Jordan Ridge, Amber Littman Are Head of Class 2007 

By STEVE HUFFMAN 

Jordan Ridge said she sometimes enjoys heading to a golf course’s first tee, then listening to the reactions of the golfers who’ll be playing behind her.

“I’ll hear ‘em say, ‘Oh, no, a junior,’ “ said Jordan, a rising eighth-grader at High Point’s Westchester Academy. “But they’re surprised when they see me hit the ball."

Surprised with good reason.

Despite her age, Jordan, 12, is one of the best junior golfers in the state, according to the N.C. Junior Girls golf rankings.

In July, Jordan, a Greensboro resident, was ranked 12th among the state’s junior girls. The rankings include golfers as old as high school seniors.

Jordan isn’t the only area eighth-grader to appear on the list dominated by high school age players.

Amber Littman, 13, a rising eighth-grader at High Point’s Wesleyan Christian Academy, was ranked 21st in July and is likely to climb even higher once the August rankings are out.

Ridge and Littman are the highest-ranked members of the class of 2007 to be included in the rankings that are arrived at based on a player’s performance in a number of tournaments in North Carolina and neighboring states.

Both Jordan and Amber said they got involved in golf largely because of a family member’s involvement in the sport.

Jordan said she was 9 when her father, Fred, took her to play at a par-3 course at the beach. She’s been pretty well hooked ever since.

“He said I had a lot of natural talent,” Jordan said of her early stabs at golf.

Jordan’s mother is Annette.

Jordan said the typical junior tournament course measures about 5,700 yards. She said the best part of her game is driving, routinely belting tee shots as far as 215 yards. She usually doesn't miss scoring par but by a few strokes.

Jordan said she’s not naive enough to be convinced she’s going to eventually set the world on fire on a professional tour, though she did acknowledge, “I’d like to play competitively through college, at least.”

Robert Linville, the owner of Greensboro’s Precision Golf School and the golf coach at Greensboro College, said Jordan has all the tools needed to succeed at least at the collegiate level.

“She’s an elite player,” Linville said. “She’s awesome.”

He said he seeks to accomplish the same things with all the golfers he instructs, regardless of whether they’re 7 or 70.

Linville said the most important thing for any golfer is to develop a quality swing, an attribute that Jordan has down pat.

“Whether I’m working with a beginner or a tour player, I want to make sure their fundamentals are correct,” Linville said. “Jordan’s fundamentals are great.”

Jordan qualified for the championship flight of the Carolinas Junior Girls Tournament at Colonial Country Club in Thomasville in early July. Although she lost in the first round, she came back to win the consolation bracket and defeated Jessica Hauser, the state’s top-ranked junior girl, in a 21-hole final match.

Littman narrowly missed qualifying for the championship flight of that event but ripped through Flight 2 with three dominating wins.

Littman, who lives in the Stoney Creek development near Whitsett, said she got interested in playing golf because of her 17-year-old brother, Tyler, a rising senior who plays on the golf team at Wesleyan.

“Whenever he practiced, I picked up a club and started hitting,” Amber recalled of her early forays into the game of golf that took place when she was about 9. Before long, she said, she found herself stroking a ball pretty darn well.

“It sort of came natural,” Amber said of her success with golf. “I had to work at it, but it was a lot of fun.”

She said her tee shots are by far the best part of her game, while also admitting, “Usually, I’m not that accurate with my putting.”

This past school year, Amber played on the boys junior varsity golf team at Wesleyan, then got called up to play varsity for the team on a couple of matches before the year was through.

Amber said her male competitors are sometimes shocked when she uncorks a good tee shot.

“The boys are really surprised,” she said. “They don’t think a girl can hit a ball that far.”

Amber, the daughter of Yana and Michael Littman, said she hopes to one day play golf for either Wake Forest or Duke, and said she hopes to eventually pursue a law degree.

She’s likely to climb several notches on the junior girls rankings when the August results are announced.

On the weekend of July13-14, Amber won the 12-14 age group in the Independent Insurance Agents Junior Classic played at Pine Needles in Southern Pines. In that tournament, Amber shot an opening 74 on the par 71 course, then followed that with a 72 for a 146 total.

It was one of several impressive showings in tournament play this summer that have given Amber her state ranking of No. 21 with a bullet.