The Epson Tour, in conjunction with The First Tee of Phoenix, hosted a junior clinic at Longbow Golf Club on Tuesday for approximately 270 students from Mesa Public Schools (MPS).
The students arrived by the bus load at 9:00 am and received shirts and hats before hitting the range.
Epson Tour professionals introduced themselves and then demonstrated a variety of different shots. Emily Talley, in her third year on Tour, moderated the hitting demonstrations. Professional Mary Narzisi hit trick shots that the students tried to catch and Maribel Lopez-Porras and Becca Huffer hit driver from their knees to a roar from the students. LPGA Tour member Nannette Hill also took some aggressive swings with driver.
After the demonstrations, it was onto the three stations. Epson Tour professionals instructed kids on putting, chipping and the full swing. Haley Italia, who grew up with The First Tee, was floored by the amount of kids that showed up to learn.
"We didn’t have this many kids, so this is incredible to see. They taught us the golf, but they also taught us life skills,” Italia said. “Starting out and having that at a young age, and having people come along our side to teach us that, you don’t know in the midst of that age the impact it has now.”
“Golf used to be such a limited field,” Narzisi said. “Now, it’s great that kids can go out and play at courses like (Longbow), and First Tee can provide clubs, balls, and a place to play. I think this is a great environment to learn.”
After the stations, players sat down for a question and answer session with the students to conclude the day.
“This was a blast, it is the first event of the year and to be able to help the locals and The First Tee of Phoenix is super fun,” said Talley. “We want to be involved, we want to give back and we want to help the local areas where we play. It’s great to see these kids so into golf.”
Ginger Howard, Olivia Jordan-Higgins and Kristi Cardwell were also part of the clinic.
)
)
)
)
