For The Love Of The Game

George Pinnell was having a conversation with several junior player’s and the topic was centered on how much practice time was needed to play golf at a high level. One of the junior’s parent’s complained that they were having a difficult time getting their 2 boys to practice more than an hour a day in the summer.

Coach Pinnell called over Ricky Cen, a 10 year old who has been taking lessons at the George Pinnell Golf Academy for several months. Coach Pinnell knows that Ricky works hard on his game and wanted to ask him how much he practices per day. Ricky said, “I practice 4-6 hours per day.” Coach asked, “how many day’s per week do you practice?” Ricky responded, “7 day’s, coach.” Coach asked, “Ricky, don’t you get tired or bored working that long every day?” Ricky responded, “no.” Coach Pinnell was really interested in finding out what motivated Ricky to work 7 days a week for 4 to 6 hours. So Coach asked, “what motivates you to work that hard, Ricky?” Ricky looked at Coach Pinnell and his answer was “For the love of the game, Coach.”

Ricky’s answer floored Coach Pinnell as well as the other parents who were listening to the conversation. We do not know how successful Ricky will be in his quest to become an elite player, but we do know his heart and mind is in the right place. It should be noted that the choice for his practice schedule is made by Ricky. His parents are supporting his wishes and dreams and are not parents that are “pushing” him to practice. It was a “Kodak moment” for Pinnell.

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