[August 18, 2011] For love of the game Tweet Aug 18, 2011 (Star Beacon - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Austin Jacobs just loves playing golf, and lots of it. At the young age of 9, he collected his first hole-in-one. Now 11 years old, Jacobs had another summer to remember on the links as he won seven of the nine events he participated in on the Northern Ohio PGA Pups Tour. His season included winning the Northern Ohio PGA Pups Tour Championship in a playoff at Mud Run. After shooting a 40, he parred the playoff hole and took home the title. "I've never been in a playoff so that was pretty cool," the always understated and humble Jacobs said. "I had never done that before. I had a par and the other kid had adouble-bogey, so I won." What makes Jacobs amazing isn't that he's accomplished so much by 11 or that he's continuing to improve as player, but that he essentially taught himself how to play in rounds with father, Tom. He also suffers from an eye condition that affects his depth perception, an important part of golf. "He had a couple eye surgeries and until his eyes are fully set his depth perception isn't perfect," Tom, who caddied for his son this summer, said. "The best thing I did for him was he'd ask me how far away he was from certain yardages because he can't always tell." Jacobs learned to play the game by watching instructional golf videos from Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman. Not exactly the normal path for a young phenom such as himself, who aside from collecting an ace also holed-out from 90 yards with a nine-iron this week for an eagle. "When I was young, I liked to watch the video of them (Nicklaus and Norman)," Jacobs said. Taught by sight, not through lessons, Jacobs plays about three times a week, usually playing 27 holes on Fridays and Saturdays with his dad. The bond between father and son extends beyond playing those weekend rounds, as the two are a team on the course when Tom caddies for his oldest son. "It's awesome," Tom said. "We always talk about how it doesn't matter how he places, but the key is to have fun and improve every round. "The thing with golf is that you don't play defense, you just go out there and play the course. He relies on me a lot. It's funny because he always wants me to make sure I have all his clubs and everything is clean." Jacobs, a member at Hemlock Springs Golf Course in Harpersfield Township, said the best part of his season was getting to play new courses. "It was a good season; I had a lot of fun," the 11-year-old who shots around 84 from the men's tees at Hemlock. "I got to play nine courses this year and my favorite was the last one (Mud Run). It was a really nice one." The boy who says his favorite golfer is Rickie Fowler because, "I like how he wears all orange," will move on to the PGA Kenny Novack Tour next year, where he will have to play 18 holes, instead of nine like this summer. The advance in play, and competition, shouldn't affect Jacobs, though. He always wants to play. "It's been amazing [to see him progress]," Tom said. "He used to go out with us when he was younger and hit a couple shots, then he just kept playing and he'd get mad if he was playing from the kid's tees. He always wants to play more and play from the men's tees." The son of Tom and Christy's reasoning for wanting to from harder tees is simple: "I like the challenge and want to see what I can shoot." With golf season winding down, Jacobs will turn his focus to entering sixth grade and playing his second favorite sport, basketball. Until then, though, he'll just keep practicing; like always. "I'd see him out in our yard hitting Wiffle balls around our house," he said. "He's never had a lesson, he's just got a nice swing. "He goes around our yard non-stop hitting Wiffle balls trying to draw the ball, hit a fade. He'll go into the woods and try to get out. He just loves the game." To see more of the Star Beacon or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.starbeacon.com/. Copyright (c) 2011, Star Beacon, Ashtabula, Ohio Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]