Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome. Cause you are now listening to from the CART Pass with your host Trent Roberts, bringing you tips, support and player recognition and education with the experts for parents and junior golfers in Indiana.
This is from the CART Path with your host Trent Roberts.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: Foreign.
[00:00:32] Speaker C: This is Trent Roberts with From the Cart Path. And this week we have Nathan Nichols Peterson. He is the junior program coordinator for Indiana golf. He is a graduate of Indiana University.
So he will not be saying boiler up tonight except for maybe congratulating the Boilers on making it to the national championships for women's golf. But Nathan is our junior program coordinator. It's his second season.
Nathan, how did you get involved with Indiana golf and kind of talk about your career path to get to where you are?
[00:01:05] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. First off, thanks Trent for having me on this evening. Yeah, really. I started I'm from a small town called Lakeville, Indiana, which is basically about 20 minutes south of South Bend, so northern part of the state. I went to a high school with graduating class about 90, 90 kids. And then I wanted to just kind of get into after I graduated high school, I wanted to into the sports world. I played golf since I was 4 or 5 years old. You know, my grandpa kind of got me into it. Played all throughout high school and then once I got, you know, the decision of where I wanted to go to college, I chose IU played golf recreationally there and I was really just kind of looking, I was going for a sport marketing and management degree and I was really just looking for, I knew I wanted to be in something sports related and I loved playing golf. So I'm like, you know what? I want to see what's actually out there in the golf field. And you know, I worked as a cart boy at Swan Lake Resort in Plymouth, Indiana for, you know, since I was a junior in high school. So I knew I liked the relationship building and just being personable with players out there on the golf course.
And so I, you know, I started looking around and actually our the host golf professional there at Swan Lake, his name is Chad Hutzel, he, he let me know, hey, you know, look at our statewide golf association or section, the Indiana section and see if they, they do they have internship opportunities on the tournamen if you like to be out on the golf course, you know, making, you know, ruling, setting up a golf course, kind of just being that intern out there. So I ended up looking on and there was a junior tournament intern opportunity that was there. So went applied in 2021 and got it. So I was a junior intern in 2021, which would have been my, I believe, my sophomore year in college, and then went on to the IGA PGA side as a tournament intern as well. And that focused more on the amateur side and our host professionals at our golf courses around the state, setting up tournaments for them and running them. And I was also in 2023, the USGA Junior Boatwright as well on the junior side. So I was, I interned for three years and they did their best to try to get rid of me. They just couldn't do it. So they ended up just having me full time. And this is my second year fully now as the junior program coordinator.
[00:03:15] Speaker C: So you're loving life right now?
[00:03:18] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. It's, it's been, it's been all golf related for the last five years, which has been great.
[00:03:23] Speaker C: So what did you learn from your first year as being junior program coordinator?
[00:03:29] Speaker B: You know, like I said, you know, I was immersed in it as an intern, you know, the first three years kind of the, the whole side of tournament golf, whether it was with the juniors or it was with, you know, the amateurs and the professionals.
What I learned, you know, as my first year last year, is how much more work it actually is when you are the main voice for junior golf in Indiana or one of the main voices in golf. You know, as, you know, like I said, we're a statewide tour and there's a lot more responsibility that comes with it compared to just being an intern. You know, sometimes as an intern, when we're done, you know, I was done during a day. I really had no other thoughts or responsibility outside of let me get my clubs and let's go play the course we just worked at for 12 hours in the day. But now looking at, there's a lot more responsibility because you're not only thinking about, you know, the tournament that you're currently at, especially when it gets busy in the summer, you're thinking about two or three more tournaments down the line and all the logistics that go into that, all the off season work that, you know, goes into, you know, finding good host sites, ordering t gifts, you know, just kind of being, you know, that main voice and person that answers, you know, the majority of questions from parents, players, other, you know, types of entities for everything junior golf related. So a lot more responsibility. But I think it's been a great, it was a great first year and I'm looking forward to another good one this year.
[00:04:50] Speaker C: Now, one of the things you talked about is doing all the event site work, how much time and energy goes into this and how difficult does it become for you to find and work with all the courses?
[00:05:04] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean there's, there's a good amount like we run in terms of. So we have, you know, various one day events that are throughout the state that go that run in for you know, the end of all the way to the end of May up until the end of July.
So it's basically three months of one day events that you know, I, you know, find the host sites for communicate with those host course professionals, you know, creating out an entire master spreadsheet of a schedule for our interns. Because a lot of the times for those one day events, those are, those interns are the ones that are actually administering, administering and being there at the tournament. Between that and then all of our two day championship events, boys state qualifiers, girls and boys, US Junior Amateur and it runs over 80 plus events throughout the entire year. In the spring and fall it's not as bad. It's you know, three girls events in the spring, two boys, two boys events in the fall. Who's yous Junior? And then our last junior fall series, that's boys and girls. But mainly in that May to July, it's always on the go at you're, you're at tournaments, you're gone, you know, some sometime like at the end of June till probably the beginning week of July up until 4th of July. I'll be on the road at hotels for probably 12 out of the 14 days for that stretch. So that's the toughest part. But once you get through that it's really easy and it's great if you have a really good, you know, like last year I had a great set of interns so it was really nice because you're always on the road with them.
I see them a lot more than the full time staff that I'm seeing now in the off season. You know, when it comes to the summer months. So you get a good group there, it's nice. And then once you get through like that July, I'm pretty much straight cruising through August and September and October. Like I said, we have four events really through there, but. And then yeah, like in the off season it's basically, basically an office job which I can't imagine how it would be like to do this job in Florida or Arizona or Texas because they don't get an off season. They're playing in events all throughout the year. There's not, there's not a, there's not a day in Florida which may be more so now, but Hardly ever a day in Florida where it's going to be 20 degrees and snow on the ground where they can just work in the office. I mean, they're going to be running tournaments a lot more, you know, in those offseason months for us. But, you know, once we get. Once I get through October, it's pretty much smooth sailing all the way up until April.
[00:07:15] Speaker C: Well, Nathan, they couldn't even get a kid to show up to a golf tournament if it was 30 degrees.
[00:07:21] Speaker B: Yeah. If they're playing what those girls played in what they did last Sunday, they would not like it. For sure.
[00:07:27] Speaker C: Oh, for sure. Last Sunday. It was the joke, right? 48 degrees, 20 mile per hour winds. It felt like at times. And that rain coming down.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:35] Speaker C: And thankfully those who had later tee times wasn't as bad as those where it was starting because obviously, yeah, it was rough.
[00:07:42] Speaker B: It was rough in the morning.
[00:07:43] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:07:44] Speaker B: Rain kind of stopped and ended up being all right.
[00:07:45] Speaker C: I saw umbrellas, like we were getting out of our car, getting everything set up whilst our kid was getting everything set up for herself because we don't do that for her. You could see I saw like three umbrellas flying across the golf course. And I'm like, holy cow.
[00:08:00] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:01] Speaker C: But like you told me we talked about, it is if these girls are going to play at the next level, this is whether they're going to play in.
[00:08:09] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. It 100% is. And I know it's not obviously the, you know, most ideal conditions, but at the end of the day, it's. It's a early May. Early May Sunday in Indiana, so you could really expect anything you can. And like I said. Yeah. I mean, they're going to play in college tournaments like that. And a lot of respect for them that toughed it out and got through it on Sunday.
[00:08:28] Speaker C: Well, we're lucky. We get. The girls get to go back to Coyote in here in about a month. And I will be the first one to tell you, I love that golf course. It is a beautiful golf course. It's a great golf course. I'm thankful Coyote lets you come up there and play as frequently as they do. It is immaculate.
[00:08:45] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, those. Those courses up there in general, like you have. I think when you think of West Lafayette, you think of Ackerman and camping.
Coyote Crossing, I think, kind of gets looked over because that's. You just think of those two golf courses when you think of West Lafayette.
[00:09:00] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:09:00] Speaker B: And, you know, I would say one more thing. I mean, IU grad, not the biggest Purdue fan. But I will tell you that is one place I'm at the most is because I'm there all week for Boys State junior. And then we have. I'll have fall events there that I'll have to help out at spring events, which it's all jokes. I mean, they have two of the best golf courses in the state, you know, collegiate golf courses or just call courses in general. But you know, yeah, Coyote Crossing gets looked over. But it's a great golf course. It's a really good test for the girls and the guys and they're yeah. Really gracious in hosting. So it'll be, it'll be fun to have them out there again for Girls State in June.
[00:09:32] Speaker C: Well, as a side note, IU decides to redo their golf course and make foul the toughest course in the country.
[00:09:37] Speaker B: Exactly. I never played, I never played the old 18. I was there. It just got redone in 2020 when I was a sophomore there.
[00:09:44] Speaker C: So, you know, I went to a golf camp back there back in the 90s and I guess that's last century, but I remember playing and it was tree line back then. So with them redoing it, I can't. I have not played the new course and it's kind of scares me to even think about going to play there because I it.
You just have to almost put in your head of just go enjoy the course.
So I look forward to hearing you tell me about when you get to actually go play it.
[00:10:11] Speaker B: Yeah. So for sure.
[00:10:12] Speaker C: Well, anyways, no good. Ackerman Allen, obviously, like you said, host a lot of events for us. Boy State. And every year they've been great. They've had boys state there for how many years now?
[00:10:24] Speaker B: It's been a while. I mean, we'll, we'll do. It's. That's, you know, one of my favorite events to run because brings in the best boys in the entire state. It's two days of stroke or two days stroke play. First days at Ackerman, second days on camp, and then we just get straight into match play Wednesday through Friday. And it's just, it's a cool event for there. But yeah, they're always grateful at hosting too. And they actually just got, they just redone. They just redid their clubhouse. They got a new practice area, practice green. It's supposed to be very nice and we'll see how it is, especially because they're hosting the National Junior PGA Championship there as well. So we'll see how that goes.
[00:10:58] Speaker C: Was that one of the main reasons for not having the girls qualifier there this year?
[00:11:03] Speaker B: I believe so. Yeah, they are. They're extremely. I'm hosting a US Boys Junior AM qualifier there in June and then it goes into boy State and then they're actually hosting our state Amateur, which is the day after my boy State Junior. And then they also have the Dye Junior that they're hosting and then the National Junior pga. So they have a lot going on.
[00:11:23] Speaker C: They do. That's. I think I'm grateful for Purdue hosting all those events. And when you have two courses like they do, it makes a little bit easier to have big events there. Now, speaking of US Juniors, you said the boys is going to be back up at Ackerman for the Junior qualifier.
And then what is the course you're having the girls at?
[00:11:41] Speaker B: So the girls will be at Elcona Country Club, which is in Elkhart, Indiana, northern part of the state.
[00:11:47] Speaker C: And that's an older country club.
[00:11:49] Speaker B: Yeah, it's an older country club. It's very good. I mean, they've hosted various events for us in the past on the IGAPJ side. They're also hosting our Mid Amateur championship this year in August, later on in August. But no, it'll be a great, It's a good country club. Greens are, you know, front. The old school front or back to front slope greens, you know, fast, firm. It'll be a good test for the girls as well.
[00:12:13] Speaker C: I'm sure.
[00:12:14] Speaker B: They got, you know, I think it plays, it plays pretty long too, for a country club. I mean, think some other country clubs that might be a little shorter around our state, but it can tip out and play pretty long.
[00:12:24] Speaker C: Well, there's so many great country clubs around the state. Obviously you and I talked about. I grew up on the Cocomo Country Club. There's a lot of those old school country clubs that are 6,000 yards at the most at the tips.
[00:12:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:12:35] Speaker C: And. But what people don't realize is they're all tree lined. Fairways are narrow and they can get those greens going. The greens protect these courses that are smaller and shorter. So when people are like, oh, you're only playing a course at this. Go play those greens.
[00:12:50] Speaker B: Yeah, like, like Delaware, like Delaware Country Club. Last year we had, we had girls State there. We're having our girls PJ Junior there this year.
[00:12:57] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: It's another course. I mean, the greens are the biggest protector again. I mean, there's some crazy slopey, you know, good greens out there that protects the golf course.
[00:13:07] Speaker C: Well, Delaware's always been a great country club for you guys as well, it lets you have a lot of events there. And I'm thankful for Delaware because seems like a lot of junior events are there, not just with Indiana Junior, but you guys do get a lot of them there. So I'm thankful for Delaware Country Club.
So yeah, Delaware for girls Junior PGA Junior. And then obviously we're up at Coyote again for the girls state. Where's the Boys PGA Junior this year?
[00:13:35] Speaker B: Boys PGA Junior is always at least, you know, for Rock Hollow. However long I've been Rock Hollow.
[00:13:40] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:13:40] Speaker B: Yeah, that's a, another great golf course that hosts a lot. For sure.
They're, they're great out there.
[00:13:46] Speaker C: The Smith brothers built a great golf course with their family and yeah, that is a great golf course. I think when you talk about underrated courses.
Yeah, Rock Hollow is so underrated. And it's an essential of the state. It's not that expensive to play.
[00:14:00] Speaker B: Super affordable. Super affordable.
[00:14:02] Speaker C: Extremely affordable. And you can't play many courses in Indianapolis area for the price. You can drive an hour and a half north to go play Rock Hollow.
[00:14:12] Speaker B: No, I mean if you put that course in smack dab in Indy, I mean, I can't imagine what it would be.
[00:14:17] Speaker C: Yeah, it'd be 125.
[00:14:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:20] Speaker C: So busy summer coming ahead.
Let's talk a little bit about that. What are some of the things that kids for the one day events and the younger players. What do you offer for the younger players?
[00:14:37] Speaker B: Yeah, so I would say, and I can kind of, I can kind of scroll this all the way back because we have on our website it's called like the Junior Golf Roadmap and it kind of, kind of encapsulates, you know, if you are, you know, a parent that wants to get your child involved in golf and kind of, you don't really know where to start. You know, I feel like a lot of people might see like our association or our section and think that a lot of it is tournament related. Which it is, it's. It's tournament related. A lot of tournament heavy for that golf experience. But there's also other things that you can get your child started in. So like, you know, I would say the very first thing like on that roadmap would be the first tee program. The first tee program is probably the best thing to get your child into that kind of, not only, not only teaches them, you know, about skills in golf, but also teaches them, you know, various very important life skills. And then kind of once you move off that first tee program, you can get into something like PGA Junior League And PGA Junior League is great as well. I mean there's so many golf courses throughout the state that have a PGA Junior League team. And to where you could even like qualify for like our section, you know, Junior PG or PGA Junior League Championship or Drag Chip and Putts. We have various Drag Chip and Putts team that are throughout the state and you could, you know, even qualify for the national Drive Chip and Putt through that. And you know, kind of once you get, you know, to my side, I would say the first thing that parents should do if they want to think, if they think that their kid wants to get into like tournament competitive golf would be to play in one of our team series events. Like our team series events are, you know, it's a two, two person team scramble format, nine holes, but they keep their own score, they carry their own bag, they would get pairings sent out to them. It's more official in that sense, you know, compared to like a first tee or like playing out of PGA Junior League. But like, you know, I would say we run between four and five of those throughout the state and they're actually at some pretty, pretty nice places. I mean we're at Bridgewater Executive, the nine hole course for that. Chatham Executive Golf Course. For that we'll go to Woodwind Anderson Country Club. We've been to like four Forest park before. It's, it's a good introductory like to our tour to play in those and they're a little bit more laid back compared to playing like in our, like in a prep event. So like a prep event I would say would be the next step which is between ages 7 to 10, 9 holes and then the older 11 to 12 year olds would play 18, but that's more individual based. And I'll clump in the Junior Tour too because prep and Junior Tour mainly go. They're, they're individual based. The Junior tour is ages 13 to 19, so it's older kids for the, those one day events but like I said more individual based. You know, they're going to carry their own bag, they're going to keep their own score. No caddies for those events. I think that's kind of how we are different from like maybe other junior tours. And you can give your perspective too. Trent is we don't, other than our Boise State Junior, we don't allow any caddies for any of our events. And that's just kind of our philosophy for that. Our philosophy is just, you know, we want them to kind of be on their own, handle things on the Golf course themselves on their own know, carrying their own golf bag also. It just kind of keeps it pretty consistent with how we've always done things as well for that.
[00:17:43] Speaker C: Nathan, I'll be the first one to say this, and I know several parents that will listen to this, that talk to me is, I remember you as kids counting for my kid. That was fun.
But I will not go on my kid's bag now, nor ever, because I prefer watching her play rather than debating her on what she needs to do next.
[00:18:06] Speaker B: Right.
[00:18:06] Speaker C: I think that's where it kind of comes back for me is like not allowing the caddies at a lot of these levels is key because these kids do need to think for themselves. They need to learn how to do some of these things for themselves and learn how to ask questions. I think what you and I spoke the other day at Coyote. I'm a believer now that I've gotten older. And I probably was a little bit different back when this all first started, because as all parents are, I treat it as almost similar to if I went to a basketball game for the IHSAA is I am in the stands, I'm watching the game.
Now. The only difference will be is if it's 105 degrees outside, I'm going to make sure my kids hydrated and they're drinking their water and doing the right thing. Other than that, it is their game, it is their decision.
And my biggest thing, too, for you, you and I spoke about this is if there's a rules question, us parents need to be the first ones to say, call a rules official.
[00:19:03] Speaker B: Yeah, that's. That's huge.
Because I would say, you know, in my experience as an intern and also in this full time, you know, capacity, I think that if you want to help your child look for a golf ball, we encourage that. It helps with pace of play. It helps your child obviously not have to take, you know, a lost ball stroking distance. You know, take that. We encourage that. Or, you know, even. I think, I think it's nice for parents to walk ahead in the fairway, like instead of standing behind them when they're hitting their tee shot, because it helps. It just helps so much with. They can find their golf ball. It helps with pace of play. But I've. I've had multiple instances in my experience seeing it, you know, when Paxton was full time and now in this job where if, yeah, like, like you said, if there's a ruling issue, they have to. We don't want the parents to make those rulings. We don't Want the parents to tell, you know, because I mean, it could be something super simple, like maybe you need relief off of a cart path. You know, you. You know, you would. You know that. I'm sure there's parents that know that, but there's also. There's just so many ways in which you could do it wrong. Yeah. And then at the end of the day, it's the. It's your play, the player that's gonna get the penalty. Because, you know, and I understand, I mean, parents are trying to help. They're trying to keep pace going. I get that 100%. But if there's any kind of ruling situation, we always want you to reach out to us because we're the ones that want to make those decisions, and we're the ones that want to make sure that. Because if there's something that we mess up as a rules official, there's certain ways in which the player cannot get penalized. Like, we can. Correct.
[00:20:36] Speaker C: Right.
[00:20:36] Speaker B: But, you know, if it's in terms of a parent, ultimately it's gonna. It's gonna cost the kid, you know, if it's not done correctly. And then we fight, you know, we're the ones that have to find out like that. You know what I'm saying?
[00:20:46] Speaker C: It's gonna cost the kid and the kids in the group problems for sure. Other parents are going to be aggravated because you got a parent trying to act like they know the rule when you don't know as a parent if they're right or not. Right.
[00:21:00] Speaker B: Right.
[00:21:00] Speaker C: I think that's what you guys are trying to prevent as well, is let the kids play. As they said in the Bad News Bears. Let the kids play. Right. And that's what you have to allow them to do in the course. Stay away from it.
[00:21:12] Speaker B: Right. And like, and it's like, I would say sometimes, I mean, there's. There's times where maybe we're a little short on staff and we might have to get someone out there and they might not be close on that part of the course. Correct. I would much rather have maybe the group behind them hit, you know what I mean? And step to the side, hit. And wait for an actual rules official to come out there and help. I would much rather have that happen than try to wing it. Try to wing the ruling and then end up it being wrong just to save a few minutes, you know what I'm saying? So definitely want to get it done. Right. That would be. That would just be kind of like my biggest piece of advice. If there's Any kind of rules or ruling and just, just get in contact with us because we're always going to be there to help you guys.
[00:21:51] Speaker C: Well, there's going to be times as you get older as a parent that you drop your kid off at the tournament or they go to the tournament by themselves. I remember and I can't remember her name. Sophie played with her at her first time at a Spring series event at the Legends, and now she's playing at Dayton and she drove down by herself. So she has to know these things, know how to get a hold of people and do the right thing. Because parents aren't always going to be there. It's just the way the game goes. Some kids can't have their parents there watching to begin with, so know who to call, who to question and go from there. Don't let parents dictate this because it's only going to cause problems.
[00:22:27] Speaker B: I'm sure there's some kids that would rather maybe, you know, play by themselves anyways. You know, they might not want people to be out there watching them. I mean, just everyone's different in that sense.
[00:22:36] Speaker C: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Now, did you play. I'm gonna take this back a second. Did you play in the Junior Tour when you were a kid?
[00:22:44] Speaker B: So I, you know, unfortunately I didn't. And that was back when it was the Mountain Dew and Pepsi tour. And I, I did not. I played in various, like local, local like county tours and stuff like that. It just wasn't something that I could really just access. Have access to when I was little to play in a statewide tour. Looking back, I wish, I wish I was able to and of kind could.
[00:23:03] Speaker C: What you don't know.
[00:23:04] Speaker B: But I mean, yeah, I mean I, I played in a lot of local like county tours up in, up in South Bend for sure.
[00:23:11] Speaker C: So one of the things you talked about too is you're trying to do a better job of getting, getting the. Not spit the state across the state to different places for events. What are some of the things you've done in the last year to two to different events at different locations?
[00:23:26] Speaker B: Yeah, I would say, you know, you know, we're located in central Indiana. Like we're. And just a little off topic, we're actually moving to our brand new office at the Fort Golf Resort at the end of May, early June. So that'll be exciting. It's basically completely done. We're just probably a couple weeks from actually moving in there, which is great. But like I said, we're, we're centrally located right now in Fishers. But we're statewide tours so we do our best to kind of COVID all different parts of the state when it comes to one day events, championship events, spring and fall series, you know, all of those different kind of events. We like to have variety. We don't want to always just stay in that central located part of the state. And you know, I've done my best being from the northern part of the state. I mean there's also, there's always a great courses that we'll have our two day events at that we've had there before. But there's also some different courses that I feel didn't, hasn't gotten much exposure for. Like our one day events that are awesome like that are courses that I played out when I was little. Growing up I was like, you know what, this would be a great place to have a Junior tour event, a team series event, a prep event.
But at the end of the day, I mean there's just some kind of give and take in terms of if you're gonna go all the way northwest Indiana or if you're gonna go all the way southwest Indiana.
There's just historically there's not. There could be a numbers hit for those kind of events compared to like putting in Indianapolis, which. It makes sense, it really does make sense. I would say the majority of our membership comes from the central part of the state. But I mean just things I'm doing, you know, I've talked with other local tours and seeing kind of where they've went, try to get exposure in those areas. Like if I wanted to bring a one day event up in the northern part of the state, I'll speak with those local tours and kind of say hey, you know, what kind of exposure, what kind of numbers are you getting here? How can we work with that? I would say it's great that we have such a large First Tee and PGA Junior League database that encompasses the entire state. Like I said, there's so many courses across the state that do first cng, PJ Junior League. So I can have access to those, that contact information for those parents. So I'll send out multiple, multiple emails, multiple promotional items that highlights our Junior Tour and the tournaments we run. Then you know, players and parents can know, hey, let's look, you know, and see what part, what, what courses might be in a 30 to 45 minute radius of where we are and we'll go and try and play it. I would say those are, that's probably the main thing that I do throughout the year. Try to gain exposure, especially in those corners of the state.
[00:25:52] Speaker C: So it leads me to the next question, and I think you do. I'd be asking this point. How do you select your master's tour locations, your locations for the state Junior and the state PGA Junior? Because obviously it's hard to get courses for two days and then for the state Junior for three days.
[00:26:10] Speaker B: So I think if a course. And I mean, I've kind of. I feel like the first year I got grandfathered into amazing master sites. Like, we were at Sagamore, we were at Broadmoor, we were at Warren, we were at Chariot Run. Those were awesome.
[00:26:26] Speaker C: They weren't awesome.
[00:26:28] Speaker B: I think it comes down to. And I think our sites for this year are just as good. I mean, we're at Glendaren Hills for the Northern, the Foul Course at IU for the Southern Battleground, which is a good golf course, another good golf course in Lafayette, and for the Central, and then Rock Hollow for a Masters Tour Championship. But if a course is willing to host, that's the first step. Obviously, we have to gauge what golf courses are willing to host, and especially for a Sunday Monday event like those masters events, a girls state junior that's going to take up three days out of their week. I think post Covid, at least, you know, a lot of pros have told me, like, pre Covid, they were a lot more susceptible to hosting stuff for us because. Because it wasn't as busy. Now, post Covid, they can't take a Tuesday through Thursday out of their week because they get so much play. And I think that's. It's great for the game, it's great for golf, but it makes, it makes our job a little harder and a little more challenging to, you know, get those golf courses. But I would say there's still a lot of great host courses and professionals that are still willing to work with us and do their best to host for us. So that's the first thing you have to gauge what, what places, you know, want to actually host. And then my, you know, criteria is, first, is the golf course in good shape? Is it fair? And is it. Is it going to be a good challenge? I mean, at the end of the day, if I can get a golf course like Rock Hollow, I can make Rock Hollow as easy or as hard as I want it to.
[00:27:48] Speaker C: I've seen you do it.
[00:27:49] Speaker B: You can. I can make. I can make like Coyote Crossing. I can make it as easy or as hard as I want it to pay based on, you know, the field. And I think that we need to.
[00:27:58] Speaker C: Talk about that pin placement on number eight on Sunday.
[00:28:03] Speaker B: Yeah, if you can. Oh, you didn't like the back left there?
[00:28:05] Speaker C: I loved it, but I'm not the one playing it. I didn't. I mean, I'm. I mean, for me watching it was fantastic.
[00:28:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:10] Speaker C: With that wind coming behind you in that back left corner.
[00:28:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:13] Speaker C: My gosh.
[00:28:14] Speaker B: Makes it. Makes it tough. Yeah, I mean, like. Yeah, like I said, I mean, if. If you can find a good golf course that gives you that kind of flexibility. Like, if I can make.
If I can make a few holes, you know, pretty gettable. If I can make a couple holes, if I can make any hole out there. Three shot, par five. You know, it's just certain things that you have to look for in that.
Those are the main things I'm looking for.
So. Yeah, if a course is willing to host if they're in a pretty good area that, you know, has a good amount of things to do around it, hotels, hotel, restaurants, location matters.
And then also, you know, how, how fair and how challenging can, how flexible can they make it for us for that?
[00:28:56] Speaker C: That's what I've always enjoyed about the age groups too, is because at least you can alternate every year you hit the north part of the state this year. Next year, obviously, I hope it's back down at French Lake because everybody likes to go down there.
[00:29:07] Speaker B: We're actually.
I was gonna say we're actually putting it on a three course rotation.
[00:29:12] Speaker C: Really?
[00:29:12] Speaker B: Next year it's going to be at Purdue.
[00:29:14] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:29:15] Speaker B: Next year is going to be it. We're going to utilize camping in Ackerman and then it'll go back down to French Lick. And would that be 26, 26 or 27?
[00:29:24] Speaker C: My dream is to have it at French Lick every year, but since my kid will be graduating in 27, I like the three course rotation.
[00:29:31] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. So, yeah, we're gonna see how it is at Ackermann Camp and Swan Lake. I mean, Swan Lake's great up there for.
[00:29:36] Speaker C: Swan Lake's great.
[00:29:38] Speaker B: I'll just say, yeah, the last two things, you know, the Masters Tour, like we said, it is for the, how we say, like, the best of the best for our tour. So. Correct for that. It's an invitation only. You become master exempt based on how you perform, like at our championship events. So like, if you're, you know, make the cut, say at a Boyce PGA Junior, if you finish. If you make the cut for girls state junior or top 20 in girls state junior, if you finish in maybe a top 40% of the field in a masters event from last year. That's kind of how you become Masters exempt. And then also we put a handicap index of 10.0 or better on them. So you're going to get to get good players that play in those Masters events. And I would say, you know, the competition's high, but also the golf course setup is going to be a little tougher. You know, we might play it a little definitely at a longer yardage compared to, to a one day Junior Tour event. Pin placement, pin pin locations are going to be harder because we're actually out there picking those hit pin locations compared to at a one day Junior Tour event. It's, you know, however the course is set up for them for those. And the same with our championship events. Like our championship events are, you know, set up by us, marked by tees, pins also, you know, going to be set up for championship level golf for that as well. And it definitely, you can definitely, especially boys, girls, boys and girls state Junior, boys and girls, PJ Junior. Those are the four events I love to run because, because you know, outside of girls and boys, high school state, you're not going to see all the best players, you know, at one golf course for that, for a week, for an entire week playing.
[00:31:03] Speaker C: No, it's the best.
[00:31:04] Speaker B: It's great.
[00:31:05] Speaker C: The PGA Junior for girls, the PGA Junior for boys, the boys state, the boy girls state, those four events the best players are at because at least there's no like with IHSAA at the state finals, a kid may not make it through. That's one of your top players because maybe they're not on a strong team. So you're right. Those four events are your biggest four events. And what I've always enjoyed about the Masters Tour and your big events is a lot of people don't understand is at least with NAIA you're playing the same distance as them and sometimes longer where you're getting closer to the Division 2 distance. So that's one of the things I've always appreciated is because now these young men and young women can see where do I fit at. Yeah. Along the way.
[00:31:51] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And a new event. Well, like I said for. Because the Purdue is hosting the National Junior PGA Championship.
[00:31:59] Speaker C: Correct.
[00:32:00] Speaker B: So as our. We're considered the host section, the host state for it.
[00:32:03] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:32:04] Speaker B: So we get to run what's called a last chance qualifier for the national junior PGA. So that's going to be on July 3rd. And that's actually also I wanted to Keep it close. And like I said, it's kind of. It is close. We're gonna. Gonna.
[00:32:17] Speaker A: We're.
[00:32:17] Speaker B: It's going to be a Coyote crossing again on July 23rd. And it's a last chance qualifier. It's boys and girls, so. And it's up to 156 player field, so. But anyone in the country can sign up for that. So, like, we've had various players from all over the country. I'm looking at it in Canada that have played. That are.
Have played in it. And I'm sure, I mean, it's. They're. They're vying for. I believe it's one spot for the boys and girls right now, but one spot there's. There could be withdraws out of the exempt field right now. And those, those. All those qualifying spots will definitely go up as we get closer to the event. We probably won't honestly know how many spots get out until the day of the event. That's kind of what the national team was. Was talking to me.
[00:33:00] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:33:00] Speaker B: About. But that's another good one. I mean, that's going to be a great goal. It's going to be set up, you know, very challenging because it's taking them directly into that national event at Purdue. So it's going to be set up hard. And I think the competition is going to be really good because players are going to see, you know, if anyone from Indiana wants to play in it, they're going to play with someone that could be from San Diego, Florida, Canada, all the, you know, all that different. All the different parts of the country. So that'll be a cool event to run and to see. Kind of.
[00:33:27] Speaker C: I didn't realize this, so I'm going to send this down to the guy that's doing the same thing down in Kentucky and get us both posting it. That way we both. Maybe we can help draw some more kids into it because I'm looking at it going, well, the boys field is stacked with a lot of players and the girls are still open. There's still a lot of opportunity for the girls to sign up and still opportunity for the boys. Yeah, but you're right, I'm on here going, there's New York, there's Virginia, there's North Carolina. So I mean, you're right, there's. There's a lot of different ones coming in for that.
[00:33:54] Speaker B: They're. I mean, yeah. And they're taking, you know, they're taking a chance by coming all the way to Indiana to potentially play. And if they make it, then they got five or six days until the actual national event. So they got to figure out a full week of, you know, lodging and practice. I mean, they'll play practice rounds at Ackerman and Purdue, but they'll make it a full week thing. So people travel for sure.
[00:34:12] Speaker C: They do. They, they will find a place. And I'm excited for us to host that tournament. I think Purdue Ackerman is going to be a great location for that. So what are some of the future plans for the tour going into next year and down the road that you're, you're trying to accomplish?
[00:34:28] Speaker B: I would say, you know, outside of, outside of, you know, just keep.
My main goal is to just keep enhancing our junior tour. Whether it comes to obviously, you know, picking the best kind of sites we can for tournament, for masters events, one day events, and especially our championship events. I want to take it to the best kind of places that I can. Which if that means reaching out to golf courses that maybe some people might think, might not think we have any chance of hosting, you know, definitely reach out to them just to see, you know, get a gauge and see like that. But I think also just making sure that, you know, overall experience because at the end of the day, you know, my, my job is to, you know, obviously, you know, set up the golf course, make sure that there's a good challenge for them to play. But also I want the players and the parents to have a great experience. And I think that's part of the job that I don't really think about as much is like there's, there's a hospitality aspect to it because you want players to have, you know, the best experience where whether, you know, maybe I need to look at, you know, more unique and better tea gifts, you know, you know, for you know, certain championship events, you know, masters events, making sure that, you know, we're all, you know, set out for, you know, having a good volunteer, having a good volunteer base or just kind of fluffing it up. Like you know, last year age group, for example, we did who's your glow? Like the letterheads that were, they were lit up all in front of like the French like resort hotel right there for the players to take pictures of in front of and stuff like that. So just things we can kind of do to like spruce up our events and kind of make them feel more, just more spruce stuff more important. You know, we really want the players to enjoy playing obviously like you, any parents whatsoever that, you know, have their players playing the tour, you guys are doing a lot of traveling, you guys are spending a lot of money to play at our tournaments and to travel all around the state to play in those. So we want to do our best to give back and kind of make those events, you know, the best they can be. So you guys have a great experience for what you're paying for.
[00:36:23] Speaker C: Absolutely. And I agree, and I think you guys do a great job. What's, what's interesting is you talk to a lot of different people and I've gotten to talk to a lot of different people over the last few months and talking to the team from the Universal golf rankings and them, they've been to a lot of the sites, a lot of the places to see, and they've told me they're thoroughly impressed with what you all do here in Indiana. I know I am. And when I go to other states, you kind of look and they're like, wow, we really are spoiled here.
We don't truly understand what the other states have and we're lucky. And like you were talking earlier is you love our spring series events, you love our other events because there are other options, there are other tours our kids can look at.
[00:37:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:37:06] Speaker C: And the fall series with the boys and even with the girls after high school season and the spring series, there's some great events that these kids can play in a two day event where, where it's not that expensive compared to going to some of the other tours.
[00:37:21] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, for sure. It's something that we also, I think, pride ourselves on is, you know, we try to make it as affordable as we can for players to play in, you know, not only the one day, you know, events, but especially for our weekend events. I mean, yeah, there's, there could be, you know, courses that you play out on the weekend that are, you know, more expensive to play. Maybe, you know, a day and a half or one day there compared to if you're playing two days at our stuff. And I mean, there's also other things that you guys get included with it. So I think that's something that we like to pride ourselves on is we try to make it as affordable as possible.
[00:37:50] Speaker C: 100% agree. I think my favorite thing last year was, and I didn't take my clubs down to the age groups down to French Lake, but the prices you could. These girls got to place those two courses for, and even the third course, it's ridiculous.
And for some of these girls to pay what they did for a two day event and some of the boys and they got to play the die course one day and the Ross course the other day.
[00:38:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:38:15] Speaker C: If you and I go do that as individuals.
[00:38:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:38:19] Speaker C: We're holding up signs across the street. We'll work for food.
[00:38:22] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:38:22] Speaker C: So 100. There's some great rates and stuff that you guys put in play for these kids. And you're right. The one day events, the, the other events that you have there, there's some great courses on there that normally these kids wouldn't get to go play at a great rate.
[00:38:38] Speaker B: Yeah. To speak on that. A part of getting a membership either prep or Junior tour with us is they get a Youth on Course membership which. Have you used Youth on Course?
[00:38:47] Speaker C: I've not and I continue to. I've got to go back and look for that because every time someone tells me that I forget and then.
[00:38:55] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a great partnership we have because Youth on Course, I mean they do their best to make. Make golf affordable for people now.
[00:39:01] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:39:02] Speaker B: To play in and for their kids to play in. And there's multiple golf courses, not only in Indiana, but I would say throughout the. That are top level golf courses that you can play super cheap, super affordable. And you get it with that Youth on Course number.
[00:39:15] Speaker C: Nathan, how does someone get into the Youth on Course with their membership number? Is that something they have to get from you or is that a.
[00:39:23] Speaker B: So like. So you would. So you would basically you would get a membership through us. So like before you signed up like for any kind of tournament, you would sign up for like a Junior Tour membership or a prep membership, which the Junior Tour membership is $65 for the year. Prep membership is $45. And some benefits you get real quick.
You would get a member towel and a bag tag. You would also receive your own handicap index which is called the Indiana Golf number that you would use to log in. And you can post any kind of score you want to get your own handicap index established. And then also you'll use that Indiana Golf number for the Youth on Course indicator membership. So just use that number for the membership or your membership is created through. Through us through when you pay the $65 or $45 for us.
And you would just use that Indiana golf number to log in to the. To Youth on Course and then you can go from there.
[00:40:17] Speaker C: And real quick, there's 31 courses in Indiana on that Youth on course and one of those happens to be the Players Club and Purdue courses are on there. So there's a lot of great courses on here that if you call ahead and say, hey, I've got my membership number for that they can find out their rate. And I think some of these rates are just real quick looking at some of them. Youth on course rate Monday through Friday, anytime afternoon at this particular course down in Nashville, Indiana was $5. And that's for Salt Creek Golf Retreat. $5. Take your kids down there for walking, obviously.
[00:40:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:40:52] Speaker C: But you can't pass that up. Yeah, that is crazy. And I think there's like, if you look at the nationwide map, there's some top tier courses on there that the kids can do down there. I know Disney does that, but I think it's restricted on times. But they, they do that down there as well. So it's a good thing for the parents to see and use that.
[00:41:10] Speaker B: Yeah. If you go on, if you go on vacation or something and if you want to try to find a place that maybe bring your clubs or just do a rental set or something and you want to find somewhere super cheap, you can just pull that up and it'll pull up a map on places that are around that offer it.
[00:41:23] Speaker C: Absolutely. So that's a, that's a great thing. And I think that's a great way to kind of finish up this conversation because you've gone through all the different levels of the Tour now you've talked about youth on course because as a parent, when we're talking about, boy, this is an expensive sport, there's a lot of money that we throw at.
Would be great to be able to go play some of these courses at a cheaper price for our kids so we can save a little bit and play different courses besides the same one all the time. So sure. Nathan, honestly, I'm glad I had you on here. I'm glad you got to talk about the tour. And I know there's a lot you've got planned for the future.
I know you've got a busy year ahead of you. So to be able to get an hour of your time tonight is awesome because you're getting ready to go into kicking the high gear here.
[00:42:12] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, it'll be great. It'll be once.
Got about a couple week, a little, couple week break here and then right when I get into my first, my first actual event is the girls US Junior AM qualifier. So then once, once June hits, then it'll be, it'll be pedal of the metal there for about three months, which it's great. It's about the fastest three months you'll ever, you'll ever see, but it'll be good. I don't know.
[00:42:32] Speaker C: High school girls golf season is the fastest eight weeks I've ever seen. We can. Yeah, we can go back and forth. But, Nathan, thank you again for. For your time, and I do appreciate you coming on.
[00:42:42] Speaker B: Yeah, no problem. Thanks, Trent. Thanks for having me.
[00:42:47] Speaker A: Thanks for listening to this episode of from the Card Path with your host, Trent Roberts. Please be sure to like and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so that you never miss an episode.
