Robb takes junior golf to new level

Rob Robb still remembers the disappointment – his own and that of the handful of players who had signed up to compete – when he took his son, Tanner, to his first District 4 Idaho Golf Association Juniors tournament four years ago.

“There were only about 14 kids there,” he recalled. “I was thinking, ‘What kind of a program is this?’ “

But rather than merely gripe about the overt apathy he had witnessed, Robb took action.

An accomplished player, himself, he contacted the IGAJ and asked if he could become more involved in the District 4 program, which encompasses all of northern Idaho and some overlapping sections of Washington, including Robb’s hometown of Liberty Lake.

His request was granted, and a short time later – as the district’s new director – Robb started increasing the district’s membership. It jumped from 14 to 50 the first year; from 50 to 80 the next; from 80 to 100 the year after that and from 100 to 120 this year.

And Robb’s substantial efforts will be rewarded next week when a pair of Post Falls courses – The Links and Prairie Falls Golf Club – become the first District 4 venues to host the IGAJ State Championship in 20 years.

“It’s been really satisfying,” said the 54-year-old Robb, who runs his own Spokane-area business, Select Farms, and was one of the original owners of the Prairie Falls course prior to selling out his share. “We still have eight or nine of the original 14 kids, and the best part has been watching them achieve what they want to achieve in the game.

“That’s the fun part.”

But it’s obvious Robb also takes some delight in having met the considerable challenge IGAJ officials issued two years ago when they told him they would let his district, the smallest of the state’s four, host the State Championship, provided he could increase its membership to 100.

“They kind of smiled when they told me that, and I knew what that meant,” Robb recalled. “I said OK, and the next year we got a hundred kids signed up.”

Including, Robb now admits, a couple who were never going to play.

“I had to get the number up to what they wanted,” he laughed.

Robb said he increased his district’s membership in a variety of ways.

“I already knew of lot of the kids in the area through my own playing,” he explained. “I started making phone calls to some of the people I knew, my son got of a lot of his buddies involved and I talked to a lot of the golf pros I know about helping me get the word out.

“It takes time. I’ve probably made 500 phone calls to parents and sent out a bunch of e-mails. It’s more of a marketing issue than anything else. But once you get 50 or 60 kids involved it all becomes word of mouth. Once kids have a good time, they tell their friends about it.”

And having a good time was Robb’s No. 1 priority when he took over as District 4 director.

“We weren’t nearly as high-pressure as Washington when we first started,” he said. “We were just trying to let the kids have a little bit of fun. But now, it’s become a little more competitive, because we’ve got a lot of good kids playing now.”

That shows in the fact that the northern Idaho district will have 36 golfers among the 222 who have qualified to play in the IGAJ State Championship, which will be held Monday and Tuesday.

Competitors in the 9-12 age group will play nine holes each day at Prairie Falls, while those 13-18 will play 18 holes each day at The Links.

Practice rounds will be played today and Sunday, and Robb said he expects the event to draw upwards of 2,000 people – “with parents, grandparents and all of that” – to the two courses in the next four days.

“The tournament is quite a big thing,” he said, pointing out that close to 1,000 kids are currently members of the IGAJ. “And to have 36 kids out of our district qualify for state is pretty impressive, considering its size.

“We’re the smallest in the state right now, but, hopefully, in two more years, it won’t be that way.”

Robb, who maintains the District 4 website at www.leaguelineup.com/ijga, said he hopes to have his membership up to 150 by next spring.

“And we’re getting better players each year,” he added.

Which only adds to Rob Robb’s satisfaction.