GREENSBORO, N.C. — One of the biggest golf tournaments in our state, the Wyndham Championship, will take place this week in Greensboro.
Some golf programs are using it as a way to introduce the game to young people.
Devontae Deshazo is a part of the Earnest Morris Junior Golf Academy at Winston Lake Golf Course, where he’s been learning how to play for the last seven years.
“And my grandpa introduced me to the game, and it took me awhile to get actually used to it. But after I did, it started to get more enjoyable,” Deshazo said.
It’s a sport he plays all the time now, and he’s grown to love the sport and the challenges it brings.
“It’s different sides to it. You could either play bad, play good. You never know what's going to happen,” Deshazo said.
His golf coach at the academy, James Allison, says it’s important for kids to have a different outlet, because there’s so many distractions in the world.
“They can play the game for the rest of their lives. It can teach them a lot of things about themselves, that they didn't realize. Golf is parallel to the game of life. It teaches a child how to understand that it's not all about winning but also to teach them about themselves, teach them about other people and just basically how to be a good citizens,” Allison said.
Deshazo is a rising eighth grader at Clemmons Middle School, and he plays in multiple golf programs, the other being the First Tee.
This program and others like it give kids another sport to try that helps build life skills through the challenges of the game and through role models they meet on the green.
Alex Burnett is a college intern for First Tee Central Carolina and an alumni of the program. He says the game of golf has a big impact on his life.
“I really think it's like, shaped me into who I am. It's really molded me into something, into somebody that I'm really proud of,” Burnett said.
The rising senior at N.C. Central started the game when he was 4 years old, getting involved because of his dad.
But, when it comes to the game of golf, he says more of his generation needs to be a part of it.
“This game is old and it's always needing new people. It's always needing new faces. You need something to grow the game, build the game. And the only way you do that is bring the next generation and you bring the generation after that and the generation after that,” Burnett said.
Charles Penny, director of player development for the First Tee, says, “the game of golf just gives you a different avenue of meeting people, competition, that other sports can't afford you,” and “I mean historically, the game of golf has been a predominant white sport. And now that we have the advancement of race in our country, even though we still got a ways to go, having a golf course that kids can come out here and have access to a First Tee program that'll help them with the fundamentals of the game. Then potentially a player development program, that'll help them develop their game so that they can be competitive in the game of golf, start playing tournaments, and then hopefully to be put on a high school team. And then the goal to come potentially see me later down the road as a collegiate athlete.”