Golf dad Jeremiah Ritchie likens his children’s talent for the game to what Venus and Serena Williams experienced in tennis.
First came Elijah, quiet, studious, and steady. As an 11-year-old, he earned Gold Coast Golf Association Player of the Year honors in 2020. Elijah, now 16, continues to play at a high level in tournaments, clubs, and programs across South Florida.
But his little sister, Gabrielle, is tearing up those same courses at just 9 years old. And she’s doing it with confidence and a little swagger—with long curling braids, perfectly coordinated outfits that lean into shades of pink, and a matching golf bag and rosy-gripped iGen clubs.
She has followed in her brother’s footsteps. They both started to play around age 5. The two take coaching and endless repetition well, practicing roughly two hours a day, with early-morning strength training. And both revel in wearing brightly colored knee socks featuring characters from “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Rocko’s Modern Life.”
And when brother and sister are on the course, it’s all business. Elijah—his dad calls him “Easy” —easily stays among those at the top of the leaderboard every time he tees it up. But his dad says, “Gabrielle is the one that’s a force to be reckoned with.”
“She’s way more focused, way more resilient,” Elijah says of his loquacious sister. “She’s intense.”
“The comparison with how Venus and Serena came up is an easy one to make,” says Jeremiah Ritchie.
Also, in South Florida, the family legacy of Tiger Woods echoes down the eastern peninsula.
Elijah has played in some of the same youth golf circles as Charlie Woods, but Jeremiah more resembles Tiger’s father Earl Woods than Tiger—proud ex-military, college-educated, and a former athlete with plenty of glory days to look back on. Jeremiah, 47, works for the post office and has coached youth sports. He took up golf at age 33, thinking he could play as he got older—and then, as the story goes, he became obsessed.
To quote Mark Twain: “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”
The Ritchies, a middle-class family from Coconut Creek, stand out mostly for their pluck and perseverance—and enviable trophy collections—in the lush landscape of South Florida youth golf, where children and grandchildren of paterfamilias Trump, Nicklaus, Norman, and Woods are the most seasoned young golf talent in the country, and they train and play in one of the wealthiest enclaves on the planet.
The Ritchie threesome has benefited from youth development programs like Fore Life (based in Lauderhill) and the Gold Coast Junior Golf Association to learn the game, the etiquette, and life lessons that help make young players more aware and resilient.
Now a rising junior at Transformational Technical Academy in Pompano Beach, Elijah lives and breathes golf, and he sees himself playing in college. He sees Gabrielle going pro.
Elijah said that when he was 9, he won some tournaments, but he wasn’t playing 18-hole rounds. Elijah endured his first full rounds at age 11. “She’s 9—and she’s doing way better than just keeping up,” he said.
In early July, Gabby played in the invitation-only Junior World Championships, hosted at Torrey Pines in San Diego, where she won the putting title for her age group. She played the three official 18-hole rounds of the JWC, plus multiple full practice rounds at Singing Hills Golf Club.
“The trip was fantastic—it was an eye-opener,” Elijah said. “The kids I play with, we never get on a plane to go anywhere. This trip felt like a fantasy—it was fun!”
Elijah helped get the family prepared for each day in San Diego—cleaning clubs, setting out clothes, checking locations, shooting video, keeping things easy. During warm-ups and between rounds, Gabby chatted up fellow players and traded pins in the shape of Florida for similar tokens from kids from across the globe.
“I don’t worry about anything,” Gabby said when asked if she feels pressure to win. “I have a free mind.”
Her dad took the family sightseeing in San Diego, visiting Mission Bay and taking a tour of the USS Midway. “I’d like to keep them kids as long as possible,” he said.
On July 13, the day after their return trip, Gabby took second in the nine-hole Gold Tour July Open at Pompano Beach Golf Course, sponsored by the Gold Coast Junior Golf Foundation.
This season, the rising fourth grader and straight-A student from Winston Park Elementary School has racked up five wins, four second-place finishes, and two third-place honors.
“I noticed from the very start that Gabby isn’t just a youth golfer—she’s a rising star,” pro golfer Micaá Thomas told The Parklander. “Her natural talent, focus, and poise on the course are rare, and I truly believe she has what it takes to dominate the junior tournaments and beyond.”
Thomas currently plays on the ANNIKA Women’s All-Pro Tour and NXXT Women’s Pro Golf Tour, aiming for the LPGA. She met Gabby at ChampionsGate Golf Course in Orlando in March. She said that Gabby’s play reminded her of herself when she started playing at age 10.
“Gabby’s passion for the game, her discipline, and her sweet spirit are a powerful combination that will take her far, not just in golf, but in life,” Thomas said. “I’m so incredibly proud of her!”
The two made quite an impression on each other. After meeting and playing a few holes in Orlando, Gabby wrote Thomas a letter, thanking the tour pro for spending time with her and sharing some pro tips.
She signed off on the letter by drawing flowers, hearts, and golf clubs that looked like little black music notes, and she wrote, “I 🩷 Micaa Thomas.”
Gabby and Elijah are both set to play in the Junior Golf Association Championships, where each player’s odds of adding to their collections of hardware are pretty good.
For Gabby, she’s keeping her aim on following the advice she gets from her dad and big brother. “Just don’t have too many thoughts—ball to target, ball to target,” she said. “Keep my mind free.”