This week Q & A Time with Jordan Speare,
member of our 2016 Team. Look forward to seeing you in April Jordan. Photo of Jordan with his favour player, Cameron Smith.
Name:- Jordan Speare
Age:- 14
What is your Home Club? Pelican Waters golf club
Handicap (if applicable): 6.3
How long have you been playing golf for? 6 and a half years
Do you have a favourite player? Cameron Smith
What is your favourite thing about the Australian Junior Age Division Championships? Being able to compete in a really well run tournament on a fantastic course, playing with mates and most importantly making new ones.
What are the courses like in America? How are they different to Australia? The courses in America are stunning and also very challenging. They have an awesome layout and the greens are like nothing I have ever played on. The competitions are run very professionally and it was an honor to play at them both. I think the only difference between playing in Australia and America is that there were more competitors at the event and at the Angel Park course that I played at, instead of think rough it was just rocky and sandy terrain.
What was the best part of being part of the Australian team? So many to choose from but probably the thing that I will remember as being one of the highlights of my golf was being able to wear the Aussie colours with pride, knowing that I was representing my country. But the best part about it was being a part of the team, I felt like I was part of a big family surrounded by old friends and some new ones. I still hold many of these friendships today.
What were the players from overseas like? Did you make any new friends? The players from overseas were pretty cool. I played with kids from Thailand, Mexico, Britain and USA. It was cool to hear stories from the kids from around the world. One of them even gave me a new ball marker! It was such a great experience.
Do you think competing in America helped your golf? Absolutely, even when playing at Yeppoon it changed my golf. When I went to Yeppoon, I was a 12 year old off a 16 handicap, playing golf for the joy of it. My first round in Yeppoon was a round of 79, which was my first round in the seventies. I was thrilled, but it didn’t end there. My last two rounds were rounds of 78 and 79. I would never have imagined being able to play like that. Once I made it to America, I learnt a lot, especially that you can hit the ball as good as you want but you need to be able to putt. I was averaging 14-15 greens a round but having around 40 putts. Since then I have spent more time on the putting green, which is now the strongest part of my game and my handicap has come down to 6.
What are your golfing goals this year? My golfing goals is to get to a handicap of 3 and improve my chipping. It was to get to 5, but I want to push myself further. I would also like to qualify for the Australian Team and compete in America again, it would be awesome!