Who Plays This Game Of Golf

   You don't know how many times I have heard critics who don't play the game say that golf is a game for old rich white men with too much time on their hands. It is very easy to criticize when you are on the outside looking in. Maybe television golf has perpetuated this by the tour playing on exclusive golf courses that the average person cannot play, and the athletes being mostly white.What critics don't realize is that TV tournament golf is only a minute fraction of what golf really is. Golf is a whole lot more than that and golf is for everyone.
     I recently visited with my daughter.  She plays golf and is in fact trying to get into the golf management program at The University of Nevada at Las Vegas. She is, and I am proud of this, an as we call in the game a "stick".  In fact, she is a big reason why my game is in shambles right now. She is 5'3" and pounds the ball. I try very hard to out drive her but I just don't hit the ball 270 plus. More and more women are taking up the game.
     My daughter used to work at a local driving range before she moved to Las Vegas. When I asked what she wanted to do during our visit she said she wanted to go to the range where she worked and hit a bucket as well as visit with old friends that worked there. Most of the people I also knew so we went to the range. It was like old home week. The owner of the range is an Asian fellow.
     I couldn't hit balls because of a temporary back problem, but my daughter did.  As she was hitting balls I took a look down the range, which was very busy on a Saturday afternoon by the way. Who was hitting balls practicing?
     As I looked down the range I was encouraged not only by the number of golfers, but by who they were. It was an extremely diverse group of people. Hitting next to us was a man and his girlfriend. The guy was an accomplished golfer but his girlfriend was a beginner.  There was a black man hitting about three stalls down, and in fact there were many black guys and a couple of black ladies practicing. Further down was another couple, who were hispanic hitting balls together. Both seemed to be very good as their swings gave them away and they were really clobbering the ball.  
     The number of kids on the range was a good sign to me.  There were boys and girls, with and without their parents. Some of the parents were also practicing, a couple of which were ladies that were without their husbands or were single.
      As I marshal, I see the faces that play our game. By no means is it a sea of white.  What I do see is a diverse ocean of many players with different ethnic and racial backgrounds. I also see a huge number of ladies playing either as singles or with a group of other ladies. There is an increase of men who are playing with their significant others--since I am old fashioned I would hope their wives or sweethearts.  I think I will just leave it at that.
     Many people criticize the game of golf as being a white elitist sport which is dying. These criticisms come from those who have never played the game or just don't get it. I totally disagree. The sport is alive and may be in a short pause, but it is not dying and is ready to explode again. It has been played for more than 400 years and will continue to be played. Golf is for everyone.

It doesn't get any better.