Players' Tribune: Harold Varner III

[playa]

Junior membership at my club is $120 a year,and that includes free coaching clinics, run by the pro and some low cap prospective pros, every Sunday outside school holidays. My girls are both members and love the clinics, we are lucky to have a pro who devotes his time to the juniors.

[tbowles411]

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.

But that's not how it works. Even if he finishes at 140, he'll have limited status and will still get into the majority of events without having to ask to get into them. There might be some he'll ask to get into, and I think you do him a disservice to assume he'll pull the "card" and beg for a spot. Is that what you're saying here? I hope you're not, because that's a good way to get an innocent thread shut down...

[Noke]

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.

 

Is this thread really where you want to grind that axe?

 

Just a hunch but I don't think you'd be a fan of his even if he ticked all your hypothetical boxes.

 

Seems like you dislike when people get what you perceive to be preferential treatment based on things other than golfing achievement. Do you also feel that people should receive 'deferential treatment' when it comes to things outside of their control?

[pcgc61]

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.

 

It's called VISION! We live in such a "right now" world that we have lost sight of the VISION of making junior golf cheap....which in turn gets more "juniors" who become adults interested in the game of golf!

[eagle1997]

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.

But that's not how it works. Even if he finishes at 140, he'll have limited status and will still get into the majority of events without having to ask to get into them. There might be some he'll ask to get into, and I think you do him a disservice to assume he'll pull the "card" and beg for a spot. Is that what you're saying here? I hope you're not, because that's a good way to get an innocent thread shut down...

 

please. it's exactly what he's saying. never mind with your facts, teebs. you're wasting your finger energy.

[RLC9]

Very good read. Easy guy to root for.

[lowheel]

Junior membership at my club is $120 a year,and that includes free coaching clinics, run by the pro and some low cap prospective pros, every Sunday outside school holidays. My girls are both members and love the clinics, we are lucky to have a pro who devotes his time to the juniors.

 

thats awesome. here its like 750$ to 1k which is ridiculous and scares away 90% of parents.I tell the owners of all these courses that if you invest in the youth these kids will be your future full members in 20 years. it doesnt cost you anything and youre spreading the virtues of this great game.

[lowheel]

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.

 

It's called VISION! We live in such a "right now" world that we have lost sight of the VISION of making junior golf cheap....which in turn gets more "juniors" who become adults interested in the game of golf!

 

YES!!!!! a thousand times yes. i do junior camps and clinics and $ is the biggest obstable. the courses are empty after 1-2 everywhere anyways. Kids always buy chips, chocolate bars or hot dogs and gatorades/sodas so the course makes bank in concessions when 20-30+ kids play. Our 19th hole kiosk ran out of food last week when the kids rolled through. thats hundreds of $ right there 3-4 times a week

[chrismikayla]

One of our First Tee programs here really does a great job of making the game cheap and accessible for inner city youth. They get several nice clubs donated monthly for kids who couldn't otherwise afford clubs. There are a couple schools close by where they pull kids out in the mornings to play or go to the driving range.

 

And awesome read thanks for sharing.

[playa]

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.

 

It's called VISION! We live in such a "right now" world that we have lost sight of the VISION of making junior golf cheap....which in turn gets more "juniors" who become adults interested in the game of golf!

 

YES!!!!! a thousand times yes. i do junior camps and clinics and $ is the biggest obstable. the courses are empty after 1-2 everywhere anyways. Kids always buy chips, chocolate bars or hot dogs and gatorades/sodas so the course makes bank in concessions when 20-30+ kids play. Our 19th hole kiosk ran out of food last week when the kids rolled through. thats hundreds of $ right there 3-4 times a week

Yep, my girls always demand a packet of chips and a drink so thats $15 in the til they wouldn't have got. Times that by 20 kids and its a nice earner for the pro shop. A real win win.

[playa]

Junior membership at my club is $120 a year,and that includes free coaching clinics, run by the pro and some low cap prospective pros, every Sunday outside school holidays. My girls are both members and love the clinics, we are lucky to have a pro who devotes his time to the juniors.

 

thats awesome. here its like 750$ to 1k which is ridiculous and scares away 90% of parents.I tell the owners of all these courses that if you invest in the youth these kids will be your future full members in 20 years. it doesnt cost you anything and youre spreading the virtues of this great game.

And as a bonus some of the parents may take up full membership ($1,100 at my club) to play with their kids. Plus buy equipment to get started. Plus take lessons with the pro. All sorts of opportunities open up.

[lowheel]

Junior membership at my club is $120 a year,and that includes free coaching clinics, run by the pro and some low cap prospective pros, every Sunday outside school holidays. My girls are both members and love the clinics, we are lucky to have a pro who devotes his time to the juniors.

 

thats awesome. here its like 750$ to 1k which is ridiculous and scares away 90% of parents.I tell the owners of all these courses that if you invest in the youth these kids will be your future full members in 20 years. it doesnt cost you anything and youre spreading the virtues of this great game.

And as a bonus some of the parents may take up full membership to play with their kids. Plus buy equipment to get started. Plus take lessons with the pro. All sorts of opportunities open up.

 

Ive been arguing with owners and GMs of courses for 20 years. So short sighted... they believe they made money in business therefore cannot be told how to run junior golf programs. I organized a member guest tourney for parents only to bring their kids and asked for donated junior clubs from all members. 40 members bought full US kids golf sets for the kids. pro shop made close to 4500$ in custom orders. the tourney attracted 65 people. they sold 3k in booze and food. a great time was had by all and 12 kids parents bought them Junior memberships for the rest of the summer at a special rate thats prorated. The owner came to me and in a deadpan voice says to me" why havent you pushed me to do this sooner". Insanity.

This game is so addictive and great that all you have to do is expose kids to it and they're hooked for life.its a real shame courses arent pushing for more of this.I go out of my way to play with junior members to see what they like what they dont like and so on. they love trying to show off and attempt to beat you. it feeds competitiveness

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

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.

 

It's called VISION! We live in such a "right now" world that we have lost sight of the VISION of making junior golf cheap....which in turn gets more "juniors" who become adults interested in the game of golf!

 

YES!!!!! a thousand times yes. i do junior camps and clinics and $ is the biggest obstable. the courses are empty after 1-2 everywhere anyways. Kids always buy chips, chocolate bars or hot dogs and gatorades/sodas so the course makes bank in concessions when 20-30+ kids play. Our 19th hole kiosk ran out of food last week when the kids rolled through. thats hundreds of $ right there 3-4 times a week

Yep, my girls always demand a packet of chips and a drink so thats $15 in the til they wouldn't have got. Times that by 20 kids and its a nice earner for the pro shop. A real win win.

 

That post reminds me of how much I used to spend in the pro shop on Twixes and 7UP back in the days. Still got change from a pound.

[playa]

Junior membership at my club is $120 a year,and that includes free coaching clinics, run by the pro and some low cap prospective pros, every Sunday outside school holidays. My girls are both members and love the clinics, we are lucky to have a pro who devotes his time to the juniors.

 

thats awesome. here its like 750$ to 1k which is ridiculous and scares away 90% of parents.I tell the owners of all these courses that if you invest in the youth these kids will be your future full members in 20 years. it doesnt cost you anything and youre spreading the virtues of this great game.

And as a bonus some of the parents may take up full membership to play with their kids. Plus buy equipment to get started. Plus take lessons with the pro. All sorts of opportunities open up.

 

Ive been arguing with owners and GMs of courses for 20 years. So short sighted... they believe they made money in business therefore cannot be told how to run junior golf programs. I organized a member guest tourney for parents only to bring their kids and asked for donated junior clubs from all members. 40 members bought full US kids golf sets for the kids. pro shop made close to 4500$ in custom orders. the tourney attracted 65 people. they sold 3k in booze and food. a great time was had by all and 12 kids parents bought them Junior memberships for the rest of the summer at a special rate thats prorated. The owner came to me and in a deadpan voice says to me" why havent you pushed me to do this sooner". Insanity.

This game is so addictive and great that all you have to do is expose kids to it and they're hooked for life.its a real shame courses arent pushing for more of this.I go out of my way to play with junior members to see what they like what they dont like and so on. they love trying to show off and attempt to beat you. it feeds competitiveness

Great post!

You couldn't be more right. In todays modern world, kids have shorter attention spans get bored very easily. Golf is the one sport I've played that is never easy and constantly challenging, a perfect sport for modern kids who need constant stimulation ad new experiences to stay interested. I can speak from experience as I grew up with undiagnosed adhd and have had a constant battle staying motivated in studies and at work, but from the first time I swung a 3 wood in my backyard as a 12 year old and sent the ball sailing 200 yards into the side of a house down the street :busted_cop: I was totally hooked. I never ever get tired of golf, it is the one pass time that is constantly stimulating, or at least for me it is.

I would much rather my kids get hooked on golf and spend every spare waking hour at the golf course working on their game than going on line to god knows what chat room, or experimenting with less healthy lifestyle choices to get their excitement in life.

[OffTheDole]

Ive been arguing with owners and GMs of courses for 20 years. So short sighted... they believe they made money in business therefore cannot be told how to run junior golf programs. I organized a member guest tourney for parents only to bring their kids and asked for donated junior clubs from all members. 40 members bought full US kids golf sets for the kids. pro shop made close to 4500$ in custom orders. the tourney attracted 65 people. they sold 3k in booze and food. a great time was had by all and 12 kids parents bought them Junior memberships for the rest of the summer at a special rate thats prorated. The owner came to me and in a deadpan voice says to me" why havent you pushed me to do this sooner". Insanity.

This game is so addictive and great that all you have to do is expose kids to it and they're hooked for life.its a real shame courses arent pushing for more of this.I go out of my way to play with junior members to see what they like what they dont like and so on. they love trying to show off and attempt to beat you. it feeds competitiveness

 

It's amazing that course owners (in general) can't see the value in priming the next generation of golfers.

[Outlier]

Meh......used to be a fan, now not so much. I don't hate HV III, and kind of understand his frustration, however as a professional guy roughly twice his age I've also seen his act before. How would you feel about an American soccer player who went and dominated the sport in Europe, but grew tired of being asked about growing up in Ohio playing soccer instead of American football? What if after a time he told people he was a futbol star, not an AMERICAN futbol star. He wanted kids in Spain, and France and Germany to look up to him not just the American kids.

 

I believe there would be a loud element who would call him "unpatriotic", not cheer for him and root against him.

 

Yes Varner looks like me, yes I know MANY people who know his parents (I live in Charlotte). I cannot speak for his folks, but I can say with confidence they love and support their son. The undercurrent of his "I am not just a black golfer" is an insinuation that somehow it takes something away from him, or legitimizes questioning HIS ability or work ethic. I think neither is the case, I wish him well, and have granted his wish.....my son pulls for Rory!

[Frankensteins Monster]

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.

 

Too bad you made something up in your mind, completely, and abandoned reading the piece because of it. At no point did he say he didn't want to be know as a black golfer. You made that up, completely.

[AceCatKY]

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.

 

NLU has had a lot of interviews I have liked. Matt Every, CH3, Peter Uihlein were good. Really like Fried Egg podcast too; Andy has interviewed a lot of current college golfers and college guys who have started on PGA Latin America etc.