Players' Tribune: Harold Varner III

An excellent read.

https://theplayerstribune.com/harold-varner-iii-pga-tour/

Meh. Nothing groundbreaking or that hasn't been said 100,000 times.

Wonder why they choose Harold to be the mouthpiece though?

Have to admit I stopped reading after he said he didn't want to be known as the black golfer then mentioned it 7x in the next 8 sentences.

Varner III is right about the junior memberships. Give the parents a good deal for clean, safe fun and get the kids hooked on the game early.

Long term they're much more likely to stay in the game and join clubs later on in life.

Just the candid report i would expect from Harold.... hes a class act and a guy who understands both sides of the fence on alot of topics... and that puts him ahead of most in my book as far as how much i respect his opinion... Courses could absolutely do similar things if they wished... do it like a summer camp..

Have to admit I stopped reading after he said he didn't want to be known as the black golfer then mentioned it 7x in the next 8 sentences.

But it's his reality and he's clearly making a point, and I'm afraid you missed it. When that's all you ever hear I'm sure it gets tiring. However it comes with the territory. When you have exactly two on the PGA Tour (probably soon to be one) and two on the LPGA Tour, you tend to get labeled.

We see it when I go to a lot of courses here in VA. Me and my son. That's pretty much it. PGA Jr. League, my son is the only black kid. We don't make a big deal of it, but you notice. As I used to say as a kid, "It's like you're a raisin in milk!" :) But he has the ability and means to play. Many kids do not, despite the First Tee trying in many cities and counties. The First Tee can only do so much. A lot of these kids still can't get there and believe only rich people can play. When a set of clubs costs $20 like a cheap basketball does, then you'll have something. All that being said, all I tell my son is, "We're golfers." No labels, no other adjectives.

I like HV3. Easy guy to root for. Good piece.

I like Harold Varner as well, good guy, I liked the article.

Wonder why they choose Harold to be the mouthpiece though?

do you know how the players' tribune works?

anyway, i liked the article. HV3 is on WRX i think. maybe he'll stop by this thread and say howdy. i certainly would like to hear more about his ideas about teaming up with other pga tour players to help grow the game by providing opportunity for kids of any background to learn how to play.

I enjoyed the article but was surprised at his surprise at being able to play for a whole summer for a $100. At my club here in the UK a kid under 12 can have a membership for free and free coaching is practically compulsory. After 12 and up to 20 it is £100 for a year and then they is a sliding scale from that to full price between 20 and 30.

Nome of the above is particularly exclusive to my club, it is pretty much the norm.

Are heavily discounted fees for juniors really that unusual across America?

On a completely separate note after reading the article by Varner, who comes across as articulate and pleasant I followed the link and read the one by Pat Perez, who doesn't. Despite feeling misunderstood.

I enjoyed the article but was surprised at his surprise at being able to play for a whole summer for a $100. At my club here in the UK a kid under 12 can have a membership for free and free coaching is practically compulsory. After 12 and up to 20 it is £100 for a year and then they is a sliding scale from that to full price between 20 and 30.

 

Nome of the above is particularly exclusive to my club, it is pretty much the norm.

 

Are heavily discounted fees for juniors really that unusual across America?

 

On a completely separate note after reading the article by Varner, who comes across as articulate and pleasant I followed the link and read the one by Pat Perez, who doesn't. Despite feeling misunderstood.

No, most places heavily discount junior memberships, for example if annual dues for an adult are $5000 a junior membership will be $500.

The thing is those memberships are usually limited (beyond the kids of members) because courses don't want too many juniors around, especially not on days when they could be selling those spots to people who pay more. In the case of private clubs they just restrict the juniors until after a certain time on holidays and weekends.

I enjoyed the article but was surprised at his surprise at being able to play for a whole summer for a $100. At my club here in the UK a kid under 12 can have a membership for free and free coaching is practically compulsory. After 12 and up to 20 it is £100 for a year and then they is a sliding scale from that to full price between 20 and 30.

 

Nome of the above is particularly exclusive to my club, it is pretty much the norm.

 

Are heavily discounted fees for juniors really that unusual across America?

 

On a completely separate note after reading the article by Varner, who comes across as articulate and pleasant I followed the link and read the one by Pat Perez, who doesn't. Despite feeling misunderstood.

 

No, most places heavily discount junior memberships, for example if annual dues for an adult are $5000 a junior membership will be $500.

 

The thing is those memberships are usually limited (beyond the kids of members) because courses don't want too many juniors around, especially not on days when they could be selling those spots to people who pay more. In the case of private clubs they just restrict the juniors until after a certain time on holidays and weekends.

Yep

Where i played as a junior it was $1000 bucks a year (20 years ago mind you) but it was unlimited balls and play, only time you couldn't play was weekends before 1 PM. It was awesome over four seasons I probably played at least 500 rounds. It was a higher end public course.

Very nice column. Varner doesn't "move the needle" because he just wants to be a professional golfer.

His interview on no laying up was not good. Real "bro"ey and not interesting IMO.

His interview on no laying up was not good. Real "bro"ey and not interesting IMO.

To each his/her own I guess, I liked that interview, I thought he was really open and engaging. To be honest I like most of their interviews on that podcast, they really get the guys to open up.

I like HV3. Easy guy to root for. Good piece.

I like Harold Varner as well, good guy, I liked the article.

Agreed. Up there as one of my favorite personalities on tour. Seems like a normal guy playing golf. Consistently finding myself rooting for him.

He's fun to watch, too. Always seems to be enjoying life out there.

Guy needs a decent week soon or he's going to lose his card.

Guy needs a decent week soon or he's going to lose his card.

He won't lose it completely if he doesn't make the Top 125. He'll be on limited status if he stays in the Top 150 or something like that. He'll still have opportunities to play. He needs to earn about $125K to be solid and even sneak into the first FedEx Cup event.

Guy needs a decent week soon or he's going to lose his card.

Yep. 133rd in the FedEx Cup rankings after a solid performance at the RBC Open.

He really needs to get with a short game guru. He's 140th in strokes gained around the green and 190th in putting. That's not a formula for staying on the PGA TOUR.

I enjoyed the article but was surprised at his surprise at being able to play for a whole summer for a $100. At my club here in the UK a kid under 12 can have a membership for free and free coaching is practically compulsory. After 12 and up to 20 it is £100 for a year and then they is a sliding scale from that to full price between 20 and 30.

 

Nome of the above is particularly exclusive to my club, it is pretty much the norm.

 

Are heavily discounted fees for juniors really that unusual across America?

 

On a completely separate note after reading the article by Varner, who comes across as articulate and pleasant I followed the link and read the one by Pat Perez, who doesn't. Despite feeling misunderstood.

 

No, most places heavily discount junior memberships, for example if annual dues for an adult are $5000 a junior membership will be $500.

 

The thing is those memberships are usually limited (beyond the kids of members) because courses don't want too many juniors around, especially not on days when they could be selling those spots to people who pay more. In the case of private clubs they just restrict the juniors until after a certain time on holidays and weekends.

 

Yep

 

Where i played as a junior it was $1000 bucks a year (20 years ago mind you) but it was unlimited balls and play, only time you couldn't play was weekends before 1 PM. It was awesome over four seasons I probably played at least 500 rounds. It was a higher end public course.

At my club (semi-private higher end club) we don't even have a junior membership. We have the options of Single, Couple, or Family but we do have the PGA Junior League stuff that does very well. There's a decent 27 hole public track down the road that does a full, unrestricted junior rate for $295 plus tax and includes access to their par 3 course as well. We have tried to get the younger kids involved in the club so they feel like they belong to the club and get them involved early.

Given the jump from a single to a family is less than small, it doesn't make sense to change unless you know your child is going to play on a semi regular basis or you have the money to burn. We have suggested $500 for unlimited rounds, with some restriction on time of play based on things like mens/ladies days and standing money game tee times early on weekend mornings but have so far been told "it's not worth it" so we watch them go down the road and take their money elsewhere.

Guy needs a decent week soon or he's going to lose his card.

 

Yep. 133rd in the FedEx Cup rankings after a solid performance at the RBC Open.

 

He really needs to get with a short game guru. He's 140th in strokes gained around the green and 190th in putting. That's not a formula for staying on the PGA TOUR.

Yup. Watch how often he uses that "black golfer" status when searching for unlimited sponsor invites.

Allowing a kid to essentially have full cours privliges for $100 for the summer, certainly doesn't make financial sense for a club. I believe they should do it, and it should be subsidized in some manner to entice them to do it. Junior programs can be expensive until they get a mass of kids and then can be money makers directly and though increased family memberships at a club.

I have trouble seeing a club look around and say, you know what we should do? Let kids play our course anytime they want all year round for $100, that will really help our bottom line.

When I was a junior in the UK, junior membership was about 100 pounds a year, IIRC. May have been a bit less at first. We got three one-on-one lessons thrown in as well for free, and they were great. Membership brought unlimited rounds, but there were some restrictions on time, though nothing too horrendous. For example, Saturdays were restricted (juniors only after 4pm, I think), but once we got our handicap down to 28 we could play in the weekly medals (comps) on Saturdays, so that restriction would no longer count.

During the summer holidays. I spent most of my days at the course either playing or practising, and it was all part of the membership.

Later, a different pro came in and expanded the junior lesson programme even further. The club was very big on keeping a big junior membership, and I don't think it was unique in the area.

I looked up my town's Open results on line last year, and recognized many of the names from my days as a junior at the club over 20 years ago. In other words, many of those juniors kept in the game.

Guy needs a decent week soon or he's going to lose his card.

 

Yep. 133rd in the FedEx Cup rankings after a solid performance at the RBC Open.

 

He really needs to get with a short game guru. He's 140th in strokes gained around the green and 190th in putting. That's not a formula for staying on the PGA TOUR.

 

Yup. Watch how often he uses that "black golfer" status when searching for unlimited sponsor invites.

I'm willing to bet a big fat zero times.

Guy needs a decent week soon or he's going to lose his card.

 

Yep. 133rd in the FedEx Cup rankings after a solid performance at the RBC Open.

 

He really needs to get with a short game guru. He's 140th in strokes gained around the green and 190th in putting. That's not a formula for staying on the PGA TOUR.

 

Yup. Watch how often he uses that "black golfer" status when searching for unlimited sponsor invites.

Not sure how we would ever know, and not sure how effective it would be. It's not like the Tour or sponsors are clamoring for diversity.

Allowing a kid to essentially have full cours privliges for $100 for the summer, certainly doesn't make financial sense for a club. I believe they should do it, and it should be subsidized in some manner to entice them to do it. Junior programs can be expensive until they get a mass of kids and then can be money makers directly and though increased family memberships at a club.

 

I have trouble seeing a club look around and say, you know what we should do? Let kids play our course anytime they want all year round for $100, that will really help our bottom line.

Which goes back to what I said. We presently don't offer anything outside of the PGA Junior League or upgrading to a family membership and the public course down the road has a $295 offering. Membership has suggested something like $500, and been turned down every time and we currently have a good 20-30 members who take their kids down the road for 1/4 of the price and the club gets nothing.

Would prefer to get the $$ from people with younger kids who's spouses don't play making a family membership no longer make sense than watch them openly take the money down the road. This would also benefit the food and beverage, pro shop, lessons, etc. as the kids spend more time practicing and playing as well as welcoming them into the club vs making them feel like they are not wanted.

Guy needs a decent week soon or he's going to lose his card.

 

Yep. 133rd in the FedEx Cup rankings after a solid performance at the RBC Open.

 

He really needs to get with a short game guru. He's 140th in strokes gained around the green and 190th in putting. That's not a formula for staying on the PGA TOUR.

 

Yup. Watch how often he uses that "black golfer" status when searching for unlimited sponsor invites.

I'm willing to bet a big fat zero times.

Even better scenario that would make me a bigger HV3 fan would be he finishes 140 on the money list and is offered a sponsor invite because "we'd love a player like you in the field, someone that can connect us to a diverse audience" and he says "no, I don't want that" and plays the web.com event instead.

Guy needs a decent week soon or he's going to lose his card.

 

Yep. 133rd in the FedEx Cup rankings after a solid performance at the RBC Open.

 

He really needs to get with a short game guru. He's 140th in strokes gained around the green and 190th in putting. That's not a formula for staying on the PGA TOUR.

 

Yup. Watch how often he uses that "black golfer" status when searching for unlimited sponsor invites.

you should be more careful. your sheet is showing.

Allowing a kid to essentially have full cours privliges for $100 for the summer, certainly doesn't make financial sense for a club. I believe they should do it, and it should be subsidized in some manner to entice them to do it. Junior programs can be expensive until they get a mass of kids and then can be money makers directly and though increased family memberships at a club.

 

I have trouble seeing a club look around and say, you know what we should do? Let kids play our course anytime they want all year round for $100, that will really help our bottom line.

Needs to be a broader view and understanding for the game. That kid you let play for a discounted rate becomes a golfer for life, buying clothes, clubs, tee times, outings, PGA tickets etc for the next 50 years. For the game, the ROI is about as good as you can get.