thegolfmason
2022 Player of the Year
Anna Fang
2022 Tournament Results
National Tour Encinitas Junior
Encinitas Ranch Golf Course
Score: 72,74
Result: 1st
2022 US Womens Amateur
August 8-14, 2022
6,526yd
Chambers Bay
Par:73
Stroke Play: 76,73
Matchplay Round of 64: Won: 3&2
Matchplay Round of 32: Lost: 6&5
AJGA Junior All-Star at Stanford
Stanford Golf Course
Score: 65,70,69
Result: 1st
Phil Mickelson Junior Players Championship 15-18
Twin Oaks Golf Course
Score: 71,69
Result: 1st
Please call me at 760-473-8483 or e-mail john@thegolfmason.com to sign up for group classes
thegolfmason | Junior Program
The most important habit forming years are between the ages of 6 and 12. Learning habits such as integrity, honesty, “sticktoitiveness” and discipline are traits that will last a lifetime. Golf is a wonderful way for children to learn these and other traits such as intensity, sportsmanship and a competitive spirit. Whether your child is the next Tiger Woods or an honors student at Stanford University, he or she will always look back on their childhood and remember the lessons learned early on in life.
In my many years of working with young people, one thing I have learned is that not all children aspire to be a great golfer, but they all want to learn the game. So I have designed my Junior Program to include 4 ways for your child to develop their golf skills – Private Instruction, Independent Study Physical Education (earns PE school credits), the Junior Tournament Players Club (which is group classes) and the San Diego County PGA Jr League #1. Please click on buttons below for more information.
Junior Golf Development
I recently started working on a project to help parents of Junior golfers understand the Junior golf development process, not just with their players golf games but with their lives as well. One of the main reasons parents and juniors are interested in golf is the possibility of a college scholarship. A large amount of people think that winning individual junior golf tournaments at a young age is the ticket and will do anything to make sure their child wins early. This is actually not the case and with this project I hope to help clear up some of the misunderstandings and guide parents and juniors toward their best path to success. It breaks my heart when I see a young player crying after not performing well in a tournament or having six golf coaches at the age of 10 years old.
The first thing I did was send a quote to several college golf coaches to get their perception on this matter:
Dear Coach , I would greatly appreciate your response to the following statement regarding junior golf.
“Winning individual golf tournaments at the age of 10-13 is not as important to colleges as the values these players learn competing at a young age; such as sportsmanship, team building, confidence and skill development. Not until age 14-17 do the college coaches really start looking at the players performance statistics”.
If you would please respond positively or negatively I would greatly appreciate your time. I have been teaching and coaching young people for many years and I believe there is a misperception by our parental junior golf communities about how their children should be preparing for the chance at a college golf scholarship.
Thank you.
John Mason PGA
Here are the coaches responses:
Hi John,
I agree with the statement…ages 10-13 is quite early for any recruiting to be going on…
Are you the one saying this to your clients? If so, great!
Conrad Ray – Director of Men’s Golf at Stanford University
Hi John,
Happy New Year! I 100% agree with this statement – winning is never as important as character and strong values learned through playing golf. Not just at an early age but throughout your life. Hope this helps.
JT Higgins – USC Men’s Golf Coach
I think you are right John. While it’s important to win at a young age there is so much growth from 10-18 years old. It’s important to lay the foundation, the core values at a young age. Hope this helps
Michael Beard – Pepperdine Head Golf Coach
I agree!
Chris Haack – Director of Mens Golf at University of Georgia
John:
Your statement is 100% accurate in my opinion. I tell every family that asks that GETTING better needs to always be focus #1.
JC Deacon – University of Florida Head Men’s Golf Coach
My conclusion, based on the college coaches responses, is that instead of worrying about results in individual golf tournaments, young people should be having fun with the game, improving their skills and playing in a team atmosphere where they are surrounded by children their own age.
This is precisely why I started my Jr League at Encinitas Ranch Golf Course. I believe that playing other sports for fun, playing as many golf tournaments as you can to see where you are with your development and having fun during the PGA JR League season is the ticket to success.
A great example of this is Jay Leng Jr., who started in my PGA Jr League in 2013 at the age of 7. In 2014 he made my All Star team at the age of 8, by far the youngest I have ever had make it and quite possibly the youngest to ever play on a PGA Jr League All Star team anywhere. Jay was winning junior golf tournaments at this time as well, but not because he was trying to win everything or focusing only on individual tournaments, but because he was good, very good.
At times I did not think he liked golf all that much, he just wanted to be with his friends and have fun. He was always an excellent putter and I remember a time when we were on the golf course with his dad and he one putted 7 greens in a row and thought nothing of it, from 10-30’, amazing! He has since gone on to win two PGA Jr League National Championships, played on all of my All Star teams since 2014, never missed a match for 6 years in a row and had a lot of fun traveling all over the country with his friends. Jay will be attending Stanford University on a golf scholarship in 2024 and is currently the #2 ranked boy in the Rolex AJGA Rankings sponsored by Taylor Made.
If you are a parent and are concerned about the pressure and tension your player may be feeling when it comes to scoring in individual golf tournaments, please remember that golf, like life, is not a sprint but rather a marathon. Slow down, take your time and enjoy the process.
Sincerely,
John A Mason | PGA Director of Instruction
Encinitas Ranch Golf Course
Student Success
Success comes in all shapes and sizes. Some young people just want to make their high school golf team, some want to play college golf and a few wish to play golf professionally. Here are a few of my success stories since opening Encinitas Ranch in 1998.
Tiffany Joh – LPGA
Jennifer Johnson – LPGA
Risa Murata- Japan LPGA
KarenTsuru – 2018 PGA Jr. League National Championship Team, Toyota Tour Cup Player of the Year 2018 and 2019, Junior Tournament Players Program, #1 player in SDJGA in her age group
Jay Leng Jr. – 2015 Drive, Chip & Putt Champion, 2015 and 2018 PGA Jr. League National Championship Team, 2014-15 US Kids National Champion
MacKenzie Kline – 2004-05 Top-ranked junior in the U.S. in her age division
Ahmed Ali –UCLA Golf Team, 2007 Jr. World Champ / Palo Alto High School Golf Team
Stephanie Arcala – SDSU Golf Team
Peter Campbell – UCLA Golf Team
Aleia Clark – UCLA Golf Team
Connor Driscoll – UCLA Golf Team Captain
Shane French- USC Golf Team, 2015 PGA Jr. League National Championship Team
Chloe Belle Hooton – Harvard Golf Team
Courtney Hooton – Harvard Golf Team
Libby Hooton – University of Pennsylvania Golf Team
Jay Hwang – 2009 USGA Jr. Am finalist / Torrey Pines Golf Team
/ UCLA Golf Team
Blake Iwaisako – UCSD Golf Team, San Dieguito Academy Golf Team
Stephen Kearney – Stanford Golf Team
Gian-Luca Martinez – University of Oregon golf team, Torrey Pines High School Golf Team
Ryan McQueen – UC Santa Cruz Golf Team
Jackson Moss- SDSU Golf Team, 2015 PGA Jr. League National Championship Team,
Krando Nishiba- USC Golf Team, 2015 PGA Jr. League National Championship Team,
Scotty Pena – Redlands University Golf Team
Ryan Smith, 2015 PGA Jr. League National Championship Team,
Tommy Stephenson – Fresno State Golf Team
Jacie Stewart, 2015 PGA Jr. League National Championship Team,
Nicolas Barth – La Costa Canyon High School Golf Team
Lee Bedol – La Costa Canyon High School Golf Team
Matthew Broder- Torrey Pines HS. Golf Team, 2018 PGA Jr. League National Championship Team
Steven Cisarik – La Costa Canyon High School Golf Team
Aiden Danko – Carlsbad HS. Golf Team, Junior Tournament Players Program
Connor Edelbeck – San Dieguito Academy Golf Team
Patrick Ernst – La Costa Canyon High School Golf Team
Jasmine Kahler– Carlsbad HS. Golf Team, 2018 PGA Jr. League National Championship Team, Junior Tournament Players Program
Victoria Lee – San Dieguito HS. Golf Team, Junior Tournament Players Program
Justin McGrath – Torrey Pines High School Golf Team
Scotland Muir – La Costa Canyon High School Golf Team
Kai and Kanoa Nakama – San Dieguito Academy Golf Team
Dylan Oyama- Pacific Ridge HS Golf Team, 2015 PGA Jr. League National Championship Team
Krystian Romero – Pinehurst, North Carolina
Nate Williams – La Costa Canyon High School Golf Team
Andapon Wright – La Costa Canyon High School Golf Team
Nick Chang- 2015 PGA Jr. League National Championship Team
Dylan Oyama- 2015 PGA Jr. League National Championship Team
Jared Tran- 2015 PGA Jr. League National Championship Team
Daina Tsuru- 2015 PGA Jr. League National Championship Team
Audrey Blankenship-– Junior Tournament Players Program
Kaden Chang- Junior Tournament Players Program
Michael and Kayla Geng – Junior Tournament Players Program
Justin Gill– Junior Tournament Players Program
Kenyon Kahler- Junior Tournament Players Program
Kai and Zoe Salinas – Junior Tournament Players Program
Luke Sanchez– Junior Tournament Players Program
Kayden Wang-– Junior Tournament Players Program
Ryan Vo – Junior Tournament Players Program
Claire Zhong– Junior Tournament Players Program
Testimonials
We met John Mason almost 9 years ago when we were introduced to him as a great junior golf instructor. Over this time we have come to know Coach John, as he is fondly referred to by our kids, to be more than just a great golf coach. He has watched all three of our children grow up from elementary school to our eldest leaving for college this year.
It is true he has taught them everything they know about golf, starting with the fundamentals of the grip, the posture, to being able to shape shots and play in different conditions – all this has helped each child compete at different levels locally, statewide and even internationally. However, this is just the basics of what Coach John does, he has been a mentor for the three of them; leveraging golf as a vehicle to highlight the importance of hard work and strong ethics, having high integrity and doing well at school. He has taught them to expect the most from themselves while enjoying the outcome, knowing that they worked hard and did their best.
Over these 9 years we have lived in San Diego, Singapore (yes Asia) and now in San Francisco; Coach John has always been there to help them work through their game, whether through an email message with video of the swing, a phone call after a tournament or just a chat to put things into perspective after a tough golf round in a tournament. I am sure there are many good junior golf coaches, however, very few could have inspired all three kids with different personalities and different approaches to achieve all that they have in golf and at school. Very few could take all three, understand their individual personalities and tailor the coaching to each one so precisely that they all love the game and look forward to seeing Coach John whenever they can.
He has coached them in golf, inspired a drive in them to continuously improve and most of all helped them truly enjoy the great game of golf. I am sure all the lessons at Encinitas Ranch, whether on a cold windy afternoon or a beautiful day when you can see the ocean, will not only be useful on the golf course, but will help them in many situations they will face in life. Yes, he is a great junior golf instructor; but more importantly he has taught our kids a lot more than just how to swing a golf club. Thanks Coach John!
– Azmat Ali, father of Ahmed Ali
I honestly think that I learned more valuable lessons during my time working with John than I have anywhere else. John not only taught me how to play golf properly, he taught me about life. Through all of the drills he made me do I learned discipline, focus, and mental toughness.
I distinctly remember hitting drivers on the range and getting tired, and John telling me that I can leave once I hit the imaginary fairway (10 yards wide) 5 times in a row. I whined and told him I had been stripping my driver for 30 minutes. John replied, “well yeah, anybody can stripe a driver when they aren’t aiming at anything.” It was things like this that taught me that doing anything without a purpose is pointless and unproductive.
John also taught me how your golf game is intertwined with your life. He taught me that in order to be more level headed on the golf course, I need to work on being more level-headed in every aspect of life. “Don’t dwell on the mistakes and bad luck that happens, Connor. Forget about it and focus on how you are going to hit the next shot.” It was conversations like this that helped me grow as a golfer and as a person.
John’s knowledge of golf goes far beyond the technical side of the game. He knows how golf is supposed to be PLAYED. I am very lucky to have worked with John for as long as I did, and am lucky to still consider him a friend today.
– Connor Driscoll, former UCLA golf team captain