Franklin Elementary students get intro to golf

A class of Franklin Elementary School third graders learned some basics of golf Thursday.

Sitting in Hula Hoop-size rings on the gym floor, 15 students listened as Haley Rushin, their physical education teacher, explained the equipment and how to use it.

Some of the students started by swinging SNAG-A-Zoos, a short tube that whistled when performing a correct golf swing. At the other end of the gym, students worked with Snappers, long ribbons attached to sticks. When practicing their golf swing, the ribbon gave a satisfying snap to let the student know they were doing it correctly.

In the middle of the gym, the rest of the class used plastic, child-size golf clubs to hit tennis balls off tees, toward low targets on the floor. The balls stuck to the targets covered in Velcro showing the students how close they got to the bull's-eye.

Rushin held up a club and showed the students how to hold it correctly. She told them to look at the colors on the club's handle.

"Right hand on red, left hand on yellow and thumbs up." Rushin said to the students. "You know your holding the club the right way if the head on the end is facing you. It kind of looks like a duck."

The equipment was purchased from the company Starting New At Golf, or SNAG. The company's website states SNAG is the best first touch program to effectively teach the game of golf to people of all ages and ability levels.

Thursday was the first day the SNAG equipment was used, and Tyson Moyers, Cape Girardeau School District's athletic director, was on hand to see how the students did.

"They have clubs for both right and left handed students," Moyers said. "There are two clubs. One is called a 'Roller,' which is basically for putting, and the other is called a 'Launcher,' for aiming at a bigger target to learn how to drive or chip."

Moyers said the SNAG system is great because many of the students would have never had the opportunity to hold a golf club at their ages. He said the district was able to purchase the SNAG equipment with the help of a donation from Bryan and Tyra Johnson, the owners of the Tee House Complex in Cape Girardeau.

"I think it's a wonderful introduction of the game for young kids," Bryan Johnson said. "SNAG really makes it easy, or easier, for kids to get introduced and actually make contact. That's the biggest challenge with golf — people give up really early on because they can't make contact with the ball. This is kind of a new way to look at it and introduce levers and balls and athletic motion. It's really cool and we were happy to participate and help them get that pulled off."

Rushin said the students obviously enjoyed using the new equipment. She said she is not a golf expert and it was a learning process for her as well as the children. She said she watched the videos SNAG has on its website and taught herself so she could teach the students.

"I love it. It's been a fun time," Rushin said. "It's really neat. I love that the kids get to experience actually holding golf clubs made for them. The kids like that the targets have Velcro, because they know they did it right when the ball sticks to the bull's-eye. I think if they went to play putt-putt or golf they would already know how to hold the club," Rushin said. "That's one of the most difficult things."

One of Rushin's students, Arabella Fornkohl, agreed and said her favorite part was hitting the ball.

"I got it right on the target where the number one was," She said. "I hit that twice."