Challenge Golf Leagues Provide Youngsters an Opportunity to Tee it Up in a Fun-Filled Team Format.

Inspired by a new cadre of young players, both kids and park and rec centers across the country are embracing the new Little League of golf, whether they're covering the green on a long putt, choosing the proper club for a shot, or answering a trivia question for an eagle.

Children across the country have numerous opportunities to participate in a variety of sports in an organized league setting--except golf.

Despite rapidly growing interest in the sport among youngsters nationwide, golf industry figures indicate that less than 15 percent of all children who learn the game have a chance to tee it up in a structured league format.

Parks and recreation departments across the country--along with the Hook A Kid On Golf program--are working to change that through the Challenge Golf Leagues.

"When I heard about the opportunity to conduct the Challenge League I jumped at it," said Donald Coleman, youth golf coordinator for the City of Richmond (Virginia) Parks and Recreation. "If you don't have a structured follow-up program, the kids who have an interest in golf are going to lose that interest, and we don't want that to happen."

Indeed, the Challenge Golf Leagues have been a lifesaver for parks and rec departments searching for ways to keep youngsters involved in the game.

Since Hook A Kid On Golf's arrival on the junior golf scene in the early '90s, more than 25,000 youngsters have participated in its week-long introductory clinics in more than 200 cities across the country.

However, recreation leaders have found that once the clinics conclude, not many opportunities exist for children to practice their new-found skills or continue playing with their peers, like they can in most other sports. Consequently, their interest in the sport quickly fizzles and they turn to the more traditionally accessible sports offered in their areas.

The emergence of the Challenge Golf Leagues are filling that void by giving youngsters who have shown an interest in the sport the chance to develop their skills by playing in a competitive, fun-filled team format.

"The kids have a lot of fun in the Challenge Leagues," said Coleman, who had 36 children ages 8-13 participate in last summer's Challenge League. "It's competitive, but afterward they're still friends and they'll all get together to have a soda and chat."

The Challenge Golf Leagues feature parents and volunteers who serve as coaches for the teams, just like in other organized sports. There are also practices during the week so the youngsters get a chance to work on their respective games with their teammates.

"I've always said that golf can be one of the loneliest games of all because you spend so much time working on your own," said PGA Senior Tour golfer Bob Murphy, Hook A Kid On Golf's national spokesperson. "Through the Challenge Leagues, youngsters have the unique opportunity to learn and develop skills with their teammates and to use them in a competitive format that's never been available before."

The Challenge Golf Leagues are comprised of Eagle and Birdie divisions. Children who are not quite ready for on-course competition are placed in the Birdie division, where they receive weekly practical instruction from a professional. The instruction includes on-course scenarios to help them become accustomed to what they will face on the course. When they are ready to advance, they are recruited for the Eagle division to compete in league play.

There are six players on each team, which is subdivided into three two-person teams that compete in a nine-hole match-play scramble against a twosome from the opposing team. Youngsters on the respective teams wear matching shirts or hats to instill the team concept and a coach or volunteer parent walks with each group to keep score and answer any questions regarding rules that may arise during the match.

"The team-oriented play benefits youngsters in so many ways," said Earl Scheel, who coached a Challenge League team in West Palm Beach, Florida. "In many respects it's better than regular tournament golf because they're learning to work together with their partners in choosing what shot to play, selecting the proper club, discussing strategy on how they want to play a particular hole, and helping each other read greens."

More than 25 Challenge Leagues have already been held across the country, and the number of parks and recreation departments implementing the program will continue to escalate this year.

At the conclusion of the Challenge League season, youngsters have an opportunity to qualify for a unique national Hook A Kid On Golf tournament.

Last summer 16 communities across the country sent eight-person teams to the Traditions of Golf Challenge in Peoria, Illinois. In order to be eligible for the tournament, a community must conduct an introductory clinic and host a Challenge League. This first-of-its-kind event was about more than just hitting fairways, striking precision iron shots, and getting out of bunkers. Knowing what to do after a ball has splashed into a lateral water hazard and how to properly repair a ball mark were just as significant as sinking a 10-foot birdie putt.

"This tournament had the whole spectrum of golf covered," said Neal Graf, coach of the Wauseon, Ohio, team. "It was the total package for the kids and they loved it."

Following in the footsteps of the United States Golf Association's "Spirit of the Game" initiative, this cleverly designed tournament stressed the importance of knowing all aspects of the game, not just how to play it.

"The kids were given a total educational experience on the rules, history, and etiquette of golf and how they're applied with this tournament," said Vince Gray, athletics supervisor for the City of Glendale (Arizona). "Helping kids learn the proper way to enforce rules is so important because golf is a game where the responsibility is on each individual player to police themselves. If you don't know the proper rules and etiquette, pretty soon people will refuse to play with you."

At each hole, a player was selected to answer a question about golf history or a rule of the game. If the youngster answered it correctly, the team received a birdie and had the chance to record an eagle by successfully answering a bonus question. If the individual got the original question wrong, his/her teammates could confer, and if they came up with the correct answer, the team received a par. If the team was unable to answer it correctly, they received a bogey. Officials also observed and graded each team's course etiquette on each hole. Teams were penalized if they recorded their score while standing on the green, talked or moved while someone was playing, walked through a player's line on the green, used foul language, or placed their golf bag on the putting green, among other etiquette no-nos.

"This was one of the greatest sporting events that I've ever been associated with," said Alvin Meadors, the youth sports program coordinator for the City of Albuquerque (New Mexico) Department of Family and Community Services.

"There's not a junior program that's been able to approach what we're doing and what we plan to do," Murphy said. "Our dream is to build a Little League of golf and we've made tremendous progress."

This year's Traditions of Golf Challenge will be held again later this summer in Peoria.

Hook A Kid On Golf is a program of the National Alliance For Youth Sports, a non-profit organization that works to provide safe and fun sports for America's youth.

For more information on Hook A Kid On Golf, or the Challenge Golf Leagues, call 800/729-2057, visit its Web site at www.nays.org, or e-mail [e-mail].

Hook A Kid On Golf's national spokesperson, Senior Tour golfer Bob Murphy, said, "Golf can be one of the loneliest games of all," but not if this innovative program has its way. Greg Bach, communications director for the National Alliance for Youth Sports, explains how the Challenge Golf League is changing the way Tiger Woods-inspired youth approach the game (p. 64). Bach, a 1989 Michigan State graduate and journalism major, joined the Alliance in 1993 after working as the sports editor of a Michigan daily newspaper.