Updated in 2024 from the original 2011 article.
Local golf programs offer kids a chance to tee off and have fun while learning a new sport for life.
It’s dusk at Timbers at Troy Golf Course in Elkridge, and as the smell of fresh-mowed grass mingles with late-day mugginess, a golfer approaches the tee box, mentally debating between using a hybrid or an iron. He sets up, checking his form, alignment and balance, then begins his swing. First there’s the whipping sound, then the snap of the clubface on impact with the ball, which soars down the fairway, a straight 190 yards. Just another day on the course for Chazz Clark, except for the fact that he’s 12 years old, and he – along with kids just like him – are becoming more the norm than the oddity at local courses.
Walk an area golf course and you’ll see it’s not just a sport for middle-aged men anymore. Kids aren’t lassoed with outdated images of stodgy, ill-dressed golfers and country-club snobbery. Rather, they’ve grown up in a post-Tiger Woods era, where golfing is hip, fun, athletic and, increasingly, a ticket to college scholarship, says Bob Heintz, junior golf director for the Middle Atlantic PGA (MAPGA), which oversees Maryland and Virginia.
The rise in kids’ golf is evident in various areas, despite the weakened economy. Kid-centric programs offered by groups like The First Tee, an organization committed to teaching life skills through the game of golf, continue to grow in offerings and attendance. “We had our best year last year … [with] over 700 students,” says Don Van Deusen, executive director of The First Tee of Howard County and assistant general manager at Columbia’s Fairway Hills Golf Club.
There’s also been an increase in the level of competition at the junior level, says Heintz. “A lot of juniors are getting into two-day tournaments … When I started six years ago, we had a tournament a week. Today, if a kid wants to play every single day in a tournament, they can,” he adds.
In years past, “you had to go over to the western shore for kids’ golf events. But now … I’ve seen great things on the shore here as far as junior golf goes,” says John Mlynarski, head golf professional at Harbourtowne Golf Resort in St. Michaels. Both Mlynarski’s sons are strong students and golf scholarship recipients.
Besides tournaments, parents and kids in the Chesapeake district can choose from mini-clinics for the kindergarten crowd, summer camps for various age groups, weekly after-school clinics for all ages and much more.
Benefits Abound
Local proponents of the sport are quick to explain golf’s rise in popularity: It offers parents and their kids a lot they can’t get from other activities:
Beyond the Country Club
Still, families new to golf may hesitate because of the belief that it takes a golf club membership (with its hefty initiation fees and dues) to gain access to constant practice, lessons and facilities. Not the case, say the experts. “Most of the kids I deal with don’t even come from a country club,” Heintz says. Kids don’t necessarily want to play the same course over and over, he adds.
Plus, plenty of worthwhile programs exist at municipal, public, and semi-private clubs that don’t carry the sticker shock of private facilities. Recreational sites such as golf parks are an inexpensive introduction to the game, with used equipment on hand. Golf organizations often partner with public and semi-private facilities for classes, clinics and tournaments.
Even local elementary schools are expanding into the golf realm, exploring golf during P.E., field days and after-school programs. “We are in [Columbia-based] Swansfield Elementary School, our national school program,” says Van Deusen. “They have special equipment, curriculum [and] First Tee classes.”
Many private country clubs have offered a range of kid-friendly golf activities for members’ children all along. Often nonmember kids can still experience private club play. “We have a tour for the older kids so they can play some nice courses [like] Waverly Woods, Hobbit’s Glen, Lake Presidential, Renditions, Woodmore. There are some really nice options for better players,” Van Deusen says.
Some private clubs, including Heritage Harbour in Annapolis, also are reaching out to younger audiences. “We invite the public on certain days, so long as one person in the group is vouched for by a member of the Middle Atlantic PGA. That tells us at least one person in the group is an accomplished golfer. It’s our first year doing it and we’ll evaluate it after six events,” Magarace says.
Room To Grow
Despite an uptick in the kids’ golf arena, challenges remain. As with most kids’ sports, the initial entry into the game may be inexpensive, but a long-term commitment usually isn’t. Clubs, balls, gloves, shoes, playing fees, classes and lessons can range from economical to extremely high-end. To offset some of the economic restrictions, The First Tee of Howard County designates $7,000 worth of scholarships each year “to not turn anybody away,” Van Deusen says.
Likewise, Grow the Game, the MAPGA and other organizations offer free seminars with volunteer golfing professionals and reduced or free rounds at various sites.
Another drawback is the time commitment. Sure, an hour clinic or hitting a bucket of balls at the local range doesn’t take long, but an 18-hole round amount to the greater part of a day. Golf establishments are trying to provide alternatives, including shortened “family tees,” faster rounds that cost less to play, Magarace says.
As a parent, Clark puts it succinctly: “I don’t think at 40 [my son] will be out there playing football. But he will be playing golf.”
Lurdes Abruscato is a local freelance writer and regular golfer. She is embarrassed to admit her 11-year-old son has a much better handicap than she does.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
PGA Middle Atlantic Section (MAPGA)
Offers a variety of information on area programs, the MAPGA Junior Tour, junior clinics and tournaments, Clubs for Kids donations, regional schedules, scholarships.
mapga.com
American Junior Golf Association
Nonprofit dedicated to growth and development of young men and women who aspire to earn college golf scholarships through competitive junior golf.
ajga.org
Maryland State Golf Association
Represents interests of Maryland golfers, including educational scholarship for individuals employed by MSGA member clubs/courses and/or their children, and to students having completed junior year of high school with a bona fide connection to golf.
msga.org
JuniorLinks.com
Forum for communication about junior golf, created by Golf 20/20 and managed by USGA Foundation.
juniorlinks.com
Junior Golf Scoreboard
An information service for competitive junior golf. Has become the clearing house for many college coaches monitoring youth golfers.
juniorgolfscoreboard.com
University of Maryland Junior Golf Camps
Camps for 6 and up with varying experience levels.
golf.umd.edu/junior-golf-camps/
The First Tee
Provides young people of all backgrounds learning facilities and educational programs that promote character development and life values through golf. County chapters have fundraisers, learning programs, military affiliates, scholarships, partnerships with P.E. classes.
thefirsttee.org