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Pro-Am — Game tips: Osmon gives pointers during Juniors clinic
Published 7/29/2009 in None : Other Sports
By BRETT MARSHALL
bmarshall@gctelegram.com
When a professional golfer tees it up to compete for prize money, it does help to know that you can shoot low scores to put you in position to win.
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Laurie Sisk/Telegram - From the left: Southwind Pro Ryan Martin, PGA professional Jay Osmon of Alamosa, Colo., and Buffalo Dunes Pro Cole Wassinger teach children the fundamentals of grip, posture and stance during a junior golf clinic Tuesday morning at Buffalo Dunes. The event kicked off the 30th annual Southwest Kansas Pro-Am.
Few golfers know that better than Jay Osmon, a 32-year-old pro from Alamosa, Colo., who is in Garden City to compete in the 30th Southwest Kansas Pro-Am, an event that has a purse in excess of $80,000. And yet, Osmon also knows what is important when talking to young people about learning to play the game.
"Personally, you try to teach them to have fun and enjoy what it's all about," Osmon said Tuesday at Buffalo Dunes, before giving a clinic with local pros Cole Wasinger of Buffalo Dunes and Ryan Martin of The Golf Club at Southwind. "I like to keep it simple or they won't stick with it. Just give them a few of the basics and let them go hit it and have a good time."
Osmon knows all about the difficulty of competing at golf's higher levels. While he has not made it onto the big stage of the PGA Tour, he has played in hundreds of tournaments where prize money exceeds $100,000, including last week's Colorado Open in Denver where he missed the cut by two shots.
"It's the first cut I've missed this season," Osmon said, who is the head golf coach at Adams State in Alamosa. "Working with juniors is important. They're the future of golf -- future members, players -- so it's important to get them hooked and keep them hooked."
Low scores is something that has become a trademark of sorts for Osmon. He recorded the lowest 18 total individually on a regulation course when he shot a 15-under-par 56 at the Cattails Golf Course in Alamosa. In that round, he posted nine birdies and three eagles (2-under-par on a hole). He played the 18-hole round without a single bogey or worse.
"It seems like I've always had a lot of low scores," Osmon said, whose lowest competitive score is a 63. "It took a couple of days for the media to grab hold of what I had shot and by the time I was off and headed to California, places like Golf World (magazine) were calling me and I was even on Sports Center (ESPN). It was pretty amazing how much interest there was."
Osmon said there was no clear-cut age as to when to start a junior to learn the game.
"Just any age as long as they're interested," Osmon said. "Kids are doing everything these days so you just have to keep them involved, interested, focused and appreciate what the game is. My long-term hope is that they would learn the history of the game, the traditions and that it is played by ladies and gentlemen who focus on good manners, respect for the course and for others. I'm a little old-fashioned that way. I don't think kids should just expect everything to come their way so soon."
Osmon said he would not even make a guess as to how many hours he, as well as other pros, spend working on their game to be as good as they are.
"It certainly takes a lot (of time) to play at a high level," Osmon said. "The pros probably work more on their game than most people put time in at their office. For them, it's a job and the way they make their living. You have to have experience and go out and play as much as you can and see if you're good enough to be out there (on tour)."
LOCAL JUNIOR GOLF NOTES: Mackenzi Thayer placed 36th this weekend in the Optimist International Junior Championships. Thayer competed in the 14-15 year-old division. She had rounds of 80-82-86 at PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Thayer, who plays out of The Golf Club at Southwind, was the Western Athletic Conference player of the year last fall as a freshman at Garden City High School.
Taylor Lawsen, 10, and Sion Audrain, 8, will compete in the U.S. Kids World Championships according to Martin. Other top juniors who competed well during the summer from Southwind included Abbey Campbell and Abbi Shaddix. Wasinger said that Juan Ollarzball had one of the best summers of his 105 juniors who participated in the Dunes' program. Ollarzball played in the KGA Junior and also qualified to represent the Dunes in the annual Brookover Cup matches between the Dunes and Southwind. Sam Marlin, a Sublette High graduate and member at Buffalo Dunes, made the West squad that competed last week in the Kansas Junior Golf Association Sectional team championship in Hutchinson. Marlin had rounds of 72-75--147 and tied for seventh in the 18-and-over division and for 19th overall. Larsen had a score of 83 in the same event to place third in the 11-and-under division.
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BRETT MARSHALL-JR GOLF
MR JAY OSMON IS BEING MODEST IN DESCRIBING HIS LOW SCORES. HE HOLDS OR HAS HELD 10 COURSE RECORDS SINCE HIS FIRST ONE AT ENGLEWOOD GOLF IN QUALIFYING FOR THE COLORADO JR. MATCHPLAY.[65] THAT WAS FOLLOWED IN AN AJGA TOURNEY IN ASPEN COLORADO. [65]THEN A 63 AT THE SAND DUNES GOLF COURSE IN MOSCA, CO. THE SAME SUMMER AT THE THEN 72 PAR CATTAILS [61] A 63 AT THE GRANDOTE GOLF COURSE, AT THE NEWLY RECONSTRUCTED CATTAILS WITH A PAR 71 HE SHOT 62. RIO GRANDE CLUB [63] THEN THE 56 AT CATTAILS BEFORE SETTING A COMPETETIVE COURSE RECORD AT HILLCREST IN DURANGO [62] COLORADO SPRINGS CC [64] AND MOST RECENT GLACIER CLUB [66]. ONLY IF ASKED DIRECTLY WILL HE ACKNOWLEDGE THESE ACCOMPLISHMENTS.
Posted by: BUDDY WHITSON on 7/29/2009
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