As you work on your technique it is important to be able to measure your progress so that practice doesn’t become complacent and you always are working on improving your results relative to a physical target.

One of the training stations at the Mike Bender Elite Golf Academy is our Wedge Range. Mike Bender designed this wedge range at the beginning of 2007 and it already has been copied by more than 100 other facilities around the world.

Do you take practice rounds prior to a tournament seriously? After completing a practice round, do you have a game plan for the tournament? Are you keeping score in a practice round and then setting a score expectation for the tournament? Ask yourself these questions as summer approaches and you ready yourself for the tournament circuit. Many of you will be playing in multi-day tournaments or high-level one-day qualifiers like the US Junior qualifier this summer. Playing a practice round for these types of events will allow you to create an effective game plan for the tournament.

Strength and Flexibility Training

Championship Fitness by Kelly Shobe

In training young golfers, a key component to avoiding injury is to balance muscle groups with strength and flexibility. “Strength in golf is of little use without flexibility” * A general rule would be to possess flexibility as well as core strength to swing through the full range of motion without any restrictions in the movement. Lower back injuries may be related to an imbalance between the dominant versus non-dominant side so reversing swing motions with a weighted club could decrease the inequity.

Junior Amateur Golf Scholars (JAGS Tour)

Ari Gulugian Wins First JAGS Tour Title

Ari Gulugian from Irvine, Calif., held on tight as co-leader with with Nicholas Engelhardt from Los Angeles, Calif., to win his first JAGS Tour event with a final two-day total of 148. The 15-year-old Gulugian was not very happy with his front nine on the final day scoring a 5-over par (41) but settled down on the back nine with even par including clutch par putt on the final hole to go into a play-off with Nick Zapotoczny from Huntington Beach, Calif., who scored 73 on Sunday.

Pin placements and a steady breeze made birdies difficult to achieve during the final round of competition. Paired in the last group of the day, Gulugian was watching his lead disappear as birdies would not drop during his final round compared to his three birdies in round one. Gulugian‟ solid play on the back nine both tournament days served him well to earn him a spot in a sudden victory play-off with Zapotoczny. Zapotoczny had a chance to win but was unable to convert his par putt on the final hole.

The Nike Cup Series continued its journey across Georgia’s Canongate courses with its most recent stop at Canongate I in Sharpsburg, Georgia on May 18-19. The course was in great condition despite the rainy forecast for the weekend. Canongate’s greens were soft leading players to go for every pin and resulting in some great scores on the leaderboard. Rain tried its best to hinder the completion of the tournament, but after a two and a half hour rain delay, players were back on the course and the weather cooperated the rest of the day.

The Girls 15-18 division saw Megan Beane of Clarksville, TN win for the first time with a score of 155 (+11). Beane had a rough Saturday with an 83, but rebounded tremendously with an even par 72 on Sunday, which also won her the Golf Pride Comeback Player of the Week. Beane led in par three and par four performance with a 3.25 and a 4.25 average respectively. Beane added to her awards by winning the EFX Birdie Challenge with four birdies.