ABERDEEN — The effort to make golf more accessible to youth took another step forward with this year’s Grays Harbor Junior League Golf Camp.
Highland Golf Course hosted the three-day golf camp, which was sponsored by the Highland Lady Golf Club. The course allowed some of the families who may not have been able to afford the camp to send their child to learn the game for free.
Head Golf Pro Ronnie Espedal said the golf camp program is an essential part of growing the sport’s popularity in the area.
“A lot of kids play baseball and basketball, but there are not enough kids playing golf,” he said. “To be able to provide this opportunity … It’s affordable and it has made it a lot easier for kids to have access to the game.”
Through various fundraiser tournaments hosted throughout the rest of the year, the golf course hopes to subsidize the junior golf club fees so it can continue to make the sport accessible.
Giving back to the local golf community is important for Arnel Blancas, who instructs the young golfers at the camp.
Blancas remembered the course as a welcoming environment when he was a young a golfer looking to gain experience on the links.
“Part of it is giving back. The owners when I was a kid were great to me and let me come here to golf,” he said. “It’s pretty cool to watch the kids learn and grow because golf is hard. It’s probably the hardest sport to try to play and seeing the kids get through that builds a lot of character.”
Approaching the game with patience when a tee shot lands off the fairway may be a character building experience, but the children in the program are in it for the fun.
Karlee Watson, one of the young golfers who has some experience playing the game, has found she enjoys the game more now that she gets to spend about four hours a day to refine her swing. Watson said she’s having a good time while practices on the game she was introduced to by her parents.
“When I was five or six my parents got me my first set of clubs and I’d go out with them when they played and just hit golf balls on the side,” she said. “But once I got into the program I liked golf even more.”
Blancas pointed out that players having positive experiences with their friends while playing the game is essential to making sure the sport sees an increase in popularity, locally.
Over the course of the three-day camp, he hopes that golf can become a family affair.
“I think the kids really enjoy being around each other and it’s really been a sense of community that we have up here,” he said. “The parents have as much fun if not more than the kids when they’re up here because the parents all hang out together. It has been an effort to create a community around golf.”
Britt Rajcich takes a tee shot a junior golf camp at Highland Golf Course. (Hasani Grayson | The Daily World)
Haley Blancas lines up a putt at junior golf camp at the Highland Golf Course. (Hasani Grayson | The Daily World)
Kai Lemon takes a shot from the bunker during a practice round at junior golf camp at the Highland Golf Course on Monday. (Hasani Grayson | The Daily World)
