Pro golfer offers pointers on game, life at Childrens Course

GLADSTONE — PGA Tour pro Peter Jacobsen has an innate ability to work a crowd.

Jacobsen did just that at The Children’s Course on July 21, where he helped host the Umpqua Bank Challenge Junior Clinic.

The First Tee of Greater Portland, an organization that tries to get juniors into the game.

The 58-year-old Jacobsen, who starred at Lincoln High School and the University of Oregon, has been involved with The Children’s Course since its inception and has worked to raise money for the course.

“If you have a young child, there’s no better place than The Children’s Course to get them introduced and into the game of golf,” Jacobsen said. “It’s a fun golf course.”

Jacobsen, who makes his home in Florida between Champions Tour events, was determined to put on a show for the people of his home state.

“It’s kind of a homecoming for me,” he said. “Even though we live in Florida, we’re here in Oregon a lot with my daughter and our grandson. So coming out here and seeing so many young people get involved in the game is very rewarding.”

Timber Joey shanks

As the clinic began, Jacobsen was wired with a microphone headset (“My Lady Gaga headset,” he joked) so that he could be heard by the hundreds of children and their parents who had come to watch him speak.

Jacobsen started the hour-long clinic by running through the fundamentals of a golf swing, comparing it to a baseball swing.

Just goofing around, the seven-time PGA Tour winner drew applause from the crowd by launching 8-iron shots to a tree 150 yards away.

Jacobsen then began pulling kids out of the audience to let them take their hacks while he critiqued their swings.

Some of the children were seasoned golfers. Others were much less refined. Jacobsen was generous with his praise for each golfer.

“Golf is about making contact with the ball,” he said.

As he spoke, Jacobsen related his lessons to First Tee’s nine core values, which were written on posts behind where Jacobsen stood: integrity, respect, perseverance, honesty, judgment, sportsmanship, courtesy, responsibility and confidence.

“The nine core values of The First Tee aren’t just for the golf course, and they aren’t just for 12-year-olds,” Jacobsen said. “They’re for adults, and not only on the golf course. They’re for everyday life.”

The last person to be pulled from the crowd was Timber Joey, the Major League Soccer Portland Timbers' chainsaw-wielding mascot. Timber Joey is evidently much more qualified to handle a chainsaw than an 8-iron. He drew laughs from the crowd as he shanked a half-dozen shots.

Before the clinic ended, Jacobsen spoke poetically about the game he loves.

“I don’t think golf is a sport,” he told the crowd. “It’s an art form.”

When Jacobsen was finished, a helicopter flew a few hundred feet over The Children’s Course and dropped thousands of golf balls, each purchased through a fundraiser for $10, toward a hole, with the ball landing closest to the pin earning the person who bought it $1,000.

Ready for the challenge

While it was a fun time for all of the children involved, it was clear that Jacobsen enjoyed himself as much as anyone.

“It enhances my appreciation for the game,” he said, “because it doesn’t matter how old you get or how long you play — and I’ve played professional golf now for 36 years — every time I come to a local golf course and just start playing golf with friends, it takes me back to when I was a junior player.”

Jacobsen said that, in some ways, speaking to children about the fundamentals of golf helps his own game on the Champions Tour.

“It reinforces all the fundamentals that I learned in the game — honor, respect, tradition, the fundamentals of the swing, the stance, the grip, ball position, alignment,” he said. “So when I run through that with junior players, I’m kind of running through that in my own brain.”

Jacobsen said that his game is coming along well after his battles through 17 major operations during the past 10 years. This season, Jacobsen has made 14 starts on the Champions Tour, with one top-10 finish, and he has earned $105,004.

“I’m playing pretty well,” Jacobsen said. “For a guy who has had 17 major operations in the last 10 years, I feel pretty good about my game.”

Jacobsen already is looking forward to the Umpqua Bank Challenge, which he hosts at The Reserve Vineyards and Golf Club in Aloha, Aug. 26 to 28.

“I’m really excited about the Umpqua Bank Challenge,” Jacobsen said. “We’ve got some great young players. What we’re trying to do is showcase men’s golf in Portland, keep it here and hopefully grow the game, much like they do at The Children’s Course.”

Jacobsen felt blessed at the Gladstone clinic to be able to introduce the game of golf to so many youngsters, and to remember where he came from before he was playing on the PGA Tour.

“It gives me an appreciation of how lucky I’ve been,” he said. “I started out as a junior watching clinics like this when I was 8, 9, 10 years old. To think that I’m now 58 and have played the PGA Tour for 36 years, I’m just very thankful for the breaks I got along the way and the people who have helped me with my game. It brings me back to home.”