BirdieBall Helps Youngsters Rank Highly in National, Drive, Chip and Putt Competition
Drive, Chjip and Putt is a collaborative effort initiated in 2013 by the Masters Tournament, United States Golf Association (USGA) and The PGA of America. The Drive, Chip and Putt Championship is a free nationwide junior golf competition aimed at growing the game of golf by focusing on the three fundamental skills. Participants advance through local, sub-regional and regional qualifying in each age/gender category potentially earn a place in the National Finals, which is held at Augusta National Golf Club the Sunday before the Masters Tournament and is broadcast live by Golf Channel. This years final is Sunday, April 3rd.
We are proud to have helped a couple of juniors win and compete in the Finals in both 2015 and 2016. Effie Parakas' father bought her a 4' x 14', Fast, BirdieBall Putting Green four months before the final. Effie, not only won the 7-9, Girls bracket, she was the only person to make the 30' sliding, right to left downhill putt on the 18th green at Augusta National. Impressive to say the least. Below is a video link of the well thought out putt. Notice how she understood the break and speed of the putt. Practicing the speed of this putt certainly gave her confidence as she stood over this winning attempt.
This year we are proud to partner with Nolan Haynes in the Boys, 10-11 finals. In January, we helped him purchase an 8' x 18' putting green which we understand he is practicing on daily. This last weekend the Golf Channel visited Nolan at his home in Barberton, OH where he is honing his skills for the competition. Photo below is the backstory video for Nolan's intro in the finals on April 3rd.