The game of golf is afoot and major players are shouting “Fore!” Recent controversy involving the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour and LIV tours has unveiled just how much of a rich man’s sport golf really is, sparking conversation around the sport’s inherent exclusivity. 

The LIV Tour, founded by Greg Norman and backed by Saudi Arabia in 2021, tore apart the original golf league, the PGA Tour. Its extensive funds, derived from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, created big prize money that proved alluring to many PGA golfers. 

The LIV tour offers greater individual prize purses then the PGA tour, causing many PGA golfers to leave for the LIV Tour. This caused a rift in the golf community because of how some players displayed their devotion to money over traditional golf. The controversy around prize money and the two tours has led to both PGA and LIV professional golf players jockeying for positions and increasing their already hefty compensation packages. 

This controversy alone barely starts to explore the concept of golf as a rich man’s sport. Sophomore and golf team member Sam Donovan said that getting a decent set of golf clubs could cost  upward of five hundred dollars. 

“To join a private tournament on one’s own time, it’s like 150-250 dollars,” Donovan said. The price of playing golf can limit student and school access to the sport.

Not only that, but golf is a niche sport that statistically improves the odds of college admission and scholarships. 

At the high school varsity level most sport teams practice multiple days per week if not daily. This is not true for many student golf teams. “Rome certainly wasn’t built in a day,” pointed out Jack Stevens, the associate director of boarding admission and coach of the golf team. For Masters Golf, the team is being built up each year with rising interest. Golf club appeal however, is not impactful when the sport of focus is one so deeply rooted in hierarchy, wealth and exclusivity.

“In this Fairfield and Westchester county area, golf is private and exclusive,” Stevens said. “Golf teams in the area are very competitive due to the nature of the sport.” Even a private school such as The Masters School, has difficulty gaining access to a golf course without having a player who is connected with a golf country club.

“The courses around Westchester are private membership courses.” Though the Masters School has a partnership with Ardsley Country Club, where the team get specific dates for home matches, the team cannot get daily or even weekly practice times. The team is limited to just a day per month on the course aside from matches. 

He said,“The team doesn’t have students who are members of Ardsley who are players on the golf team.” Only teams with students who are members can have practice time, which highlights the elitism of the sport. With club memberships being so expensive, many teams like Masters, are limited in practice. 

“Public courses are money-generating operations so to host us as a team would not be economically beneficial,” Stevens added.

For schools without this access, it is very difficult to compete. Chris Mira, the coach for Varsity Boys Golf at the Greens Farm Academy, said that the team practices “Five days per week, roughly an hour and a half per day.” The team gains access through a coach who was also a member of a club.

Chris Forester, the golf coach at Brunswick School, pointed out that, “It’s hard work to develop these relationships. It involves lots of emails, calls and personal visits to talk to the Club professionals.”He did not, however, mention money, a key component in getting practice time. 

Since Stevens started with the golf team three years ago, he’s noticed that interest in the sport has grown. When he started, there were 16 kids. This year, there are 33. 

Increased interest, while good for the team, stresses the already limited resources available. Stevens said, “Due to limited space, the team must make tough decisions and cuts because we don’t have regular access to a golf course.”

“Practice time is 50/50. Half of the time the team is on campus in the gym, hitting into a net called a flight scope, while sometimes the team goes to the local driving range,” Donovan said. “Getting the course and driving range time is tough with a large team.” 

This, Steven mentions, is why there are team requirements. 

Stevens listed the requirements for joining the team: the team asks students to have golf equipment, to have played golf on a course, to have taken score, to have a general knowledge of the course and know the rules and etiquette.

“The most important rule is that the students are interested and not just looking to fulfill their Athletic Credit Requirement. Any sport or program that is running for students who are actually interested in it will be more enjoyable for everyone else,” Stevens said.

While facing limitations from such an expensive and exclusive sport, Masters is striving to change the narrative of golf as a rich man’s sport, contrasting the elitism taking place between the PAG and LIV tours. It is expanding golf’s accessibility by using programs like Youth On Course, which helps lower match entrance prices from $40 to $20 for students 15 and under, explained Stevens.

“There is also a co-curricular called Intro to Golf in the fall and you don’t really need any equipment for it,” Arrav Singh, a sophomore on the golf team, said. 

Even though golf is an individual sport and involves a large focus on oneself, the team remains unified. “There is a lot of comradery because while I know I’m competing for myself, I also want to see my teammates succeed,” Donovan said.

Considering all the challenges the team faces, it is impressive that the team has doubled in size.  “Right now the team has found a sweet spot where even when they are not on the course, they hone in on the golfers’ games, allowing them to spend a day putting or even chipping,” Stevens said.

Facing accessibility challenges, the Masters golf team hopes to get out of the sand bunker of exclusivity, and score a birdie.  

Life-long Golfer’s Solution:

Although the golf team is striving to increase accessibility, the external limitations, due to privilege in golf,  present a formidable, longstanding roadblock. There has yet to be a perfect solution for schools and students who lack the funds to take part in the sport. 

Life-long golfer Bruce Mathews, with 67 years of experience, seeks a solution. Mathews points out the use of golf in business. “There are many businesses in Westchester that have big sales operations that occur on the golf course.” 

“Think of it as a reverse play,” Mathews said. “Just like LIV used money to attract professional golfers, businesses should use money to attract great future employees who can make sales on the golf course.” By financing student golfers with bright futures, they will form relationships that may lead to future employment ventures. By sponsoring school teams, which is not uncommon for insurance companies, law firms, investment advisories, and pharmaceutical companies, the company would thereby generate loyalties in the hearts of future business leaders, Mathews explained. 

By utilizing golf’s inherent role in business to sponsor schools and students, not only will businesses garner relationships with promising youth, but golf’s accessibility will increase.