.  I think its all about the individual course or coach.  Our course and coach was not that great.  He really offered no real instruction and the price didn't include range balls at practice.  In our area, there were 7 teams and 3 of them were really well run, one was at a private course with only kids that were from there, and 3 of them were poorly run.  That said, she did have a good time for the most part.  I don't know if it was the same everywhere, but the way they set up the matches wasn't very good.  They would have the older boys get matched up against the youngest girls.  The older boys would be driving the greens on every hole and the girls would struggle to get near the green after 3 or 4 shots.  It was pretty much a joke.  They didn't pair or match kids by ability at all, so these poor 10 year old girls would get crushed.  

[kekoa]

Thinking about it, but only if there is post season play.  My son made it to the all star team year before last and that was really fun although they lost to a team of much older kids.  We normally join a muni team with a group of solid kids and players.  Hope it all works out this year.

[MikekiM]

I think this is the 5th year my son's played PGAJLG.  He loves the team format more than anything.  Less pressure on him, and he gets to tell the younger kids what to do.  It's a little expensive for sure, but our league does include free range balls as well coaching and additional practice days as needed.  The value for us is seeing my kid having fun out there with the others.

[ctmason_98]

Would highly recommend it. For less than $300 my 9 yo gets to play (mostly) TPC Summerlin every week, plus practice before and after round if he wishes. We're not members, to be clear. 

 

The kids seem to really enjoy it and its a great team experience for them in the scramble format. 

 

Not to mention making them walk the holes is good to tire them out! 

[spinnywedge]

I was able to play in it for a few years before I was too old, I believe when it was starting up almost 10 years ago. It’s maybe some of the most fun I’ve had playing golf. Most of our team practiced on our own, so we didn’t have many practice sessions but played lots of matches. Had a pretty decent team that made the playoff stuff, but never a super team. I made some friends with guys from other clubs that I would see at tournaments later, so that was always fun.

[mrshinsa]

Both of our kids are in it this year, and they love it.  I highly recommend everyone try it at least once.

[kekoa]

Found a team for my son to play on.  Hardest part at this point is scheduling all the matches before the July deadline.  There are so many other tournaments going on during June and July that each kid can't make every scheduled match.  We could of had a really good team, but a few kids had to drop out.  Hopefully next year things will run a lot smoother.  

[leezer99]

On 6/16/2021 at 12:49 PM, kekoa said:

Found a team for my son to play on.  Hardest part at this point is scheduling all the matches before the July deadline.  There are so many other tournaments going on during June and July that each kid can't make every scheduled match.  We could of had a really good team, but a few kids had to drop out.  Hopefully next year things will run a lot smoother.  

How did the season go?  

[cwilk]

My kid played in it for several seasons, and our team made it to the state level playoff one season.  He enjoyed the team golf and scramble aspects.  He didn't enjoy playing in groups of 3 where you had to sit out 3 holes.  At that point he was already playing 18 hole tournaments on his own and wanted to play all 9 every time.  We don't have a 17u option that I'm aware of in our area, so his last year of eligibility was last year when there was no season due to Covid.  I don't know if he'd do 17u if they had one now that he's playing high school golf on top of non-school tournaments.

[kekoa]

1 hour ago, leezer99 said:

How did the season go?  

Got booted at La Costa.  Head to head we had the way stronger team, but ended losing by 1 to move on.  There other team had a few 11-13 yr old girls that were good and able to tee off from the front tees.  This really evened out the playing field for them.   Already looking forward to next year. 

[leezer99]

2 hours ago, kekoa said:

Got booted at La Costa.  Head to head we had the way stronger team, but ended losing by 1 to move on.  There other team had a few 11-13 yr old girls that were good and able to tee off from the front tees.  This really evened out the playing field for them.   Already looking forward to next year. 

 

No girls on your team?  Seems like a good strategy for next year.

[MikekiM]

4 hours ago, leezer99 said:

 

No girls on your team?  Seems like a good strategy for next year.

Has always been a strategy that the San Diego team employs.  We've played on that team for 2 years now, and coach makes a big effort to make sure he has top girls playing.

[BFD3]

My daughter made her league’s all star team and they advanced to the section championship round. Our kids played well in the stroke play first round (-26 in best three of four 2-man scrambles over 18 holes) and we made the semi-finals. We thought we had a chance, but played against a juggernaut.  They shot a combined -34 in four 9-hole matches! I wouldn’t be surprised if they won the National championship. 

Edited August 24, 2021 by BFD3

[DevilDog]

My now 17 year old son loved his Jr League days.  Were State champions 4 years in a row and made it to nationals once.  Was a great experience.  

[RmoorePE]

My daughter has never done it, but we are signed up for this fall. Some of the kids the next town over invited her, and we have arranged with the parents for a ride share. Best part is that she gets to play at Chambers Bay for 6 weeks in a row.