Mitchell Kelly was named the recipient of the latest Create a Star Program by Wayne Hachey, the founder of the Evolve Pro Tour in Spain and the Desert Golf Academy at the Osoyoos Golf Club. Kelly recently returned after spending six weeks in Europe and helping Hachey organize five pro tour events. Kelly got to play in a couple of tournaments as well. The trip to Spain rekindled his passion for the game as he’s returned to working at the Osoyoos Golf Club. (Keith Lacey photo)
A trip to Spain to work on organizing and playing in professional golf tournaments was all it took for Mitchell Kelly to realize his heart lies with the game of golf.
Kelly, 21, was the latest young Osoyoos golfer to be asked to accompany Wayne Hachey, founder of the Desert Golf Academy and Evolve Pro Golf Tour in Spain, as part of Hachey’s Create a Star program.
In order to travel to Spain and spend five weeks working with Hachey on running several tournaments, Kelly took a leave of absence from his job working as an electrical apprentice.
He had worked for several years on the grounds crew at Osoyoos Golf Club before deciding to try and become an electrician.
After his experience in Spain, Kelly quit his job and will be returning to work full-time at the Osoyoos Golf Club this summer.
“The trip made me realize that I want to try and have a career in the game of golf and how much I missed working at this place,” said Kelly. “If I can’t make it as a player, then I want to be involved somehow with golf.”
Hachey and Kelly left for Spain in late January and spent almost six weeks in Europe.
Kelly helped Hachey organize five separate tour events and also played in two tournaments, where he found out quickly just how good full-time professional golfers really are.
“I didn’t start out too badly in either tournament, but then I would have some really bad holes,” he said.
The wind was howling in southern Spain throughout their five-week trip and that made the conditions to play golf very tough, said Hachey. The wind was so bad, he had to cancel a couple of rounds in two tournaments.
“There were just some brutal conditions with the wind howling at 50 and 60 kilometres an hour almost every day we were there,” he said. “Mitchell isn’t used to playing in terrible conditions like that and it made it very difficult.
“The good news is he had to learn how to hit some knockdown shots to get the ball through the wind and he was hitting a lot of really good knockdown shots before he left.”
The work ethic professional golfers bring to their profession was eye-opening to say the least, said Kelly.
“The thing you can’t help but notice is just how hard these guys work,” he said. “They are there hitting balls and working on their games before they play their round and most of them stay after their round to keep on working on their games.
“It’s their job and they take it very seriously. They live and breath golf.”
Being able to travel to Europe for the first time was every bit as exciting as he thought it would be, said Kelly.
“It was very different, but it was good,” he said. “The food they eat over there in Spain is amazing. It’s a very interesting culture and they are very nice people and I really enjoyed it.”
Hachey said he’s very pleased he has now been able to offer a wonderful life experience to four young golfers from Osoyoos over the past four years through the Create a Star program.
“Mitchell did well,” he said. “It was an eye opener for him, just like it was for the other young guys I’ve brought over to Spain. My goal is to expose them to golf at the professional level, but I also want them to have a life experience and see what another culture is all about.
“There’s a big world out there and they are able to have a unique experience, meet a lot of good colleagues from other countries and have some fun. The program is accomplishing everything I hoped it would and more.”
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
