Golfing Scrapbook of     "Koala" Karl Vilips

Welcome to Karl's personal Golfing Scrapbook. Back in 2008 when I first decided to chronicle my son's golf, this was originally intended as a means of keeping friends and family updated with his golf. However, things have changed a little since then, so nowadays this is also where Karl's supporters can keep up with Karl's journey as a junior golfer and to also find out a little about what he gets up to off the course. This site is both a chronicle of Karl's golf achievements to date and also a reference point for other parents of golfing kids.

Karl returned from the USA in August with his 2nd world title at the tender age of  9. Since the age of 5 his only coaching has been and still is from a combination of attending weekly junior clinics and from his Dad. In the month leading up to July's Junior World Championships he trains as much as he can, but aside from that Karl actually trains very little and prefers to either simply go out with friends for a round, or to play in one of the club's daily competitions.  Maybe when he's older he'll practice more, but for now he's enjoying it all just as it is.

Karl's  his own person and proud of being an individual and also proud of his achievements, particularly being from an impoversished background. In 10 years time he may be playing cricket for Australia, or he may have stuck at it and be playing Collegiate Golf for Stanford University in California, who knows? All we can go on is what he's achieved to date and where he's at right now. He doesn't want to be the next Tiger, Rory or Rickie, nor does he keep statistics. He is his own person with his own style who simply enjoys playing all sports and happens to be good at golf.

Aside from golf, Karl also likes Ripsticking, playing his XBOX Kinect, watching cartoons like Ben 10 and Sponge Bob Squarepants, playing football, athletics and swimming. Most of all though, he likes hanging out with friends.

You can see both photos & videos of his golf highlights to date, view his Biography, or check out his latest news. 

If you're a parent of a young golfer and wondered if your child was the only one who hated hitting a bad shot or wanted to know about what clubs your 6-year-old needs, then there's the Feedback page where you can see that a lot of us parents go through the same stages with our golfing kids.

I'm Karl's Dad and it's me that updates things here. My name is Paul and I invite you to feel free to check it out and to email us with any comments, questions or words of encouragement for Karl that you may have at pauls@westnet.com.au.

Latest News: 

23rd January: Karl shoots 83 in a Stuart Appleby Junior Golf "Regional Series" event at Melbourne's Metropolitan Golf Club.

This was Karl's 2nd event at "The Metro", and we aren't alone in being blown-away by the beauty and design of the course. Back in 1930 the legendary Walter Hagen wrote "Metropolitan is by far the finest course I have played in Australia", and in 2001, PGA Commissioner Tim Finchen commented " I don't recall being at one of our events in the last few years where every player in the field is just ecstatic about the golf course.Metropolitan has enhanced its reputation as one of the worlds great golf courses".

As with other Melbourne Sandbelt courses such as the Presidents Cup course, Royal Melbourne, the greens are rock-hard and as fast as glass. Numerous shots which were landed on the front of the green rolled over the back, particularly on the Par 3's. Add to that the protection which the bunkering gives the greens and you soon realise that only high trajectory shots will have any chance of holding the greens, making it tough for Karl to play to his handicap on this course. That meant that to play to his handicap Karl's putting and bunker play would have had to be spot-on, and they were, getting up & down most of the time.

He did however, prove that he's still a young kid who "goes for broke" on every shot by recording a "10" on one of the Par-5's to blemish what would have otherwise been a magnificent round and settle for an 83. That's all part of the learning process, and what Karl's got in his favour is his age and the fact that every mistake is something he can learn from.

I should have video highlights uploaded within a few days. Full results here.

20th January: Karl played in the annual Riversdale Junior Open which (unusually) was conducted in a Stableford format. I say unusual, but feel that many more Under-14 tournaments could take a leaf out of their book and use the Stableford format to negate the "one bad hole" that most juniors have.

The course was presented in magnificent condition and was the best-run junior tournament that we've attended in a long time, leaving no doubt as to why it's regarded as one of the very best courses in Melbourne. Riversdale is a very hilly course, so Karl's physical size compared to the other 18 players in the Under-14 age division made more difference than it normally would. He hit 100% of fairways and his fairway woods worked well. However, he under-estimated the "break" on the Santa Anna greens and uncharastically missed 2 extremely short putts to shoot a 9-over 81. With no "wipes" on his card though,  he posted 34 Stableford points to finish a solid 3rd. 

It's easy to forget that he is a mere 10-years of age, so as he matures he'll better interpret various types of greens. Full results here.

There are heaps of Karl's videos available to view at his YouTube page at http://www.youtube.com/user/KarlGolf

For archived "Latest News", click here