YoC Member Gets Opportunity Of A Lifetime

April 21, 2015

Every year at its Annual Golf Tournament, Friends of Golf honors someone committed to helping grow the game of golf. This year, that individual was Southern California's own Phil Mickelson, who was on-hand at Bel-Air CC on Monday for the festivities. As part of the evening programming, SCGA Youth on Course member Shani Waite was invited to interview Mickelson in front of the event's guests. Shani, a 12-year-old from El Segundo, impressed FoG representatives at the event three years ago and has been invited back ever since. Her interview with Mickelson can be read below.

What was the best advice you ever received from your parents?

To stay in school! Absolutely the best gift my parents ever gave me was my education. But maybe for different reasons than I had originally thought. I had always heard that I should go to college and receive an education so that I had something to fall back on. That's true, but what I learned is that college is by far the best opportunity to transition from a kid to an adult. And what I've learned in my business endeavors is that people are more apt to trust me and believe in me to represent their company knowing I have had that educational experience. I won a PGA TOUR event my junior year in college and decided to stay in school. It was the best decision I could have made.

What is your fondest junior golf tournament memory?

When I was 7 years old I entered my first golf tournament. It was in San Diego and I had to compete in the 10 and under division. The first and second place finishers received a trophy, and the third, fourth and fifth place finishers received a ribbon. My dad told me that if I won a trophy, he'd buy me a new set of clubs. At the time I didn't even have a set, I just had four clubs, so I really wanted to win. I ended up finishing in second place behind a guy who was winning all of the junior events in the area at the time. But things were a little tight at the time for my dad, so the clubs ended up being a set of used women's clubs...

What is the best advice you've received from Butch Harmon?

I think I'll need to skip to about No. 15 because most of the advice I've received from Butch would need to be cleaned up and edited too much! But hmm, that's a good question. For starters, in 2007 when I started working with Butch he told me to learn how to drive the ball. Still working on that.

What advice would you have for a junior golfer like myself who plans to play golf in college?

Speed. You need to swing the club fast to be a good golfer. Control the club, don't let it control you. If you're able to do that consistently, you'll have success. Make sure you focus on strength and conditioning.

The mission of Friends of Golf (FOG) is to provide monetary assistance to youth golf organizations at all levels, thus making the game available to more boys, girls and young adults; while allowing these organizations to be more competitive. Recently, FoG made a $50,000 commitment to SCGA Youth on Course to support its instruction program.