OJ Amaya | PGA Golf Professional

Congratulations to Janie for being my latest student to graduate from the US Kids Golf Player Pathway Level 1. I have been working with Janie since December and she moved quickly through the skill tests. Sadly, she will be moving away next month, so I will no longer be able to help her develop her game, but she has the foundation to become a good golfer. Well done Janie!!

Congratulations to siblings Phenix & Phena for being my latest students to graduate from the US Kids Golf Player Pathway Level 1 to Level 2. I've been working with them since August of 2018 and they've come a long way since then. They will be rookies on our PGA Jr League team this year and I'm looking forward to their participation. Great job kids!!

Congratulations to Finn for being my latest student to graduate from the US Kids Player Pathway Level 2 to Level 3. I've been working with Finn since January 2019. He has participated on our PGA Jr League team the last couple of years and was on our boys winning team in 2020. He also regularly participates in the Junior Golf Development League. Great job Finn!

Congratulations to our own OJ Amaya, PGA for being recognized as a Top 50 Kids Coach by U.S. Kids Golf! This is the highest award in youth golf instruction. Well-done and well deserved! Full Announcement Here: http://bit.ly/uskgtop50-2021

Congratulations to brothers Branden & Lucas for being my latest students to graduate from the US Kids Player Pathway Level 1 to Level 2. I've been working with them since September of 2019 when they attended one of my Junior Golf Camps. They enrolled in one of my Junior Clinics immediately after that and have come a long way since that Golf Camp. Looking forward to having them participate in the Development League & PGA Jr League in 2021. Well done boys!!!

Congratulations to Abbie for being my latest student to graduate from the US Kids Player Pathway Level 1 to Level 2. I've been working with her since June of 2019. She was a rookie on our PGA Jr League team and was selected as Most Improved Girl. She also participated in the Development League in the Summer and Fall. Looking forward to her continued improvement. Great job Abbie!!!

Congratulations to Rylan for graduating from the US Kids Player Pathway Level 3 to Level 4. I've been working with him for the last 2 and a half years and he's developing a good golf game. Rylan has been on our PGA Jr League the last 2 seasons and also is a regular participant in the Development League. Well done Rylan!!

Congratulations to Alessandra for being my latest student to graduate from the US Kids Player Pathway Level 1 to Level 2. I've been working with her since July of 2019. She is developing a good skill set. Well done Alessandra!!!

Congratulations to Alex & Zuri for being my latest students to graduate from US Kids Player Pathway Level 1 to Level 2. I first met Alex with her older brother back in September of 2015 at one of my Junior Golf Camps. She returned in April of 2019 to resume her interest in golf. I began working with Zuri in February of 2019. Both girls are developing a good skill set and I'm looking forward to having them perhaps participate in the Development League & PGA Jr League next year. Well done girls!!

Congratulations to Andrew for graduating from the US Kids Player Pathway Level 3 to Level 4. I've been working with him for the last 2 and a half years and he's developing a nice golf game. Andrew is also a baseball player so he has good power. Great job Andrew!!

Special Congratulations to Lucas for being my third student to graduate from the US Kids Golf Player Pathway Level 4 to Level 5. I have been working with Lucas since he was 4 1/2 years old and he is the youngest to reach Level 5 at 9 years old. He participated on our PGA Jr League team this season for the second time and is a regular participant in the Junior Golf Development League. Lucas also plays in US Kids Local Tour and Future Champions tournaments. He holds the lowest scoring average of the Development League own ball participants at 39.29. As you can see, he is turning into an exceptional golfer. Great job Lucas!!!

Congratulations to Austin for being my latest student to graduate from the US Kids Player Pathway Level 2 to Level 3. I've been working with Austin since November of 2014. He has participated on our PGA Jr League team, the Development League and Junior Golf Camps multiple times. He has come a long way during that time and is developing a good golf game. Well done Austin!

It was another perfect fall day yesterday for our third tournament of the October Junior Golf Development League and we had some of the best golf played so far this season. All 3 of our scramble groups came in under par. Our first team out, Everet, Alex & Mason posted an excellent, bogey free 4-under, 32 then had to wait and see what the rest of the groups did. Our second team, Warren, Rylan, Abbie and Matthew came in a posted the same score. For the third week in a row, ...we went through the tie breaking procedure of matching the scorecards for the last 6 holes. The team of Alex, Mason & Everet, fueled by a terrific eagle 3 on the 5th hole, made 21 strokes for the last 6 holes. The team of Warren, Rylan, Abbie and Matthew made 22 strokes to come up 1 short. Congratulations to Everet, Alex & Mason for being this week’s medalists. I’m glad these boys won yesterday after I had to unceremoniously ask for the medals back that I prematurely awarded them the first week of the month. We added a third group to our own ball group and now have enough players to have a separate girls & boys division, which is exciting. In the girls division, Isabella and Lauren tied for low score with 43’s. After matching scorecards, Isabella became our first girls individual medalist with 28 strokes for the last 6 holes to Lauren’s 30 strokes. Congratulations to Isabella. After 3 weeks in a row of ties in the boys division, we finally had an outright winner. In his second tournament as an individual, Johann came out strong with a birdie on the first hole and held the lead thru the first 5 holes at even par, but bogeyed the last 3 to come up a couple of shots short. His 4-over par, 40 was 7 shots better than last weeka great improvement. Ethan got off to a bad start but pulled into a tie for first after 6 holes, then fell out of contention with an untimely double bogey, bogey finish. Lucas also started off slow, but back to back birdies on holes 6 & 7 powered him to finish at 2 over, 38, earning him the victory. Congratulations to Lucas for being yesterday’s boys individual medalist. The earlier start time made us run into more traffic, so pace of play was not as good as last week, but still acceptable. All of our groups finished in under 2 hours & 10 minutes.

Belated congratulations are in order for Sophie & Andrea for being my latest students to graduate from US Kids Player Pathway Level 1 to Level 2. They actually passed their scoring test back in March before the shutdown and I neglected to recognize them. I've been working with Sophie since August of 2018 and she is developing a good skill set. Looking forward to having her participate in the Development League & PGA Jr League next year. Andrea started with me in February 2019 and has come a long way since then. She was a rookie on our PGA Jr League team and played in the Development League this year. Great job girls!!

It was a perfect fall day for our second tournament of the October Junior Golf Development League and we had another amazing finish to determine the outcome. Our first team out, Warren, Rylan, Abbie & Lauren posted an excellent, bogey free 3-under, 33 then had to wait and see what the rest of the groups did. It looked promising for them until our last team, Isabella, Maya, Lucero & Victoria Tolentino came in a posted the same score. Both teams finished strong with spectac...ular eagle 3’s on hole 7. For the second week in a row, we went through the tie breaking procedure of matching the scorecards for the last 6 holes. Both teams made 22 strokes for the last 6 holes. I then went to the last 3 holes and both teams made 10 strokes. Our next step is to compare the 9th holeboth teams made 3. For the first time in the history of the Development League, we had to go to a chip off. All 4 players from both teams had a crack at a 15 yard chip from in front of the 9th green. Rylan hit an excellent chip, hole high just left of the hole about 3 feet away for the co-ed team. The girls team was up and their best effort was Isabella’s chip that was more online and looked just as close as Rylan’s. We went up to examine the results and could not tell which ball was closer. After trying to pace if off and not being able to determine which ball was closer, I measured the balls with a golf club and Rylan’s ball was closer by no more than 2 inches to secure the win! It was a fantastic finish unlike any other we had ever seen in the Development League. Congratulations to Warren, Rylan, Abbie & Lauren for being this week’s medalists. In our own ball group, we had another competitive tournament. Ethan got off to a very bad start and was 6 over after 4 holes, but he battled back and reeled off 3 birdies in a row on holes 5, 6 & 7 to finish at 4 over, 40. Lucas was playing steady at 2-over par for the first 5 holes, but bogeyed the 6th & 7th holes to slip back into a tie for first. That made it 3 weeks in a row where Lucas was going to be part of a card-off. We went to our tie breaking procedure of matching scorecards for the last 6 holes. Ethan had 23 strokes and Lucas had 27 to determine the outcome on the first tie breaker. Congratulations to Ethan for being yesterday’s individual medalist. The course was busier than last week, so pace of play was not as good as last week, but still acceptable. l discussed with the kids on Monday that our pace of play guidelines would be adjusted going forward to 13 minutes per hole, which would make our 9-hole time par 1 hour & 57 minutes. All of our groups finished a few minutes over 2 hours, but none of them were out of position, which is more important.

We had a stunning, spectacular finish to our first tournament of the October Junior Golf Development Leagueand egg on my face. After finding out that our girls group of Victoria (Tolentino), Lucero, Lauren & Maya were even on the 8th tee, I declared the team of Alex, Mason, Everet & JT the winners at 2-under par, 34. My logic was that (1) the hole location on hole 8 was in an extremely difficult position yesterday and (2) we rarely see birdies on hole 9. But the girls wou...ld have none of it, making birdies on the last 2 holes, capped by an amazing, right to left, 15 foot, curling putt that was drained by Victoria. That pulled them even with the boys and I knew that the girls would win on a tie breaker since they had birdied the last 2 holes. I need to confirm it though and went through the tie breaking procedure of matching the scorecards for the last 6 holes. Both teams made 21 strokes for the last 6 holes. I then went to the last 3 holes and that’s where the girls pulled off the improbable winthey had 10 strokes to the boys’ 11 strokes. What an amazing comeback!! I should have known better because, as I frequently tell the kids, anything is possible in golf. As you might imagine, there will not be any early winners declared going forward. Congratulations to Victoria (Tolentino), Lucero, Lauren & Maya for being this month’s first medalists. In our own ball group, we had another competitive tournament. After moving up to the blue family tee, Justin had it to 2-under par after 5 holes, but struggled on the way in with a double bogey on hole 6 and a triple bogey on hole 8 to finish at 3-over par, 39. Despite the 2 bad holes, it was a breakthrough round for him yesterday, breaking 40 for 9-holes for the first time. Lucas was cruising along at 1-over par for the first 7 holes, but a double bogey on hole 8 dropped him into a tie for first. Abe was in the lead after 8 holes at 2-over, but a bogey on the 9th hole made it a 3-way tie for first. We went to our tie breaking procedure of matching scorecards for the last 6 holes. Justin had 29 strokes for the last 6 to drop out of contention. Lucas and Abe both shot 26 for the last 6, so we went to the last 3 holes. Lucas made 14 strokes and Abe made 13. Congratulations to Abe for being yesterday’s individual medalist. The course was not very busy yesterday, so pace of play was much better than last week. Although all of our groups finished around or under 2 hours, we had some groups out of position, which we need to work on.

It was a great day to play golf again yesterday for our fourth tournament of the September Junior Golf Development League. The team of Austin, Johann, Matthew & Everet came out on fire and were 2-under after 2 holes. They played even par the rest of the way and finished with a nice 2-under par, 34. The team of Alex, JT, Axel & Hudson were one stroke back after 4 holes at 1-under, but stumbled on the way in with 3 bogeys on the final 5 holes to come in at 2-over, 38. Congra...tulations to Austin, Johann, Matthew, & Everet for being this week’s medalists. We had a second group of 4 play their own ball yesterday and they held their own. Isabella got off to a slow start, bogeying the first 2 holes but played very steady after that and finished at 3-over par, 39, which tied her for 3rd place in her first tournament playing her own ball. Annika had a breakthrough round for her yesterday, breaking 40 for 9-holes for the first time. That is an 7 shot difference over last week! First place was hotly contested by Lucas and Ethan. Both boys were even par after 3 holes, but a double bogey on hole 4 put Ethan 1-stroke back. Lucas played even par the rest of the way, but Ethan’s birdie on hole 7 tied him again. That birdie made the difference since they tied for 9-holes at 1-over par, 37. We went to our tie breaking procedure of matching scorecards for the last 6 holes. They both shot 25 for the last 6, so we went to the last 3 holes. Lucas made 12 strokes and Ethan made 11. Congratulations to Ethan for being yesterday’s individual medalist. I am very proud to say that we had 4 of 8 players break 40 for 9-holes yesterday! This is a testament to the dedication of these juniors and my ultimate goal of the Development League is to wean as many possible from the scramble format and have them playing their own ball. The course was very busy yesterday, so pace of play was slower than we would like, but we managed to finish before dark.

It was a great day to play golf yesterday for our third tournament of the September Junior Golf Development League. The team of Alex, Matthew, Thomas & JT came out on fire and were 2-under after 3 holes. They birdied 3 more holes on the way in and finished with an outstanding 4-under par, 32. Our girls team of Isabella, Lauren, Abbie & Andrea could not keep up this week and managed a 1-under par, 35. The team of Maya, Victoria, Johann & Axel came in at even par, 36, which ...made it 3 of our 4 teams shoot par or better. Congratulations to Alex, Matthew, Thomas & JT for being this week’s medalists. In our own ball group, we had our third different winner in 3 weeks. Lucas started fast, was 1-under after 3 holes, played steady over the last 6 holes, and turned in our first under 40 score with a 2-over par, 38. Abe was trying to keep pace and was even par after 3, but he faded the rest of the way. Congratulations to Lucas for being yesterday’s individual medalist. The course was not as busy as last week, so all of our groups (except one) were able to finish in under 2 hours, which is a terrific pace of play.

The weather was much better yesterday than last week for our second tournament of the September Junior Golf Development League. We had a great competition between our girls team of Lauren, Isabella, Andrea & Abbie and the team of Alex, Justin, Matthew & Axel. The girls team got off to a fast start, with birdies on the first 2 holes, and had it to 3-under after 7 holes. An untimely bogey on the 8th hole dropped them in to a tie for first, despite a birdie on the 9th hole, af...ter an amazing tee shot by Isabella that left them a tap in birdie. They shot an excellent 3-under par, 33. The boys team were even after 4 holes, but were fueled by an eagle 3, with all 3 shots made by Axel. They went on to birdie 2 of the last 4 holes to pull them even with the girls at 3 under, 33. Thus, we had to match scorecards to determine the winner. Lauren, Isabella, Andrea & Abbie scored 23 on the last 6 holes. Alex, Justin, Matthew & Axel scored 22 on the last 6 holes to earn the victory. Congratulations to them for being this week’s medalists. In our own ball group, Ethan got off to a bad start, but eagled the 5th hole, and played the last 5 holes in 1-under par, to come in at 5-over par, 41. Lucas started well by making birdie on the first hole, but made a couple of double bogeys the rest of the way to come up short by 1 shot. Congratulations to Ethan for being yesterday’s individual medalist. The course was busier than it had been recently, so there was a bit of a bottleneck on hole 3. However, it cleared out after that and all of our groups were able to finish in under 2 hours, 6 minutes, which is an excellent pace of play.

We had 17 juniors brave the hot weather yesterday to kick off the September Junior Golf Development League. The teams of Alex, JT & Hudson and Justin, Austin & Matthew got off to a fast start and were 1-under after 3 holes, but both teams struggled over the last 6 holes finishing at 3-over par, 39 and 1-over par, 37 respectively. Our girls team of Maya, Lauren, Abbie & Andrea were even after 3 holes and managed a birdie and a bogey over the last 6 holes to come in at even p...ar, 36. The team of Johann, Thomas & Axel also started even after 3 holes, but they finished strong, making 3 birdies over the last 6 holes to finish at 2-under par, 34. Congratulations to them for being this month’s first medalists. We had one group (Annika, Ethan, Abe & Lucas) play their own ball yesterday. Abe got off to a bad start with a double bogey on the first hole and a bogey on the second hole, but fought back an played the last 7 holes in 1-over to come in at 4-over par, 40. He nipped Lucas by 1 shot. Congratulations to Abe for being yesterday’s individual medalist. Due to the hot weather, the course was not busy at all so pace of play was excellent. All of our groups finished in 2 hours or less, which is fabulous.

We put a wrap on our 2020 PGA Jr League season by having our second annual Parent-Jr Tournament yesterday at Chula Vista Golf Course. We had 8 teams play a 9-hole scramble from our Blue Family tees and battle it out for some nice crystal trophies with an awards banquet immediately following play. The competition was terrific. Team Bonita (Ron, Abram & Rylan), this year's winners of Most Flags - Boys, along with Abel (Ron’s grandfather), came out on fire. They were an inc...redible 6-under par after 5 holes! However, they were only able to manage 1 birdie in the final 4 holes and that ended up costing them the crystal trophy. The team of Luis, Andrea, Heather & Annika also got off to a fast start. After an eagle 3 on hole 5, they were 4-under par, but they also stalled over the last 4 holes with only 1 birdie during that stretch. The team of Steve, Lucas, Mark & Hudson started with a birdie, parred the next 3 holes and had a birdie, birdie, eagle flurry to get into contention but could not birdie either of the last 2 holes. Team Godoy (Erik & Axel), with only 2 players, birdied the first 3 holes but were unable to sustain that momentum. I dusted off the clubs (I had not played since last year’s Parent-Jr Tournamenthonest!), played with Isabella & Matthew and we were 2-under after 4 holes but we went birdie, birdie, eagle, birdie on holes 5-8 to finish tied at 7-under, 29 with Team Bonita & Ron’s grandfather. After matching scorecards, we nipped them by shooting 19 over the last 6 holes, while they shot 20 over the last 6 holes. What an amazing afternoon and evening it was. The weather could not have been more perfect for family golf and an al-fresco dinner afterwards. I saw a lot of smiles yesterday which tells me that it was a fabulous experience for all who attended. Family, friends, food & golfwhat can get better than that?

What a fantastic finish we had yesterday to the 2020 PGA Jr League Season! All teams were at full strength for the first time and the golf played by the kids reflected it. The eagles & birdies were flying yesterday with 4 of the 6 teams shooting under par. We hadn’t had any eagles made this season, but we had 3 yesterday. Rylan from Team Bonita holed out a pitch shot from about 25 yards on the second hole to get things started. Lucero from Team Ranch carried her team by hi...tting 3 great shots on hole #7 and Team River eagled hole #5. The best gross score of the season was posted by Team River (Everet, Lucas, JT & Hudson), an outstanding 5-under par, bogey-free 31. That earned them the most flags of the day at 12 and vaulted them into a 3rd place finish overall. Team Chula (Ethan, Ryan, Johann & Axel) made a charge at Team Bonita shooting an excellent 4-under, 32 and earned 11 flags. Unfortunately for them, it was not enough to overtake Team Bonita (Abe, Rylan Finn & Ron) who were able to fend them off by shooting a nice 3-under, 33 and earning 8 flags. Congratulations to Team Bonita for earning the Most Flags-Boys this season! In the girls division, Team Otay (Annika, Victoria Takaki, Abbie & Andrea) got off to a fast start with a birdie on the first hole, but couldn’t make anything else happen and finished at even par, 36. They had their lowest output of the season, earning 4.5 flags. Team Ranch (Maya, Lauren, Lucero and Victoria Tolentino) started off slow but their day was highlighted by Lucero’s aforementioned amazing eagle on the 7th hole. They also had their lowest output of the season and earned 4 flags. Congratulations to Team Otay for earning the Most Flags-Girls this season! Pace of play was excellent again. All of our groups played in less than 2 hours, which makes it a very enjoyable experience for everyone. Final standings for the 2020 Season were: 48.5 Flags - Team Bonita (Abe, Rylan, Finn, Ron 9 hole score 33) 44.5 Flags - Team Chula (Ethan, Ryan, Johann, Axel 9 hole score 32) 38 Flags - Team River (Everet, Lucas, JT, Hudson 9 hole score 31) 37.5 Flags - Team Otay (Annika, Victoria Takaki, Andrea, Abbie 9 hole score 36) 32 Flags - Team Ranch (Maya, Lauren, Lucero, Victoria Tolentino 9 hole score 36) 24.5 Flags - Team Vista (Justin, Thomas, Gabriel, Matthew 9 hole score 35)

The weather has been magnificent the entire 2020 PGA Jr League season and yesterday was no different, with another perfect day for golf for our fourth game at Chula Vista Golf Course. A couple of the teams slipped a little so we only had 3 of the 6 teams shoot under par. Team Bonita (Abe, Rylan & Finn) were short-handed but reclaimed the overall lead from Team Chula (Ryan, Johann & Axel), who was also short-handed. Team Bonita tied for low gross score of the day with a very... nice 3-under par, 33 and accumulated 12 flags which launched them 7 flags ahead of second place Team Chula. Our 2 girls teams had their best day of the season, tying Team Bonita for low gross score with 3-under par, 33’s. Team Ranch (Maya, Lauren, Lucero and Victoria) came out firing, making birdie on the first 2 holes. They got their score all the way down to 4-under through 8 holes, but made an untimely bogey on hole 9 and earned 9.5 flags. Team Otay (Annika, Victoria, Abbie and Andrea) played an excellent bogey-free round and creeped up to within .5 a flag of second place Team Chula, earning a terrific 11 flags for the day. Pace of play was unbelievable. Our first 2 groups played in less than 1 hour, 33 minutes and the rest of our groups played in less than 1 hour, 42 minutes. That is the fastest we have ever played! Standings after Week 4 are: 40.5 Flags - Team Bonita (Abe, Rylan, Finn 9 hole score 33) 33.5 Flags - Team Chula (Ethan, Ryan, Johann, Axel 9 hole score 37) 33 Flags - Team Otay (Annika, Victoria Takaki, Andrea, Abbie 9 hole score 33) 28 Flags - Team Ranch (Maya, Lauren, Lucero, Victoria Tolentino 9 hole score 33) 26 Flags - Team River (Everet, Lucas, JT, Hudson 9 hole score 36) 19 Flags - Team Vista (Thomas, Gabriel, Matthew 9 hole score 36) Our final game of the 2020 season is Saturday, August 8, starting at 5 pm.

We were treated for the third straight week with a perfect day for golf yesterday for our third game of the 2020 PGA Jr League season at Chula Vista Golf Course. The golf by the kids was better than last week: 5 of the 6 teams shot under par. Team Chula (Ethan, Ryan, Johann and Axel) had a terrific day and racked up 12.5 flags (out of a possible 15), . Their outstanding gross score of 4-under par 32 propelled them into first place. Team Bonita (Abe, Rylan, Finn and Ron) pl...ayed well (2-under, 34 gross score) but had their lowest output of the season, earning 8.5 flags, which dropped into to second place after 3 games. In the girls division, Team Otay (Annika, Victoria Takaki, Andrea and Abbie) stretched out their lead slightly over Team Ranch (Maya, Lauren, Lucero, Victoria Tolentino), earning 6.5 flags and shooting a 1-under par, 35. The course was the busiest we’ve encountered so far, but pace of play was great again with all of our teams playing right around 2 hours. Standings after Week 3 are: 31 Flags - Team Chula (Ethan, Ryan, Johann, Axel 9 hole score 32) 28.5 Flags - Team Bonita (Abe, Rylan, Finn, Ron 9 hole score 34) 22 Flags - Team Otay (Annika, Victoria Takaki, Andrea, Abbie 9 hole score 35) 21 Flags - Team River (Everet, Lucas, JT, Hudson 9 hole score 34) 18.5 Flags - Team Ranch (Maya, Lauren, Lucero, Victoria Tolentino 9 hole score 35) 14 Flags - Team Vista (Thomas, Gabriel, Matthew 9 hole score 37)