The Little Linksters Academy becomes part of Marriott Golf’s newly expanded teaching venture at the west Orlando facility.

For three years, Brendon Elliott developed the Little Linksters learning program as a sidelight to his regular job managing operations at Winter Park (Fla.) Country Club. Now he has taken his program to MetroWest Golf Club, Orlando, Fla., where the Little Linksters Golf Academy officially opened its doors just before Labor Day, reports the Orlando Sentinental.

“It’s a little scary, to be honest, to be out there on my own,” said Elliott. “But if I didn’t do it, I’m not sure how much longer I could keep doing both.”

The Little Linksters Academy becomes part of Marriott Golf’s newly expanded teaching venture at the west Orlando facility, building upon the operation already established at MetroWest by Tom Creavy. Elliott and Ashleigh Korzack will help the operation expand its offerings.

Little Linksters clinics will be held mostly on Wednesdays and Thursdays, in addition to mobile programs conducted at 10 other sites. Shorter “family tees” also are being installed at the MetroWest layout.

Elliott launched Little Linksters in 2008, offering an introduction to the game to children as young as 3. Combining traditional teaching methods with coloring books and other aids geared toward making it fun, the program has grown to include a “Best Pee Wee Golf Swing” video contest and occasional “tournaments” as short as three holes.

“There’s a 10-shot rule and if they whiff, we don’t count it,” said Elliott, who has a competition scheduled for Oct. 16 at Lake Mary’s Timacuan GC.

As much as he enjoyed his time at Winter Park CC, Elliott said doing that job and trying to get Little Linksters off the ground had become difficult to juggle.

“It was a hard decision for my wife and I to make,” he said. “The [golf] industry’s constantly talking about getting into the grass roots. There are a lot of pros with good intentions, but they don’t know how to start. We felt like we had a good thing going with the mobile program. When the opportunity came to go to MetroWest, I had to jump.”