Teeing Up for Success

One young Member shares how a golf lesson at the Club set his life on a new course.

When Alexander Wall went to his first golf lesson two years ago, he was far from enthused.

“I wanted to try something new, and my mom said I had to go,” the 10-year-old American recalls.

His mother, Ellen, admits that she thought her son “would quit after a couple of sessions.” Instead, the 90-minute group lesson at the Club’s 19th Hole golf simulator sparked an instantaneous interest.

“The first time I hit the golf ball, it just went really long and was a good drive,” Alexander says. “It took just a lesson for me to like golf.”

Alexander’s father, Dane, understands.

“It’s that one good shot you take in a golf game and then, all of a sudden, it’s, ‘Hey, this is good, I can do this.’”

Since then, Alexander has been taking weekly lessons with Club pro Tom Fielding at the high-tech simulator, which allows players to test themselves on some of the world’s top courses.

“Coach Tom’s teaching style is good,” Alexander says. “I focus on just keeping on trying to improve. When I don’t understand, he gives me greater detail and explains the complexities to me.”

“Golf is difficult for good players,” Fielding says. “If you type ‘PGA pro bad shot’ in YouTube, there are thousands of videos of the best players currently playing hitting the worst golf shots you could imagine.”

The Australian, who is one of three golf coaches at the Club, says he always explains to young players that “golf is not a game of perfect.”

“It’s a game of misses,” Fielding says. “The person who misses the least wins, as opposed to the person who hits the best.”

According to Ellen Wall, her son’s enthusiasm for golf is having a positive effect in the classroom.

“We have seen so much more dedication to schoolwork, as he can’t go golfing unless all of his schoolwork is done,” she says. “Golfing has inspired him to do his best with everything he undertakes. It has also taught him that good things only come with lots of patience.”

Alexander’s love for the game deepened further after he played some real courses last year. This summer, he will attend a junior golf camp in California, and when his family moves back to their Silicon Valley home next year, he’ll live a stone’s throw from Los Altos Golf and Country Club.

“I want to play golf on a regular basis, like four times a week,” he says. “And I would like to play in college.”