Drive, Chip and Putt Contestants Kelsey Smith & Peter Tippett

Kelsey Smith and Peter Tippett are typical Drive, Chip and Putt Championship contestants.

Drive, Chip and Putt Championship is one of golf’s newest competitions and also one of the game’s most engaging.

The free, nation-wide youth competition in basic golf skills was launched in 2014. Created and managed by PGA of America, the Masters Tournament Foundation, and the USGA, in its third year the Drive, Chip and Putt Championship has engaged tens of thousands of youth. Boys and girls compete in local competitions, progress to regional and then to the national championship event, divided by age into 4 categories: 7-9 years old, 10-11 years old, 12-13 years old and 14-15 years old.

Let’s meet two of this year’s Drive, Chip and Putt contestants, 6th grader Kelsey Smith and 8th grader Peter Tippett. Both are students at Harbor Springs Middle School, NAME OF TOWN, STATE and both are fairly typical of the kids who are engaged in the game of golf through the Drive, Chip and Putt Championship.

I have a passion for golf. I like a challenge. – Kelsey Smith

I just started working with Kelsey and Peter this past winter with The First Tee Program in the physical education class. Kelsey will be the manager for our girls golf team and Peter is the manager for our boys golf team. Kelsey will play 9 holes with the girls regularly when the girl’s golf season starts August 15. Peter plays with our boys team at practice. He started playing just last summer with his grandfather and seems hooked! It will be fun to see how they progress as they compete in the local Drive, Chip and Putt Championship qualifier.

It is great to have a contest requiring 3 important shots of the game. It isn’t too long, or boring for the kids and they are excited to see how far they can go in the competition!

The kids have four levels of qualifying in order to play in the Championship final at the 2017 Masters, in Augusta, GA. The process begins with a local qualifier.

The local qualifier for Kelsey and Peter is at Boyne Highlands Resort in Harbor Springs. If they make it through the local event they’ll move on to a subregional qualifying round and then to a regional qualifier before advancing to the Championship final at The Masters.

At each stage of the competition Kelsey and Peter will demonstrate three basic golf skills: Driving, Chipping and Putting. They will accumulate points in each skill. The participant with the highest number of accumulated points will be declared the Overall Champion of their division. There is a total of 3 shots per skill.

More from Pro Golf Now

The Driving Skill has participants hit 3 shots to a fairway 40 yards wide. The shots must end up in the fairway to score points. The Point System for All Ages rewards the kids for more points the farther they hit. For Example: 8 points for a drive of 130-140 yards, 9 points for a drive 140-150 yards, 10 points for a drive 150-160 yards, etc.

The Chipping Skill requires each participant to hit 3 shots from 10-15 yards to the scoring hole. The Point System for All Ages: 1 Point for a ball finishing more than 10′ from the hole, 2 points for 8′-10′, 5 points for 6′-8′, 10 points for 4′-6′, 15 points for 2′-4′, 20 points for 2′ or nearer to the hole and 25 points for a Hole in One.

The Putting Skill has the participants putting three times total: from 6 feet, from 15 feet and from 30 feet. The Point System for All Ages: 1 point for a ball finishing more than 5′ from the hole, 2 points for 4′-5′, 5 points for 3′-4′, 10 points for 2′-3′, 15 points for 1′-2′, 20 points for 1′ or nearer to the hole and 25 points for a Hole in One.

Peter Tippett is all-in:

"“Golf has taught me respect and responsibility and I will continue to golf for the rest of my life. . . having the opportunity to be the manager for the Harbor Springs High School Boys Team allows me to practice every day for a team that I will be a member of for the next four years.” – Peter Tippett"

Next: 2017 Drive, Chip and Putt Registration

There are 80 participants at the Drive, Chip and Putt Championship finals at Augusta. The finalists have advanced through a field of thousands of kids over a series of local and regional qualifiers. There are about 100 local qualifier locations with 200 participants. There is no entry fee for Drive, Putt and Chip! Follow this link to find a local competition and register a participant.

Home/Golf Lifestyle