Mohave Daily News: Local

BULLHEAD CITY - Who knows who the next Tiger Woods will be?

“Looking at all the kids coming out here, you never know,” Laughlin Ranch golf pro Matt Valen said. “If you just get one out of the 75 or 100 to turns pro and keep going, it's all worth it.”

Currently, there are 78 youths signed up for the Laughlin Ranch Junior Golf program being held Sunday mornings at the spectacular 7,297-yard, 18-hole course.

Sign-ups were conducted through the Clark County Parks and Recreation Division. Eight sessions are scheduled.

The $15 registration fee includes a hat, shirt and two hours of instruction every Sunday from 8 to 10 a.m.

“We open up the driving range on Tuesday an Wednesday from 4 to 6 p.m. for free. The kids can come out and practice if they like. These are not instructed sessions,” Valen said. “They are just supervised by volunteers. It's for the ones that have the desire.

“We did a lot better than we thought with 78 kids signed up for the first session. We've got a lot of people wanting to sign up for the next one.”

The program is all volunteers, headed by Valen and his professional staff.

“We're donating the course and range to the kids. We're really trying to promote junior golf in the area,” Valen said.

In the past, programs for younger golfers got off to promising starts before fizzling. Several players have gone on to help the two local Arizona high school programs.

“They weren't that well structured or organized,” Valen said of the demise of former junior programs in the Tri-state area.

“Bill (Kesgen) came to me with some ideas last year, and I told him that I wanted to run it. I said, let's do it the right way and get it done,” Valen said. “It's great. The kids love it. Everything is going good so far with great participation.”

Valen said that there is a good mixture of Clark County and Mohave County participants.

“My goal is next year when we have the participation up to a certain level and desire that we can track a national sponsor like the Tiger Woods Foundation,” Valen said. “Or something like that. Then we can beef up what we can provide the kids in the area.”

Valen said participants signed up through Clark County recreation program in Laughlin, allowing young golfers to get 16 hours of instruction in different areas from putting, chipping, irons, woods, sand, rules and etiquette, as well as life value stuff.

“It doesn't matter if you don't have your own golf clubs,” Valen said. “We have a bunch of cutdown clubs that we let them use each time, so there is no reason why every kid shouldn't be out here.”

The 100-plus temperature has pushed the golfers back to early starting times.

When it really gets hot, Valen advised the early the better.

“Right now are peak time is 7 to 9 a.m.,” Valen said. “Pretty soon people will be teeing off at 6 in the morning. After 8:30 (a.m.) that's it, because it's just too hot. Everyone wants to be on the lake or river.”

Valen said he's been in the business for almost 18 years.

“I've been a Class A professional for six years.

He said the first session was a time to assess what each kid could do.

“We had no instruction with basic safety type things which we are always stressing,” Valen said. “We just watch to see how much they know. Grip, stance and alignment. Can they swing a club? They we put them into five groups, so that when they are back out here no one feels intimidated. For the most part they all have talent. Everyone I saw out there looked great.”

He'd like to see more of the high schools come to Laughlin Ranch and play matches. Right now, MALC (Mohave Accelerated Learning Center) is the only team playing golf above the Bullhead Parkway.

“The students had an excellent golf season,” said MALC golf coach Casey Mulligan Tuesday. “We need to say a special thanks to Laughlin Ranch Golf Resort for hosting the Patriot Golf Team for the second year in a row.”

Valen said he has some high school kids working for him.

“We're not asking to make anything off of this. We're just basically opening up our facility to the kids. We just want to get involvement,” Valen said.