Golf: The Next Generation Youth Movement Continues To Gain Momentum

Just about everyone has heard those standard knocks on youth, dished out often enough to become cliches - even on the golf course.

Kids are different these days. Wasn’t like that back when I was young. Heaven forbid, these dang rascals are always leavin’ their clubs in front of the greens.

But at least among Spokane-area golf course professionals intent on developing the sport’s next generation, young players now are gaining more acceptance.

“For the most part, I’d say they’re probably better than the adults,” says Patti Marquis, teaching pro at Painted Hills Golf Course in the Spokane Valley. “Most have been through some sort of junior program, so they have learned about (golf) etiquette where a lot of adults haven’t.”

And Marquis isn’t the only one willing to go to bat, er, club, for the kids. From Hangman Hills to The Highlands in Post Falls, from MeadowWood to Esmeralda, golf pros are high on their junior programs.

With good reason - the number of junior players in the sport is growing. And following Tiger Woods’ success this spring, some golf professionals now expect many more young faces on the links this year.

Woods, just 21, has become the game’s “shot in the arm” after winning the Masters, said Indian Canyon pro Gary Lindeblad.

Youngsters have been quick to notice.

“I think you’d be naive to think that (Woods) wouldn’t have an impact,” Lindeblad said.

More than simply peaking interest among kids, Woods’ charismatic presence also has many parents involved in their children’s game for what may be the first time. In the past, the links have been thought of as the domain of adults. Now, Lindeblad said parents call all the time, wondering if their kids are old enough to pick up clubs.

“We’re getting more calls from parents about junior programs,” he said. “And we’re seeing a lot more parents willing to pay for private instruction.”

Lindeblad considers Spokane courses - public and private - fortunate to already have well-developed programs for youngsters. At Indian Canyon alone, he just finished a city parks instructional program, and is gearing up for two more youth camps this summer.

That playing golf like Tiger is the fast track to riches (he’s the leading PGA money winner this year, garnering more than $100 million in endorsements as well) hasn’t been lost on parents as a potential - if far-out - retirement cushion, said Stoneridge assistant Dave Estes, only half-joking.

“You hear guys saying, ‘You’ve got to get the clubs in the kid’s hands early,”’ Estes said. “I don’t think it would hurt anybody’s feeling to make that kind of money.”

Last year, the Washington Junior Golf Association, which has supported competitive golf around the state for 8- to 18-year-olds since 1977, had about 1,376 members. A WJGA spokesperson expects that number to approach - or even top - 1,500 players this year.

At Spokane Youth Sports, which offers a unique summer program for novice golfers at its north complex, as well as an intermediate program at area courses, participation jumped from 186 in 1990 to nearly 400 kids last year. It could be even more this year.

“It could be real interesting to see what’s going to happen this summer, with the ‘Tiger Woods phenomenon,”’ said Spokane Youth Sports director Rick Chase, who also thinks kids idolizing the 21-year-old pro could provide a boost to the game.

But it isn’t just Woods’ emergence that is luring more and more Inland Northwest kids to golf. At virtually every course, teaching professionals offer summer camps, reduced junior lesson rates, and even junior golf clubs modeled after their established adult counterparts.

MeadowWood Golf Course assistant pro Mollie Thola is heading up a new junior club for kids ages 6 to 17. She plans lots of range work mixed with instruction on swing fundamentals, course management skills and etiquette.

“There are lots of kids who have been playing with their dads a long time,” Thola said. “I’m hoping we’ll have even more.”

At Painted Hills, Marquis will offer weeklong camps once a month this summer for kids. She also would like to establish a summer league for junior golfers.

“Thirty years ago, juniors may have been expected to be caddies,” Marquis said. “It’s not that way any more.”

When Dale Bouge took over the program at University High School seven years ago, 10 golfers - only three girls - turned out for the team. One recent sunny day, about 50 golfers - including 10 girls - from the U-High team played Painted Hills - alternating among the driving range, fairways and practice green.

Elsewhere in the Greater Spokane League, a whopping 70 golfers turned out at Rogers High School. It is a scene repeated every day all over the region, where courses have long offered high school golf teams cutrate greens fees.

University High School golfer Megan Johnson, 17, has been playing for three years. She began with lessons at Liberty Lake Golf Course, then graduated to Washington Junior Golf Association tournaments the following two summers.

“I suppose you could go out and just play,” said Johnson, who is following her older brother into the game. “But most people need to start with lessons.”

That’s where junior programs are so important.

“I notice a lot more kids now,” Johnson said. “All types of people are playing.”

At the Fairways west of Spokane, teams from Cheney, Medical Lake, Tekoa-Oakesdale and Christian Heritage high schools hold their practices. Golf operations director John Durgan recently was amazed when the Tekoa-Oakesdale bus arrived and dozens of kids piled out.

From tiny Tekoa-Oakesdale.

“Among the juniors, there was a boom in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s,” Durgan said. “If the number of kids who showed up with the high schools is any indication, it still looks pretty good.”

And while Durgan realizes that the course can be crowded in the springtime, with all the different groups competing for the welcome sunshine and green grass, he says promoting the high school programs makes sense for one simple reason.

“If we don’t have junior golfers, we’re not going to have adult golfers,” said Durgan. “They are the future of the sport.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: BRANCHING OUT As part of the first day of events in the Pro Classic at The Creek at Qualchan Golf Course, Avista Advantage will sponsor a junior championship for boys and girls. The junior tournament will be held Sunday, July 20, with the top female and male finisher earning the chance to play with one of the Senior PGA Tour professionals in Monday’s Pro-Am scramble. “With all of the popularity Tiger Woods has generated among junior golfers, we see this tournament becoming one of the main events of our weekend,” said Pro Classic tournament director and promoter Toby Steward.