JUNIOR MEMBERSHIPS

Ages 0-6
Ages 6-9
Ages 9-12
Ages 12-15
Ages 15-23
Age 18+
  • Develop fundamental skills that transfer between sports
  • Provide an appropriate avenue to fulfill an individual’s athletic and personal potential
  • Create a generation that loves golf and physical activity, and transfers that passion and healthy lifestyle to the next generation
  • Grow both the general athlete population and the pool of elite athletes from which future LPGA and PGA Tour players, major champions and U.S. Olympians and Paralympians are selected

JUNIOR MEMEBRSHIPS

VGA uses the American Development Model as a roadmap for building and delivering our programs. The American Development Model (ADM) is a concerted effort between the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and its National Governing Bodies of sport to apply long-term athlete development principles in a way that resonates with the culture of sport in the United States. The goal is to create positive experiences for American sport participants at every level.

The United States Olympic Committee and its National Governing Bodies understand the vital role Sport plays in the lives of Americans. Participating in sports is an excellent form of exercise, a way to build lifelong relationships and a platform for achieving goals and realizing potential.

The United States Olympic Committee and its National Governing Bodies embrace the athlete development principles that allow Americans to utilize sport as a path toward an active and healthy lifestyle, creating opportunities for golfers to maximize their full potential.

By creating early positive experiences for all participants, the American Development Model will keep more golfers engaged in our sport longer, with four outcomes:

ACTIVE START

Age 0-6 - $100/month – 1 60-minute session/week

OBJECTIVES: Learn fundamental movements and link them together in play.

ATHLETIC SKILLS: Running, jumping, hopping, twisting, turning, stopping, starting, static balance, catching a ball with two hands.

TECHNICAL SKILLS: Experimentation with body, club, and ball. Important to remember kids don’t learn like adults.

PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT: Trying new challenges, effort, following simple instructions.

SOCIAL-BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT: Learning to share; learning to say thank you; like to be with friends; are the center of their worlds; parents are central for praise and approval; need balance and variety of new and familiar activities in short doses

 

FUNdamentals

Age 6-9 - $150/month – 1 60-minute session per week.

OBJECTIVES: Learn fundamental movement skills and build overall motor skills.

ATHLETIC SKILLS: Agility, balance, coordination, skipping, hopping, throwing/tossing, and catching away from body with either hand, flexibility, strength.

TECHNICAL (SKILLS) DEVELOPMENT: Continued focus on Fundamental Movement skills and ABC’s of athleticism. Developing Putting, Chipping, and Full Swing skills.

PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT: Concentration, teach-ability, learning to make choices, respect, understanding rules, how to cope with success and failure, learning to solve problems.

SOCIAL-BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT: Learning to cooperate with and help other children. Learning to consider other people. Learning through familiar activities. Want to do their best. Can show responsibility through completing simple tasks and requests.

 

LEARN TO PLAY

Age 9-12 - $200/month – 1 60 minute session per week.

OBJECTIVES: Continue to develop fundamental movement skills and start to develop fundamental golf skills.

ATHLETIC DEVELOPMENT: Agility, footwork, dynamic balance, complex coordination, speed of coordination, strength, flexibility.

TECHNICAL (SKILLS) DEVELOPMENT: Continue to progress in proficiency of putting, chipping, and full swing. Introduce bunker play, green reading, and pitching. Note that children can be introduced to bunkers earlier from a play and fun perspective.

PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT: Love of the sport, coach-ability, concentration, problem solving, becoming confident, making good choices, learning fairness, taking responsibility.

SOCIAL-BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT: Learning to compete against other players. Learning the values of golf. Learning independence and how to work together as a team. Developing self-awareness, children start to be aware of what they don’t know or what they can’t do. Like to help others and the coach. Able to listen to the coach.

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PLAY TO IMPROVE

Age 12-15 - $200/month – 1 60-minute session/week.

Plus facility usage.

OBJECTIVES: Continue to reinforce basic and fundamental golf movement skills and build those skills into introductory competitive experiences.

ATHLETIC DEVELOPMENT: Agility, footwork, balance, complex coordination, strength, core strength and flexibility.

TECHNICAL (SKILLS) DEVELOPMENT: Consolidating and beginning to master technical skills. Exploring variations – developing consistency under pressure. Focusing on putting, chipping, full swing, bunker play, green reading, pitching and club selection.

PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT: Love of the sport, focus, simple goal setting, self-motivation, confidence, learning to make decisions, developing self-reliance, understanding winning and losing. Respect of others.

SOCIAL-BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT: More independent, able to share, improved decision-making ability. Desire independence and are building confidence. Peer group acceptance becomes important and physical competency plays a role in how one is perceived. Girls tend to form close knit friendships; boys have more broad relationships.

 

PLAY TO COMPETE

Age 15-23 - $250/month, 1 60 minute session/week plus full facility usage.

OBJECTIVES: Establish and implement programs to ensure the technical, tactical, and supporting ancillary skills of the individual player are improved to meet current and future competitive expectations.

ATHLETIC DEVELOPMENT: Agility, footwork, dynamic balance, strength, endurance, speed, plyometric/power, and flexibility. A well designed and individualized annual plan should be developed at this stage in conjunction with a fitness expert. As frequency of playing and practicing increases, it is important to monitor for overuse injuries and mental burnout.

TECHNICAL (SKILLS) DEVELOPMENT: Repetition of fundamental skills, curbing bad habits, innovating, tweaking and fine tuning. Mastering skills. Performance benchmarks are set at this stage:

PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT: Self-defined enjoyment and participation in the sport. Willingness to be flexible and try new things, accepting responsibility, respect, making good choices, leadership skills, communication skills, interpersonal skills, and mental toughness. Long-term goal setting and incremental steps to get there.

SOCIAL-BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT: Seeking independence without needing to ask permission all the time. Developing logical and deductive reasoning. Self-image is stabilizing but peers are very influential. Opportunity to explore and experiment within sport activity is important. Healthy adult/mentor relationships are beneficial.

 

PLAY TO WIN

Age 18 +  - $250/month, 1 60 minute session per week plus full facility usage.

OBJECTIVES: Reinforce, refine, and optimize technical, tactical, and ancillary skills so that competitive performance of the golfer meets current and future expectations.

ATHLETIC DEVELOPMENT: Agility, footwork, dynamic balance, strength, endurance, speed, and flexibility. At this stage the athlete should have a solid foundation in place from years of training and follow a yearly plan.

TECHNICAL (SKILLS) DEVELOPMENT: Full mastery of technical skills; centeredness of ball contact, controlling golf ball, distance control, ability to adapt to variety of conditions, set game plan and understanding of personal strengths and weaknesses.

PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT: Completely understands and accepts the need for rules, regulation, planning and structure. Also sees long-term pay from hard work and goal setting.

SOCIAL-BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT: Self-actualization and self-expression are important. Major decisions about life are significant during this time. At this age there is also a high need to be self-directed and independent