By Max Hu
AJGA competitor Max Hu, 16, provides GGP a first-person look into the challenges junior golfers face during the time of COVID-19.
It is the call so many junior golfers await. Last summer it came to me, a 16-year-old from Toronto: “Hello, is this Max Hu? I would like to offer you a position at an AJGA event in Maryland.â€
American Junior Golf Association tournaments are the biggest, baddest competitions in North America. They are notoriously competitive and selective, and many families pay thousands of dollars to travel across the world to regional qualifiers. Most qualifiers boast more than 100 participants with less than a handful of spots available.
For those who get into an event, the top players end up recruited by Stanford, UCLA, the big boys. These junior golfers often play more than eight hours a day, through rain and winds, just to be recognized at a regional level and get invited to an event. Once there, these ambitious 14- to 18-year-olds fight for a taste of the spotlight, with hopes to play college golf.
I have spent the past six years shuttling across the United States border to find frost-free courses where I can rack up AJGA points. Then COVID-19 closed the border. Tournaments were canceled left and right. Numerous safety procedures came on line, including restrictions to time on the driving range. And for the few tournaments that were not canceled, temperature checks guarded each facility.
So when the call from the AJGA arrived on a rainy Sunday morning last August, I jumped. The majority of Canadian events were long canceled, and I knew this was my most important season to get a shot on the stage. I packed my bags and headed to the U.S. Hours of waiting at border control brought confusion and frustration, but we finally were allowed to cross.
Late in the event I stood on a tee with shaky hands. My heart pounded and doubtful thoughts raced in my mind: “The wind seems awfully strong right now. I don't know if I remembered to clean that small piece of dried dirt off my ball. That large man with the neon yellow mask is awfully close to the green, I might hit him.â€
With a poor finish I wiped out my chances of finishing on the leaderboard and I was left devastated. On the car ride back across the border, I felt overwhelmed with disappointment, knowing that this was my last opportunity of the season and for the next 14 days, I would be quarantined in my home.
As I held back tears, my dad remarked, “At least you didn’t hit that large man with the bright mask, he was really close to the green.â€
There are days I feel like I should just give up. Maybe golf isn’t for me in the post-COVID world. Maybe my poor performance last summer is a signal that I should quit. ... The reality is, everyone shares this position.
I have always loved my sport and for the past six years golf has been my life. During freezing winters I basically lived in an indoor facility working on my swing. During the short Canadian summers, I trained outside from dawn to dusk, gradually worsening my tan lines.
My experience at this AJGA tournament is shared by many athletes. There was massive pressure to perform well during a pandemic-shortened season. We had to train hard and fast, and on our own, minimizing mistakes, all while re-considering the futures we had planned.
One of the most drastic changes brought by COVID-19 was in recruiting. Traditionally, a player contacts a coach with a request to be seen in action, hoping our spark, our potential will be on display. Now, coaches don’t have the option of traveling. They can only base decisions on numbers. What is the handicap? Ranking? Tournament scores?
Our options have been reduced, as rosters or entire teams have been cut. As student-athletes, our greatest fear is the domino effect these trims can have. When one school’s actions serve as a template for others, who knows what college sports will look like for the 2022 graduating class?
Here in Toronto, some courses had not even re-opened after winter, and a rising third wave of COVID-19 brought another lockdown. Continuing to pursue golf competitively seems like an unattainable goal. I really did not want to stop playing. I even packed my suitcase and prepared to cross international borders to find a place where I could continue golf.
College sport suspensions have spread into 2021 season. Right now, thousands of students like myself are forced to make uncomfortable decisions. What risks should we take to pursue a sport amid a global pandemic? How can we plan a recruitment pathway when schools are cutting teams? Should we give up on the sport that we love?
There are days I feel like I should just give up. Maybe golf isn’t for me in the post-COVID world. Maybe my poor performance last summer is a signal that I should quit. Maybe I was destined to become a computer scientist who works at a desk for 80 hours a week. The reality is, everyone shares this position.
Like everyone else, student-athletes need to find ways to move forward. Get a piece of turf in your basement. Practice putting into an old mug your dad never uses. Keep your swing alive with a few yellow foam balls. Even though the situation is less than ideal, there is always a way to stay connected with the thing you love. It all depends on how badly you want it.
It is a weird time to be a student, to say the least. Even though at this moment, it feels like everything is against us, we must stay strong. Tell yourself that some things are worth fighting for. Especially when it is a passion you have spent years trying to perfect. As the world shifts our identities away from being athletes, we need to ask ourselves: What can we do next?
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