"TEWELL TIME", A TRUE SUCCESS

Just a few weeks ago we were approached by Doug Tewell's camp to see if we would like to host one of the clinics of his "TewellTime Junior Caravan" which he does with his son in law, Pat Bates. We jumped at the opportunity of hosting a clinic designed specially for kids, "by kids". Doug is a former tour player where he won  four times and a senior tour player where he has won eight times, including a major (the Senior PGA Championship). Pat Bates played the European Tour, the PGA Tour and won five times in what is now the Nations Wide Tour. Pat is the current coach at Central Oklahoma University. How could we not say "yes" to a golf clinic for kids ran "by kids" who love golf.

I mean, how else would you explain that a player who has won millions playing golf, and who belongs to the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame would come around to a little town in Western Oklahoma just to introduce golf to kids or to get kids who already play golf a little more involved? Who would blame him for staying home to play golf with his friends or travel to great golf courses?

Most adults, like to compete. Kids like to play. Doug and Pat do both, the competing and the playing... as in playing around, having fun. Like Harvey Penick's book's title, a thought that I like to borrow, "And if you play golf, you are my friend". You have a couple of good friends in Doug and Pat. On the other hand, you need to realize that one thing is to "say" that "juniors are the future of the game", and another thing is doing something about it or allowing things to happen.

The PGA of America does something about it, and I proud to say that the reason is that they have people like Doug and Pat who personally also do something about it as well as part of their DNA. Club memberships at various courses, and proudly to say, in Elk City, allow this to happen and give kids the opportunity to take up the game without restrictions. Knowing our membership, I really wanted to be part of their schedule, so I said "double yes", without doubting that the use of the range for one day when adults could not use the practice facilities, would be 100% supported by our membership if it was for the benefit of local kids, members or not. So, on behalf of the kids, "thank you all!"

The clinic was a total success. For a couple of hours, Doug and Pat (who obviously loves kids and likes to make them laugh, as evidenced by the group picture) first gave a show and introduced the basics of the swing to youngsters of all ages. In such a short time, it is not easy to get into the mechanics of the swing, so Pat concentrated in what I call "PGA": Posture, Grip & Alignment. The three basic fundamentals. For another 90 minutes or so, the kids hit balls with the assistance of some of our high school team members, as well as Taylor Neidy, now a player at the University of Central Oklahoma, myself and other parents.

We had over fifty kids in all, most from within the city, but several from sister communities. Of the local kids, Doug and Pat should be proud to hear that several were not part of our membership, so their stop, reached more than just  members' kids.

On their way back to "the big city", Doug and Pat stopped in Clinton to give another clinic. When I spoke to Doug late in the afternoon, he mentioned that they had over 50 kids as well and considered their day a success in friendly Western Oklahoma! Good! Come back!

A special thanks to Pam Tewell, Doug's wife, who is, without a doubt, their "travel manager" who arranges all their stops, where they stay, where they eat, and of course, works behind the scenes to help Doug look good. Pam also helps during the clinics by registering kids, fitting them with shirts and doing what concerned partners do best: keep us, those who can't "multi task", on the present (with Mona at  my side, I know exactly what Pam does for Doug).

Also a special thanks to Ann Cowan, Myra Baker and the kids who later helped to pick up the range, most specially Ashley Marr and Jade Gray and her grandpa! And of course, thank you to the sponsors who made this clinic possible, in alphabetical order: American Realty (Mike Stout), Barber-Dyson Ford (David Dyson), Bar-S Foods (Management), Daily Elkcitian (Tyler), Doug Gray Chrysler-GMC-Jeep (Doug & Roberta Gray), Elk City Daily News, Elk City Golf & Country Club (Membership) and KECO Radio (Blake Brewer, Shawn Wilson). THANK YOU ALL!