Get Parents Interested
Similar programs must be developed for younger Black golfers so they can get similar exposure to golf. That may start with getting their parents interested, since children tend to follow the example parents set. McDougal said there is an effort in the Fayetteville area to get young Blacks interested in golf. A group of about 100 black golfers is conducting clinics in the area, he said, with the assistance of the Fayetteville State team.p "We hope to provide an avenue that won't cost them anything, because most don't have the money. But if we can get them interested, later on down the line, maybe they can get scholarships."
But Blacks need to look even beyond playing golf, Caldwell said. "We have to look at the overall benefit of golf as an industry," he said. "It is a billion dollar industry that offers careers in fields we are not pursuing, not saturated, not tapped. "There is architecture, horticulture, design and maintenance, apparel manufacturing. The list goes on and on. We are tragically, pitifully not entrenched in all of those fields in golf."
He said that Black parents need to understand that their children playing golf are not wasting a Saturday afternoon, that it just might lead to a college scholarship. "We've got an orientation job to do because it is a non-traditional field," he said. "We've got to make parents more aware of golf as an industry and it can be an alternative out of a lower economic situation. It is a viable alternative to football and basketball and baseball."
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