If Quesnel produces the next Mike Weir or Brooke Henderson, chances are they will have made their way through Kathy Gook’s golf camp.
Held every summer for the last 15 years or so, the camp hosts youth from across the city who want to improve their scores on the links or at least better their skills enough to beat their moms, dads or siblings at some point.
The week-long course splits its time between Gook’s backyard driving range just east of Dragon Lake and the Quesnel Golf Club on Blackwater Road.
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Budding golfers between the ages of eight and 14 spend two hours a day improving their form, performing fundamental golf movements and learning the subtleties of the game.
A sunny Tuesday morning saw them rotating through a series of stations on Gook’s back lawn.
While some focused on golfing skills like chipping a tennis ball through a hula-hoop and at a target or playing tic-tac-toe putting, others worked on hand-eye co-ordination by playing tether ball or beanbag toss.
The warm-up looked like it would benefit anyone interested in sharpening their golf game, but the campers were especially invested.
Gook paced back and forth from station to station offering tips on weight alignment, foot work and hand placement.
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On Wednesday and Friday they get out on the course to tackle a few holes.
A lifetime love of golf often ensues.
“A couple of them work out at the golf course for me now,” Gook says of her past students who took the course growing up.
“They’re now 20 or 21 [years old] and their handicaps are down to two or three.”
