First Team USA

[Tugu]

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/articles/2024/03/usga-unveils-first-us-national-junior-team.html

 

Really good young golfers in this list. Curious how they fare internationally.

 

Scary part is USA could literally put out maybe 5+ boys teams with this talent level. I just don't know anything about girls besides Asterisk Talley, who btw plays ALL the low rated events. She just wins them all.

[leezer99]

I still don’t know what the purpose is. 

[kcap]

54 minutes ago, Tugu said:

https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/articles/2024/03/usga-unveils-first-us-national-junior-team.html

 

Really good young golfers in this list. Curious how they fare internationally.

 

Scary part is USA could literally put out maybe 5+ boys teams with this talent level. I just don't know anything about girls besides Asterisk Talley, who btw plays ALL the low rated events. She just wins them all.

 

If Sage Valley results or last years Jr Ryder Cup are any indication then the boys team would not fare well internationally.

Top 4 of 5 spots in Sage Valley were internationals..

 

[Tugu]

21 minutes ago, kcap said:

 

If Sage Valley results or last years Jr Ryder Cup are any indication then the boys team would not fare well internationally.

Top 4 of 5 spots in Sage Valley were internationals..

 

First match will be against Australia I believe. Having grown up in Australia under this style of set up, I'm curious how it goes in the most individualistic country in the world.

[golfinbrad]

1 hour ago, leezer99 said:

I still don’t know what the purpose is. 

Makes the USGA feel like they are actually doing something. 

[Jkhogbear]

What is the criteria for making the team?  Like some of these are not even in the top 300 in rankings.  I feared this would be a case of who you know type of deal and that may be true.

[Bizzle80]

1 hour ago, golfinbrad said:

Makes the USGA feel like they are actually doing something. 

 

Not sure why all the negativity around this. It's great the USGA is building programs to add development and competition for our top juniors. Is it perfect? of course not, but what system ever makes everyone happy? Always someone whining about the process/not being included/etc...but the start of longer term development thinking is nothing but a good step.

 

The more resources put into top juniors the better. 

[Jkhogbear]

The problem is like a lot of things in Junior golf , a lot of things are handed out to the privileged (aka AJGA sponser exemptions).  I fear this is going down a similar road.  Some of these choices feel that way.    

[jayslaysongolf]

This may turn out be like New Artist of year award at the Grammys for those kids.

 

We will see in 3-5 years is anyone really turns out as a pro.

[kcap]

2 hours ago, Jkhogbear said:

What is the criteria for making the team?  Like some of these are not even in the top 300 in rankings.  I feared this would be a case of who you know type of deal and that may be true.

Don’t know about the girls but the boys alll appear to be the highest ranked 2025 and beyond boys according to AJGA. 
 

So don’t fear on the boys side — it is not who you know but how well you are ranked!

 

[leezer99]

@Bizzle80 I wasn’t trying to be negative about this program. I just literally have zero sense of what the program is or what the intention is. Only thing I can infer is that it’s a team of pretty good golfers. I don’t know who they play against, format, awards, etc. 

[jayslaysongolf]

On 3/26/2024 at 5:00 PM, Bizzle80 said:

 

Not sure why all the negativity around this. It's great the USGA is building programs to add development and competition for our top juniors. Is it perfect? of course not, but what system ever makes everyone happy? Always someone whining about the process/not being included/etc...but the start of longer term development thinking is nothing but a good step.

 

The more resources put into top juniors the better. 

Does anyone other than who signed up and is selected know how this actually works?

 

It sounds good but when I read the press releases it sounds like to get on the team you’re going to have to give up a lot up independence.
 

If it’s a few camps a year and playing a few events then great. What i read sounds like the USGA wants to be very involved.  

  
 

 

 

 

[wegobomber31]

5 hours ago, jayslaysongolf said:

Does anyone other than who signed up and is selected know how this actually works?

 

It sounds good but when I read the press releases it sounds like to get on the team you’re going to have to give up a lot up independence.
 

If it’s a few camps a year and playing a few events then great. What i read sounds like the USGA wants to be very involved.  

  
 

 

 

 

I don’t think it’s that involved. Meet up twice a year and represent US in a team event here or there (and perhaps not necessarily all of them, all the time). Other than that they are providing players with resources to aide in their development over time. I see it more as supplemental and complementary rather than replacing what they are already doing. 

[jigsaw1011]

22 minutes ago, wegobomber31 said:

I don’t think it’s that involved. Meet up twice a year and represent US in a team event here or there (and perhaps not necessarily all of them, all the time). Other than that they are providing players with resources to aide in their development over time. I see it more as supplemental and complementary rather than replacing what they are already doing. 

So then what is the point of it? I am just trying to figure it out.🤷

[wegobomber31]

37 minutes ago, jigsaw1011 said:

So then what is the point of it? I am just trying to figure it out.🤷

To support the long-term development of the handful of kids selected, would be my guess. 

[jigsaw1011]

10 minutes ago, wegobomber31 said:

To support the long-term development of the handful of kids selected, would be my guess. 

In the specific case of the team just announced most of the kids are 15,16,17 and coming to end of their junior careers. Why put resources to them? I just know the boys side but I am thinking those kids have had access to quite a bit of resources . Why is it so important to have a national team? The amount of money the USGA is throwing at this initiative could be used in so many other ways but that is for another post.

[leezer99]

29 minutes ago, jigsaw1011 said:

In the specific case of the team just announced most of the kids are 15,16,17 and coming to end of their junior careers. Why put resources to them? I just know the boys side but I am thinking those kids have had access to quite a bit of resources . Why is it so important to have a national team? The amount of money the USGA is throwing at this initiative could be used in so many other ways but that is for another post.

 

Fatten the pig. 

[golferdad8]

12 hours ago, jigsaw1011 said:

So then what is the point of it? I am just trying to figure it out.🤷

Bragging rights?

[Tugu]

It may well be comparing two differing situations, but fwiw Golf Australia has done a phenomenal job in developing pro level talent from a similar structure USNDP is set up on.

 

The Australian high performance program goes on to support their athletes with funds even as they enter professional golf. This after years of college style competition that starts with club vs club team events that resemble college golf format. Note that the first match set up for the US team is vs Australia.

 

I havent done the stats, but from experience America "may" be losing out on elite talent simply from families not being able to bear the costs of developing an aspiring pro level golfer by drawing from a limited pool.

 

The "aussies" are a rag tag bunch from very different social, class and ethnic backgrounds. I'd need to research it, but US Am winner Curtis Luck, pro Min Woo Lee and a host of whos who in Australian pro golf has been a part of the set up. Some recent followers of junior golf may remember Jeff Guan who torched the field in the 2022(?) Junior players at TPC. Well he grew up playing a course called Bexley, which at its most generous could mostly be called a glorfied pitch and putt course. His father is a taxi driver who could never in a million years afford the financial burden of raising such an elite player, who has now turned pro.

 

Perhaps someone closer to the program can list all the participants. Personally I know Travis Smythe, who beat Will Zalatoris at the US Am and then lost to Doc Redman in quarters or semis. He came from a background of modest means to become WAGR 11th and now Asian Tour pro who has played on LIV. He has been been a beneficiary of the Golf Australia program and there's a bunch like him that are honing their craft and waiting to break out.

 

My belief is that the USNDP is seeking to find the best players period. Not simply the best of people who can afford to pay for golf. How it does this, I don't know. I do know it is "a" model for developing elite level talent. Unlike the AJGA or the like, Golf Australia is looking to develop professional level golfers. As opposed to helping kids who'd like a platform for college entry.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 29 by Tugu

[Golfquant]

I think the USGA should identify junior golfers who can best represent the US at the global stage in the future

 

Find the players who have the most potential (even if they aren't the best at this exact moment) with the intention of developing them into superstars at the pro level; Australia's KPIs are spot on imho

 

"merely college admissions aspirational" players should be excluded from the list - it isn't hard to spot them

[jayslaysongolf]

There is basically $1 million a week out there to win if you can score low enough to win. So money isn’t an issue once you’re playing at a high level.

 

A lot places have junior rates to play golf and in todays world it not really more extensive then any other activity out there. 

 

The usga just wants to extract money from donors and help support instructors at rates the average person can’t afford.

 

At the end of the day kids will still make it and become successful regardless of what the USGA does.

 

If a kid isn’t selected it will have no bearing on their future.  I would even suggest it might be motivation to beat the team members every time they play against them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 29 by jayslaysongolf

[caligolfer2103]

at least on the girls' side, thought it was interesting that there are 10, not 8. And then you consider how low ranked a couple of them are... definitely feels like some backroom shenanigans versus the boys' team which seems to make sense.

[machine_cat]

8 hours ago, caligolfer2103 said:

at least on the girls' side, thought it was interesting that there are 10, not 8. And then you consider how low ranked a couple of them are... definitely feels like some backroom shenanigans versus the boys' team which seems to make sense.

I just take a look, the relatively lower ranking girls (at least three) won their state women's amateur championship. So it can be justified.

[jayslaysongolf]

9 hours ago, caligolfer2103 said:

at least on the girls' side, thought it was interesting that there are 10, not 8. And then you consider how low ranked a couple of them are... definitely feels like some backroom shenanigans versus the boys' team which seems to make sense.

I would think not everyone will accept an invitation to the national team or even qualify based on criteria they have. 
 

There will always be some politics involved but there are risks accepting a spot over just doing your own thing.