Tournament article

HEIWA PGM CHAMPIONSHIP 2018

With the hospitality of the Pros, juniors enjoyed fun talk show

Too bad with the pouring rain, the Junior Lesson day was cancelled. But pros didn't let the juniors down. They held a talk show instead. 14 junior golfers gathered in the clubhouse restaurant, welcomed by 4 great players. Last year's Money Rank winner Yusaku Miyazato as the host of the talk show, joined by his big brother Kiyoshi, Jinichiro Kozuma, and Player's Chairman Ryo Ishikawa.

Talk show featured on so many issues, how to manage rainy day golf, what to watch out for on windy day, routine before the rounds, so on and so forth.

Ryo recalled a bad memory of the rainy round.
"When I was an elementary student, with the wet hands I couldn't grip the clubs tight enough and my club flew right out of my hands. It ended up in OB area."

The talk show got really heated up when the issue focused on mental training. Yusaku mentioned about his sister Ai, who was focusing on a mental method "54 Vision" during her professional days. When Ai was having hard times managing it, her coach suggested a unique way to see the mental ups and downs. Coach told Ai to put 10 tees in her left pocket during the round. Whenever she thinks negative, take a tee from the left pocket and move it to right pocket. After the round, see how many ended up in right pocket. Then you can see the level of mental ups and downs.

Golf is mental game, you constantly fight your weakness in you.
"10 tees won't be enough for me", says Ryo.

Toward the end of the talk show, issues focused on junior golf. Pros recalled their junior days and gave great advices to both juniors and their parents. One among the participated junior was Shinpei Tarama from high school in Miyakojima of Okinawa Prefecture. This was his second chance to play in professional tour.

"I could never talk to the pro during the round, so this talk show was great. I learned a lot."
Shinpei will go on to college next year but will aim to become a "future star player" and join the team of professionals soon.