Nana Joy is here!

Joy arrived a day earlier than planned due to the unknown certainty of Hurricane Dorian's path.
Friday we had dinner at home, Saturday we were going to Pearl's 2nd birthday party but AA came back from golfing with a scratchy throat and runny nose. So we declined and hoped all would be fine for seeing family on Sunday at the Mellow Mushroom.
Sunday: We did go to St. Augustine, decided AA's ills was only allergies. St. Augustine preparing for the storm:

Dylan singing with Daddy and Wes Register:

Nana with Alivia, AA and Dylan:

Group photos:

Nice that we could all get together, sorry that we missed Cara and Travis and the Cruce family.

NFJG Banquet and Golfing!

AA earned three awards. She won the Rising Girls Fall Season, the Player of the Year for Rising Girls (13 - 18) and she also won the Harry Vardon Award for lowest average score. Amazing! She didn't play many tournaments during the Spring and Summer, choosing to work on shorter distances. The banquet was very special as usual, Jack does an amazing job, with his speeches and awards and door prizes. The food buffet is well organized and great food, geared more for youth tastes but still delicious. We invited Penny and Bryan, both attending the golfing before and the banquet. They are so appreciated!

Group photo below is Jack giving directions about the seven holes they were allowed to play at the Champions course. I arrived after work and was able to see her play the 16th and 17th (went in the water! - she was the very last person allowed to play, it was the 6:00 p.m. stopping point and she hurried as everyone was walking away and said her grip slipped, was rushed. Hopefully she will have many more chances to play here!)

Started on 18th Hole (Shotgun start); went to the 10th, 13th - 17th. 

She made par on the 18th Hole which is long, she was the only girl in her group to make par - Good job!

17th Hole:

Love seeing the course with NO ONE on it - unlike the TPC PGA Event!! Many trophies for most birdies, WEB.com Tour Winners (last time, now named the Korn Ferry Tour) and the Jack Nicklaus Award (she has won in past).

Banquet photos: Ms. Penny chatting with AA:

Apryl Parker's Mom Vanessa was at the banquet with her other daughter, to accept all awards. Apryl was already at college, on a golf scholarship at Eckerd's. She also was awarded two $2,000 scholarships from the NFJG Foundation.
Coach Bryan Kipnis (also Apryl's Coach) and Mentor Ms. Penny Reynen:

NFJG Tour Director Jack Aschenbach:

Awards List:

Eagle Harbor Jr. PGA team Match at Grand Cypress, Orlando

AA's PGA JR All Star team played a solid match against Tampa in the morning and scored five (-5) under for the win! Screaming Eagles moving on to the Championship round in the afternoon! So proud of these talented junior golfers on her team.
The afternoon was played out the same, -5 under but the stronger Marriott Golf Academy earned the win (-7 under). By flags, it was 10 to 2 (EH).
It was nice having Penny Reynen attend and support the team, she volunteers for many junior golfing programs. (I stayed home with the dog and cleaning out the garage).

Scores:

Winning Team:

From Coach Bryan: These kids are good! A few missed putts today, but they'll be back next year ready to fight it out again!
From Coach Bryan Monday Morning: Good Morning Everyone!
Our Screaming Eagles All Star Team competed this past weekend at the North Florida PGA Junior League Section Championship held at Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando. The team came out of the morning semi-final matches defeating the Tampa All Star team 7.5-4.5 to advance to the Championship Match against Marriot Golf Academy. While the Championship Match ended in a loss for us at 10-2, the score doesn't exactly reflect how close it really was! Our players played some spectacular golf this weekend, but in the end we just fell a few putts short. A common question I get at practice is "Why do we putt so much? Can we go hit balls now?" There are many elements to this game, but it almost always comes down to putting.
These players work very hard to maintain these skills and I'm so proud of their efforts. It's seasons like this that continue to make PGA Junior League the highlight of my job! I hope to see everyone out for our Winter Shootouts starting in November. Have a great winter and we will see you in February for early Spring registration!
Bryan Kipnis, PGA
Director of Player Development, Hampton Golf
Eagle Harbor Golf Club, 2217 Eagle Harbor Parkway
Fleming Island, FL 32003 Work: 904-269-9300

OPJH Orientation and First Day of School! And OPE Friends at Owen Kinder's Home

Monday, 08/12/19, AA attended the meet the teachers and check out the Robotics team lab. Coding Team:

Owen was a bit tired, he was there all day! We went at 2:00 p.m.

Tuesday - First Day of 7th GRADE!! She ate lunch with Owen and Robotics Team member Kevin. 

The Kinder Family was kind to invite the OPE Squad to their home Friday, August 16th. AA, Noah, Twins Tyler and Dylan, Connor (back row). Owen, Ian, Jane, Lily sitting.

Ford and I went to the River House right after work, enjoyed some alone time, then Ford picked up AA. They were off to Orlando the next morning! First week back to school completed!

Drive, Chip and Putt 2019

World Golf Village's Slammer and Squire hosted the sub-regional drive chip and putt.
Alyzabeth did well, just missing one chip which made the difference today. Third place is great, just doesn't get you through to the regional. The regional is where the top one player per age group earns their way to the Master's in April. Ms. Penny came and watched, it was a record HOT day - over 100 degrees!
First is the Drive:

Receiving her medal for tying for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in putting - three girls had the top score.

She placed third!

Scores for her age group:

Try again next year!

Rising 7th Grader! Orientation at Orange Park Junior High

We rushed back from Pinehurst on Sunday, picked up Ginger from Carolyn and dropped Coach Bryan off at his Eagle Harbor home so that AA would be ready for this morning's OPJH orientation.
All went well this morning with AA sorting through her school supplies, put on her Rolling Stones concert t-shirt and hopped in the truck with both Daddy and Mommy me!

Ford and I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at Metro Diner, Walmart shopping, walked Ginger, played fetch with Ginger, cleaned out one more corner of AA's bedroom, etc. Then we sat down and FORGOT about the TIME! Ford jumped up at noon and ran out the door. Good news that Jana Kinder was picking up Owen, so she told AA that we were running late. Big OOPS!! The kids were dismissed at 11:50 so she did have a short wait.
At the orientation, the kids played a "ice breaker" game, she met several kids, including Chloe who walked with her the entire time. AA said the cheerleaders were good at the pep rally and they did the school classroom tour. Looks like she does not have PE (good thing!), she got both chosen electives: Robotics Team and Spanish. The program included a session about managing stress, bullying and following your dreams. She is in the Early High School Academy/Wildcats so several of her classes count as High School credits. Should be a GREAT year!

U.S. Kids Golf Worlds 2019

AA qualified for the U.S. Kids Golf Worlds when she won the local tournaments for the spring season Girls 12 - 14 age.
Penny and Coach Bryan came and stayed with us in our Airbnb home on Pinehurst No. 6 neighborhood. It was 4 bedrooms and 3.5 baths, and very large. AA, Ford and Bryan drove up on Tuesday as we stayed back for the EH PGA Jr. Team sectionals on Monday (which they won).
AA, Ford and Coach Bryan went to the parade on Tuesday evening.
Penny and I drove up on Wednesday, settled in and all were ready to go on Round 1, Thursday.
The scores tell the story, a few triple bogeys on Round 1 and 3 knocked her out of any chance of a good finish.

The Payne Stewart pose:

Coach and AA getting in a photo op:

It was Coach's birthday on Thursday and a big joke about the frozen cake I bought (thinking it was an ice cream cake)!
Since I was not motivated to blog during this summer, I will try to dig up the photos and add later!