NFJG - Jack's Newsletter 07/26th and 30th

Jack missed three tournaments due to attending with family to his Uncle's funeral. On his arrival back in Jacksonville, he was catching up on news and preparing for the end of season awards banquet. He is an amazing person, golfer and supporter of junior golfers. He has improved the NFJG Foundation organization immensely over his nine years!

07/26/22:

Good evening, As I sit here in the JFK International Airport waiting out a three-hour layover and a delayed flight, I figure there is no better time to give you an update on our upcoming events. 

Over the past ten days we put together a summer series of events, to include the “Junior Players”, the “North Florida Junior Amateur”, and the “San Jose Classic”. We hope you enjoyed them as much as we enjoyed hosting them. If you noticed I was not present for either of these events as I was attending to personal matters in my hometown of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. To my understanding the events ran very smoothly, so many thanks to my outstanding staff and our volunteers. Congratulations to everyone who played in these events and special congratulations to all our winners. 

Over the past eight months 140 plus tour players have been competing to qualify for the top twenty-five spots in the “NFJGTOUR Junior Players Cup”.  At the conclusion of the “Greater Jacksonville Junior Championship” the top 25 players (based on points) were identified and at the “North Florida Junior Amateur” at the World Golf Village-King and Bear course this past week those players collided to determine the top player. Congratulations to Fleming Island’s Tyler Mawhinney who battled Ponte Vedra’s Cameron Reed down to the wire.  Both players shot an amazing six under par to tie at the top and force a sudden-death play-off.  In the sudden-death play-off the players would tie the opening hole and go to the 100-yard marker for one shot at the title and rights to represent the NFJG Foundation at this years AJGA “Junior PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass. It’s hard to believe that after all that it would all come down to a single shot, but it most often happens that. Once again congratulations Tyler! 

OK, there are only three events left in the season and there is only one event, THE NFJGTOUR Championship that can affect the PLAYER OF THE YEAR point standings, so if you are in the running, I hope you are paying attention.  This event is being played next week on Monday and Tuesday, August 1st and 2nd at Marsh Landing Country Club and Glen Kernan Country Club, so we hope to see you there. As a reminder for our Foundation Division players, you will play both days. Nine-holes each day.

Then it’s the “Tournament of Champions”.  This event is being played at Ponte Vedra Inn and Club on Sunday, August 8th.  To be eligible for this event, you must have won an event in prior years or won an event during this season. Bottom line, you must have won a tournament.

Finally, we will be hosting the “ADULT-JUNIOR WINNERS” Tournament at Marsh Landing Country Club on Sunday, August 14th.  For this event, if you finished 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the gross or net division of any ADULT-JUNIOR event, then you are eligible.  Players may not be substituted. The teams must be the players who won together, regardless of age.  So, if you won in 2013 and you are now 22 years old and now an NFJGTOUR alum, you are still eligible to play with your then adult partner.

Then our last event of the year will be the Awards Banquet at TPC on Wednesday, August 24th. Prior to the awards banquet award recipients and others will tee it up on the Stadium Course for 9 holes of fun. Award recipients do have priority sign up until August 18th.  Players may sign up at any time, but everyone will be placed on a wait list until August 18 unless you a confirmed awards recipient.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Jack Aschenbach, PGA

07/30/22:

I hope this newsletter finds you well and at the top of your game. If not, go see your local PGA Pro for a quick review. Don't struggle through it alone. The solution could be as simple as grip, posture, stance or alignment.
After nine plus years and over 300 junior tour and special events I find myself reflecting back at all the great golf I and my staff have witnessed over the years. It’s simply amazing what our kids are accomplishing in today’s golf arena.
For us, it all starts in October of each year with the start of the fall tournament series and then ends two tournament series later in August just in time for high school golf to kick in.
Preparing our members for higher-level golf opportunities is just one mission of the North Florida Junior Golf Foundation and I like to think we do a rather good job at it. Here’s a few examples.
How about a young man named Luke Balaskiewicz who traveled to the University of Georgia up in Athens to try to qualify for the Notah Begay Junior Golf National Championship. Yes, he qualified and, in the process, shot a course record 10 under par “61”. How about a youngster named Matthew French and another named Nolan Harper who shot five and four under par to qualify for the “US Junior Amateur”? Balaskiewicz qualified too. What about another superstar named Tyler Mawhinney who this year has played in five events and won all five events with a scoring average (over 10 rounds) of 70.44. OR how about a young lady named Alyzabeth Morgan who has been on the NFJGTOUR since she was six years old (now 15) and has played in over 170 tournaments and has won 39 times and has just as many runners-up finishes as wins. Now that’s impressive. For a final OR. How about a young lady named Lizzie Thompson who has been on the tour for three years, played in 40 events and a couple of weeks ago posted her career low round of 79 for her first Gold Medal.
I simply could write a book with hundreds of pages on all the accomplishments our kids have made. I’m so impressed and I hope you are as well.
This season we lose some of that talent as 43 seniors will be on there way to higher level learning. Twenty-eight young men and fifteen young ladies will head to college, and most will play division I or II golf at their respective houses of knowledge. We wish them all the absolute best and we hope they come back to pay it forward one day.
I can’t say it enough, but thank you to all our foundation partners, sponsors and supporters for your overwhelming generosity and making this all possible.