This week the attention of junior golf turns to Kinder, Louisiana, where the seventh annual Notah Begay III Junior Golf National Championship crowns its 2026 winners. The Girls Championship tees off November 1-3 and the Boys Championship follows November 6-8 at Koasati Pines at Coushatta, with both finals broadcast on Golf Channel. It connects directly to what we do every week at Bronze Tee Junior Golf Club, a junior golf club based in New Haven, Connecticut, where young players learn the game, develop skills, and make friends in a supportive environment that builds confidence on and off the course.
What Is the NB3 Junior Golf National Championship?
The championship is the finale of a three-stage series designed to grow the game. Juniors ages 10 to 18 begin with 18-hole local qualifiers, advance through 36-hole regionals, and the best of them, roughly 320 young players from around the world, arrive for the 54-hole national finals. Boys and girls compete in four age divisions: 10-11, 12-13, 14-15, and 16-18. There is a fair, age-appropriate place for a player at nearly every stage, which is the same thinking behind kids golf Connecticut programs like ours, where a first-timer and a seasoned tournament player can both find their level.
A Champion Who Built a Pathway
The event is named for Notah Begay III, a Native American golfer of Navajo, San Felipe Pueblo, and Isleta Pueblo heritage, and the only full-blooded Native American golfer to win on the PGA Tour. He won four PGA Tour events between 1999 and 2000, played at Stanford as a teammate of Tiger Woods, and helped the Cardinal win the 1994 NCAA team title. Today he works as an analyst for NBC Sports and uses this championship to hand opportunity to the next generation. For a young player in New Haven, the lesson is simple: every journey starts with ordinary practice rounds, patience, and the courage to keep showing up.
How Families Can Enjoy the Week
The broadcasts are friendly viewing for the whole family. Pick a player to root for in each division, guess who will find the fairway next, and let your junior golfer name the shot they would love to try. Then take the idea home: a five-minute chipping game to a laundry basket, a putting contest to a plastic cup, or a few swings on a practice range. Age matters far less than attitude. A five-year-old can putt right beside a teenager, and both will learn something about patience and focus along the way.
A Few Parent Pointers
A few habits make every round safer and more fun. Stand well behind anyone swinging, wait until the group ahead is out of range, and leave every green and bunker as neat as you found it. Keep practice short and playful for younger kids, and let teens set their own pace as the game grows with them. We practice the same habits each week at Bronze Tee, where junior golf New Haven families know their children are learning life skills along with golf skills.
Your junior golfer does not need a national stage to begin a story worth telling.
Reach out to Bronze Tee Junior Golf Club in New Haven, Connecticut, to learn about joining. Call (203) 936-9004 or email rob@robandvicCT.com.