🎥 Golf program launched for Lincoln, O’Loughlin students

PE teacher Gay Flax shows a Lincoln fourth grader some tips on putting.

By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Students at Lincoln Elementary School had their first taste of golf lessons Thursday.

PE teacher Gay Flax was able to purchase a Start New At Golf (SNAP) set with the assistance of the Lincoln’s and O’Loughlin’s PTAs, her husband’s business Bieker Insurance, and a $2,000 grant. Students in grades kindergarten through fifth grades at both schools will be using the SNAP set.

The students are learning basic club grips and shots. The clubs are color coded to assist the children in remembering where to put their hands.

Students stand inside color-coded and numbered rings that help them adjust their swing for different types of strokes, including putting, chipping and driving.

Girls in Lisa Kruse’s fourth grade class at Lincoln Elementary School take turns practicing putting as a part of the school’s new Start New at Golf program.

The students use plastic clubs and large balls that resemble tennis balls. However, both the balls and clubs are weighted just as a standard golf clubs or balls.

The children can aim for putting targets or a large, round chipping and driving target that resembles an archery target.

The SNAGazoo is a shaft that makes a noise when the students use the correct swing. Other shafts have flags attached that make a snapping noise when the stroke is correctly executed.

“It gives them immediate feedback,” Flax said.

Lincoln fourth graders take turns practicing putting as a part of the school’s new Start New at Golf program.

Flax said the program gives students an alternative to more athletic team sports.

“Kids need a lifelong skill,” she said. “Some students get tired of football, basketball and soccer.”

Golf is a skill that the students can use the rest of their lives, Flax said. It is also an activity that can get students who are less athletic interested in PE.

“One of the girls ran up to me and said, ‘I did it. I did it,’” Flax said. … “That is what I want. I want kids who are not interested in PE to have a reason to get excited.”