Press Box
When I was Michelle Wie's age, 12, the closest I got to playing golf was caddying for my dad. It was a job from which I was fired several times -- once for not being able to see where he hit his ball, another for dragging the pull cart across the green, and then again, for giving him the wrong club. Golf is not an old man’s
sport anymoreEach, in its own right, an unpardonable sin. I thought I was trying to do a good job, but was probably partaking in subconscious passive-aggressive caddying. Why? Because I absolutely hated it.
On Dad's birthday, or a day like today, Father's Day, I could probably be shamed into the club-toting duties.
But I preferred spending my weekends at home watching Scooby Doo (yup, he was around back then) and the NBC Baseball Game of the Week. That was, of course, when I didn't have a Little League game of my own in which to play.
The sport of choice for me and my friends was baseball, followed closely by football and then basketball. We even played some soccer in the street. I didn't play any team sport particularly well, but enjoyed them all.
Golf held no allure for me. It seemed a tiring ordeal, something that caused its practitioners to grimace way more often than it made them smile.
It didn't seem like fun, and the clothes were butt-ugly, even by 1970s standards.
I wasn't alone in my childhood and teenage antipathy for the links. Hardly any kids played golf, and most who did were considered kind of weird. There were exceptions, like Lance Suzuki, who was a basketball star and from what I hear, an all-around stud at Kahuku High School. Moanalua's Casey Nakama, too. He was an all-stater in hoops and won the state championship in the long jump.
But at Pearl City High School, being on the golf team was on par (sorry, couldn't resist) with lettering in riflery -- and way below marching in the band -- on the Cool-O-Meter.
Times have certainly changed.
Kids throughout the country are making a big splash in the game that used to be almost exclusively for fuddyduddies or rich snobs.
Why the change?
The easy part of the answer is Tiger Woods. His youth and charisma made it acceptable for kids to play golf. The fact that he is a minority made the dream of becoming a champion attainable for youngsters of all races.
But there's much more to it. There must be to explain players like Wie, Stephanie Kono (another 12-year-old), and 15-year-old Manoa Cup champion Travis Toyama not just competing with, but beating the best adult players in the state.
In Hawaii, junior golf programs have thrived for generations. But Nakama's Zone 54 Junior Tour seems to have taken it a step further.
Wie is coached by her parents, but they give Nakama credit as her swing coach.
Nakama's system is used at junior golf programs throughout the state.
The old basketball player and long jumper -- who happens to be a golf pro -- has developed a program where juniors have fun while learning basic fundamentals and etiquette.
You can bet one of his graduates will never leave tire marks on a green.
Dave Reardon, who covered sports in Hawaii from 1977 to 1998,
moved to the the Gainesville Sun, then returned to
the Star-Bulletin in Jan. 2000.
E-mail Dave: dreardon@starbulletin.com