Junior Golf: Show It, Sell It--Hide It, Keep It

     That's kind of an odd title, isn't it? Before I began teaching and when I retired from teaching and began my writing career, I was a salesman and sold office equipment and wholesale food products to grocery stores. I had a sales manager share with me a very good idea as I was learning the sales industry. The saying was very profound and I will share it with you:  Show it, sell it--Hide it keep it.  After thinking about how we promote junior golf and even bringing kids into the game that is kind of what we are doing, aren't we.  We just are not giving junior golf the exposure that it should be getting as far as getting kids into the game.
      As I travel around town, I see all kinds of signs up.  Signs such as "Atwater Little League Sign Ups" or "Merced Girl's League Softball Leagues Now Forming.  Sign up At...On Saturday March 4". Sign like these are all over the place as I am sure they are in your town.  During the fall you see signs announcing sign ups for soccer leagues and basketball leagues as well as youth football. Most of these signs are put up around schools in order to get as many kids into the particular sports to sign up as they can.  I ask you though, Where are the signs announcing youth golf programs and signups for those programs?
      I can answer that question quite easily.  There are no signs that are put up.  One of the reasons is that golf programs for youth are not promoted except in the golf community.  Another reason is that there are not that many organized youth golf programs that you see in other sports.  I think that is a shame.  Why aren't there any programs out there?  How come we hide such programs as "First Tee" and "Golf Kids"?  Are we embarrassed?  Do we think that kids are not interested in golf?
     We need to be a bit more aggressive in bringing kids into the game of golf.  Yes, kids are coming to the game of golf.  We can just look at the growth in participation rates in youth golf tournaments and see that it is growing, but probably not as quickly or as much as it should be growing.  Let's take a hard look at what needs to be done to change this.
      I understand many of the challenges that are faced when you try to develop a youth golf program.  A major consideration is who is going to run the program.  Most golf facilities and their staff are totally overburdened with the tasks that are required to run their golf courses, let alone establishing a quality youth golf program.  It is hard to put together a youth program and takes a lot of resources in time and money.  In most cases, the courses and pros don't have that time and money to devote to a quality program.  I understand their logic and concerns that a youth program is another huge investment in the course's time and limited resources.  The decision is a tough one to make, even though the time and money spent is an investment in the future and many of these youth players turn into paying customers.
     Perhaps what is needed is for the men and women of golf look to the future and volunteer to supervise golf programs as in other sports. We need to establish more programs and advertise those programs.  The word needs to get out.  There are golf programs and many other programs can be created. We must go on the offensive and let communities know that these programs exist.  Let's get kids playing golf. Let's show parents and kids the wonderful benefits of the game of golf and how you can play golf for a lifetime.  Let's show it and not keep it.

They are our future.  Let's get them playing golf.

She Forced Me To Play Golf On Sunday

     So, my wife forced me to play golf on Saturday.  She does this almost every week and has intensified her efforts now that the weather is improving here in our part of California. I don't know how much longer I can deal with this.  Its kind of intimidating when she says, "You will take me to play golf today, or else." Well, I see no other alternative than to give into her demands. My guess is that's what The Founding Fathers meant when they put "To Insure Domestic Tranquility" into the Constitution.  If she's not happy, nobody is happy.
     We met as a result of using an online dating service.  I won't mention which one because E-Harmony is not compensating me monetarily to mention them so I won't.  One of the most important attributes that I put in my profile and the traits of a possible match was that the person I was to meet and possibly spend the rest of my life with play golf.  The fact that I played golf and enjoyed it very much was important to my wife as well.  Needless to say, this was a match made in heaven.  We were smitten with each other the moment we laid eyes upon one another.  I know that she loved to play golf, but I didn't realize just how deep that love for the game was.
     I think that I mentioned before that my wife used to play a lot of softball and was on the basketball and volleyball teams at the college she went to.  She is an athlete, so she took to golf very easily and hits the ball with some good power.  I have to say--and I say this in a good way Dear--that my wife is truly a competitive animal and golf is an appropriate outlet for her competitive drive.  And, she only gets better each time we play.
     Last year we actually broke down and bought her a set of women's clubs. It was pretty hard playing a set of her father's hand me down irons and woods. She bought a 24 pack of Top-Flite balls and at this point has used them all and has gone to a softer "ladies" ball which are a lot easier to hit. My wife can compress the ball much better than a "top rock" and it shows in the distances she has been getting as well as the higher ball flight. It is just easier to get the softer ball into the air. She was complaining that her putter was too long so Friday night we went to a local nationally known sporting goods store--I'm not going to mention Dick's Sporting Goods because they don't compensate me for mentioning them either--and she bought a brand new Odessy putter. When do I get a brand new putter?  Let's keep her happy.
     All kidding aside, I consider myself fortunate to have a wife that loves the game of golf as much as I do.  I can kid about the fact that she forces me to play golf with her but the bottom line is that we enjoy playing the game together and look forward to continuing this. We have a lot of laughs out there and the time we spent together is good quality time out of our busy schedules. If you have a spouse or significant other that plays golf, consider yourself blessed. Excuse me now, I'm going to take some ibuprofen and soak in the jacuzzi spa because I'm sore from playing two days in a row--ah, the misery of it all. It is a wonderful thing to share the game of golf together.

She hit that one deep.  It went by me by 50 yards.