The number of young athletes continues to rise as the Ranch Cities area continues to grow, and the Aubrey Area Youth Sports Association is doing what it can to keep pace, adding golf to its list of programs for the 2026 season.
AAYSA’s new golf team partnered with Christie’s Golf Ranch and the Tee Indoor Simulator for a six-week program, teaching the sport of golf to Aubrey area athletes.
“We wanted to give kids that have never played an opportunity to learn in a space that is conducive to learning and not feeling judged,” AAYSA golf commissioner Randy Hagen said. “Most of our golfers were first-timers, so we wanted to build an affordable option for the kids to start learning.”
The AAYSA board sent out emails to spread the word and gauge interest about its new golf program and eventually welcomed 61 young athletes for its first season.
“The response was encouraging and also a little scary because I was worried that we had too many kids, but it worked out really well,' Randy said. “We were able to get age groups all the way from 6U to 14U, so it all worked out in the long run, but sending out those emails to everybody and seeing their response made it a lot easier to move forward with the program.”
Over the last six weeks, Randy, along with Becca Barton, AAYSA golf co-commissioner; Jeff Christie, owner of Christie’s Golf Ranch; and Patrick Nolan, owner of the Tee Golf Simulator, worked together to teach the young athletes the fundamentals of the game of golf.
“It was our first time partnering on something like this, and we had a few kinks, but all in all, we had a great turnout, and we’re looking forward to doing another one in the fall,” Christie said.
Randy’s son and Monaco Elementary first grader Hays Hagen said he enjoyed learning the new sport.
“I thought it was going to be fun, and honestly, it was,” he said. “I felt like I was going to do well because playing baseball taught me how to hit the ball hard.”
Monaco Elementary fourth grader Maria Dominguez- Martinez highlighted the golf simulator at the Tee as her favorite part of the program.
“It has this screen that lets us know the height of the ball after we hit it, and the teacher at the simulator really helped us out and gave us tips in a nice way,” she said.
Aubrey High School freshman Tess Gore offered words of encouragement for anyone interested in giving golf a try.
“It’s lot of fun, you’ll meet new people, and it’s just a great experience to have no matter what grade you’re going into,” she said.
AAYSA parent Scott Bryant shared his thoughts on the program.
“I love golf and love being out in nature, myself, so I thought it was good for this generation that tends to be electronically fluent to get outside,” he said. “This provided a great opportunity during the summer when it may be too hot for the running sports for the kids to touch some grass and enjoy the outdoors without [straining] themselves in the heat.”
AAYSA president Cindy McCraw said she hopes that this is just the beginning for the program.
“We want to double registration in the future,” she said. “… In the future we want to put together a one- to twoday coaching clinic for our volunteers because there are a lot of parents that play golf but may be intimidated by coaching, but we want more people that are willing to help grow the program and ultimately help us put Aubrey on the map and send our kids into high school and beyond, loving the sport.”
