This Diamond rarely in the rough

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/09/2009 (6177 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

All summer, kids from across the country took their shot at the CN Future Links skills challenge qualifying round.

When it was time to determine the qualifiers, Sam Diamond of St. Charles was at the top of the list of invitees in the 11-and-under age category, and courtesy of CN, the Royal Canadian Golf Association and the Canadian PGA, was among the 22 youngsters brought to Calgary for the national finals.

And when it was time to hand out the trophies, the 10-year-old left-hander was again first in line after the competition, which included driving, chipping and putting, at the RCGA Golf Centre at Four Seasons.

Diamond’s winning score of 250 points was the highest of any division (also 12-14, 15-18), boys or girls.

The better statistic might be how much fun Diamond finds in golf.

The good news is that this 10-year-old national champion’s daily docket is full of it.

“He tried one tournament last year and it was too much pressure,” said his dad, Gerald. “We didn’t want him not enjoying golf because of that. If it’s going to be that much stress, we don’t want him doing it.”

There have been a few tournaments this year, including the Manitoba bantam championship and last week’s event in Calgary, and Sam clearly has a pretty good early grip on how to turn golf’s stress and pressure into fun.

“There’s lots to like,” Sam said, asked why his interest in golf blossomed last summer. “You get to hang with buddies out here, play golf, practise. It’s fun to be out here taking shots all the time.

“If it’s raining, I’d still come out.”

What a perfect attitude for the summer of 2009.

In Calgary, with TV cameras recording the event and a big crowd cheering on the kids, Sam Diamond hit good shot after good shot, and holed those putts.

“It just felt like a normal day to me,” he said. “In golf, the pressure, it just makes me try harder.”

Sam is fortunate he lives just a five-minute bike ride from his home course, and even luckier that his dad has decided to leave all the golf decisions to his coach, St. Charles assistant pro Jared Ladobruk.

“I met him four years ago when I came here, but you could see the serious interest in Sam last year,” Ladobruk said. “He spent a ton of time here. He enjoys being here. If he’s playing at 2, he’s here at 11.

“He has a natural ability and it’s no secret that golf’s more enjoyable when you’re good at it. He’s keen, he’s good, and a natural ability is evident.”

St. Charles’ healthy junior program is a great environment for an aspiring 10-year-old and Ladobruk excels at perspective.

“You gauge where they are with the game, where they want to go, and try to point them in the right direction,” he said. “We’re there to help. That’s our role as professionals — to help get the right equipment in their hands and to help them out.

“Sure they see special (read: expensive, top-end) gear on TV and kids want this and that. You give your opinion, and sometimes those things are not always the best. You want to encourage them to use equipment that can help them at the time.”

The right club, made specifically for small golfers, helps them get the ball airborne and play the game as it’s meant to be played. And that can create the buzz that Diamond also experienced just a couple of weeks ago — his first eagle, coming on the MacKenzie course’s par-4 fourth hole.

“I was playing with a couple of other kids,” Diamond recounted. “I hit my drive about 210, to 137 yards (from the green) and I hit my five-iron from there, a red pin, it hits the front of the green and just rolls and hits the bottom of the pin and just drops in for eagle.

“They were speechless.”

Ten or 70, eagles have that effect on golfers.

Asked for the advice he’d give to keep Sam Diamond on that road, Ladobruk knew the answer immediately.

“‘To keep it fun, that if it ever starts to feel like it’s not, or he’s forcing himself, it’s time to re-evaluate,” he said. “If he wants to be a good player, a scratch golfer or a collegiate golfer, it’s important to have attainable goals and more immediate goals. Don’t shoot too far ahead. Maybe it’s just to play five tournaments next year.

“Where he goes with golf is entirely up to him. We’re just here to make his time enjoyable.”

Raise your hand if you like that philosophy for someone who’s 10.

Or older.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca

The Sam Diamond file

Age: 10

School: Winnipeg Mennonite Elementary and Middle Schools.

Grade: 6

Favourite hole: “I like all the holes.”

Favourite club: Five-iron or nine-iron. “I hit those the best. They’re my most accurate clubs.”

Favourite tour players: Mike Weir, Tiger Woods. “Mike’s left-handed, and I am too, and Tiger’s really good and I like him a lot.”

Do you watch golf on TV? “Yeah, but not if it’s a nice day.”