By Vinnie Manginelli, PGA
I recently wrote a story with Chris Meade, the PGA of America General Manager at Lady Bird Golf Course in Fredericksburg, Texas. Meade is collaborating with golf professionals from nearby Boot Ranch and others in his community to provide free learning and playing opportunities for juniors. He also serves on the Board of the Junior Golf Foundation of Fredericksburg. With the themes of “Working Together” and “Bringing New Golfers to the Range” (and to the game in general), here is the story as it appeared in the March 2024 issue of General Managers Monthly, PGA Magazine’s monthly digital publication geared towards the 2,200+ PGA of America Golf Professionals who are GMs at their facilities.
Creating junior golf opportunities for new golfers and kids who haven’t been exposed to the game before is an important aspect of the industry’s overall growth of the game initiative. However, it’s an initiative that often requires the efforts of more than just one individual. Sure, you can offer junior clinics and engage the individuals who show up, but to truly build upon a mission takes a team, and that team is not always solely at your facility.
In Fredericksburg, Texas, Chris Meade is a Quarter Century PGA Member and the PGA of America General Manager at Lady Bird Golf Course, a municipal course located within a city park. After some stagnant years in play, programming and player development that followed a course renovation around 2010, things started to turn around before COVID and greatly flipped once we were in the midst of the pandemic.
Today, business is booming and the course is a source of pride within the community. That community involvement includes a non-profit called the Junior Golf Foundation of Fredericksburg. This group started as The Friends of Lady Bird, an organization tasked with determining the fate of the facility had business remained as it was a decade ago. Now, the rebranded Junior Golf Foundation of Fredericksburg channels its focus toward junior golf to expose new kids to the game whose life circumstances might otherwise make it difficult.
This 12-person board is comprised of community members, including Meade and members of nearby Boot Ranch, a private golf facility not far from Lady Bird. What was initiated by this group is a series of free junior golf instructional clinics offered one day per week throughout the summer. Sessions alternate weekly between Lady Bird and Boot Ranch and the professionals from each course facilitate the instruction. These sessions are made to be very welcoming with no cost, registration or equipment required. Early Foundation fundraising was applied towards junior golf equipment so all the participants need is a pair of sneakers and the motivation to learn a new sport.
As the program grew, Meade was joined by Boot Ranch head professional Alex Rhyne, PGA and his assistant professionals in taking the education to local elementary schools where they held SNAG golf sessions in the kids’ gym classes, not only educating kids on playing the game but coaching the physical education teachers on how to teach the game. Shortly after, these sessions were expanded to local middle schools. Overall, they’re teaching more than 300 3rd-7th graders.
With this engagement serving as a feeder system to the summer golf camps offered at Lady Bird, many of these kids stay with the game, playing junior league golf and even going on to play in high school.
In addition to these efforts to educate the young golfer, the Hill Country Junior League is a low-cost junior golf league that has a team format similar to PGA Jr. League. Keeping costs at a minimum is vital to this program’s success. It’s affordable, welcoming, supportive and the perfect first experience in organized golf for these new players. Again, it takes a village.
In addition to Lady Bird and Boot Ranch, Riverhill Country Club in Kerrville, Texas is the third site for Hill Country Junior League play. Kids get uniforms and a true sense of belonging in golf, which at this early stage in any new golfer’s life is vital to retaining them in the game. This program serves more than 50 kids per year every Saturday afternoon and even feeds them after play, courtesy of the fundraising efforts of the Junior Golf Foundation of Fredericksburg.
“What started as a grassroots effort to teach kids how to play golf has grown into a more organized and formal initiative to teach the game, provide educational opportunities within golf and award scholarships through the Junior Golf Foundation of Fredericksburg,” Meade explained. “We provide five multi-year scholarships to local youth who’ve gone through our programming. Fundraising efforts to cover the $10,000 in scholarship money include a large golf tournament at Boot Ranch each September that includes silent auctions, hole sponsors and more to ensure the Foundation has the money it needs to satisfy its mission in the community.”
Meade says the Foundation even outfits the middle and high school golf teams with uniforms. When you consider the great number of juniors who benefit from the collaboration between the golf facilities, golf professionals and community leaders, working together is often the secret sauce to getting things done on a grand scale.
To further understand the impact that Meade and his colleagues in Fredericksburg are making, look no further than to Meade’s own staff at Lady Bird. One of his former junior golfers, who played high school golf, is coming on board and will enroll in the PGA’s Professional Golf Management Associate Program to pursue PGA membership while working under Meade. Looking at the numbers is often a sign of success, but understanding that Meade has literally helped shape this young man’s professional path is an amazing concept to consider.
For more information on the Junior Golf Foundation of Fredericksburg, check out its website today!
