Austin Hemmingson | Daily Press Elise Bradley, one of 156 golfers on the Symetra Tour who will golf in this weekend’s Island Resort Championship at Sweetgrass, helps 10-year old Gladstone youngster Miles Vidito learn how to putt Thursday at the Terrace Bluff Golf Course in Gladstone. Four golfers on tour came out to help the youngsters on the first day of Delta County Junior Golf Association lessons.

GLADSTONE — Any time you can learn from the pros, it’s a good thing. When you can do it for free, it’s even better.

The Delta County Junior Golf Association kicked off its free summer lessons for kids ages 9-15 with a bang at the Terrace Bluff Wednesday, with four professional female golfers on the Symetra Tour for this weekend’s Island Resort Championship at Sweetgrass in Harris stopping by to give the area youth golfers some pointers.

The lessons, which are taught by Rob Robinson, are Wednesday through Friday this week and next in conjuction with multiple summer tournaments.

“Last week, I was thinking ‘they should be in town already,'” Robinson said.

“It’s a great opportunity for these kids to meet these caliber of players, and I think it’s great for our area to have this tournament in our backyard.”

Elise Bradley, Bailey Tardy, Georgia Lacey and Mila Chaves — four of the field of 156 to golf at Sweetgrass this weekend — took time to speak to the children about their own personal experiences and gave them pointers on putting techniques.

“I started golfing when I was 12,” Tardy, a University of Georgia graduate said. “At this age, you need to make the game fun. We’re just trying to inspire them to try to get better and want to play better and want to keep playing because golf is really growing. We want to come out here and teach the kids good technique.”

Lacey and Chaves — both San Diego State University graduates — echoed those comments.

“I hope to bring a fun aspect to golf because a lot of people are like, ‘oh, you just go out and grind and practice but it’s also a really, really fun sport,” Lacey said. “You try not to beat yourself up too much if something doesn’t go your way on the course or on a drill.”

Chaves, a native of Paraguay, South America, says she started golfing when she was eight years old.

“It’s obviously really important to learn it at a young age. You can learn it when you’re older, but starting at a young age really helps you out when you get older and you’re at the high school and college level,” she said. “But golf is about having fun, too. Yeah, you’re trying to be good, and at a competitive level you should be practicing and taking it seriously, but it’s also about having fun and learning to love the sport.”

Chaves said she played tennis and golf when she was younger, but decided to focus more on golf at nine years old.

“I don’t know, there’s something about competition and golf that just matched the way I am more than tennis,” she said. “It fit my personality more.”

Robinson, who also coaches the women’s basketball team at Bay College, says keeping golf fun is what it’s all about.

“My goal has been — with all my lessons and and everything I do here — for people to enjoy golf,” Robinson said.

“My whole point of these lessons is to help people enjoy golf so they keep playing it longer. We want our kids from Delta County to be successful, and I think by adding these free lessons for them, hopefully that propels them into high school and helps them be successful in the future.

“I’ve been fortunate to be able to coach basketball and golf for a living. I think it’s all about trying to make it enjoyable. That’s how I’ve based my coaching and teaching philosophy for a long time. It doesn’t matter if it’s an adult or if it’s a junior — whoever I have the opportunity to teach, I want them to enjoy it and feel like they learned something at the end.”

The kids spent the day putting, which Robinson says is the most imperative part of the sport.

“I think the younger kids watch the guys and the girls on TV hit the ball 300-plus yards, and they think that’s how golf is won,” he said. “But golf is won in the short game. We’re going to spend a lot of time on the short game this week, and we’re also going to let them take a full swing. We have six sessions to hopefully get the fundamentals built.”