FCG Magazine // March 2021

FUTURE CHAMPIONS

GOLF MAGAZINE

MARCH 2021

COURSE PROFILE

CHAMBERS BAY GOLF COURSE

CHRIS SMEAL’S COACHING TIPS

HOW TO BECOME A COMPLETE PLAYER

NEW EVENT IS BORN ODYSSEY JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP

PLAYERS OF THE MONTH

RYAN FIRPO + INA YOON

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FUTURE CHAMPIONS

GOLF MAGAZINE

Dear Junior Golf Community,

We are so excited to launch the Future Champions Golf Digital Magazine in March 2021 to become the leading junior golf publication worldwide. This is an exciting time in the game of golf as the sport is booming on all levels. In recent years, golf was really only growing in competitive golf but since the pandemic hit and people’s interests have changed, golf has become the game of choice for many.

In each issue of the magazine, we have goals to inspire junior golfers and educate parents on the process of becoming a great player and more importantly, how to love the game. We think golf is so important for families and wish every family could golf together for a lifetime. As a parent, what more could you want than being able to spend several hours out on the golf course with your kids for a lifetime.

So, sit back and please enjoy our very first issue and grow with us. Should you have any feedback or interests for future issues, please let us know. Advertisers, please contact us for more information on how to be involved with our growing community. As always, we hope you play the game with passion, keep your head up high, walk with a purpose and enjoy your time outdoors playing golf.

Chris Smeal President and Founder of Future Champions Golf Head Coach at the FCG Academy in Stadium Golf Center

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Chambers Bay Golf Course

What does the U.S.G.A and Future Champions Golf have in common? The answer is simple…Chambers Bay Golf Course. How so you ask? That answer is just as simple too. The U.S.G.A. hosted the U.S. Amateur (2010) and the U.S Open (2015). And in 2021, they will host the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship, May 22-26. But in two months before they take over the golf course, Chambers Bay will be the home of the FCG Washington Championship – a World Series event.

Beginning March 20th, nearly 100 junior golfers of both the Boys and Girls College Prep divisions will compete in the two-day event. Junior golfers from Washington will be joined by players from Oregon, California, Montana, and Utah. All will be competing for not only being crowned champion of their division but will also be vying for exemptions for the Callaway FCG World Championship in July 2021.

Chambers Bay is a public golf course located in University Place, Washington just south of Tacoma that opened in 2007. Designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., he created this masterpiece on 250 acres on the shores of the Puget Sound. With breathtaking views of the often-serene Puget Sound and the ever-majestic Mt. Rainier, RTJ II took a former sand-and-gravel rock quarry and turned it into the true British-style links course it is today.

The Pierce County Municipal golf course boasts five sets of tees with yardages up to 7165 yards from the tips. It is a walking only course with caddies available if you do not want to carry your bag around. Chambers Bay continues to receive a lot of accolades, awards, and is consistently highly ranked in the golf world. For a golf course that is still in its teens (14yrs old), it has truly become a not-so-hidden gem of Pacific Northwest golf.

HOME OF THE FCG WASHINGTON CHAMPIONSH

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course profile

IP

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Junior Golf in a COVID-19 World:

A look back at how a pandemic changed it all

By Dean Gregory – March 5, 2021

Elena stands on the first tee, tied for the lead going into the second and final round. She crushes her drive up the right-center of the fairway on the opening par 5. As she starts to walk down the fairway, she breathes a sigh of relief. A strong start with 18 holes left to play. Fast forward to the 18th green. Elena stares down and lines up her 9 ft. putt to save par for the win. She takes her stroke and as if it were in slow motion, watches the ball drop into the hole. This has been a scene that has played out numerous times before. Enough times that it seemed to be normal.

A World Under Lockdown

But one year ago, on March 16th, life as everyone thought was normal suddenly became not so. The counties that comprise the San Francisco Bay Area issued a Stay-in-Place order to help combat the spread of the virus. Three days later the rest of the state had been ordered to follow suit. Californians soon found themselves with the rest of the nation where the word “Zoom” quickly became more than just a way to describe speed. No more commuting to work or school. Everything was done online. The only people you could interact with were either the people you lived with or the ones you saw on a computer monitor. These are the same people that are doing the same, looking at you through their monitors. Travel bans we instituted across the world.

Sports had completely stopped. Which meant all of golf had completely shut down. Driving ranges and courses were closed. The competitive junior golfer could not practice or play unless they were able to sneak on somewhere and not get caught. No coaches coaching unless it was done online. No tournaments to play. You couldn’t even go to your local golf store to pretend to buy new clubs just so you can hit into the simulators. This also meant that all junior golf tours were forced to postpone their seasons. Everyone was in limbo in the coming months. As it seemed like everything was going to be closed for a while, many tours had made announcements with hard number for the start dates they would resume their schedule which was sometime in June.

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Future Champions Golf FillS the Void

Fortunately, the FCG Team took a different approach. Led by Chris Smeal, the main goal of the team was to find the best way to ensure that golfers were given every opportunity to get back to being outside and competing. The team decided to monitor the situation on a week-by-week basis. Throughout April they followed the ever- changing restrictions that federal, state, and local governments set forth. They also followed the science and adapted the CDC Covid-19 Safety Protocols to create the safe tournament policies and procedures that were also paralleled by the U.S.G.A and that many tours adopted as they resumed their schedules.

At the start of May, restrictions for many golf courses were lifted and play was allowed. Because of the team’s due diligence and preparation FCG was able to hold the first junior golf tournament back after the nation’s shut down on May 9th. The word quickly got out and FCG was asked by parents from other states if they would host events in their area since the junior golf associations were not operating. They did.

Full Schedule and Expansion

Stone Creek GC in Oregon City, OR was the host venue for the return of FCG back to the Pacific Northwest. Because the other associations were still minimally operating FCG added eight more events for a total of nine tournaments in seven months. They had expanded to Oregon, Washington, and Montana. In 2021 they will also add Idaho. With the expansion, Future Champions Golf became the largest junior golf tour on the west coast. In addition to the FCG National Tour and World Series events, they added the FCG Collegiate Series. Since college golf was also affected, those student-athletes need a place to play. FCG once again stepped in and designed the series to accommodate the college player. The college prep divisions of the National Tour were also allowed to compete. With player development in mind, FCG found a way to bridge the college players with the up-and-coming high school players together. It has never been done before by any other junior tour.

Outlook 2021

2021 has started strong with nearly every event being at full participation. As travel bans start to slowly be lifted, more and more international players will hopefully be making it to the shores of the United States ready to play and compete. The two summer major tournaments, FCG International and the Callaway FCG World Junior Championship will emerge once again as true worldwide events. Other invitationals and team events are also looking to be added. So, fasten your seat belts, hold on to your hats. Future Champions Golf is just getting started.

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PLAYER SPOTLIGHT:

NATHAN SAMPSON

By Rene’ Sampson – March 8, 2021

Nathan Sampson, class of 2023, started playing golf in tournaments at age 7. He also played baseball from 4-8 years old and pop Warner football from 7-12. At age 10 Nathan qualified for the Drive, Chip and Putt Finals and got to go to Augusta for the Masters event in 2016! That was an amazing experience for the whole family. It was at age 12 that Nathan made the decision to stop playing football (which he also loved) and focus solely on golf. He then started playing in more tournaments.

Nathan currently is on the Varsity Golf Team at Great Oak High School and is looking forward to the season starting. He loves being a part of a team! Nathan has a passion and love for the game and plays as many Future Champions events as he can. He hopes to play in college in the future.

Nathan said “Future’s tournaments have a very welcoming environment and make the tournaments fun to play in.”

Jeff and I feel the staff are very friendly and the players and families we meet are so nice!

tournament results

2021 - Feb 13-15th Skytrak Western States Cup - 4th place overall (77,69,71)

Feb 27-28 National Tour at Pala Mesa 1st place (71,72)

March 6-7th. National Tour Coastal Challenge at Arrowood - 2nd place (71,70)

2020 - December 5th-6th National Tour Fall Championship - 4th place (73,73)

September 26-27th National Tour San Diego Classic at La Costa 1st place (71,70)

August 29-30th National Tour Escondido Junior at The Vineyard - 3rd place (70,73)

July 6-7th FCG World Series Global Cup at Twin Oaks - 2nd place (70,71)

June 6-7th. National Tour Spring Series Championship - 1st place (73,70)

Feb 29-March 1st - National Tour East County Challenge - 2nd place (72,71)

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14A New

Championship is Born!

– And It’s Just for Our 12 and Under Players at the future home of the NCAA Division 1 Golf Championships – Omni La Costa Resort

Introducing

THE ODYSSEY JUNIOR GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

The FCG Odyssey Junior Championship is the newest Invitational added to the FCG Annual Tournament Calendar and will be held at the beautiful Omni La Costa Resort.

Legends Course- Players and Caddies Walking Boys 11-12 (36-Holes) Girls 11-12 (36-Holes) Boys 9-10 (36-Holes)

This special event is just for our younger divisions (11-12, 9-10, and 7-8 Divisions)

Custom Engraved Odyssey Putters for all Division Champions!

Front 9 Only Legends Course- Players and Caddies

Riding in Carts Girls 9-10 & Boys 8 and Under Yardage (1900-2100) Girls 8 and Under Yardages (1500-1700)

WHO CAN PLAY? Invitations will be emailed to Top Finishers from the 2020 FCG National Championship, the 2020 FCG International Junior Golf Championship, the 2020 FCG Callaway World Junior Golf Championship.

All other interested junior golfers can APPLY on the Website for an At Large Exemption

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History About

The Future ChampionsGolf Tour

Have you played in the FCG Tournament Program yet? Here are a few things to know first. We started the Tour officially in 2007 after hosting some one day, once a month 9-hole events from 2004 to 2007. We saw a huge void in the competitive golf community. There were not enough events, not much excitement, and events were too expensive so as someone who was training over 100 kids a week, we started the FCG Tour. The first year we hosted one two-day ranked event a month in San Diego only and the Tour was called the Callaway Challenge Tour. Then in December that year we hosted the first San Diego Junior Amateur Championship aiming to be the Premier Winter Break event in the USA and it was a home run with 220 players coming and the champion of the event, Chris Williams was recruited their by several college golf coaches. Chris later becomes the #1 ranked amateur golfer in the world.

We continued to build the Tour and then in 2008 we launched the San Diego Junior Masters Championship the week prior to Junior World and that event was also a huge hit with 220 players and a huge international field. This event has since been renamed the FCG International Junior Golf Championship as the lawyers of the Masters at Augusta National didn’t like our tournament name. This event has now grown to 650 plus players annually. In 2009 we started the FCG World Championship but held the event on President’s Weekend in February. Although it was an immediate success, we knew it had to move to the summer and a bigger course draw so a few years later we held the event at the prestigious PGA West and La Quinta Resort and that set off another winning tournament program. This event ow draws in over 650 players from over 40 countries and is sponsored by Callaway Golf.

Today we are very proud of what we have created from scratch with an everyday goal of solving problems and creating the best tour for junior golfers to develop. There are opportunities for every skill level in our program, there are less hoops to jump through, the

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tournaments are more affordable than others, and the experience is motivating and peaceful, and great fun for the whole family. Our staff is very friendly and knowledgeable and almost the whole staff are past players in the program. We utilize PGA Rules Officials for all of our events, not interns and all of these rules officials are out there top help you learn the game the right way. Come out and see why the FCG Tour is different from what else is offered in junior golf.

We also would like to share that our alumni have become some of the best players in the world including wins on every major professional golf tour. Alumni have won several Division 1 NCAA National Championships, multiple USGA wins, and more. Most importantly when you grow up in FCG we hope you have the best memories from making incredible friends and getting to know our staff for many years. Majority of our staff is still here since day 1 or joining us after playing on Tour.

A LOOK FORWARD TO THE TOUR NOW IN 2021 AND WE OFFER THE FOLLOWING SERIES OF EVENTS AND MAJOR JUNIOR GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS:

FCG Collegiate Series – 36-Hole Events with College Players and Junior Golfers

FCG World Series – These are the best of the best events in the world of junior golf with many events being some of the largest annual events each year. As many as 650 players have competed in a single event and players coming from more than 40 countries.

FCG National Tour – 36-Hole weekend competitions available year round throughout the Western USA and expanding

FCG One Day Series – Sponsored by KBS these events are 18-hole regulation course events to get players ready for the FCG National and World Series Events.

FCG Kids Tour – These are 9 and 18-Hole par 3 and executive course events

Listen to Podcasts on FCG Tour Development >>

Also please note you do not have to be a member to play in a FCG Tournament but members do receive special pricing and added perks. We also have a financial assistance program for those that need some help with the costs of junior golf.

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