The local Phoenix chapter of U.S. Kids Golf hosts its fifth of eight summer tournaments at Wigwam Golf Club in Litchfield Park on June 29, 2025. (Photo by Payne Moses/Cronkite News)
LITCHFIELD PARK – U.S. Kids Golf made Wigwam Golf Club its stomping ground on Sunday for the second time this June.
Boys and girls from ages 6 to 18 years old – despite a high temperature of more than 110 degrees – were able to compete with a parent or other family member on the fairways and greens.
Golfers are often only as good as their caddies. In this case, U.S. Kids Golf is a veteran tour pro and Wigwam merely offers a steadying hand.
“U.S. Kids is just phenomenal to work with because we don’t really do a whole lot,”said Andrew Webb, Wigwam Golf Club assistant golf professional. “We kind of just step back and give them the golf course.”
On June 8, the local Phoenix tour utilized Wigwam’s Gold Course, one of its three 18-hole courses, and on Sunday, it occupied the Blue Course.
U.S. Kids Golf Phoenix director Dale Balvin said he tries to provide juniors with a wide variety of course venues, but families are receptive to the Litchfield Park-based resort.
“If we put three or four (tournaments) out here, (it) wouldn’t be that big of a deal,” said Balvin, who’s been the local director since 2010.
Counting the Desert Shootout, a U.S. Kids Golf regional tournament held on Feb. 22-23, the junior circuit has indeed made its rounds at Wigwam. The Phoenix tour will make one more trip to Wigwam in 2025, kicking off its fall season on Aug. 23.
In addition to the semi-private nature of the golf resort appealing to families, Balvin said Wigwam is accommodating with tournament scheduling — big or small. It is the annual host site of the Junior Golf Association of Arizona’s Warren Schutte Invitational (late January) and national collegiate showcase, The Patriot All-America (late December).
“The nice thing about all of our courses is they’re tree-lined,” Webb said. “They’re fairly flat, so they’re very easy to walk. … It’s not going to beat you up too much. That’s been a very nice thing, I think, that our course offers to the spectators and for the guest experience.”
The regional Desert Shootout has been a staple at Wigwam for 17 years,with future tournament dates announced through 2028. It’s been a markedly long-lasting relationship as U.S. Kids Golf only launched its tournament programming in 2000.
For someone who has only been around U.S. Kids Golf and the game for the past year, Mindy Mark said her favorite part of volunteering at tournament registration is encouraging juniors to have fun despite the intimidation factor of the sport and travel to unfamiliar places.
“Especially when you get older, it’s hard to come into a world you’re not really familiar with and just be a part of it,” Mark said. “I think it’s fun getting to know the kids, and the parents, too. You slowly get to know them, and I enjoy that part.”
A tipi sits prominently in front of the practice areas at Wigwam Golf Club in Litchfield Park on June 29, 2025. (Photo by Payne Moses/Cronkite News)
If tournament play elicits any intimidation, the 15-18 age division didn’t show it.
The boys had 29 in this group and the girls had 17, the most in any division. Up until summer 2020, U.S. Kids Golf only offered tournaments for those 14 and under. Balvin said the high school demographic has been among the most popular since being introduced.
Grayson Milligan is a former U.S. Kids Golf competitor with whom Mark has become familiar. Now 19 and aged out of the junior tour he competed on for eight years, Milligan attends Arizona State University’s Barrett Honors College. However, his schooling and aged-out status has not prevented him from staying connected to the tour.
His father, Dan, threw out the idea of volunteering at some tournaments when Milligan entered his freshman year at ASU and, ever since, the two have followed U.S. Kids Golf across the Valley.
“Out here, everyone knows everyone,” Milligan said. “You get caddies and making those memories with my dad was really, really special. … So now, we do this whenever we can.”
Milligan said he had just been shuttling around water and helping with pace of play at previous tournaments, but for the first time at Wigwam he was the first-tee starting announcer. From Zona Jo to Iliana Herzberg, Milligan was careful to pronounce each name correctly, confirming with the players’ caddies rather than trusting his own intuition.
“It’s really cool being on the other side of it,” Milligan said. “Just being here to help and make sure that these kids are ready and that they’re here just to have a good time more than anything.”
Fourteen tournament champions were crowned on Sunday, with players looking to add to their point total before the summer season tour championship arrives on Aug. 17. In order to get there, players and caddies had to stay focused and hydrated — Milligan even challenged some to drink 80 water bottles at the temperature’s peak.
In a few weeks, a new U.S. Kids Golf season will begin but the scenery will stay the same.
“I started (playing junior tournaments) with U.S. Kids,” Webb said. “There’s a lot of names you get to play golf with at the junior level and then you get to see them go to college and then now they’re on TV. … It just gives a platform for people to compete which is cool.”
