Local golfer, 10, is hitting it big

Like a lot of kids, Spencer Tibbits dreamed of growing up to be like the sports heroes he watched on television.

Unlike most, it didn't take him long to get a feel for the game that his heroes play so well.

In fact, he didn't bother waiting to grow up.

Spencer entered 23 golf tournaments in this year. Playing against other 10-year-old boys, the son of Steve and Ronelle Tibbits won 11 of them.

He placed second six times — including a playoff loss in a Portland city championship tournament — and third an additional four times.

The marquee wins came in the Washington Junior Golf Association state championship and at the Oregon Golf Association Junior Tournament of Champions.

The WJGA state tournament was played in July over three days at Glendale Country Club in Bellevue. Spencer shot a 157 for 36 holes played over three days — including an 82 on the 18-hole final day — to win among boys ages 8-11.

"Oh, wow. It was unbelievable," said Ronelle Tibbits, Spencer's mom. "It was like he won the Masters."

Spencer drives the ball up to 210 yards off the tee.

He won a long-putt contest recently at Portland Golf Club during a fundraising tournament to support The First Tee youth golf program, one of several programs to introduce kids to the sport.

Spencer has participated for several years in The First Tee program at The Children's Course in Gladstone, Ore.

He is also involved with the youth golf program at Club Green Meadows, where he is coached by Luke Holden.

"He's been very good for Spencer," Steve Tibbits said.

Spencer's best score at Club Green Meadows is 37 for nine holes.

Spencer also plays basketball and flag football. But he has been drawn to golf since he started watching The Golf Channel at about age 3.

As a 7-year-old, he took second place for boys his age in a U.S. Kids Golf Tournament in Oregon. At 8, he won about one-third of the 15 tournaments he entered, and in 2008 at age 9 he won six times over 21 tournaments.

At Spencer's age, birdies are rare. It's consistency that separates winners from the others. One exception came at Spencer's first WJGA tournament of 2009, when an unlikely eagle set him up for a victory.

"That was pretty much why I won," Spencer said.

Steve Tibbits enjoys watching golf but said he hasn't played much and never played well.

"I'm just so bad at it, it's frustrating to me," the elder Tibbits said.

Spencer, who is home schooled, admits he's got plenty of growing up to do. He has to fight the urge to slam a club into the turf when a shot doesn't follow the planned trajectory.

"He's a perfectionist," his father observed.

Spencer doesn't know why The Golf Channel captured his interest at an age when friends were watching the Cartoon Network.

"I remember seeing Tiger (Woods) play. It looked like fun to me. Hitting a golf ball into a hole looked like fun."

Hitting a golf ball into the hole is fun. But it's not easy. Except this 10-year-old sometimes makes it seem that way.

The OGA Junior Championships is a tournament played in early October that is only open to kids who won on the OGA junior circuit this year.

Spencer shot a 39 for nine holes at Eugene Country Club. He birdied holes 7 and 8, but when he bogeyed No. 9, he figured he was no better than fifth place, but he took first in the Pee Wee boys division.

The result was a summer filled with the kind of success golfers dream about at any age.