Star golfers from the Ladies European Tour, China LPGA and LPGA of Korea gave more than 100 juniors a once-in-a-lifetime experience as they enjoyed an exclusive masterclass at Mission Hills Resort Haikou during the SGF67 World Ladies Championship with SBS.
After completing a round in the inaugural Mission Hills World Stars of Junior Golf Championship on the highly-acclaimed Lava Field Course at Mission Hills Haikou, the youngsters aged nine to 17 from both China and overseas learned how to hit different types of golf shots, ask the professionals questions and then compete in a ‘nearest the pin’ competition on the driving range.
Amongst the professionals was Kylie Henry, who showed them how she completes a full back swing and then uses her lower half to drive through the ball when hitting her tees shots 260 yards on average. Meanwhile Stacey Peters demonstrated how to hit a high shot by moving her ball position forward and moving her weight fractionally backwards.
Kylie said: “It’s just so important to connect with the kids and ensure that they enjoy golf and it’s nice that we can get a bit closer to them and make it more personable for them.”
Stacey added: “The juniors have a tournament on, so it’s exciting for them to get to meet us and ask us some questions. If I was in their position, I’d be so excited and I would have loved the opportunity to do this.”
The juniors are competing over three days and the winners of each age division – three boys and three girls – will receive free entry into the IJGA World Stars of Junior Golf Championship in Las Vegas this July, a tournament ranked by The R&A, NJGS, Golfweek and recognised by the AJGA with performance stars.
During their time at Mission Hills, the competitors have the chance to watch the top women golfers compete on the neighbouring Blackstone Course, voted Best Course in Asia.
The World Ladies Championship was founded by Mission Hills back in 2012 and former winners include So Yeon Ryu from Korea (2015), Olympic gold medallist Inbee Park, also from Korea (2014), Norway’s Suzann Pettersen (2013) and home favourite Shanshan Feng of China (2012) – winners of 11 Majors between them.
