Like many people during Masters Week, children in Blythe were fascinated by golf talk.
Before last week's golf camp, however, many of them knew little or nothing about the sport.
"This is a rural town, so the children aren't as exposed to golf as those who stay in Augusta," said Pat Strakosch, the director of the Blythe Area Recreation Center. "Though they haven't had much exposure, they are very curious about it because they hear about it a lot, especially around this time of year.
"It's an unusual sport to them, but they are fascinated by it and want to learn how to play."
For the past nine years, Mrs. Strakosch's husband, Doug, has led a golf camp at the center for ages 4 to 12 during Masters Week. The children learn about golf etiquette and vocabulary, the clubs and their uses, keeping score, the components of a golf course, dress codes for the courses, and the proper ways to hold and swing a club.
"We try to teach them in terms that they understand," Mrs. Strakosch said. "For example, we told them that a hole-in-one is better than anything else, that it's like making a touchdown in football. And a bogey is like the boogie man -- it's bad."
She said she was impressed by what the youngsters learned about golf in five days.
"Children are like a sponge. Before, they paid little or no attention to golf because they didn't understand it," she said. "Now, the children have been going home, watching golf on TV and telling their parents what's happening."
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