GOLF
Haggin Oaks Golf Complex is one of four golf courses owned by the City of Sacramento . Play on the courses increased 20-30 percent over 2019 . ( Photo courtesy of Morton Golf )
Critics say golf is too slow , too hard , too expensive , too white , too intimidating to beginners . Morton and other insiders say there ’ s a degree of truth to some of those criticisms . “ The game has always had people dipping their toes in the water ,” Morton says . “ Many of them feel as though they encounter barriers when they ’ re getting started — it takes a long time to play , it ’ s seen as expensive — but once they get past those barriers , they ’ re all in .”
Whether all these new golfers , and former golfers who returned to the game during the pandemic , stick around is the $ 64,000 question . “ The numbers will probably come down ,” says Michael Sharp , the president and CEO of CourseCo , the management company that operates the Sacramento County courses . “ Our hope is that we do a really good job right now and get them to make golf a part of their life .”
Angie Dixon , the executive director at First Tee Greater Sacramento junior golf program involving about 1,500 youngsters at 24 different courses , is encouraged by the number of parents she sees playing golf with their children . One of First Tee ’ s biggest programs is at Empire Ranch Golf Club in Folsom , where one of the instructors is Jared Butts . “ A lot of parents were looking for their kids to be involved in a physical activity ,” Butts says . “ They were thankful that golf was something they could do with their kids .”
The pandemic has cast a wide net . Jeff Wilson oversees golf operations at Catta Verdera and several other Placer , Sacramento and El Dorado county courses , and he gets a kick out of seeing guys in their 20s , hats on sideways , showing up to play with their buddies .
“ It ’ s fun to see that group enjoying themselves ,” Wilson says . “ My perspective is we may not keep all of these new golfers , but I think we ’ ll keep a lot . It ’ s up to us to make the game more interesting to more people .”
Butts and Morton are instructing two golfers who might never have caught the golf bug if not for the pandemic . Morton ’ s student is Bobby Horst , a football player and boxer who graduated from Christian Brothers High School in Sacramento this spring . Horst had always thought the game looked boring until some of his friends convinced him to play toward the end of quarantine . Horst went from playing with borrowed clubs to being a convert .
40 comstocksmag . com | June 2021