He suggests bringing back caddy programs as a way to build stronger ties to the game among young people, especially young people of color.
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Laz Versalles, a Black former club professional argues, “we need to move the narrative away from ‘how do we get more people access to the game’ to ‘how do we get black communities more invested in the game.’ ” Only 5% of golfers are Black, and more than 23 years after Tiger Woods won his first Masters Tournament, there are only four Black players on the PGA Tour. But the existing diversity and inclusion efforts aren’t enough. Another example is the First Tee, a nonprofit that aims to expand access to golf through youth programs.
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For example, the Advocates Pro Golf Association Tour was founded in 2008 with the mission of preparing golfers of color to participate at the highest levels of golf. Allowing more people to enjoy golf courses’ valuable outdoor space is the right thing to do, and might even inspire some new golfers.Īdditionally, there are a number of initiatives that focus on diversity and inclusion in golf. Andrews, the birthplace of golf, opens for general recreation every Sunday. It’s not without precedent - the Old Course at St. A number of courses opened for general recreation in the early months of the pandemic to encourage social distancing, and people loved it. To make golf’s outdoor space accessible to more people, golf courses could set aside a day each month for general recreation. And closing is doable - courses in colder climates already close for the winter, and summer is the Southwest’s slowest season. Closing would conserve a lot of water - courses in the Southwest use five times more water per acre-feet than courses in the Northeast. To further that progress, courses in the Southwest could close during the summer. The USGA has made progress, reducing golf’s water use in the U.S. Here are some possible paths forward: The United States Golf Association, golf’s governing body in the U.S., recognizes that golf needs to address its water use - executive director Mike Davis recently said that “long-term, water is going to be the biggest obstacle to the game of golf, more than participation, more than anything.” Yes, golf has significant problems but they aren’t unique or intractable - racism, sexism, elitism and environmental sustainability are problems facing many American institutions, and they can be addressed through dedicated reform efforts. It’s clear that golf doesn’t need to be abolished. In fact, you could argue that golf is less elitist than the University of Michigan - 66% of University students come from families who have a household income over $110k. Even so, it’s played by 24 million Americans, 56% of whom have a household income under $100k, 18% of whom are people of color and 24% of whom are women. Addressing harmful pesticides will require broad changes made through policy and innovation - abolishing golf wouldn’t change the underlying problem. Additionally, the chemical company Monsanto has been sued by tens of thousands of people who claim its weedkiller, Roundup, causes cancer. Just like golf superintendents, farmers and their families have higher rates of cancer due to toxic pesticides. Unfortunately, so does almost every outdoor industry. Golf does use a lot of harmful pesticides. Zoning laws, weak labor protections, an unjust healthcare system and an insufficient safety net are where we should focus our attention. Additionally, space is not the primary obstacle to affordable housing. control 40 million acres of land, 17.8 times more than all the land used by golf courses. Moreover, the 100 largest landowning families in the U.S. could fit inside Yellowstone National Park. Almost all the land used by golf courses in the U.S. But it’s a speck on the map of land use in the U.S. That pales in comparison to far greater water consumers like the meat industry, which consumes nearly half of all the water used in the U.S. Yet, golf consumes less than 1.5% of the water, per a 2013 analysis, used in the United States for irrigation. Nobel noted, golf uses billions of gallons of water a day. Slavery, capital punishment, prisons and capitalism have been targets of abolition. Abolition, as a political strategy, presumes an institution that is inherently flawed and incapable of reform.
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