BATH — Summer is in full swing, which means many children in Beaufort County are attending camps to better themselves as athletes. Northside golf coach Jared Adams just wrapped up a camp at Bayview Golf Club that was aimed at introducing younger players to the sport.

This is the second year Adams has hosted the camp. It’s taken off since then. He said the camp had anywhere from five to 12 golfers last summer, but has consistently had around 20 golfers each day this year.

“For this area, in Beaufort County, those are good numbers, considering the demographics of golf,” he said. “We’ve been working on grip, stance, turning away from the golf ball, rotating — just the basic fundamentals of golf, really.”

A lot of the kids attending the camp have little golf experience, if any. Adams said that most of them play baseball, so he’s had to teach them that the swings are completely different.

“Some of them, for example, when they came in didn’t know how to grip the club,” Adams said. “Now they know how to grip it and approach the golf ball. They may not be able to hit it where they want to, but when they hit it, it goes in the air. That’s the biggest improvement. To do that, going from not even being able to hit the golf ball, is a big improvement.”

The camp’s initiative isn’t to just help the children become better golfers, but also to help build up golf throughout Beaufort County. Northside made it to the 1-A state championship this past season and Washington contended for the 2-A title, too. Pungo also had a strong campaign this year.

Adams has seen a passion for the game grow over the last week or so.

“Most of (the kids) have clubs, but you ask them if they play and it’s a couple of times here and a couple of times there,” he said. “When they come out here, they start mingling kids their own age. Now they want to go out there and compete.

“I really see golf evolving in eastern North Carolina, as far as some of the private schools and Northside in general. We have kids that go to Washington, we have kids that go to Pungo, we have kids that are going to go to Northside or Southside. All of them are participating in this, so it’s just good for the game.”

Adams has received a helping hand from recent Northside graduate Tucker Mooring, who is getting ready to make his collegiate debut as a golfer at North Carolina Wesleyan. Adams believes having a player like Mooring to look up to has also helped develop that budding interest in golf.

“We have two high school golfers (helping). Tucker Mooring and Hunter Williams have been out here participating,” Adams said. “Some of the kids ask ‘Is Tucker going to be out here (on Monday). They didn’t see him when they got here, so they’re asking if he’s going to be here.”

Once the campers got a grasp of the fundamentals, they got to get a little competitive. Bayview Golf Club owner Leon Wingate allowed them to play the course free of charge.

Getting children interested in being competitive at golf should pay off some years down the road. Beaufort County’s high school teams have proven strong in recent years. They will need the flow of talent to continue to continue to build on it.