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Golf: AJGA gives to UL golfGolf: AJGA gives to UL golf Golf: AJGA gives to UL golf Dan McDonald, Daily Advertiser, June 30, 2011 For nearly a quarter-century, before organized regional tours became popular, the Acadiana Junior Golf Association provided local youths with a series of summer tournaments that increased their exposure to the game. And for most of those years, Jim Miller was the AJGA’s driving force, spending countless summer hours organizing and staging youth tournaments. When Miller stepped back from that role last year, there were leftover funds in the AJGA account, and Miller recently donated those to the UL golf program. "I vividly remember playing the AJGA summer schedule as a junior," said Ragin’ Cajun coach Theo Sliman. "I remember looking forward to the Mondays that we competed, especially to that last tournament that was at Oakbourne every year "» that was kind of the tour championship venue for us." "It was started by some parents before I got involved," Miller said, "mostly to give young people a place to play in the summertime. At that time there weren’t as many opportunities to play, so we’d have six or seven tournaments in the summer for whoever wanted to play." Miller had events at the Lafayette courses along with ventures to Crowley, New Iberia and Abbeville, all for youths from age nine through 18. "It was competitive golf, but we’d always make sure the kids had fun," Miller said. "It was pretty cheap, and everything we brought in went into putting on the tournaments and giving the prizes. We’d have anywhere from 60 up to maybe 150 kids during the summer "» we had a really good run with it." "We were so fortunate to have the AJGA and Mr. Miller promotion junior golf and supporting us as young golfers," Sliman said. "He did a great job, and he and all the other people involved taught us the key values that have stayed with us "» the same kinds of things I try to teach our guys all the time. "We’re honored that Mr. Miller felt us worthy to receive funds from the organization, since it certainly had a huge impact on many junior golfers throughout the area."
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