Elliott Stern / Sports Editor | Posted: Friday, March 26, 2004 12:00 am
It is tough, when you/re an avid golfer, to sit around the clubhouse hoping that lingering rain clouds will blow away.
It is even tougher when you/re an 11-year old junior champion, have a day off from school and have been planning on spending this day playing 18 holes at the Santa Maria Country Club.
But that/s the position in which Macgregor Hoobery found himself on President/s Day.
No school. Tee time scheduled. And storms clouds covering the Santa Maria Valley.
"I/ll play in the rain," Hoobery said. "The weather doesn/t bother me. I just want to get on the course.
Macgregor Hoobery is a fifth grader at Orcutt/s Joe Nightingale School. He likes math, plays basketball and in most respects is a typical 11-year old.
The big difference between Hoobery and other kids is that Macgregor has an unbridled passion for golf.
"He began playing when he was nine," said Hoobery/s father, Jim, the owner of Louie B/s bar of Main Street. "He was playing baseball, too, but he gave that up to concentrate on golf."
"I play almost every day," the younger Hoobery said. "I/ll hit about 250 balls at the driving range five or six days a week."
"He has a standing reservation (at the Santa Maria Country Club) every Saturday morning at 11," said dad Jim. "He plays Dick Weldon. Dick/s a retired attorney who still shoots 80."
Weldon teaches Macgregor about golf and life.
"I learn something new from him every day," Macgregor said. "My dad taught me how to read the greens. Mr. Weldon has taught me about chipping and putting. And I/ve learned a lot from Mr. (Ken) White and Mr. (Tracy) Bowles."
White and Bowles are the club pros at the Santa Maria Country Club.
"Mr. (Michael) Keefe (at Rancho Maria) has taught me a lot about golf, too," Macgregor added.
He is also a semi-regular at the Sunset Ridge Golf Center driving range.
"They have lights so I can get my homework done then hit a bucket of balls under the lights," Macgregor said.
And then there are the tournaments.
"There are only four or five in the winter," the younger Hoobery said. "But in the summer they have them every week somewhere in the state."
Jim and Macgregor follow the California junior circuit all summer.
"I/ve played every golf course within 100 miles," Macgregor said.
"That/s right," added Jim. "Macgregor has played more than 50 courses, more than ten in the Palm Springs area alone."
A partial list of Macgregor/s accomplishments includes; The 2002 rookie of the year for the Coastal Valley (9-10 year olds), the 2003 champion of the Coastal Valley Tournament (10-11 year olds), a second place finish in the Santa Barbara junior golf association tournament last year, first place in the Ron Sharpe junior tournament (where he shot an age-group course-record 36 for nine holes), tying the course record at the Burnham Wood golf tournament with a round of 41, club junior champion at the Santa Maria Country Club (Hoobery/s home course), winner of the Santa Barbara Junior Golf Christmas Classic at Glen Annie, first place in the junior/professional pro am at Olivos Park Golf Course.
Hoobery also set the course record for juniors at Rancho Maria Golf Club with a 3-under par 32 on the front nine. Over the weekend of March 13-14, Macgregor carded an 81 and a 78 in a California Junior Tour competition against 14 and 15 year old players.
Although he is just under 5-feet tall and weighs 90 pounds, Macgregor stands tall on the golf course.
"If I hit it really well, I can drive the ball about 200 yards off the tee. I average about 190," Macgregor said. "At the Alisal River course I hit one 240 yards … but it was downwind."
"He hits the ball about 2 yards per pound," said Jim. "That/s what you have to do to compete on the PGA tour."
"But the most fun I have is putting," Macgregor added.
This season/s plan calls for Macgregor to play against older competition in the junior tournaments.
"I like to play against the older kids," he says. "They/re tougher to beat. I/m trying to win but I/m also trying to improve and I think this helps me get better."
"I almost beat the Hancock (College) men/s team the other day.
Macgregor, playing from the men/s tees with the Bulldogs/ players, shot a 39 over nine holes at the Santa Maria Country Club. The Hancock players he faced edged the Joe Nightingale student by just one shot.
"The thing I like best is that/s it/s never the same," Macgregor said. "I mean you play the same courses, the game is the same, but it/s different every time you go out."
So does Macgregor plan on becoming the next Tiger Woods?
"I don/t know about that. I just know that if I/m good enough I can get a college scholarship when I get older," he said.
March 26, 2004