This week: a brand new national junior tour with Arnold Palmer's name on it, and a lesson I learned early in my coaching career from a kid who was always five minutes late.
One news item: The Arnold Palmer Junior Golf Tour starts in January
Last Tuesday, the Hurricane Junior Golf Tour and the Texas Junior Golf Tour announced that starting in 2027 they'll run as one tour: the Arnold Palmer Junior Golf Tour. It's backed by David Blitzer's Bolt Ventures, Arnold Palmer Enterprises and the Arnold & Winnie Palmer Foundation.
The numbers: nearly 400 events in its first year, year round, for boys and girls 8 to 18. For comparison, the AJGA runs about 150. The first event is January 2 and 3 at ChampionsGate in Orlando. The AP reports it's more likely to complement the AJGA than compete with it.
The tour says it's built on three things: affordable events, a clearer path to college golf, and character, through a program built by the Palmer Foundation and Wake Forest, where Arnold played. The foundation is also starting a Player Access Award to help families with junior golf costs.
Where it stands: announced and scheduled, but a lot isn't final yet. The 2027 points system hasn't been published, the college recruiting piece is listed as coming soon, and details on the award are expected in the coming months.
What to do now. More events doesn't mean more is better. About 15 events of two days or more a year is ideal, and 20 is the absolute max. Before middle school, no more than two tournament days a week. Aim for about 80% of events where your child can compete and learn to win, and 20% that stretch them. A new tour can fill that 80% well, especially closer to home. And college coaches look at scores, but they don't make offers on rankings or points.
If you're outside the US, the same rule holds for the tours you play at home: fewer, better events, chosen on purpose.
Source: Golf Digest, A rebranded junior golf tour will carry Arnold Palmer's name and the tour's site, apjgt.com.
One idea: Whatever you walk past becomes your new standard
Early in my coaching career I had a talented player who was chronically five minutes late to everything. Not egregiously late. Just five minutes, every single time. I let it slide because he was good and I didn't want the conflict.
Within a month, half the team was showing up five minutes late. Nobody said a word. The standard just drifted.
That's when it hit me. You're either actively maintaining your standards or you're passively lowering them. There's no neutral position.
I've also learned that expectations and standards aren't the same thing, and that distinction matters more than most people realize.
Expectations are the vision. The why. In my programs they've always been simple. Have fun. Create great experiences and relationships. Learn and grow. Win. That's the emotional foundation everything else gets built on.
Standards are the daily behaviors that actually get you there. Be on time. Be trustworthy. Have a growth mindset and work hard. Take responsibility for your actions. Encourage the people around you. Don't make excuses.
When those are clear and consistent something interesting happens. The standard becomes the authority, not the coach. I don't have to lecture anyone. I just point to what we all agreed on. The conversation stays about the behavior, not the person. That's where real accountability lives without anyone feeling attacked.
Why almost nobody does this at home: most families have expectations, but they've never written down the standards. So every hard moment turns into a debate about the kid instead of a look at the line you both agreed on. And the things you walk past, a late start, an excuse, a bad attitude after a round, quietly become the new normal.
What I've seen over 25 years is that the teams, families, and programs that define these things clearly and hold them consistently almost always outperform the ones with similar talent that don't.
It's not magic. It's just clarity. People do better when they know exactly where the lines are. Kids especially. They don't struggle in high standard environments. They struggle in ambiguous ones.
That's true whether your golfer is 7 or 17. The standards just grow with them.
What to do this month: November is the month for your Annual Lighthouse Meeting. Sit down with your child, review the past year, and have an honest talk about their dreams, goals, tournament ideas and plan. Then set your expectations and standards together, and agree on how you'll hold each other accountable. Let your child write the standards down in their own words.
Whatever you walk past becomes your new standard. The good news is it works in both directions. Raise the bar and hold it, and the people around you will rise to meet it. Every time.
Three quotes
"Growth doesn't always show up as a lower score or a win on the scoreboard. Sometimes it's invisible. But it's happening."
"The best players I ever competed against weren't always the most talented. They were the ones who loved the game enough to do the boring work nobody sees."
"Struggle is not failure. It is the precursor to breakthrough."
One question to think about this week
What's one thing in your house you've been walking past?
Be the lighthouse, not a tugboat.
Coach Spar