Golf Camp At Swan Lake

THE FUTURE OF GOLF  

                                   

  Swan Lake Golf & Country Club head professional Bob Menges at the conclusion of his Junior Golf Camp last week noted that "growing the game of golf," is an important part of what golf camps do for young golfers.  

  When asked what professional enjoyment he feels when teaching these youth the basics of the golf game Menges said, "to me golf has consisted of a lot of different things but teaching has always been my favorite part," and "with these junior camps when I see kids get done and I see them come back to play at the course with their parents or grandparents to me that's the most rewarding thing."

  Speaking about what success  these types of golf camps can bring Menges talked about David Powers, a freshman at Eldred Central School who last year as an eighth-grader made the state team and this year won the Orange County League championship.

  Powers,  who is presently employed at the Swan Lake Golf & Country Club as a cart attendant started coming to the Junior Camp at the age of five and attended through the age of 10 when he started talking private lessons from Menges.

  Bob pointed out that this camp has been going on for some 18 years and successful young golfers that have advanced to high school teams and further, in addition to Powers,  have included Justin Armstrong, Drew Billard and Josh Goldstein.

  In his wrap-up comments to campers Menges pointed "that golf facilities will always welcome you if you understand the rules and etiquette of the game and always behave yourself on the golf course and act appropriately."

  Bob stressed to the camp golfers "most importantly you must keep up the pace of play and getting ready to hit when its your turn."

  The camp also teaches the skill the youth golfers will need to play the game. "Everyday of the week  we do stations in which we rotate them between three different shots, putting chipping, pitching and then the full swing with video analysis where we analyze it and have them hit balls to improve their swing," Menges said. 

  The Swan Lake Golf & Country Club professional and assistants Phil Fanning, Kevin Clifford, Ricky Ellison and Pat Donavan during the afternoon session of the camp take the young golfers out on the course for "on course instruction and we make sure they stick to the basics of the skills including putting, chipping and pitching and at the end of camp we end with those types of contests," Menges said. 

  Asked what the best things he and his coaches like to see coming out of these types of camps, Menges said, "the best thing we like to see is when we open up the paper in the spring and we see some of these kids playing for their high school teams....to us that is the best and we can see that they took the game from their junior level and advanced so they they could play on high school teams now."

  This years camp was held August 5-9 but the 9th was cancelled due to heavy rain and last day was completed on August 14.

  In the Junior Camp skills challenge Melanie Merton, 6, Monticello Central, won the Flight A putting and chipping contests, Quinton Herzog, 10, Liberty Central, won the Flight B putting contest, Taylor Roseo, 12, Roscoe Central won the Flight C. putting contest, Cannon Woods, 14, Sullivan West won the Flight B chipping contest and Madison Ackerley, 12, Roscoe Central, won the Flight C chipping contest. 

  Mason Smith, 5, Liberty Central,  was awarded the Most Improved Camper award and Montana Schmidt, 11, Sullivan West was awarded the Outstanding Camper award. 

                                         

               

Identification of  photos:

Swan Lake Golf & Country Club Junior Camp awards presented August 14 include, from the left front row, Melanie Merton, 6, Monticello Central Flight A putting and chipping champion, Quinton Herzog, 10, Liberty Central, Flight B putting champion, Taylor Roseo, 12, Roscoe Central, Flight C putting champion, Cannon Woods, 14, Sullivan West, Flight B chipping champion, Madison Ackerley, 12, Roscoe Central Flight C chipping champion and Mason Smith, 5, Liberty Central, the Most Improved Camper and Montana Schmidt the Outstanding Camper. Coaches in the back row, l to r include Phil Fanning, Bob Menges and Kevin Clifford.                                                     

Ben Ackerley, 9, Roscoe Central, gets the ball up in the air for a nice chip shot onto the 18th green during the last afternoon of Junior Golf Camp play. Watching are Coach Bob Menges and Quinton Herzog, 9 from the Liberty Central School district.