Christie's Golf Ranch hosts camp for little golfers
Christie’s Golf Ranch in Pilot Point opened its final summer junior golf camp for area youth on Monday morning.
Christie’s Golf Ranch owner and golf coach Jeff Christie led a group of aspiring young golfers through various drills to sharpen their skills in the game of golf.
“It was great,” Jeff said. “You know, it's always really interesting because it just brings me back to when I was a youngster, and I was going to junior camps and how much the golf professionals meant to me growing up, and here I am, 45 to 50 years later doing this.”
The ranch, which is named in honor of Jeff’s late father, Jim Christie, is open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to sundown and has hosted multiple golf camps over the summer.
The week-long event saw seven young golfers, ranging from kindergarten to high school, receive hands-on instructions from Jeff as he walked them through various driving, putting and chipping drills, building their confidence off the tee and on to the green.
The facility features a driving range with 55 stations and a ninehole, par three golf course with water hazards, bunkers and putting and chipping greens, which gave the kids firsthand experience on a golf course.
“The biggest thing is just to introduce them to an individual sport full of life lessons,” Jeff said. “In golf it's all about your integrity and about your honesty on the golf course. It's probably the only sport where you call a penalty on yourself, and everybody else would probably say, ‘No thanks, I didn't do that.’ Golf just really gives you a great aspect of what life really is.”
Camp attendee and incoming ninth grader Declan Byrd shared some of the insight he picked up at the camp.
“One of the things I learned is never to take a practice swing six feet from the hole, because you don’t need to when you can just tap it in,” he said.
Fifth grader Blain Watson highlighted his favorite parts of the event.
“I learned about friendship and how to play golf,” he said. 'We learned that it’s important to know if you’re uphill or downhill and to have fun.
Watson’s grandfather Calvin Pinion echoed his grandson’s sentiment.
“Jeff is a great instructor and a great owner,” he said. “It’s a beautiful range, and all the passion [Jeff] has for the game of golf and for life was very informative for the kids.”
Jeff said he hopes the event sparks more interest in the sport and said his facility is a great place to get started.
“I just really want to let everyone know how special this place is,” he said. “There's been a lot of hard work, but it's been a passion of mine. We added a food trailer here this year, and we’ve added a [pavilion], so we have some shelter to get out of the hot sun. We have people coming all the way from Celina, Prosper, Oak Point … they're coming from all over, and I think if somebody's willing to drive 30 minutes to hit golf balls in a field, that must be a pretty special place.”
