The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Inside: Young golfers learn from the pros.
Calcavecchia, long drive champ Zeigler highlight LCCC scholarship benefit
Lorain County Community College hosted its 29th annual LCCC Jack Nicklaus Scholarship Golf Benefit on Aug. 12 at Elyria Country Club, and the showcase featured its largest pool of golfers in nearly three decades of existence.
For the first time, the benefit brought in 144 golfers to raise funds for the Jack Nicklaus Endowment Fund, which supports scholarships for LCCC students and its university partnership. Due to last year’s success, a clinic open to high school golfers across Northeast Ohio was brought back.
Since 1990, the event has raised more than $879,000 in financial assistance for LCCC students and university partnership students.
The event featured long-drive champion Mike Zeigler, who has been involved with the event for four years, and his good friend Mark Calcavecchia, the 1989 British Open champion and winner of 13 PGA Tour events.
“I was thinking he’d be a great asset to the event,” Zeigler said.
Calcavecchia brought a wealth of knowledge to the event, which was a huge draw for local high school golfers. The North Ridgeville boys team, as well as teams from Cuyahoga Heights and Bay and individuals from teams around the area signed up to learn and perfect their skills from some of the game’s best.
The clinic started with brief opening statements from Zeigler and Calcavecchia and continued with an open forum in which high schoolers could practice, ask questions and get advice on how to improve their games.
“I’ve been playing since I’ve been 5 or 6 years old,” Columbia golfer Ashley Kuhrt said. “I’m excited to improve my game based off how the professionals play.”
Both professionals were encouraged by the turnout from the high school golfers and see the game moving in an increasingly positive direction, but still firmly believe accessibility remains a problem in the golf world.
“I think it’s going in the right direction, but I think we still need to do a better job of getting kids involved in the game,” Calcavecchia said. “I’d like to see more Par 3 courses or nine-hole courses that kids can go out and play anytime and not have to worry about paying $125 to take your 10-year-old out golfing.”
Zeigler echoed the sentiment, saying: “I think the game’s amazing. But I’d like to see equipment go down in price. I think that’s ridiculous. I think these families, if you have a couple kids who want to play golf it’s $2,000 a kid just to get clubs. … It’s crazy. Other than that the game’s in a great place.”
But the message to young golfers remained the same, which is to find ways to get in as much playing time as possible.
After all, according to Calcavecchia there’s no substitute for getting out and golfing on a course.
“I know it’s difficult but to get out and play as much as you can,” Calcavecchia said. “You need proper fundamentals to get on the right path. You can learn how to hit it on the range but in order to learn how to play golf you have to play on a golf course.”