Golf In Nicaragua

It's 99 degrees with equal humidity and very little breeze as I squish down the fairway of Nejapa Country Club outside Managua, Nicaragua. To be honest one just doesn't know what to expect from a country that has three golf courses and two of them only have nine holes (so I guess that's only 2 full courses?).

I was invited to play by a fantastic family from the USA who moved to Nicaragua a couple years ago. It was in Nicaragua that their daughter began playing golf. It was cool to watch her play. She's thirteen and goes after that golf ball like a....tiger...or a Lorena or an Annika.

The course was wonderful, set in the beauty of Nicaraguan hills. The course was just shy of 7,000 yards with fast greens. I look forward to playing there again with Tiffany and hopefully some of the others from the junior program. It's an amazing program but here's the deal. Clubs, golf balls, shoes, etc. are all very difficult to purchase with out great expense. Also, there is no club fitting facilities. (there teaching program is wonderful)

If you stop by the web site you will notice that the Central American girl's champion comes from Nejapa Country Club and not just once but two years running. This is a strong program and one I think we could help build. I talked with Greg and Samantha (Tiffany's parents) who know a PGA Professional in Southern California that is working on bringing tour members to do clinics and I hope I have the opportunity to be a part of this. Not only for the country club but they are considering starting a program, much like the 1st Tee program, for children in the Barrio's.

I have some thoughts on how Favor500 might take part and will write more on this in coming blogs.

I'm looking forward to starting tournaments again. Check out my schedule for the coming year. I'm headed towards my first PGA Tour qualifier. This year is gonna be fun!

Talk soon,
Byron