Last winter, 14-year-old Jesse Speirs of Bangor and his mother Debbie spent a few months in Myrtle Beach, S.C., so Jesse could play on the Plantation Junior Golf Tour.

“On the way back up from South Carolina, we stopped at the Masters,” said Speirs. “We went to one of the practice rounds and the par-3 tournament. My friend, Matt Jarrell, his dad had a couple of extra tickets.”

Speirs liked what he saw.

“It was just a practice round, but it seemed real to me,” he said. “It was Augusta, the players…. ”

There is a fire that burns inside Speirs. It doesn’t eat him up, but it is intense.

“I want to be inside the ropes, not outside,” he said, smiling.

The dream may not be outside the realm of possibility if he continues to improve over the next few years the way he has his first four.

After starting two years ago with about a 29 handicap, according to his father, Don, he is now down to a 2.1. At Penobscot Valley Country Club in Orono (he has junior memberships at both PVCC and Bangor Municipal Golf Course), Jesse’s handicap is 0.7.

“I’d like to get it to +1 or [+]2 by the end of the season,” he said.

He already has five rounds in the 60s this year, including a 68 at Belgrade Lakes Golf Course to win an XL Tour event.

Just before Thanksgiving, he played a Plantation tour event, opening with a 66, but he lost a playoff when the second round was washed out.

Overall, Speirs finished fourth overall on the Plantation tour and was a second team All-American.

“It’s the largest winter tour in the U.S.,” said Don. “There are 1,600 kids and there are tournaments from Arizona to New York.”

Jesse said, “It wasn’t more competitive [than Maine], but it had a better depth of player. There are more players who could win a tournament.”

Speirs started showing interest in golf when he was 9 years old. He was still too young and inexperienced to accompany his father and his three older brothers.

At 10, he could go, but only to carry clubs.

At 11, he got a hand-me-down set of clubs from his brother, Seth. He immediately shot an 88 on the new nine at Bangor.

Later that year, Jesse began to play competitively. He won a junior tourney at Felt Brook Golf Center in Holden over 64 other players ages 9-18 with a 1-over-par 34.

The Maine State Golf Association’s junior tour was brought up. The Speirs hadn’t heard of it and weren’t sure they wanted to go that route yet.

“He said he wanted to compete,” said Don. So his mother took him to most of the tournaments, where he was taking first or second net each week.

“By the end of the summer, he was down to a 14,” said his father.

When the MSGA series ended in August, he played in junior tournaments at Hermon Meadow, where he came under the eye of pro Mark Hall.

“Mark said, ‘I’d really like to work with him.’ There were a lot of fundamental things wrong,” said Don.

“Mark made it fun,” Don said. “After two or three lessons, Jesse really took off. He really helped Jesse a lot. He got into the 70s.”

All that winter of 1999-2000 he played at XL Golf in Hermon. He competed against Harold Newman, Mike St. Thomas, and others. He won, but he also learned other aspects of the game.

“He played with a lot of older guys, and that helped a lot,” said Don. “It helped him learn to play as a mature player.”

That was one thing Don stressed.

“No attitude,” said Jesse, smiling again. “If there was, the clubs would go right in the trash can. Or at least I wouldn’t play for a while.”

That falls in line with Jesse’s favorite player, David Duval.

“I like the way he handles himself,” said Jesse. “You can tell he might be upset, but he controls his emotions.”

The 6-foot, 140-pounder is also learning discipline, setting up a routine and sticking with it.

He practices a little before a round, plays 18 holes, then practices for 2-3 hours afterward on the parts of the game he didn’t think he executed well. During the school year, his mother home-schools him in the morning and he gets in his golf in the afternoon and evening.

Don and Debbie Speirs have supported all of their children in what they wanted to do.

“This is teaching him what it’s like to live out of a suitcase,” said Don. “I told him it wasn’t going to be easy.”

Jesse said, “I’ve been thinking if I do better as years go on, I won’t go to college. I’ll go on the mini-tours up through [to PGA Tour] qualifying school.”

The Speirs figure Jesse will play one more winter on the Plantation tour, then move up to American Junior Golf Association tour.

“I’m not ready for it yet,” said Jesse.

He is also working on some short-term goals. He wants to win the Paul Bunyan Amateur Golf Tourney next year and win the Maine Amateur tourney by the time he’s 18. He qualified for this year’s Amateur Tuesday when he shot a 73 at PVCC.

The main thing for the Speirs is that Jesse enjoy playing golf.

“If he’s not going to like it, the time to find out is now,” said Don. “But he’s go, go, go. He wants to compete all the time.”

Dave Barber is the NEWS golf writer. The Golf scene will appear each Wednesday through September. He can be reached at 990-8170 or by e-mail at dbarber@bangordailynews.net.