ELKINS — The John Ballantyne Memorial Youth Golf Association will be holding registration for the upcoming season on Saturday, April 13 at the Elks Country Club.

The program is free for youth golfers in Randolph County between the ages of 6 and 18 years old. Registration will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and a parent or guardian must be present to fill out paperwork.

“We had 50 kids sign up last year and I think we are really doing a good job of introducing the game of golf to kids,” Mary Snelson, who heads up the program, told The Inter-Mountain. “We teach them about course etiquette, which is a really important part of golf, and the fundamentals of the game.”

The organization will officially begin its season on April 22. The golfers will spend four weeks at JB’s Golf Driving Range in Crystal Springs before heading to the Elks Golf Course for four weeks of training.

“This year we are going to try something new by doing some sessions on instruction, golf etiquette, and safety on the golf course each evening before we start playing golf,” Snelson said. “There are also nine core values of golf that we will go over and we are doing some work on that, because it is very important for kids to know those things.” 

The season will conclude on June 24 when the program hosts its annual Drive, Chip and Putt competition. Each golfer participating in the program will also receive free individual private lessons from the Golf Pro at Stonewall Resort. 

Last year’s members also had the opportunity to work on their game over the winter with Davis & Elkins College head golf coach Patrick Smith, who invited the young golfers to D&E’s Memorial Gymnasium for several sessions of golf instruction.

“They have a golf simulator at the college and the kids got to practice their driving on it,” Snelson said. “Coach Smith worked individually with each kid and there’s also a little putting area inside at D&E where the kids were able to do some putting. Some of the D&E players also came to the session and helped the kids with their game. Hopefully we can do it again next year.”

Snelson said the program is looking for individuals who would like to help with the golf program this year. 

“We are always looking for volunteers to help work with our kids,” Snelson said. “We are anxious to start another season. We have some older kids who started the program years ago and they are now on high school teams. It is exciting to see the kids progress and a lot of them got that little spark to love golf from this little program at the Elks.” 

For more information on the golf program, email Snelson at msnelson422@gmail.com.