It’s another idyllic, 75-degree February day at Desert Mountain Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., and 17 members of the U.S. National Junior team are finishing a buffet lunch as a nutrition expert dishes pointers on the importance of hydration.
In a few minutes, the boys and girls will break into groups to work on some of the finer points of their already polished games. The boys will focus on green-reading and short game; the girls on distance control and alignment. Afterward, the group will reconvene and cap the day with nine holes on the “Seven,” Desert Mountain’s short course. On tap for the weekend: more speakers and game-improvement training before the players and coaches head back home.
This is the U.S. National Junior Team in action.
The Scottsdale gathering marked the third practice session for the 22-player squad. The Junior Team, which debuted in March 2024, is the first of its kind in the U.S., and is part of the broader U.S. National Development Program, which will ultimately support three national teams: juniors, elite amateurs and young professionals. The team’s mission is to identify, train, develop, fund and support the nation’s most promising young players, regardless of their cultural, geographical or financial backgrounds. The squad will expand to include 30 boys and 30 girls by 2027.
The national team initiative has been years in the making for the USGA, with the development program launching in 2023.
“As well as we’ve done in golf, why can’t we do better?” head coach Chris Zambri told me in Scottsdale. “Maybe there were some signs that we need to pick it up. Certainly, you look on leaderboards at tournaments, it’s not all Americans, for sure. It’s just a lot of countries doing a lot of great work who have a lot of really good players. So we decided that we were gonna give it a run, and just try and do what all the other countries are doing, which is just help. Try to identify young talent, and then nurture it and support it in any way we can.
“It’s been a great first year for us.”
Of the group at Desert Mountain, about a third were new to the team for the spring training session. In addition to honing their skills through Zambri’s weekend regimen, the team also would be competing in a qualifier to identify which players would participate in a match against Team Canada later in the year.
The green-reading drill for the boys involved looking at a series of putts and estimating break, then checking their work down to the half-inch. For the girls, a series of drills on the range included alignment tests and random distance call-outs, which they would try to match with a selected club. A Trackman monitored their results, which were impressive.
Swing work is not a priority during these sessions. Zambri and his team understand that the players already have strong competitive foundations, by way of their own coaches and processes at home. The national team’s goal is to supplement the players with a holistic approach to improvement. A roster of coaches provide guidance on topics like nutrition, mental-game prep and strength and conditioning in addition to skill-building on the course. For players who need it, there is a financial aid, too, with assistance available to help defray the cost of tournament entry fees and equipment.
“We want them to be healthy human beings,” said Beth Brown, the USGA’s senior athlete development specialist. “We know it helps them perform better, and it gives them the best probability of winning championships and putting gold medals around their neck. And so we’re doing it because we care about the kids, and we also want to win.”
Although the team has only existed for a year, there already are signs that the approach is paying dividends.
Scarlett Schremmer, who is 18 and from Birmingham, Ala., was one of 10 girls named to the inaugural team last year. She has since jumped up the World Amateur Golf Ranking, earning her first-ever invitation to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. She recently committed to play collegiately at Texas A&M.
“Just being able to be competitive with the other kids on the team — you definitely feel pressure in moments,” she said. “We have contests with the challenges, whether it’s how straight you hit your driver or how many putts you can make, and I want to win. I think all of us want to win. I kind of get nervous sometimes, if I feel like I’m doing well, and that’s really helped me [be] better on the golf course or in tournaments, just learning to deal with that, keeping calm and sticking to my routine.”
Zambri’s hope is the team’s training curriculum will help make small but meaningful differences in his players’ development.
“One thing I’ve always said as a college coach was, man, there’s a lot to learn,” Zambri said. “We’re here to just fill in some gaps that they’re not already getting from their instructors. Instructors are, a lot of times, on a range. So we’re able to dig into stuff like course management. It’s been good. It’s a tall task — we’re pretty spread out. But we’re making a run at it.”
Among the coaches on Zambri’s staff is Mo Martin, who won the Women’s Open in 2014.
“It’s fun having been to the first camp, and now coming to the third camp, seeing their golf IQ start to improve,” Martin said. “The guys can learn from the gals, and vice versa. It’s an impressive environment all around.”
Team bonding is another benefit of gathering at sessions like this throughout the year. Friendships are cemented, with players often opting to bunk or team up together at other junior events throughout the year.
“My favorite part is spending time with these guys and having a blast,” said Ronin Banerjee of Irvine, Calif. “This just strengthens our already strong relationships.”
If the Desert Mountain session was any indication of the U.S. National Junior Team’s future trajectory, the program is already in a good place — though it might be a while before we know just how good a place.
