GROVE CITY - Ryan Prokay studies the swings of Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh these days, not Albert Pujols and Derek Lee.

That's because Prokay has turned into a 13-year-old golf junkie. When he's not watching it on TV, examining the intricacies of some of the game's biggest stars, he's playing golf whenever he can - and wherever he can.

"I've been swinging a club since I was 2," Prokay said. "I just remember hitting a ball with one of those big, plastic clubs in the backyard."

Prokay has become quite good at swinging the club at a relatively young age. He recently won the P.J. Boatwright Jr. Challenger Cup at Tam O'Shanter golf course in Hermitage.

Prokay typically plays in between 15 and 20 tournaments during the course of a summer.

He has some good rounds and some bad ones.

His father, Mike Prokay, tries to keep his son on an even keel when he has one of his bad rounds.

"He shot his lowest score, a 76, at Oakview a week ago," Mike Prokay said. "But he has some bad rounds, too. It's a hard game. He's no Tiger Woods."

But Ryan Prokay works as hard as Woods.

He can be found most days playing a round of golf. When he's not doing that, he's chipping golf balls in the back yard.

"I work on my short game for hours and hours," Prokay said. "I like Tiger, because he worlds so hard and Vijay because he puts a lot of time. Your short game can always be better."

Prokay doesn't like to take any time off from playing.

When he was away from the links for a few days recently, and then returned, he didn't like the results.

"I took three or four days off, and my swing was all out of wack," Prokay said. "I like to practice, practice, practice."

Prokay's short game has always been a top priority because he typically gets out-driven off the tee.

But Prokay has added 30 yards to his drives.

"I've been playing against kids who outdrive me all the time," Prokay said. "But I've been lifting weights and doing pushups to get stronger, working on my upper body."

Prokay is also beating his father more and more - the ultimate litmus test.

"He can tell I've been practicing," Ryan Prokay said. "He can tell from last year to this year, I'm getting a lot better."

Ryan Prokay, like any golfer worth his weight in tees, is always focusing on the areas he needs to improve.

His short iron play is one of those areas.

"It's been getting better over the years," he said. "I was nutting those shots a lot before. I used to always hit short. I still need to work in that."

Prokay has also become a sort of golf entrepreneur.

For the last two years, he's organized a sort of junior version of the Ryder Cup, complete with prizes and all the trappings of the real event.

Thursday and Friday he had two teams of five golfers - his friends and some golfers he met through the various tournaments he played it - compete in his event at the Hermitage VFW.

"He's a pretty good organizer," Mike Prokay said. "He was on the phone a lot organizing it. Getting 10 kids together for two days, especially as busy as some of them are, is pretty tough. But he got it done."

Prokay also has some big plans for the future.

"I kind of want to put a lot of things together in the next one or two years," Prokay said. "That will be a big test to see where I am.

"I want to go to college on a golf scholarship somewhere."

For now, he's just enjoying golf as much as he can.

"I still play baseball," Prokay said. "But I'm leaning toward golf a lot more now. I love it."