clubface—open, closed, and square—and
the direction the ball will start with each
position. Once that is perfected, students
move to level two.
THE OPERATION 36 SUPERVISED
PRACTICES
Most kids enjoy the academy classes and
matches but there are a few juniors who
augment the program with private instruc-
tion once a week. To keep them engaged
during our private lessons, I use a lot of
gamification elements designed using the
eight core drives of human behavior. The
goals of the private lessons are to
improve the individual technique
to help the students understand
their movement patterns. I like
to always start with the “Why”
to truly understand the student.
Anybody can tell someone what
they are doing or how they are
doing it, but most people do not
know why. I create motivating
training environments for my
individual lessons, which still
actively follows the curriculum
of Operation 36.
Gavin Parker leads an Operation 36 class.
Below: Evan Hooks celebrates earning
medalist honors in an Op 36 match.
“Parent involvement
is key in our academy,
because once again,
we are a team.”
emy, the juniors must progress through
all six levels and ultimately shoot par or
better for nine holes from their full tee box.
The Operation 36 formula consists of
matches, class and supervised practices.
A closer look:
THE OPERATION 36 MATCHES
These matches create a comfortable, com-
petitive environment for our juniors to
explore techniques, learn about them-
selves, and face their fears. Our juniors
begin to understand pace of play, rules and
etiquette so they can become ready golf-
ers, encouraging smart and fast play. It is
rewarding to watch these juniors progress
into individual golfers who can make their
own decisions.
The Op 36 matches provide a chal-
lenge-point environment where golfers
can track and see improvement, espe-
cially important for our juniors who are
preparing to compete for regional and
national competitions. A huge bonus of
the matches is for the parents to become
educated on how to be a positive specta-
tor for events and encourage their child’s
vsga.org
development. We love to have parents
assist in the matches. Parent involvement
is key in our academy, because once again,
we are a team. We ask parents to assist
with scoring, tee-box marshaling and shut-
tling. Many parents caddie for their junior,
allowing for both player and parent devel-
opment to occur.
THE OPERATION 36 CLASSES
Training environments are the founda-
tion of our academy classes. One example
of our training environment is “Mortar
Men.” We create a unique narrative or
story to keep the juniors engaged and
motivated. For example, Mortar Men
enemy tanks have invaded your driving
range! It is up to your two-person mortar
teams to fire mortar rounds (range balls)
in order to destroy them. One student
plays the part of the gunner, firing three
mortars each initially; the other plays the
role of squad leader, instructing the gun-
ner with alignment. Badge-level require-
ments ensuring proper technique are
used. For example, level-one alignment
is recognizing the three directions of the
GET YOUR CHILD IN THE GAME
If your junior is a complete beginner, Op
36 is designed to be an experience that
gets your child on board with the game.
Experienced juniors can leverage the tech-
nology and work with the coach to find
their challenge point and make a plan for
improvement. Op 36 works for the junior
who just wants to be social or active and
wants to have fun. If your junior enjoys
golf because of the social environment
then Op 36 might be the perfect choice.
Youths can also connect with their
friends via the mobile app. The academy
also works for the driven junior who loves
golf for the challenge of trying to reach
their full potential in the sport. The end
goal of the academy is to progress juniors
to shooting par or better for nine holes.
The goal for me is to create a community
of skilled junior golfers who want to play
forever.
Gavin Parker, PGA, is a past USGA
Boatwright intern with the VSGA and the
current camp director for the Robins
Junior Golf Academy in Richmond.
J U LY / A U G U ST 2 0 17 | V I R G I N I A G O L F E R
35