With a 72.2 average

When Andy Ahlering started playing golf at age 6, his parents shortened a set of adult clubs to match his size. 

But, the next year, Andy insisted he wanted to use full-sized clubs. 

Andy said, "That meant I had to stand farther from the ball and use a flatter swing. I've gotten closer to the ball and more upright in my swing as I've gotten taller."

His rather unorthodox start certainly hasn't hurt his golf game. 

Andy is now 15 and 5'10 1/2". This summer he was named the Gateway PGA's Dutch Harrison Junior Stroke Average Champion. The trophy is given to the junior player with the lowest stroke average for five area PGA youth tournaments. His average was 72.2 strokes per 18-hole round. 

His name will go on the trophy along with PGA tour pros Jay Delsing and Jerry Haas who won the trophy as junior golfers. 

Andy also won the Metro Junior Amateur championship this summer at the Westborough Country Club. 

He has branching out this summer to compete in American Junior Golf Association tournaments in such places as Kansas City, Galena, Ill., and Dallas. There he finished in the top 20 in the 19-and-under age classification.

Andy said, "I have a good natural swing but I need to tone it up a bit to get better. Sometimes, I'm too quick."

The "toning" of his game amounts to a lot of hard work. He said he usually practices or plays every day in the summer. 

During the week, he works on his short irons and putting for 1 1/2 hours on the practice range. He works another 1 1/2 hours on his long irons and woods. 

"Then, I'll play a round if I want to," he said. 

Until recently, he has taken lessons at Bellerive Country Club from club pro Brian Fogt. But, Fogt is now on the Nike tour where golfers try to earn an exemption to play as a PGA tour professional. 

"He's played on the PGA tour before. But, he hasn't done well enough to earn an exemption. He thinks this is his year. He's been doing well," Andy said.

On weekends, Andy usually is playing in a out-of-town junior tournament somewhere. Oftentimes, he and his friend, Parker LaBarge, go together with either Andy's mother, Julie, or Parker's dad as chaperones. 

If it's a 36-hole event, the tournament usually is played Saturday and Sunday. For 54-hour events, the play is usually on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 

Andy holds an adult handicap of plus-1, which means he usually shoots near par for an  round. 

Andy will be a sophomore at Desmet High School this fall. He carries a 3.2 grade point average and says his best courses are English and math. 

Concerning the future, he said he plans to go to a southern college where he'll be able to play golf year around. "I want to become a real good amateur player and eventually be a pro golfer," he said. 

"I'd go through the Nike qualifying. But, what I'd like would be to do well in amateur tournaments while in college. Then, I could earn exemptions to go directly to the PGA tour," Andy said. 

If he doesn't become a pro golfer, he said he'd like to either follow in his father's footsteps as a doctor or become a golf course architect.