If you watched the popular reality show on the Golf Channel, School of Golf: Hilton Head Island you got a rare glimpse inside Hank Haney’s International Junior Golf Academy (IJGA) located in Hilton Head Island, S.C., which has been developing and training some of the best future golf players of tomorrow.
IJGA golfer Stephanie Meadow
The IJGA is not your typical training facility, that focuses only on golf, it’s the only organization in the world that combines training, competition, and academics for junior golfers from 22 different states and 23 countries including Korea, Mexico, Ecuador, India, Canada, Italy, Ireland, Vietnam, China, and more, over the last 25 years.
Students who attend Hank Haneys International Junior Golf Academy not only develop their golf game, but also get a quality education so they can get into college by going to classes at the Heritage Academy.”Combining world class athletic training with the highest academic education is our goal and when our student’s have success..both in and out of the classroom it is quite rewarding,” said Blaik Shew, CEO of Hank Haney IJGA.
Champions are trained, not born
A typical day for a full year student at the Academy is split between a half-day of academics and the other half is spent on athletic training. Academics for students at he Hank Haney IJGA is quite rigorous, designed to prepare students for admissions into some of the most prestigious colleges. Classes begin at 7:35 AM and are three 90 minutes classes in core curriculum like math and sciences. Mental training is another crucial aspect of the weekly schedule, made up of workshops and seminars for students to develop the necessary tools to perform on and off the course. Golf training is customized to each student by the Hank Haney and his 16 golf instructors who work with the academy students daily, to ensure they progress rapidly.
Hank Haney signed on as Director of Golf Instruction in 2007 and provides personalized instruction to every student during the school year. Hank Haney is also the personal instructor to the world’s No. 1 player Tiger Woods, so Hank can bring a lot of what he has learned from working with Tiger to his students. You might be wondering, how often does Hank actually show up and interact with the students? You’d be surprised to find out that he’s actually at the IJGA 2-5 days a week in the Fall and about once a month during the Spring and Summer. When Hank is at the IJGA he meets with each student and their personal instructor to review their tournament scores and progress.
Competition
The IJGA is about training future champions and no better way to do that is to compete in first class tournaments. The International Junior Golf Tour (IJGT) was also founded in 1995, by the IJGA to provide junior golfers the opportunity to compete in a series of first class tournaments on some of the most prestigious golf courses against other talented golfers. The IJGT is the second largest junior golf Tour in the United States and hosts over sixty events every season. The competitions are nationally ranked events by Golfweek and Junior Golf Scoreboard at venues like TPC Sawgrass, Torrey Pines, and Pinehurst. Playing tournaments at these famous golf courses are also a great way to showcase the talents of the students of the IJGA to top-ranked colleges and universities.
Success
For the past fourteen years, more than 94 percent of the students have gone on to receive college golf scholarships from outstanding colleges and universities including: UCLA, University of Georgia, Oklahoma State University, Texas Tech, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Boston University, and more. What about the other 4 percent? The other 4 percent that don’t get college scholarships are students from foreign countries who go back home to attend school in their native country.
When I asked Blaik Shew CEO of IJGA about what has playing golf taught him , Blaik says “Hard work pays off! And each day you have to get better.” That sums up quite accurately what the Hank Haney International Junior Golf Academy is all about in my opinion. To learn more about the Hank Haney International Junior Golf Academy visit www.IJGA.com.
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