Beginning in 1997, the Conquistador Junior Golf Program’s youth camp has swollen to around 80 participants each year.
Last week’s five-day camp held true to form, with 80 kids registering to learn from manager and course pro Micah Rudosky and his group of coaches.
“We had a great group of instructors for all of our 80 kids,” Rudosky said. “We set them up in different stations every day and worked with them for a couple of hours and had a nice time.”
Jacob Curtis, Ryan Aiken, Chris Rudosky, Jakob Rudosky, Hayden Plewe, Blake Keetch, Andrew Riddell, Keith Hawkins and Amber Chivington joined Rudosky as instructors, teaching the fundamentals of putting, full swings, pitching, and strategy.
Rudosky emphasized values from the First Tee Program, a junior program with a mission to: “Impact the lives of young people by providing educational programs that build character, instill life-enhancing values and promote healthy choices through the game of golf.”
Rudosky first learned of the program four years ago and made a trip to San Antonio to become certified. And since then, he has implemented it into his junior program at Conquistador.
“It’s about golf,” he explained. “But it’s really about the kids and respect and honesty and the things I try to instill in the kids.”
The junior camp wrapped up on Friday after five days of lessons, but it’s not quite over.
The culminating event of the program is a tournament on Thursday, June 23, when youngsters that participated in the camp will play in the Cortez Junior Classic.
Younger golfers may start from different tees and play just a few holes, with the difficulty increasing according to skill and age.
“We set it up nice and fun for the kids and then have a pizza party afterwards and do the awards,” Rudosky concluded.