Tiny But Gifted: Two Young Sisters Taking The Golf World By Storm

     Straight out of Compton-meet the new kids on the block! Layla Phillips and Roxy Phillips, ages four and six, are taking the world by storm. With their impeccable golfing skills, there's no telling how far they will go.
    They're tiny, but come with a hefty swing. Layla Phillips, 6, and Roxy Phillips, 4, started golfing at the tender age of 2. The two sisters got their start in the sport, while living next to a golf course in South Los Angeles. With golf balls constantly landing in their backyard, their mother Jasimen Phillips had to take action. She wrote a letter to the Maggie Hathaway Golf Course about the issue, and in turn received an apology and an offer for family golf lessons.
    Who knew that an issue would turn into an opportunity such as this? The girls have been swinging ever since, and their mother sees a bright future in the sport. She says, "In our family education is always the first priority, so our first goal is full ride scholarships to Stanford, and everything else after that is icing on the cake".
      Just last week, Layla won a Southern California PGA drive, chip, and putt competition. She's now qualified to compete in a junior world contest in San Diego. In this competition she'll be competing against children from all over the world, including children from Mexico, Canada, China, and Japan just to name a few.
     Roxy says she likes putting, while her sister says she prefers hitting on the fairway.  Luis Baston, CEO of Help Youth Through Golf, says that the two sisters remind him of two other sisters that grew up in Compton and were accomplished athletes. "They are very, very good. I can only compare them to the sisters Williams in tennis". Baston's nonprofit is one that helps teach the game of golf, to young children in Compton, Long Beach, and Paramount, California.


~Ashley Lambert