Hear from Gateway PGA Junior Tour players Liam Martin, Cydeny Beckmann, and Daniel McComb as they share their golf journeys — from their first swings to finding lifelong friends and mentors through the game.
The Gateway PGA Junior Tour isn’t just about competition — it’s about community, growth, and learning to love the game. These young golfers talk about what inspires them, what they’ve learned, and how the program is shaping them on and off the course.
⛳️ Featuring stories from the next generation of golfers in the St. Louis area.
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My name is Liam Martin and I’m from Wville, Missouri. I started when I was 7 years old and I went straight to the junior tour. Um, I started when I was five. I was not really interested in it, but then my dad um saw me swing and he was like, “Oh, that’s a really good swing.” So, I got into it. I didn’t get competitive until I was about 13, 14. And then I started Gateway and it just progressed from there. I was like first grade. I saw my mom outside so I said I want to do that. So she signed me up then I’ve been playing for 11 years now. Took it serious since seventh grade. That’s when I started doing the tournaments. I’m currently playing on the Gateway PGA Junior League right now. Gateway is a really fun environment because you meet a lot of new people. You I made so many new friends. My favorite person to play golf with uh my friend Rex. I met I met him on the uh the Gateway PJ. Uh he’s really fun to play with, someone I’m comfortable uh with all the time. Definitely Henry and Anthony. Those are my two best friends and met them and then we just started playing all the time. All the competition we put against each other. It’s just all Anthony hits it far. Henry’s good at putting and then I’m good at irons. I actually have a lot of friends on the junior tour so it’s hard to just pick one. Avery Arendelle and Anna Bell because Anna is a really great golfer and I could learn so much from her and Avery is just really fun to be around. The junior tour is just a wonderful tour to play on cuz they run it so well and they pick wonderful courses to inspire and they play. They travel everywhere. So I play a bunch of new courses that I didn’t really get to play on my own cuz they’re private. I liked playing Dalhuzi because it is a private course so you really don’t get to play it and I also played state there last year so it was kind of like a practice round for that and it’s a really nice course. My coach is Brian Stitch. He was a PJ pro for over 30 years and he’s just helped me on my mental so well and how my putting it feels amazing. He’s always by my side. He always helps me with everything. It’s just great to have him around. We have a special bond. When I started Gateway, my mental wasn’t very good. And as I’ve played Gateway and progressed, my mental has gotten really better. And that’s one of my goals for next season is to not get in my head and really stay focused on the golfing part and just have fun and not worry about the last shot and more just focus on my next shot. So, the junior tour has really prepared him. It’s prepared him literally for high school, high school sports. has prepar prepared him being out there in the world. Um, so it’s a really independent sport. So outside of golf, I’m not really an independent person. I’m really outgoing and I like doing things in groups, but it’s taught me how to be more independent as a person in every aspect of life. I really hope one day that I can become a part of this and work for them, too. The junior tour helped me by all the competition against all the players and all the friendships you make.
