Perspective
The Junior Golf Landscape
Column by Eric Dutt, President of the Nevada Golf Course Owners Association and Vice President of Caesars Entertainment, Rio Secco, Cascata and Butch Harmon School of Golf
Happy 2015 to Nevada Golfers,
Once again my thanks to Las Vegas Golf & Leisure Magazine and Ryan and Heidi Chackel for allowing the Nevada Golf Course Owners Association (NVGCOA) this space to comment on the Nevada golf industry and the golf industry in general.
This article will focus on the topic of junior golf, both in Las Vegas and nationally, its history and what needs to be done to improve the quality of the junior golf landscape in Las Vegas. Without new players coming into the game golf courses don’t have future consumers.
My family moved to Las Vegas in 1964 and shortly thereafter my brother and I took up the game when our father began to play, and then later another brother and my sister took up the game. At that time there were only two junior golf tournaments in Las Vegas so we made frequent trips to play some 150 junior golf tournaments in Southern California. About 1970, the golf professionals at the old Winterwood Golf Club formed the Winterwood Junior Golf Association, which ultimately became the Southern Nevada Junior Golf Association (SNJGA). This organization, focused on the competitive aspect of junior golf, held numerous tournaments throughout the year and virtually all Las Vegas golf courses supported junior golf by hosting a junior event and junior clinics at their course during the year. The SNJGA developed many very good players who went on to earn college scholarships and some ultimately played professionally. In the early 1990s, the SNJGA merged with the Las Vegas Inner City Youth Golf Association.
In the late 1990s, The First Tee concept was born and the SNJGA/Inner City Youth Golf Association became a First Tee Chapter. The emphasis of the First Tee was to expose the game of golf to young people of all backgrounds with less of an emphasis on competition. This became the new model for many of the junior golf associations throughout the country. Many of the resources that at one time had gone into producing better players through a robust tournament schedule now went to exposing the game of golf to a broader cross section of young people. And The First Tee has been successful in reaching young people of all demographics. According to The First Tee’s 2012 Annual Report, there were 187 First Tee chapters across the country, more than 750 program locations, 800 involved school districts and 5300 involved elementary schools, all of which exposed golf to 455,000 young people with a total of more than 3.1 million young people being impacted by The First Tee. Since 1997, and as of 2012, the First Tee has produced more than 13,000 high school golfers and more than 1,600 college golfers.
But, of all the young people exposed to the game, how many are still playing the game today? I manage golf courses and need NEW consumers entering and STAYING in the game.
And, since 1997 The First Tee has produced 1,600 college golfers, from a total outreach of 7.6 million young people (according to the 2012 First Tee Annual report). Not a very good ratio of college players to young people exposed to the game, over a 15-year period, in my opinion. The overall lack of emphasis from the First Tee’s standpoint on competition is one of the contributing factors, though certainly not the only one as to why the number of very good junior players coming out of Las Vegas is not at the number it should be when you factor in the overall population and the number of golf courses in Southern Nevada.
So, what’s the answer to attracting young people to the game, creating good junior players who have a shot of getting a college scholarship and keeping these young players playing golf after they reach their adult years or finish college?
Access to Courses: Part of the solution is getting back to the way it was years ago where golf courses made their facilities available to young people who wanted to learn the game, and at times at NO CHARGE. Most courses are NOT busy after 2 p.m. so why not let juniors come out and play and practice? I’ve recently opened Rio Secco up to both the Del Webb and Miller middle schools and their golf programs, and it’s fun to see all the juniors at the course on certain afternoons. Certain other Las Vegas golf courses are very generous in allowing junior golfers the ability to play and practice free or at a greatly reduced rate.
Exposure to the Game: This is where I feel the First Tee of Southern Nevada needs to refocus their energy. Get in front of kids 8 to 12 years of age, from all walks of life, and get a golf club in these young people’s hands. Work with the YMCA, Boys N Girls Club, etc., to put golf programs in place. Expose young people to the game, then pass them along to the golf courses for additional and more refined instruction, getting them ready for competition.
Competition: This creates good-to-very-good players who are focused on college golf programs and beyond. The more competitive events a junior can play, the better player they will become, as they learn how to play under pressure and when they have to hit their best shot when it counts.
So, what’s being done to address the three above areas?
A group of Las Vegas golf organizations has joined forces to restructure the junior golf effort in Las Vegas. Look at www.southernnevadajuniorgolf.com to learn more about the efforts and opportunities for junior golfers and young people who want to learn the game.
Certain golf courses in Las Vegas are making their own concerted efforts to jumpstart junior golf/player development programs. The PGA of America has started a program called Junior League where teams of 10 to 12 junior golfers compete in a team concept that has been very successful in its first two years. Las Vegas had some ten teams in 2014 with PGA Professional Nolan Halterman from Anthem Country Club coordinating Las Vegas programming. Andy Schaper, Head Professional at Boulder Creek Golf Club (Boulder City) has taken the program to a new level as he conducts a year round junior league program at his course. Rio Secco offers any junior access to practice facilities and the course after 2 p.m. at no charge and many other Las Vegas courses have certain privileges for juniors.
The Southern Nevada Golf Association (SNGA), historically focused on amateur golf in Southern Nevada, has added a junior division to their tournament schedule, allowing accomplished junior golfers the ability to compete on a more regular basis against the best amateur players in Southern Nevada.
The First Tee of Southern Nevada is reorganizing and the new focus will be solely on exposing young people to the game of golf with very little to no emphasis on conducting competitive tournaments.
The Las Vegas PGA Chapter will once again conduct the PGA Junior League Program in 2015 with hopes of expanding the number of teams over 2014 levels.
Certain Las Vegas middle schools have golf programs, which include a schedule of matches and tournaments between the schools. Participating schools include: Faith Lutheran, Bob Miller, St. Elizabeth Seaton, Las Vegas Day School, Our Lady of Las Vegas, The Meadows, Calvary Chapel, Del Webb, Henderson International, Becker Middle School, St. Francis, St. Viator and Lake Mead Christian Academy.
These efforts should improve the junior golf landscape in Las Vegas but we need all golf courses to get involved and parents of those young people who get interested in the game must make the commitment as well in getting their children to the course, to tournaments and keep their children playing. It will pay off for everyone in the long run.