Innovative
Junior Sports Academy
Available at Desert Mountain

Focusing on young golf and tennis enthusiasts, the JSA offers children ages 4-17 a different kind of instruction, focused on providing experiences that inspire curiosity, immersive play, and self-guided exploration into golf and tennis. “The Junior Sports Academy aligns perfectly with the Club’s vision to provide outstanding experiences for Members and be the finest private Club and community for golf and recreational lifestyle activities in North America,” explains Damon DiOrio, CEO of Desert Mountain Club. “With dozens of younger families investing in Desert Mountain and what we offer, along with more children and grandchildren spending more time here as they participate in remote learning, enhancing their experience became very timely and very exciting.” The golf curriculum and JSA golf programming is held during after school off-peak hours at the traditional links-style Outlaw course. To run it, Desert Mountain engaged Richard Franklin, an international leader in junior golf instruction. Striving to “bring out the best in young learners,” Franklin studied childhood development and behavioral psychology before landing on the discovery that fun and interactive games on the course are the best way to both teach and excite children. Franklin’s game system, called “DiscoverGolf,” serves as the learning platform for the golf component of JSA. “Richard is an original thinker who is bringing a level of ingenuity and fun to our Desert Mountain families,” explained Paxton O’Connor, PGA, Director of Performance & Instruction. “We’ve started something very special and new to Arizona, with lessons that guide our youth to think differently on the golf course, while deliberately training curiosity, immersive play, and self-guided exploration,” he said. O’Connor recruited Franklin from Deerpath Golf Course in Lake Forest, IL where he spent 12 years leading the youth golf program. Only someone with a background that combines childhood development, behavioral psychology, professional golf, and graphic design could be responsible for creating a board game-style golf curriculum with titles that include “Croctology,” “King Putt,” and “Nutcluster.” “Croctology,” in particular, requires students to putt through a series of very menacing cardboard crocodile teeth to reveal a ramp, which leads to the next step in the game where precisely placed puts will win. At Desert Mountain Club, the golf portion of the Junior Sports Academy offers 90-minute sessions up to 6 days a week, timed to begin after kids are done with the day’s schooling, plus one or two sessions on weekend days. A 4-to-1 (or better) student-coach ratio is maintained and learning is sequenced as a series of games that lead up to a big end-of-day event. Young families at Desert Mountain are invited to refer the Academy to their friends and teammates. The Club has created a new Non-Equity Junior Sports Academy Membership to accommodate these referrals. The “DiscoverGolf” game system and methodology has reached more than 7,000 young golfers worldwide and is in use at more than 250 golf facilities on five continents. All games, complete with characters and functionality have been specially developed by Richard Franklin. Training sessions encompass team-based challenges with high levels of player interaction, goal quests, games, and activities that bring out each child’s creativity, problem-solving skills, engineering capabilities, communication/team management, and skill development. As an alternative or goal-focused step, a second offering speaks to students that have potential tournament aspirations as this JSA program offers a more technique-driven roadmap. Juniors in this group can expect more intensive instruction, more drills than games, and specialized on-course time. “Golf is usually taught in a linear way: grip, stance, tempo,” says Franklin. “I believe in an approach that honors the non-uniform nature of childhood development. Leading young people requires us to adapt with culturally relevant programming that honors a child’s kaleidoscope of prior experiences, unique perspectives, emotions, and personality that is brought to bear on our lesson tee.” Tennis Program The Junior Sports Academy Tennis Developmental Pathway program is run by Ryan Johnson, Desert Mountain’s Director of Racquet Sports, who possesses an extensive background in youth tennis programming. Johnson has developed a series of graduated tennis skills programs and clinics for young tennis enthusiasts. The full JSA tennis experience is ideal for the developmental player and provides comprehensive training opportunities and a pathway for players with competitive aspirations. The JSA Tennis Performance emphasizes strength training, nutrition, on-court drills, and match play. Desert Mountain’s JSA programs are open to children and grandchildren of Members and are available upon referral as part of the Non-Equity Golf Junior Sports Academy Membership. A Junior Sports Academy Membership is required for families who are not yet Members of Deset Mountain Club.