"IF YOU LIKE GOLF"
weekly online golf column
by
Chris Dortch

September 17, 2002

Not long ago I got into a fairly lengthy conversation with Dick Horton, the Tennessee Golf Association’s excellent executive director, about the state of golf today. The news Horton had wasn’t all good.

It seems that fewer people are playing the game these days. The numbers aren’t alarming yet and don’t mean that the game is in any danger of becoming extinct any time soon. But during the economic boom of the 1990s, more golf courses were built than we currently have players to make them all financially viable.

The part about the over-aggressive building of courses doesn’t worry me so much as the dwindling number of golfers. It worries Horton, too, which is one reason he’s such an avid proponent of the First Tee program, which encourages youngsters from all backgrounds to try their hand at golf.

Toward that end, Horton is hoping that Chattanooga can one day follow the lead of other major cities in Tennessee and establish a junior golf facility, where youngsters, not adults, can wander freely, playing as much golf as they want.

Helping fund a juniors-only facility is one way those of us who love golf can ensure a bright future for the game. But it isn’t the only way.

"We should all do as much as we can to further the game of golf," Horton told me. "It sort of goes with the territory for anyone who truly loves the game."

Not long ago, I took Horton’s words to heart. My daughter attends Silverdale Baptist Academy, and when the school’s athletic booster club heard of my sports background, I was invited to become a member of the board. Once established in my new position, I was approached by Paul Hill, SBA’s athletic director. He was looking for a high school golf coach.

"Would you be interested?" he asked.

Wow. Here was an opportunity to give a little something back to the game, just as Horton suggested. I’ve always loved young people, and I’d long thought about how cool it would be to coach. I’ve seen the art practiced in many forms over the years—some good, some bad—and thought I could sort through enough of what I’d observed to become a decent coach.

Suffice to say I jumped at Hill’s offer. And the job has been more fun than I could have imagined, even though, as of this writing, my young team has yet to win a match. Knowing we were going to be an expansion franchise, so to speak, I told my players at our first meeting that I didn’t care what they shot, or whether we won a match.

Of course, I didn’t mean the latter comment. I want to win, but I had to be realistic. And above all, I want anyone who plays for me to have fun. We’re supposed to enjoy golf, aren’t we?

Not many of the young men who came out for golf had much experience in the game, so along with former Lookout Mountain head pro Brett Mullin, who graciously offered to help with the team (his grandchildren attend SBA), I set about the task of teaching the game from the ground up, from etiquette to the full swing to chipping, pitching and putting.

As it turned out, I did have a couple of players who I think have a real knack for the game, inexperienced though they are. One of them even won medalist honors in one of our matches, our closest brush with victory yet. The joy on that young man’s face when he signed his scorecard for a nine-hole score of 38 made all my efforts worthwhile. And I think he has a great future in the game. He’s only been playing since June. (I told you we were inexperienced).

Regardless of whether my new charges want to play golf at a higher level, Brett and I have had fun showing them how to play this great game. Anyone who plays golf for Silverdale Baptist Academy while I’m the coach can expect to be taught the right way, to include the proper reverence for the game and its rules. Academics will be stressed, a statement I made early in our season by excusing from a match a young freshman who had several hours of homework awaiting him that particular day.

With Brett around, I’m confident the young men who play for me will learn to play the right way—he’s worked wonders with the players we have so far, shaping their swings as a potter might mold a piece of clay. Though we haven’t won, I’ve delighted in seeing all the young men improve.

But the best thing that’s happened so far is the comment one of our players made about two weeks into our schedule. During a practice round, he looked at me and said, ‘Coach, I think I’m starting to get addicted to this game.’ "

Dick Horton would have been proud. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

*** Feedback ***
click here to give us your comments about this article,
 or suggest a subject for a future article