CARLSBAD — The COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting shutdowns reinvigorated the public’s desire to hit the links, creating a renewed interest in a local youth golf tour.
Chris Smeal, the founder of San Diego-based Future Champions Golf, said the organization’s youth golf tour, first established in 2007, is driven by the goal of empowering younger players to elevate their golf game while learning to enjoy the sport and socialize with peers.
Earlier this month, Future Champions held its Kids Tour Fall Series Championship at Rancho Carlsbad to qualify for the world championships. The tour featured several age brackets, with competition for preteens, teenagers and college-aged players.
“In 2007, I saw a need for better tournaments, more affordable tournaments, so we started our tour,” Smeal said. “We started with 12 events, built it up and now have over 100 annual events per year.”
Two current tour players — Oceanside’s Saili Senteno and Essa Janecek of Coronado — played in the Fall Series Championship and said they enjoy the atmosphere and staffers who make the tour easy and fun.
Ten-year-old Senteno, whose aunt is Shannon Oh, a Carlsbad High School alum and former UNLV golfer, gets lessons from her grandmother, Caroline Oh. Senteno has played on the Future Champions tour for several years, and it is her favorite.
The Oceanside fifth grader is a top player in the 9-10 girls age group, with 42 career first-place finishes, including winning the Kids Tour Fall Series Opener and Kids Tour Fall Series at Point Loma, according to BlueGolf.
Senteno also has three hole-in-ones to her credit.
“I went to watch my aunties and started to get into it a lot,” Senteno said. “I like when you come here, you get to practice and meet new people from different countries, different states, and you get to see what’s different about them, and I can show my talent.”
Janecek, 11, picked up golf one year earlier while vacationing with his parents at a golf resort in Mexico.
Since then, Janecek has played golf daily, waking up at 5 a.m. to play nine holes with his father, Mike Janecek, before school.
As his passion for the sport grew, Mike and his wife, Felicia, started looking at junior programs for Essa and came across Future Champions Golf. The parents said the focus on the kids’ having fun and lack of pressure kept them returning.
The Janeceks have also recruited several of Essa’s friends to join the tour.
According to Hannah Jugar, a part-time employee who also plays golf competitively for the University of Redlands, nearly every staffer at Future Champions Golf has played on the tour. Staffers like Jugar offer tips to the younger players and help them develop their game.
For the Janeceks and others, the connection between the staff and kids makes a difference.
“I loved how it’s relaxed,” Essa Janecek said. “As my parents said, it’s everyone’s first tournament, and they can have fun without stress on their shoulders. I really like it.”
