by Kelly Herrington
My parents taught me at a young age the value of learning how to play golf. As much as I didn’t really enjoy it when I was younger, my dad insisted it would come in handy. And he was right … of course.
It helped me in the business world to keep up with the men, and then when I got married, it became a fun activity to do with my husband Matt. And once we had kids we started teaching them how to swing the club too.
But it wasn’t until this year, that our 13-year-old son Connor really started to show an interest. When he came to us and said he was thinking about trying out for the boys’ golf team next year when he enters high school, we were like “OK!! Let’s do this!”
So, one to three times a week we’ve been taking him out to the driving range and also playing a quick nine holes at our favorite neighborhood public golf course. So, I figured I’d share our experiences and also tour some of the other local courses and share what it’s like to tee up with a teen.
We start with Dave White, or The Dave as the locals have lovingly dubbed it. Dave White is the City of Casa Grande’s public golf course and is where all the who’s who of the Casa Grande golfing community frequent. It’s like our very own Cheers bar, where everybody knows your name.
It is situated in the heart of Casa Grande, nestled near a few neighborhoods, including the Casa Grande Lakes, Los Portales and Fairways Mobile Home Park. Besides being the “it” place to play golf in town, adjacent to the golf course is Dave White Park that has a lake for fishing, children’s play equipment, soccer fields and pickleball courts. So there really is a wide array of activities nestled together.
But our focus is on golf! This 18-hole course has its challenges, but for the most part is fairly forgiving. I typically try and take our son out on Fridays since his school doesn’t have classes on Fridays.
This particular day was extra crazy and we almost didn’t make it out, but I had made a promise to Connor that I’d take him out. So we made it out by around 4 p.m.
And although we know this course like the back of our hands, there was a twosome behind us that threw off my son. He caved to the pressure in the beginning, wanted to quit the game of golf and throw in the towel. After some words of encouragement, we pulled ourselves together and finished, with respectable scores.
Kelly Herrington is a Realtor®/Sales Manager with ROX Real Estate. She can be reached at 520.780.0843 or kelly@roxsells.com.
