My Summer Golf Getaway

Before school got out for the summer, I went to Edinburgh, Scotland to compete in the European Championship where the weather was rainy, cold and windy and the course was super hard.  Some of the bunkers were so deep I could not see the green.  I made some great friends that live all over the world that I pen pal with now- one that lives in St. Andrews, Scotland that I golfed with at the Eden course of St. Andrews named Verity and the other that lives in Latvia named Maria.  After Scotland, my daddy caddy and I went to the east coast of the mainland.  I played several tournaments from Florida to North Carolina and performed in a Drive, Chip and Putt in Virginia.  I came back with one trophy, three ribbons, and two medals from those opportunities.  I was able to go to Washington D.C. and see the sites and play at the Typhoon Lagoon in Disney World before the Florida State Invitational!

We broke up the summer golf with my uncle’s wedding in Solitude, Utah.  I was the flower girl and the wedding had a Bavarian theme, so I wore a traditional dirndl.  It was great!  We then went to our family cabin in Ashley National Forest.  I hit many golf balls off of the deck into the forest and played corn hole all the while beating my mom, my dad, and my grandma.  I think I am a little competitive. I then went down to St. George, Utah to visit with my grandpa and grandma (my dad’s side of the family).

The grand finale of my summer took me back to North Carolina to the place known as Pinehurst.  All of my golf practice and play prepared me for competition against 115 other 9 year old girls in the US Kids World Championships 2019.  These are the best of the best- only a few qualify out of the thousands that play in competition all over the world.  My Instagram initially introduced me to many like-minded junior golfers, so when I arrived this year, I knew SO many of the players and became good friends with even more girls that I keep in touch with!  My friend Maria from Latvia was there too.  Even though I did not play as well as I had hoped, I placed in the top 50% in the world of girl golfers my age.   I had many up and down’s for pars, big drives for the risk shots and good placement, and even a double sandy par on the #1 hardest hole of the course!  It was a double dog lake left.

All said and done, we rushed back to Maui for my first school day at Kihei Charter School, but I got sick to my stomach- I guess from all of the travel. So, my second day of school was my first, and it has been great ever since!  Mahalo for inquiring and listening to my story, and if you would like to follow my future golf adventures, please follow me on instagram@hazelpetersmaui.  Wish me luck in my upcoming regional tournaments!  The Palm Springs Open in September (we will stay with Stephen Fulton and other friends at their amazing property) and the Monterey Challenge in November.  The field is fierce but I will be ready!  My coach Renee Lee moved to the Big Island, so my dad is my coach and caddy – he has a hard job!  US Kids is awesome and we hope we get a Maui Local Chapter again soon.  In the meantime we must travel for golf, so cheer me on if you see me around!

With Oceans of Aloha!
Hazel Peters and the Peters Ohana