TIGER-TAILERS PROWL LOCAL GOLF COURSES

A foursome of Cape Girardeau 12-year-olds walked across the Jaycee Municipal Golf Course, from left: Dustin Tatum, Chris Conrad, Jeff Brosey and Travis Siebert.

Kelsey Norris, 10, of Cape Girardeau watched her chip shot onto the No. 1 green at the Jaycee Municipal Golf Course.

Paula McElreath, 12, of Cape Girardeau exchanged golf clubs near the second hole at the Jaycee Municipal Golf Course.

It takes a special kid to be a good golfer -- a patient one.

More children are taking to the links these days, credit Tiger Woods for that. And many of them want to be just like the free-swinging Woods.

Mitch Proffer, Jaycee Municipal Golf Course assistant golf coordinator, said the kids who come out to the Jaycee's junior clinics who are looking to hit the ball a long way, and care little for accuracy, drop the game quickly.

"We work a lot on chipping and putting. We don't even get to driving until the very end," Proffer said. "It seems the more laid back and the less rambunctious kids are more likely to succeed. But that can be said for the adults too."

Proffer said kids need to develop hand-eye coordination and proper form, traits which can be taught. He added that golf etiquette is stressed during the clinics. That includes knowing when to hit the ball and when to step aside and allow faster groups to play through.

Sabrina Tate, the city's recreation coordinator for golf, said younger players are just as likely to be disruptive, courteous, fast, slow, careful or destructive to the course as adult golfers. Just because they are young, Tate said, does not mean they are bad.

"They keep up, we have very few problems with the youth out here," Tate said.

It's not just the juniors that are more interested in golf. "We're getting more women," she said. "There's more minorities that come here. It's not so much just the basic average male any longer, which is good."

The Jaycee course offers junior clinics three times a year during the summer. Tate said the course also has a junior pass that allows the kids to play at a discount. She said 67 juniors are enrolled in that program.

Tate, who also teaches golf, said anyone who can learn the mental side of the game can succeed. "Mentally, it's the most challenging sport I've been in," she said.

It's that mental toughness that makes golf beneficial for kids, Tate said.

Ty Gramling, 11, has been playing golf for four years. He said he likes how quiet the game is. "You don't have to rush," he said.

Gramling sometimes plays the Jaycee course by himself. He practices his chipping and putting extensively. He said he likes Tiger Woods but doesn't pattern his game after him. He said he would like to play like Tom Lehman or Greg Norman.

Dan Henderson, 14, of Jackson has been playing since he was old enough to carry a club. He sank his first hole-in-one last year on a 115-yard par-3. "It's a good challenge," Henderson said.

Henderson said he sees a lot more of his friends coming out to the course these days. That is fine with him, "I like the competition," he said.

John Henderson, Dan's father, said he got his son into game and it's something they do together.

Jack Connell, the teaching pro at Cape Girardeau Country Club, said he sees more families participating in golf. He said golf provides a way for families to spend around four hours together doing something fun.

Connell said he has had more junior golfers attending classes at the country club and sees it as a way to continue the tradition of golf. "It's important to expose kids to golf at a young age," he said. "Then, as they get older they can pass it along to their kids."

Children can be excellent students, he said, because they have no bad habits to break. Physical strength is not as important in golf as good balance. Once balance is learned, strength can be properly utilized.

The country club has clinics primarily in the summer. The private course also offers junior-parent rounds three or four times a year that are geared for family play.

Connell said golf is also a game that can be played alone and in a safe place. "Sometimes it's hard to get that many kids together to play baseball," he said.

The only quality a child must possess is the desire to learn the game, Connell said.

"If the desire is there then they can get better in golf because they put their minds to it," he said. "To get better, they have to start earlier."