Photo Credit: Courtesy of East Bay Regional Park District
“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”--Chinese Proverb
Conducting successful junior golf programs is like that proverbial tree--we should have started 20 years ago; instead, we must do it now. In order to survive and thrive, the golf industry needs more golfers. Most in the industry are aware that golf numbers are down. In addition, golf has fallen behind other sports in making it more attractive and fun for kids. Baseball has T-ball. Football has flag football. Ski resorts have the “cool” sport of snowboarding, which is marketed to its full potential by offering kids free skiing on a beginners’ hill--a no-pressure, no-frills environment. Free! No intimidation! It can’t get much better than that.
Golf programmers need to open their arms, drop the traditions, and “yell what they sell” to attract youth to this wonderful sport. For me, this really came to light while attending the Club Manager’s Association of America national conference in Orlando a year ago. I attended a seminar given by Dottie Pepper--one of golf’s great ambassadors and now an invaluable member of the PGA of America Board of Directors. She led a seminar about youth golf and discussed ways to increase interest in the game, while preaching the importance of making golf fun and non-intimidating for kids as well as for women. For 45 minutes, she listed several great junior golf programming ideas that would create a fresh face for the sport and attract potential players. As she spoke, I completed a mental checklist of her ideas and the programs my group has been providing in the city of Ann Arbor Parks Department (Michigan) for the last 5 years. The lists were eerily similar: