Former LPGA Tour pro Denise Killeen helps out Grant Rey, one of the members of BridgeMill Athletic Club’s junior golf academy. Killeen and the other instructors at BridgeMill have worked to teach golf to a younger generation, and that work has appeared to have paid off.
BridgeMill took two teams to the competition — a Red team coached by former LPGA professional Denise Killeen, and a Blue team headed by Tom Losinger, a PGA master professional.
Each team consisted of 16 players between the ages of 7 and 13.
The competition consisted of nine-hole matches in a two-man scramble format against other clubs from the surrounding area.
BridgeMill Red went on to win the competition by defeating Bentwater, BridgeMill Blue, The Manor, Cartersville Country Club and Eagle Watch.
Its closest match came against the members of its own academy as it defeated BridgeMill Blue 7-5.
After claiming the regional title, BridgeMill Red’s run came to an end July 15 at the hands of Hamilton Mill in the city playoffs, losing in match play by a single stroke on the last hole.
Despite missing the city finals — which determine wat team represents the Atlanta area in the Junior League World Series — by such a narrow margin, Killeen found only positives in the team’s performance.
“It was great,” she said. “We were literally one putt away from making it to the city finals. Next year, I anticipate an even better year with our juniors getting older and developing more. We had a very young team this past year. It was great to watch and I was very proud of all of them. (The team) loved everything about the program and the competition that goes along with the Junior League.”
The BridgeMill Junior Academy has flourished under the guidance of Killeen, who has seen the number of juniors enrolled in the program rise from five to 150 since its inception.
“It is humbling,” Killeen said. “We have so many great families in our program that tell other people about the academy and our practice facilities, and therefore it continues to grow. We not only have kids from BridgeMill and Canton, but also have juniors from Marietta, Woodstock and Cartersville that participate year-round in the academy.”
Killeen was quick to thank the BridgeMill residents for their patience as part of the reason the academy has found so much success.
“Luckily, everybody has been very supportive,” she said. “Some clubs might frown on having so many young kids on the practice facility and playing golf, but our members are great.”
“(Our goal) is to introduce as many juniors as possible to the lifelong game of golf. Our goal is to develop the junior golfers’ knowledge, appreciation and skill in the game of golf.”
Jennifer Goddard, a BridgeMill resident whose son is a member of the academy, had only positive things to say regarding Killeen’s handling of the academy.
“Parents believe Denise’s program is second-to-none, not only in the area, but in the South,” Goddard said “The BridgeMill Junior Golf Academy teaches golf skills, core values, proper etiquette, rules of golf and competition strategies. These skills contribute to the juniors’ life skills, along with other positive character values.”
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