photo: a man is teaching a boy golf on a course – closeup of their feet

The Gift of Golf

For many, golf is a way to escape the hustle and bustle of it all. For PGA TOUR champ Juan "Chi Chi" Rodriguez, it's a way to become more involved. That's why he set up The Chi Chi Rodriguez Youth Foundation in Clearwater, FL. There, underprivileged kids learn about backswings, irons, and the rules of the green. But more than that, they're learning to build self-esteem and improve their academic performance.

photo: a boy holding a golf club, crouching and examining the course

"Persevere through mistakes" is a lesson in both golf and life.

Like many of his students, Rodriguez had humble beginnings. He grew up in a poor family in Puerto Rico, where he learned to play golf from clubs made of guava tree branches and balls fashioned from hammered tin cans. After years of hard work, he became a national golf champion (and author). Now, he's helping other underprivileged children go on to do the same.

Rodriguez, along with golfer Bill Hayes, began the foundation in 1979 as an afterschool program for 17 kids. Today, more than 500 kids, ages 5 to 17, are enrolled. "Chi Chi Kids" get help with homework, go on field trips, and take care of plants in the on-site nursery. But most important, they play golf.

Similar programs are located across the country. Geared toward inner-city African-American children, the MGAA Junior Golf Program in Washington, D.C., aims to "put a textbook and a golf club in the hands of every child in America." The First Tee of Greater Atlantic City uses the rules and etiquette of golf to help inform children's non golf lives, e.g.: "To succeed in golf, you must learn to persevere through bad breaks and your own mistakes" and "Show courtesy toward others by remaining still and quiet while they prepare and execute a shot."

Those are exactly some of the things 23-year-old Kasha Thomas of Ft. Worth, TX, says she learned when she was a Chi Chi Kid in the 1980s. "You really have to stay focused and calm," she says. "That's something most little kids can't do." The focus she gained helps her take care of the kids at her church and local children's hospital, where she regularly volunteers. "Chi Chi helped me so much when I was little that now I just want to help other underprivileged kids," she says.

She can trace this decision back to age 6 when her single mother enrolled her in Chi Chi's program. At 7, she won first place in the Florida Junior Tour's Pee-Wee Golf Tournament in Orlando. Chi Chi presented her with her own set of golf clubs as a prize. Thomas now plans to use those child-size clubs to teach her own 7-year-old daughter how to play and achieve great things in life, too.

Posted on March 27, 2006