By By Stan Caldwell / EMG sports writer
Nov. 4, 2002
Dale Bounds says she wants to raise good husbands, but what the Meridian mother of four may be raising is the next Phil Mickelson.
Bounds' oldest child, 14-year-old Clay, has been tearing up the junior golf circuit this year, winning several events and placing in the top five in most others as he bids to take his place among the up-and-comers on the Mississippi golf scene.
And why would he be aiming to be the next Phil Mickelson and not, say, the next Tiger Woods?
Besides, while Clay may be aiming at Mickelson, his younger brother Chad could be playing the Tiger Woods role. Chad, 11, also did pretty well this summer, in his first year of serious competition, and the brothers are aiming to march lock-step as high as they can in golf.
The brothers competed this summer, representing Northwood Country Club, in the Mississippi Junior Golf Association Tour and the Gulf States Junior Tour. Both sets of events tended to overlap, but the gist of it is that both boys finished high just about every time they teed it up (See accompanying box).
The secret could be that both boys, as well as the rest of the family Chad's twin brother Scott and 8-year-old little sister Regan are natural athletes who have chosen to go in their own direction. While Clay and Chad play golf, Scott and Reagan are happy in soccer and baseball.
Despite a long personal history with the game, Dale Bounds was reluctant to let her boys play golf. A golfer since she was 11, Dale played through her teens and through college at the University of Alabama. But she says she burned out on the game, and has only recently regained her zeal for it.
So the Bounds boys started out playing the team games: baseball, football and soccer, but golf was in their genes. Not only was Dale a collegiate golfer, but so was their father, Bob Boger, who played for Sam Houston State in Texas.
Getting started young
Around 1995, at age 7, Clay started showing an interest in golf and began to play some with his mother. Mom couldn't fight it; Clay says he, "fell in love with it from the start," and has played at a steadily increased pace ever since.
Three years ago, Chad began to play, and soon, he too was a regular both at Northwood and at Briarwood Country Club, where the family also plays.
But it has been in the junior program at Northwood that both Clay and Chad have honed their games.