Supporting the Next Wave of Female Golfers

Alexis Lamadrid, a 17 -year -old golfer from Phoenix, Biró the last five holes in Old Barnwell in Aiken, SC, to win the underestimated golf event in June in one of the best new golf courses in the country.

“I really didn’t think about that,” Lamadrid said in an interview.

What was thinking about how the tour has helped get greater knowledge about the world. It was founded in 2019 by Stephen Curry, who led to the United States basketball team to a gold medal at the Paris Olympic Games and is a star for the Golden State Warriors, with the mission of giving opportunities for young golfist golfers.

“Golf can take me so many places,” Lamadrid said. “Golf has helped me open my eyes to things that are a relationship with golf. If I am not professional, everyone has that dream, golf many opportunities.”

Another young golfer, Salma Ibrahim, 18, who grew up in Los Angeles to the parents who emigrated from Somalia, hit their first golf shots after his father, a remote corridor, saw Tiger Woods on television.

“I hated running at a distance, I wanted to show me golf,” he said. His six brothers also learned the game.

In addition to competing throughout the country, he has found other things in sport to transport it beyond Tee.

“When I started high school, I knew that I wanted to be a lawyer or do something in politics, and I knew they were heavy golf cours,” he said. “If you want to talk to a company CEO, you have 10 minutes of your time. If you take it to the course, you have all the round with it.”

The amateur golf in the United States is booming, and is playing against the guy.

The fastest growing segment is not the types of rich field clubs. They are women, and in particular, girls, who have been hugging the game since Covid hit 2020. They have models to follow in Lexi Thompson, Lydia Ko, Nelly Korda and now Rose Zhang.

“There is a lot of impulse in the last four years with women in golf in general,” said Jill Spiegel, president of PGA Tour Superstore, who sponsors several programs for girls interested in golf, including Got Drive girls, women in the countryside and she who. The stores are also associated with First Tee, which supports girls and boys in golf.

“Twenty -six percent of all the golfers in the course are now women,” Spiegel said. “The sixty percent of the new golfers are women.”

A barrier to girls (and boys) is the price. The golf is exensive. Programs such as First Tee, backed by the PGA Tour, and Girls Golf, sponsored by the LPGA and the United States Golf Association, the governing body of the game, seek to teach skills to young players in little or a cost.

But for recognized players to have to compete. That is expensive. Traveling to play in the tournament sponsored by the American Junior Golf Association, which is the main stage for young recruits that university coaches are added to costs. The entrance rates are around $ 200 to $ 300 per event, but then there will be there, staying there and eating there.

The underestimated golf tour, now in its third summer, is looking to close that financial gap for girls and boys unattended through its own summer series where all expenses are covered.

“Our players and parents do not pay for their pocket,” said Jason Richards, director of athletics of the underestimated golf. “We fly at each tour stop. There are no entry rates. We buy the golf course, so there is no rate there for the practice rounds. That load rises so that the theses compete at the highest level and do not have to pay.”

The tournament in Old Barnwell was one of the four this season. It is a superior course, but it is also one with a mission to help the Aiken community, through education and economic opportunities, such as its every year’s caddie program.

“Everything they represent is perfectly aligned with our mission,” said Kitty Nicastro, Golf director of Old Barnwell. “One of the girls, who obtained second place, shot 67 and established our course record the last day.”

However, Nicastro, who came from Congaree, another club in the continence of South Carolina to help young golfists disadvantaged, said being good in golf was part of what he underestimated and other similar programs that he has worked to achieve.

“It’s great to have very good players, but it’s really difficult to be good in golf,” he said. “You need a lot of time, skill and athletic resources. With our Caddies program, we have made the caddies talk to members about what they do with their life, and now they have internships.”

Underrated brings to the well -known professional golfers as mentors, such as Mariah Stackhouse, who helped Stanford University to win a university championship and played in the LPGA, and Henni Koyack, who played on the European Ladies tour.

“When I talk to young golfers, I always framed that, if you strive to play professional, this is the way, but I say that I would love only a university scholarship,” Stackhouse said. “Or you can see it as a way of advancing in your career and making social connections. Golf is a tool.”

Stackhouse said his father, Ken, had been part of several underestimated tournaments, where he had given seminars to parents to help them see the chances of golf for their girls beyond the possibility of playing professionally.

“He tells them:” You want to take them to the top of their sport, but you want them to feel that this is what they have to do, “he said.

Shyell Lowe, who has been part of underestimated since the beginning of the tour, said he had allowed him to play, and make friends of the golfers with similar life experiences.

“I never played with another black individual to the underestimated golf tour,” said Lowe, who is also black. “Making that connection was huge. I feel that this is a more inclusive environment. People get me more. I am with people who have my struggles.”

This year, Lowe, 18, originally from Tampa, Florida, will attend the University of Illinois in Chicago with a golf scholarship.

In many ways, the United States, unique, is in the expensive that is the youth golf, and the cost and access are the greatest barriers to the youth golf.

Lottie Woad, a better English player than the amateur of Augusta National Women’s this year, said she noticed a difference when she came to the United States to play golf at Florida State University. As it improved, they put it in several national squads where their golf costs were covered.

“If that were there, there would be many people who could play in thesis events,” Woad said. “I would certainly have not been able to play in all events in Europe.”

In the United States, many rich areas have gathered support staff, including coaches, coaches and caddies, which resembles professional ranks. Woad found this completely different from his experience of having a broader support network or his companions.

“When I put on England’s team, it was the young woman,” he said. “I was practicing with older and better players. That took me and motivated me. Without playing with people who were better than me, I would have slowed down a bit.”

These growth programs for girls seek to level the playing field for players who do not have resources or access to gather these teams. Underraned has also associated with the American Junior Golf Association, so players who do it well in their tournament can win points to qualify for association events and lead university coaches.

Even so, few will do it as professionals. More will take away the lessons of life.

“I have made friends here with those I actively speak out of golf,” Lowe said about his experience in Underird. “The connections I am doing are very important to me. It has prepared me very well for the university.”