Question: How does Karl have so much freedom to play in tournaments across the world. He is always playing in tournaments everywhere, how does this not effect school and money problems ;

Answer: Before I answer that question, it's important to understand how Karl started on this Odyssey. At the age of 6,  I wondered whether Karl showed genuine potential or whether I was just another parent who thought that their kid could follow in Jesus' steps and walk on water. So many parents tout their child as being the next Tiger Woods, but without doing so in an educated fashion. I'm a pragmatist, so wanted to know whether Karl did in fact have any potential. Although the media were quick to say that Karl was the next Tiger, they've used that on many kids to date, some of whom finished at the bottom of the Leaderboard when they competed in the Junior Worlds. As such, I have been careful to never say that Karl is going to be the next Tiger Woods. I do lay out the statistics, but let others form their own opinions.

I didn't have the means to fly Karl to the US to see how he'd stack-up against the other kids, so I got onto Google Earth and copied the Junior World's layout onto our local course, matching the yardages and hole shapes, etc. I then got Karl to play that layout a bundle of times to see what scores he was shooting before forming any opinion as to whether he was capable of keeping up with the best kids. Once I was satisfied that he could, I then had to plan how I was going to raise the money to get him there.

Now, to answer your question. Karl is now 11 years old. He only plays in Australia except for July & August when he competes in the Callaways and US Kids in the US. Does that mean that he plays in tournaments everywhere? Definitely not. Even this particular week he's missing out on a major junior tournament here because the costs of travel, accommodation and the loss of 3 days at school outweighed the benefits of a possible Win in this tournament. There are many others here that he'd like to compete in, but we always have to ask ourselves the same question.

There are though, some kids who's parents fly all over the country, to Scotland, Hawaii, Asia, etc just to try to qualify for the Callaways & US Kids. If they can afford that, then good luck to them. We however, can't, so have to carefully choose which tournaments we go fundraising for.

It's probably not reasonable though to classify Karl playing in the US for 6 weeks as "flying all over the world", as that's where the world championships are played. If they were played here in Australia, then that'd be just dandy for us, but not so for everyone in the US. In Golf, those 2 junior tournaments are the pinnacle of Junior Golf, so that's simply where all us Australians, South Africans, Asians and Europeans have to fly to to compete for those titles. If Karl could swap places with you in the US, he'd so in a flash.

It's not so well known that the only reason that Karl gets to compete in the Junior Worlds is due to support from sponsors, council Grants and supporters. That support is strictly for Karl's golf expenses and cannot be used for anything else. As such, it's hard for some people to get their head around the fact that there are fewer sponsors and definitely no Government Grants out there for anything other than golf expenses. As such, our household balance sheet would be the same whether Karl played in those tournaments or not. Given that scenario, we choose to try to let him compete in the Junior Worlds, but as in 2010, that doesn't always happen.

It's worth noting though, that the reason why Karl gets that support is because he works hard at his golf and does all the publicity things required to garner such support. A quick YouTube search will show many of the TV interviews which Rory and Tiger did at Karl's age. I'm certain that if their parents were Millionaires, that they wouldn't have bothered with the media interviews. We're in the same boat.

It may be totally unfair, but talent in any sport itself is not always enough to get to the top. Getting your name out there to the golfing world by winning significant junior titles validates any support that sponsors may wish to give a promising player. But, to reinforce what I've said, the player has to get to those "significant" championships to show the world their talent, without which the player may well grow up thinking how good he could have been if only he'd been given the chance to showcase his talent.

In regards to time off school, all of the top juniors here in Australia work hard at school and do catch-up study before, during & after trips by working closely with their teachers and Headmasters, something which wouldn't have been possible in the days before internet. I do know of some juniors whom Karl competes against in the worlds who are home-schooled or who have private tutors, but the social benefits of attending school (in my opinion) far outweigh the solitude of being tutored privately.

Keep up your golf, and don't let anybody tell you that you can't be the best.