Taking a break from course reviews, Id like to talk about what I have noticed as one of the primary obstacles to junior development in the game of golf, men's leagues. For years, many of our municipal courses have relied upon men's leagues, most of which are scheduled on weekday afternoons, for a significant portion of their annual play. While these 9-hole afternoon leagues may get people out on the course, they keep an equal amount off the course, essentially acting as a weekly outing that requires closure of a public facility. While weekday afternoons are when working men are able to play, it is the only time (outside of summer) when juniors have the opportunity to pick up the game. The weekend is the domain of the middle-aged man, thus the weekday has to be the domain of the junior taking up the game.
That said, there is nothing wrong with a league here and there. However, when courses (I have one in mind) book leagues five days a week, they essentially become semi-private courses funded by taxpayers. How can courses that have a mission to spread the game of golf to those in the communities in which they reside justify closing to company leagues every afternoon? Add in the fact that 95% of league participants are non-residents and you have a system which threatens to completely discount the public mission of a municipal golf facility.
As a junior, I expect to face opposition when I try to book a tee time on a Saturday morning. I have been conditioned to accept the fact that my weekend doesnt start until Saturday at noon and that every Friday afternoons are not really mine to use. However, I have also been conditioned into believing that I should be able to play on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday afternoon without much wait and certainly without having to confine myself to the back nine (or to be forced into, unknowingly until I already paid, playing the front or back twice). This is the general understanding and is vital to protecting the ability for juniors to participate in the growth of golf as an international and intergenerational game.
Some facilities, although many of them privately-owned, understand the value of growing the game and understand that junior access is a key aspect in fostering this growth. The Jemsek facilities have long taken the stance that the junior customer, due in no small part to their potential in the long-term, is the most important customer, and have formed their tee time and rate policies in accordance with this belief. While many courses (though again, few municipal ones) have adopted the "juniors play free with parent" twilight program, Pine Meadow, St. Andrews, and Cog Hill were for years the only places to offer such a deal. As a result, I have become more than willing to pay them back and pay full fare now that I am an adult and now for a fact that others feel the same way. Municipal courses are now jumping on the bandwagon,but the fact is that they should have been driving junior programs forward, not simply hoping on for the ride. The layouts at municipal facilities are generally far more junior friendly than the privately-owned daily fee layouts, and their public funding usually allows them to have a rate structure much more conducive to juniors than the $50+ almost always charged at places like Pine Meadow, White Deer Run, and Thunderhawk (publicly-owned, but operated like a high end daily fee). These municipal courses are in the neighborhoods that are filled with golfers of the future, while the high end facilities tend to be out in areas where the land is more undulating and thus the population centers are far less dense (and usually less affluent).
But while I can go on and on about the problems with municipal rate structures, the denial of access that results from daily afternoon leagues is a much more urgent issue. The driving range is only a catalyst for getting juniors into the game. Without providing them adequate access to the courses themselves, we risk bringing this Tiger-induced decade of tremendous growth to a screeching halt. Municipal facilities have a mission that involves much more than maximizing annual rounds and squeezing every last drop of revenue out of the course. They have a responsibility to act as a catalyst for growing the game of golf in the communities that have chosen to support them with public dollars. Unfortunately, many are failing to succeed in this part of their mission.
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