By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — Wendy Werley Bullock has been playing and teaching golf for 50 years, but the impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on the game is something she’s never seen.
Bullock is an independent contractor and represents the Harlingen Country Club as a Class A LPGA teaching professional. She teaches a girls group and two women’s groups and does private lessons with clients. She hasn’t taught a single class since March 21, when the LPGA sent her and golf professionals across the nation a notification to pause all girls programs due to the coronavirus.
“With the restrictions of having to keep the distance it’s impossible for me and a lot of people that teach like I do, especially with the kids,” Bullock said. “I’m on my hands and knees, I’m adjusting their grip and doing a lot. Our little girls group had only gotten four out of 12 sessions in this year. I haven’t taught one lesson (in a month), therefore there’s no income.”
Liz Richardson is the head golf professional at the Harlingen Country Club and runs the boys programs. She is also the coordinator, with Bullock as the co-coordinator, for the LPGA and USGA girls golf program at the club.
Richardson had to halt lessons because of the hands-on teaching style she also employs, especially with the boys she works with that start as young as 6 years old. She hopes the non-member shutdown doesn’t run into the summer, because she runs a very successful program at the club that typically starts up in June. Young members and non-members alike enjoy golf and tennis lessons, arts & crafts and other activities in the summer program that provides a financial boost for Richardson.
“I had some mothers concerned, and with these younger kids it’s really hard to teach at a distance. They’re just learning their swings, so you have to adjust their grip and I’m basically hovered over them, so it’s really hard,” Richardson said. “I would suffer dearly if this goes into the summer, which I hope it doesn’t. Then it’ll affect my summer programs that I have for kids, and that’s quite a bit of income I’ll lose.”
Bullock and Richardson are proud of the family-oriented way their programs encourage young golfers to love the game. Bullock was named a Master Kids Teacher after earning her third consecutive Top 50 Kids Teachers Award from the U.S. Kids Golf Foundation in 2015. She and Richardson aim to make the game fun, which is making the separation harder for the teachers and their students.
“What everybody misses is getting out on the golf course. We give a lot of high-fives, a lot of encouragement, we give hugs to our students … our personality and engagement is what draws in the kids. Everyone just misses their golf buddies,” Bullock said.
Though young and teen golfers alike are missing instruction, they’re finding ways to work on their skills in the comfort of their homes. Bullock sent a Birdie Ball system — a device that looks like a napkin ring and feels like a golf ball coming off the club but doesn’t travel nearly as far — to all of her students so they can keep swinging and work on alignments. More experienced junior golfers are getting tips and feedback from Bullock and Richardson through distance teaching and videos being sent to the instructors.
Juniors who participate in Southern Texas PGA and RGV Junior Golf Association events have something positive to look forward to, as the goal is for tournaments to go on as expected as early as May. Tim O’Brien, the area director for the STPGA and board member for the RGVJGA, said the organizations have very detailed plans put together that will allow golfers to play in the important tournaments throughout the summer and still follow safety regulations.
Many things about the game will be tweaked, such as lifted cups at the tee box, no rakes in the bunkers, no exchanging of scorecards, golfers bringing their own water to the course and other changes that will limit contact between players.
Also, events will be limiting how many golfers can participate to keep safety as the top priority. O’Brien said golfers will be notified of club and course rules ahead of time, and will be allowed to check emails on their phones to ensure following of regulations.
“We have a very thorough process in place to get this thing rolling. Our goal is to have junior golf striving and really push it,” O’Brien said. “We just need to get the kids out there. We need to get the kids to play and keep them involved in the sport, and we can’t let the golf courses go down. They really depend on us in the summertime to come by with these kids and these tournaments, and we can’t let them down.”