POULSBO — A lone pole and orange golf flag rests on an expanse of manicured lawn aside the shores of Liberty Bay.

For 11-year-old Aubrey MacKenzie, this stretch of green is a private golf course practice paradise. Approximately three nights a week for about 45 minutes, Aubrey, a rising Poulsbo Middle School sixth-grader, perfects his chipping and putting shots.

“It’s the best thing I could ever ask for,” Aubrey said. “I can chip, pitch and hit any club out into the water and pick them up at low tide.”

It is here that Aubrey began his wildly successful golf endeavors.

In the summer of 2007, Aubrey entered his first golf tournament. He finished in third place.

On Wednesday, less than a year after becoming a Washington Junior Golf Association (WJGA) member, Aubrey won his first tournament.

At the Fort Lewis Golf Course, Aubrey captured the trophy in the 8-11-year-old division of the WJGA sub-district tournament, as he shot a 37 to par the nine-hole course.

WJGA district 3 tournament director Lorna Martinson said the course is very difficult, as it’s really long and loaded with “a lot of trouble” and blind shots.

She said Aubrey’s score was impressive.

“For Aubrey to score an even par was really good, especially for a young kid,” Martinson said. “All of our scores across the board up to the 17-year-olds were higher than average. Aubrey’s was a great score.”

Aubrey agreed. He was over-the-top excited.

The night of the tournament he had trouble falling asleep, as he was thinking of the afternoon’s excitement. When he awoke it was the first thing he thought about. He’ll be thinking about the tournament for a long time, he said, and he’ll probably never forget it.

“It was pretty much like a dream come true,” he said. “Once the final scores were tallied up everyone swarmed me and said, ‘you won, you won,’ and it just made me feel like I was doing what I was supposed to do.”

That night his younger sister threw him a special celebration party with Aubrey’s trophy as the center piece.

Aubrey’s interest in golf began when he was 3.

His father Franklyn, who enjoys golf as a pleasure sport, had a some extra clubs lying around. Aubrey nabbed a few and headed down to toy around on his personal chipping green.

“He would spend hours down below chipping balls,” recalled Franklyn, who made Aubrey his first set of clubs.

At 6, Aubrey enrolled in official golf lessons, as he attended Rolling Hills golf camp. At the age of 9, Aubrey started taking private lessons. He golfs 18 holes about once a week with his dad at Gold Mountain in Bremerton or McCormick Woods in Port Orchard, his two favorite courses.

His parents said he’s always been a very competitive and focused child. He’d play soccer and baseball, but he kept returning to golf.

Aubrey explained why golf is his sport of choice.

“It’s just a calm sport,” said Aubrey, who’s favorite club is an iron sandwedge. “I can always improve. If I go out and have a bad round I can look at what I did wrong and practice that and then do a lot better in the area I struggled.”

Spending a little time with Aubrey it’s easy to notice how much he enjoys golf and how much the sport fills his life.

A Tiger Woods poster hangs above his bed, a few golf tournament medals drape his bed post, under his desk is a pair of size nine golf shoes he can’t wait to wear, he has two sets of clubs and five golf shirts, three pairs of shorts and pants and two jackets.

He loves watching the professionals on television.

“If my dad has the TV turned on I’ll take the remote from him and watch it (golf) as long as I can,” said Aubrey, whose lucky golf outfit is a plaid pair of shorts, a brown collared shirt and a brown cap — he wore this the day he won the tournament.

He hopes one day to earn a golf scholarship to a four-year university and dreams of becoming a pro.

Aubrey and his parents agree he is a natural. But Aubrey added practicing is the key to his success.

“I think that if you practice a lot you’ll get better, then you’ll gain more confidence and you’ll become better the more you practice,” he said.

Aubrey, who’s very wise for his age, also has a fool-proof style of play.

He takes his time and he doesn’t let negative thoughts creep in. He keeps his cool. And it pays off.

“I just try and calm myself down, which is the best thing I can do,” he said. Aubrey applied this strategy at the tournament and on the last hole. “I was trying to push everything negative out that I could and that probably helped me make good shots.”

Aubrey will attend the District 3 regional championships July 20-21 in Lacey.