Page 52 - Las Vegas Golf & Leisure Magazine Winter 2022

FEATURE

depth of girls talent has actually been trending positively for
two or three years now,” he says. “They seem to be very hard
workers, and they are getting very good training from local
instructors. The top players are also willing to travel to find
good competition.” Some of the top girl players in Southern
Nevada include the aforementioned Wilson, Ali Mulhall,
Joanne Lee, Lilly DeNunzio, Logan Allen, Angelina Huang,
Lauren Pham, Natalie Cheong, Sam Phelan, Zoe Parker,
Dakota Talent , Brynn Kort, Aliah Jordan, Cienna Cabrera,
Mizara Norton, Nya Palmer, Dakota Tallent, Lauren Wong
and Rivers Common.

Despite the deep talent pool, the consensus is that Wilson
is the cream of the crop. Currently, she is qualified to play in
the prestigious Augusta Women’s Amateur in 2022, a huge
accomplishment for such a young player. Sawaia coaches
Wilson and sees her talent and dedication on a regular
basis. “She really has no weaknesses and she’s extremely
skilled in every part of the game, as far as driving the golf
ball or iron play or short game or putting, especially clutch
putting,” Sawaia says. “All of that is evident when you watch
her play. But she also possesses the intangibles, which not a
lot of girls do, especially at her age. In fact, most junior golf-
ers, period, boys or girls, don’t have what she has. She has
supreme confidence and she is able to develop a game plan
of how she wants to play and how she wants to tackle a golf
course. She’s also very patient. She really has it all. I’ve said
it before, and I don’t know if it’s fair, but I think she might
be the best player I’ve seen in 30 years of boys or girls high
school golf to come out of here. She’s amazing.”

Wilson’s swing coaching duties are mostly handled by her
father, Jim, and the two work steadfastly on small, steady,
and focused improvements. Recently, the Wilsons shared
their goal for the foreseeable future. “It has always been
our belief system that building a good golf game required
a great deal of perspective,” Jim Wilson recently posted
on Instagram. “From the beginning, it was about layering
and building one foundation at a time with nothing rushed.
The patterns developed habits and the habits slowly yielded
results. We add layers to the foundation as we go. The next
layer … Face Angle. It will be drilled, it will be practiced, it
will be measured. It will be ... the Year of the Face Angle.
They say you can’t change what you can’t control. Control
your Face Angle! Perspective > Mindset > Relentless >
Layers > Results.”

He ended his post with the hashtags #Everydaybetter and
#ProjectGirlPower.
Yana Wilson

50 LAS VEGAS GOLF & LEISURE WINTER 2022 www.lasvegasgolfandleisure.com