Building the future of golf

The city of Rock Island, near Moline, Ill., is a working-class type of town. Its residents don’t exactly fit the demographic of the typical golfer – but at the city-owned Highland Springs and Saukie golf courses, children fill the golf programs.

This is a result of Sticks for Kids, a golf industry-supported program that makes the game more accessible to children of all backgrounds and aims to keep their interest in the sport through their lifetime. As a whole, the Golf Course Builders Association of America (GCBAA) Foundation’s initiative has exploded over the past few years.

As one of the original and most successful Sticks for Kids programs, Rock Island at one time had 700 children enrolled in the program. These days, factors such as the slowing economy and a cutback in staff members have resulted in a smaller program, but the program still brings in 350 participants.

Many children who wouldn’t have had the chance otherwise are picking up golf clubs.

“A good deal of these kids are coming out of high-risk areas,” says Bill Fetty, a golf professional in Rock Island.

While many children come from places like county agencies, not all the participants are troubled, he adds.

Fetty appreciates the GCBAA Foundation’s dedication to the program.

“We’re getting to the point where money is getting tighter and tighter in grant land,” he says. “It’s nice to have a relationship as solid as the one between us and the builders.” 

Growing interest

The Sticks for Kids program provides grants to pay golf course workers for their time and donates ten sets of children’s clubs to each new participating course. Children in the program are taught everything from golf club grip to proper etiquette. Teaching comes in the form of mini-camps and children are encouraged to golf often with reduced green fees.

When the foundation started the program, it funded the courses directly. But the program has taken off in the past few years, making it harder to manage. So a year and a half ago, the foundation partnered with the National Recreation and Parks Association for help with the administrative side.

The NRPA helps to find communities that might be interested in the program and sorts through applications. Not just the best-equipped golf courses are considered.

“We don’t turn anyone away because they don’t have a golf pro or even a golf course,” says Resa Kierstein, recreation resources manager in the national partnerships department of the NRPA. “You can teach golf at a park.”

The NRPA has partnerships with several other sports organizations, such as the PGA, NFL, MLB and NBA.

The first year the GCBAA Foundation partnered with the NRPA, they brought on 100 new programs throughout the country. The foundation planned to add another 100 facilities to the program this year, but jumped to 180.

“It’s really more than we wanted to commit to in one year but we thought it would be really hard to weed out half the people who wanted to apply – and we had enough money to cover them,” says Bill Kubly, president of the GCBAA Foundation.

The foundation has recently announced the program will take another big step toward growth – into China.

Career encouragement

The GCBAA Foundation also has relationships with two dozen universities throughout the country and gives scholarships to two students at each school. The students must be entering into a field related to the golf industry to be eligible.

The foundation partnered with ten universities at first, offering one scholarship at each. The program now reaches 24 universities. Builder members have agreed to match the foundation’s contribution, allowing for two scholarships to be given at each school.

The foundation raises the money to support the Sticks for Kids and scholarship programs through its fundraisers. A recent auction raked in $120,000 for the foundation.

Despite the programs, the foundation might not be the first group people think of when they think of golf industry initiatives, Kubly says.

“The GCBAA is more of a grassroots organization that’s really stepped up to the plate,” he says. “We realize we have to grow the game in order for builder members to continue to have business in it.”

Lasting a lifetime
 
Some of those who participated in the early years of Rock Island’s youth golf program now are on their high school and college golf teams. The fact that they’re sticking with the sport going into their adult lives is what those involved hoped the program would accomplish.

“It gives kids the opportunity to try something new,” Kierstein says. “They’re connected with nature instead of being in front of a television. They can learn life skills and see what other lifetime sports are available to them.” GCI