Fatherly Advice
You see, Werbicki and his wife Shannon welcomed their first child—Marek Matthew Werbicki—into the world on Feb. 24th.
“It’s absolutely amazing, that’s for sure,” says the new father. “But, it’s kind of funny because over the last bunch of months whenever someone says ‘congratulations,’ I usually don’t know if they mean for the baby or for the award.”
And just like fatherhood, the 32-year old Associate Professional at The Derrick Golf & Winter Club in Edmonton takes junior golf pretty seriously.
“It’s kind of a big deal if you think about it—being the first person to teach someone something,” he says. “When it comes to kids and golf, it’s a big responsibility.”
Back in the day, when most of us where just starting to play golf, our lives were touched by someone—probably a PGA professional—who taught us about the great game of golf, Werbicki says.
What he’s doing with junior golf in this country is just carrying on in the same tradition.
“If you do a good job at introducing the game to a kid, it can be a defining moment for them and they’ll probably continue to play in the future. But if you’re out there with the wrong approach they’ll probably not have a good time and are more than likely not continue playing.”
When Werbicki talks, he makes a lot of sense. His passion for growing the game in this country is quite evident. He sees the big picture when it comes go junior golf—get kids involved first and allow them to have a chance to grow, rather pushing them too early into competitive modes at early ages.
“It’s not so much about getting kids rushed into competitive streams,” he says about the tendency to want to turn kids into professionals before they become teenagers. “It’s more about exposing them to the game because it can offer so much and let them grow as a person.”
If Werbicki sounds like someone who has spent a fair bit of time getting to know the Long Term Player Development (LTPD) Guide for golf in Canada, it’s because he has. He also sees the benefit of the two big junior golf development programs in Canada—CN Future Links and Golf in Schools presented by Callaway.
“With Future Links, there are just so many tools and resources at our disposal that it’s absolutely amazing,” he says. “As for Golf in Schools, it’s great because the game is introduced to a bunch of kids who probably wouldn’t have a chance to hear about it otherwise.”
Along with Derrick Club head professional, Trevor Goplin, the pair are two of the biggest supporters of Golf in Schools this country has. Throughout the winter months, the two can often be found inside Edmonton area gymnasiums running through the Golf in Schools with students and teachers alike.
“To be completely honest, our goal isn’t beefing up our junior program and getting a whole bunch of new members, but rather just to get kids exposed to the game,” Werbicki admits. “We just want kids getting to know about golf and playing the sports—it’s just that simple.”
The Derrick Club does already have sizable junior program thanks to the hard work of the club’s PGA professionals over the years. Werbicki says the challenge is keeping the kids interested and engaged as they get older.
“The kids are growing, so now we’re having to change our programs a bit so they keep interested and continue to play,” he says. “A big part of what any good professional does is fine tune their programs—you’ve got constantly work hard and make sure what you’re doing is still relevant.”