Junior Golf: Ryan Irish-Taking It All In

While a participant at The First Tee of Greater Sacramento, Ryan Irish earned the opportunity to compete in the Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach in both 2007 and 2008. He also attended the Toro Future Leaders Forum last fall at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando. Recently, Ryan was honored at The First Tee Congressional Breakfast as one of the First Tee Scholars for the Class of 2009. Besides speaking before some Members of the Senate and Congress, he met 2009 Presidents Cup Captains Fred Couples and Greg Norman.

Ryan is a senior at Jesuit High School. In addition to playing on the golf team, he is active in the Big Brother program, manages the soccer team, and is a Senior Retreat Leader. Ryan enjoys his work at The Ronald McDonald House, the local homeless shelter and building confidence in at-risk youth through the game of golf. Ryan will attend Claremont McKenna College this fall where he plans to major in business and, of course, play on the golf team.  In his letter of recommendation, Ryan’s English teacher says, “Ryan’s work and dedication to others inspires and challenges me to become the best teacher and person possible.”

Q and A with Ryan:

GL: How many years have you been involved with the First Tee and how did you first get involved?

Ryan: I’ve been involved with the First Tee for about six years. I started when I was a junior golfer and I was interested in playing competitively, because I love the game of golf.

GL: What’s your handicap right now?

Ryan: It’s about +1.2 to be exact.

GL:  Tell me about the First Tee event in Washington D.C. that you just attended.

Ryan: It was the First Tee Congressional Breakfast. The First Tee is funded by Congress, and so some First Tee scholars from around the country were chosen to attend, and I was one of them. They asked me to speak for 3-5 minutes on how The First Tee has had a positive impact on my life. It was an amazing experience.

GL: While you were there, you met Greg Norman and Fred Couples. What was that like?

Ryan:  I remember as I finished my speech, they were all clapping, and as I walked back to my table, Greg Norman gave me a handshake and said, “Great speech”. That was really cool! Also, Fred Couples was just a really nice guy. He came over and talked with my parents and me for like five minutes when they were all really busy with all of the Senators and Congressmen. It was just really cool to see these guys.

GL: So, you’re graduating high school. What are your plans?

Ryan:  I’m going to Claremont McKenna College. It is a liberal arts college just outside of Los Angeles.  I’m majoring in Government/Financial Economics.

GL: What about your golf game-Where do you see that going?

Ryan:  I’m playing on the golf team in college. It’s Division 3, but they are rated I think 17 overall in D-3, and I’m the number one freshman, so it’ll be fun. It’s not as competitive as a D-1 school, so I’ll be able to have a life outside of golf, which I really like.

GL: What is your favorite club in your bag?

Ryan: My favorite club is my driver. It goes straight most of the time.

GL: If you were to compare your golf game to a flavor of ice cream what would it be?

Ryan:  Rocky Road. Because it’s just like everyone else’s golf game: It has its ups and downs. It kind of goes all over the place.

GL:  What’s something you’d like to say, or some advice you have, for junior golfers?

Ryan:  The advice I’d like to give to the competitive junior golfers is to not take it too seriously. I used to, I remember, and I would take it out on everyone around me when I had a bad day. When I got older and more mature I realized that it was just a game of golf. I took a more relaxed approach to it. I was still competitive, but if I played bad, I didn’t let it ruin my entire day. So, my advice is to just relax out there and take it all in.