Two Abbotsford teens are keeping it cool as they hold their spots in the list of top junior golfers at Ledgeview Golf and Country Club. Yale Secondary student Spencer Lightburn has had a hot club all season. He says that staying cool is the hardest part of the game. Lightburn and fellow 11th grader Blair Coan are both on Yale's golf team. The boys and their teammates prove that golf is not just an adults' game.

In Coan's case, the golfing torch was passed from an older generation. "My grandfather got me started on golf," says Coan. "He bought me a small set of clubs when I was little."

Lightburn's family also got him started in the sport when he was young, and he credits his skill to his early start. "The earlier you start, the better," Lightburn says. "The older you start, the harder it is to pick up." Lightburn doesn't wear a lucky red shirt like Tiger Woods does - instead he has a pre-tee-off routine that keeps him focused. "I always have a routine," he says. "If I don't do it, I get messy."

Both boys say that when they started they had trouble staying calm. "I used to have a really bad temper, and I would get really frustrated," says Lightburn. Coan would also get off his game after one too many bad strokes. "You just have to remember that it's just one game, and just because you don't golf well in one game doesn't mean anything - it's just one game," Coan says. Obviously, they have learned how to keep their cool.

"I stay pretty calm at tournaments because I don't want to make a fool of myself," Lightburn says.

They usually take out their frustration by hitting their bags with a club. But sometimes that isn't the best idea.

"At a tournament, I was winning going into the 18th hole, and then I doubled [bogie] on the last hole to lose by one stroke," says Lightburn. "I hit my bag with my driver and bent my driver. It was unintentional."

Their ability to bend clubs may be on par with the pros, but neither Coan nor Lightburn are looking to be the next Tiger.

"I'm not good enough to go pro, I know that," says Lightburn. "But hopefully it will get me a scholarship to the States. I actually want to be a lawyer." Coan hopes golf will be his ticket to university.

The two golfing standouts are still in the middle of their season at Ledgeview, and Yale Secondary principal Glen Roger hopes to have this young talent back on the school's team next year.

Aliza Rosen - For the Abbotsford Times
published on 06/19/2007