Golf Growth & Diversity

It's on us to teach golf to youngsters... — Teaching golf shouldn’t only be about scoring low…

I don’t know about you, but I hate that guy who lives vicariously through his kid. You know the guy…he’s relentlessly pushing his kid to do something that he never did or never could do back when he had his chance. He played baseball in high school so his kid has no choice but to play also. And not just play, but play better than he did. The kid could throw a two-hit shutout and strike out fifteen batters, but all his father can say to him is, “What happened? How did you give up those two hits?”

This is the type of parent who is convinced that his son, if pushed hard enough, is the second coming of Cy Young. He’s the type of guy who helps you to understand why there are fights between little league coaches and parents. You just want to say to him “Hey buddy, you’re kid’s not the next Ted Williams. But he’s going to be the next Ted Bundy if you don’t let up on him a little!”

Being a big sports fan myself, I was excited when my boys started showing interest in competitive sports. We started with basketball, moved on to football, they both seemed to have ignored baseball for some reason, and are now back to basketball, at which they both seem to excel. I don’t push them hard and I don’t expect perfection. But I do expect them to try hard, listen to their coaches and show good sportsmanship. I keep in mind they are kids, and I let them be kids. And now my oldest (11 years) has shown an interest in golf.

For most of my life I lived within a couple minutes of a golf course, but I was never very interested in the game. It may have been because my father didn’t play. It may have been because I was interested in faster-paced, contact sports and golf was just too slow. Whatever the reason, golf just didn’t interest me. It wasn’t until I was in my mid- to late-twenties that my golf-playing buddies finally convinced me to give the game a chance, and I’m glad they did. I only wish I had started sooner. So a few months before his eleventh birthday, my oldest son was telling friends and family he wanted money in lieu of presents. He was planning on using the money to purchase his own set of golf clubs….which he did late in the summer.

It was a bit too late in the golf season here in the northeast to give him enough practice time to get him out on a course right away. But that didn’t deter my excitement, or his. We have spent plenty of time just working on his swing. We’ve spent a good amount of time at the local driving range. I’m sure by now he’s sick of hearing me tell him everything he’s doing wrong. But I try to explain to him there are so many things involved in a swing that so many things can go wrong. He gets frustrated because he is pretty athletic and he expects to get it right. But at the same time, he understands that it takes a lot of practice. I’m proud of him because, at this age, I know how I would have reacted at this point – I would have dropped the clubs and picked up a basketball. But to his credit, he hasn’t done that. He’s trying and he’s trying hard.

With the off-season just about upon us, I’m hoping to keep his interest throughout until the spring comes around again. There’s a pretty nice indoor facility where my buddies and I will head a couple times throughout the winter. I’m looking forward to taking him there and he’s looking forward to going. Granted, I had to mention the several golf simulators in the facility…but like I said, I want him to hold interest until the spring. If it takes a giant video game to help do that, then so be it.

I’m glad to see him starting early. I’m glad to see him trying hard. But most of all, I’m glad that he’s showing the interest to begin with. I’m happy to watch him hit a perfectly straight shot, and even happier to see his smile afterward. And in a strange way, I’m glad to see his reaction when he screws up his next one. It tells me that he’s taking it seriously and he’s serious about getting it right.

But I’ll tell you one thing I’m not too happy about…at this early start, one day soon he’s going kick my butt up and down the fairway. Then maybe I’ll wish he stuck to the other sports!

(photo by — Have golf courses like Augusta National been hiding behind the constitution for too long? (*photo by Roger Sayles / CC BY-ND 2.0)*

I wrote in a blog post the other day that golf is a “gentleman’s game.” My reference was rather tongue-in-cheek, but for some courses this is a literal truth. One would think men-only golf courses are in contradiction to what the USGA wants the game to become, yet it’s hard to squash the constitutional rights of a privatized club. I’m clearly not the first to discuss this topic (most prominent in recent memory being the continuing controversy between Hootie and Martha), but I thought I’d give the fire a stoking.

“We aren’t closed-door, wives and girlfriends can come out and have lunch. Really, the only thing they [women] can’t do is play the golf course.” – PGA professional Scott Walter (Bear Creek Golf Club, Denver Colorado).

Funny, I thought it used to be the only thing women couldn’t do in the United States was vote, and we amended the Constitution to change that about 90 years ago.

Bear Creek is one of about a dozen clubs in the U.S. that don’t allow women to play golf there. Others, such as Augusta National, don’t allow women members, while many more make it hard or undesirable for women to join (should note that while there are no women members at Augusta, a woman may be “invited” to play the course – especially a woman of notoriety, such as an LPGA player).

A course that is off-limits to women (both as members and players) is Southern Dunes in Phoenix, which has been the subject of a couple articles – one from travelgolf.com contributor Chris Baldwin. A few years ago, Mr. Baldwin had the opportunity to play Southern Dunes and subsequently penned the article “Defending the Undefendable: Men-Only Golf Clubs.” In the assessment of his experience there, Mr. Baldwin relegated the membership to “a bunch of golf nerds, through and through.”

Wrote Mr. Baldwin: “Let them be nerds! Women have their gyms where no men are allowed in to gawk at them in their stretch Spandex. They have Oprah. And any single or stay-at-home dad can tell you how open those playground clubs really are. Why can’t a bunch of golf nerds have their own club?” I find it amusing that just because these guys are a bunch of nerds, we should overlook the fact that women can’t play their course. And what nerds are members there? Here’s a few: Former NFL defensive tackle Dan Saleaumua, former Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer and former Mets catcher Todd Hundley. Yep, those guys epitomize the word “nerd” in my book!

Mr. Baldwin suggests that while clearly a stereotype, women may actually induce a slower pace-of-play on the course. Too funny. He should read this related post at Real Women Golf. (I should note that Mr. Baldwin ultimately said he would never join a men-only club, claiming the guys there seem to take their golf game too seriously for his liking).

But here’s the thing; Imagine you were on a quest to play Golf Digest’s Top 100 courses (which has been accomplished multiple times by various men). If you are a woman, you can’t do it. Is that fair? Up until the 1990’s, if you were an African American man you couldn’t play the top 100 either (and you may still be discouraged at some clubs today). That’s just sad. Meanwhile, the USGA is concerned the sport is not attracting enough minorities and women. Hello?

To play devil’s advocate for a second, this is a free country and private clubs should be able to exclude whoever they want, right? That got me wondering if there were any women-only golf clubs out there. Turns out there is one in North America…but it’s not in the United States. In Canada, there’s The Ladies’ Golf Club of Toronto – and it’s nearly 10-years older than Augusta National! But even these ladies have softened a bit, as they now allow a limited number of men to become “guest card holders.”

As a public golf course connoisseur, it’s hard for me to imagine excluding anyone from playing on any course – if you know the etiquette of the game, I say tee-off. But I also understand the appeal of private memberships – I mean, your dues are paying for some type of exclusivity, right? But does that really have to exclude a gender? If you want male camaraderie, why can’t your foursome be men-only? Or does it really kill the afternoon to see a group of women playing a few fairways over?

Teaching Golf to the Next Generation

Male-Only Golf Clubs: Sexist Bastards or Constitutional Right?

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