Golf is a big part of Collins kids' life

For Sheena, Jessica and Jonathan Collins of Edwardsville, golf has become nearly a full-time occupation. And they are having success at it.

Last month, all three qualified for the finals of the Plantations Junior Golf Tour. The PJGT runs kids tournaments across the country from September through May.

The finals were held May 18-19 at Disney World in Florida. The Collins kids qualified for the national finals based on points earned during earlier regional tour events this season.

In that meet, Jessica finished first in her 12-14 age group with a two-round total of 151 (74-77). Jonathan didn't finished in the top 10.

Sheena finished ninth in her age bracket but was awarded Player of the Year and Iron Woman of the year honors for her consistent year-long play.

The Collins kids are having tournament success even though they haven't been playing that long.

Thirteen-year-old Jonathon was the first to take up the game. He began playing in tournaments when he was eight.

Sheena said she got interested after traveling with the family to see Jonathan play. She started playing three years ago, when she was 11. "My first set of clubs were an old set of Jonathan's that were in the garage," she said.

Then, Jonathan's twin sister, Jessica, got started two years ago. She started with one of her dad's old set of clubs.

But, all of the kids have their own clubs now. Sheena's are men's clubs cut down to her size while Jessica uses regular ladies clubs. Jonathan always has played with men's clubs.

One of the things that helped the Collins kids develop their games quickly was their practice schedule.

Sheena said, "We practice every day (after school) except we have Monday's off." Of course, the practice schedule is interrupted if they play in a weekend tournament.

A typical practice lasts 2 1/2 hours, from after school until 6 p.m. They usually start a session by playing nine holes. Then, they go to the driving range and follow with chipping and putting.

Sheena said her strength is her "short game." Those are shots within 30 yards of the green. She said her putting is "pretty good right now" after she shifted to a long-handled putter.

She's only recently started to use a driver off the tee. Before that, she used a 3-wood when starting a hole.

Jessica said driving the ball is her strength. "I've always used a driver off the tee," she said. Concerning her problem areas, she said putting is giving her the most trouble now.

"I used to putt well. But, I think I've changed putters about a 100 times this season," she said. She also changed to a cross-handed putting style. But, that didn't help much so she's back to traditional hand placement.

Jonathan said he's been having trouble with his whole game this year. Some of that is probably associated with a growth spurt of eight inches this year.

He also said his average score for 18-holes is several strokes more than a year ago.

Since he's always used full-length clubs, as he grows in height, he's forced to stand more erect. That changes the plane of his swing.

Concerning that swing, he said, "I'm having trouble figuring it out." But, he was still able to score well enough to get invited to the PJGT finals in Florida.

Two other Edwardsville kids also qualified for the Orlando finals. Sixth grader Chris Brant and eighth grader Tim Jakel also were there. Jakel is a classmate of Sheena Collins at Edwardsville Middle School.

The Collins kids say they like the traveling for tournaments. Sheena said, "You meet a lot of neat people."

They aren't quite as enthusiastic about the practice sessions. But, they know that's the way to get better. They want to improve because they'd like to play professional golf.

To learn more about the PJGT organization, you can go to its website at www.pjgt.com.

For other information about junior golf activities and tournaments in the Missouri-Illinois area, you can look at the Gateway PGA's website at www.gatewaypga.org.