Around the Green

TGA Hits a Home Run with Golf 101

DALLAS – They came as strangers with little golf knowledge. The ten women left as friends, all of them with a budding passion to play and learn more about the game that has brought so many people together.
 
By any measure, the Texas Golf Association’s inaugural “Golf 101” class was a success. In a partnership with Women On Course and led by Cedar Crest Golf Course Director of Instruction Maulana Dotch, the TGA’s mission with the new program was to introduce golf to women and encourage them to play the game.
 
“It was a great experience to help with this program and it was exciting to see the new friendships formed,” said Jacque Cooper, WTGAC and Women on Course Dallas Marketing Leader. 
 
Starting in late September and running through the end of October, Dotch instructed the ladies once a week on different parts of the game, such as putting, chipping and the full swing. Dotch, the state’s first African-American woman to earn her PGA Class-A Membership, began with the basics. The former Bethune-Cookman University standout and PGA National Minority Collegiate Champion explained the typical contents of a golf bag and the purpose of each club.
 
Dotch talked about how the different clubs were utilized for different shots, as some of the ladies in the Golf 101 program had never picked up a club. The five weeks of classes were broken down from putting all the way to a playing lesson in the final week. Each week’s curriculum built upon the previous lessons and focused on making the ladies more comfortable with the basics of the game.
 
“It was great to see the progression of the ladies’ swings.” Cooper said. “You could see the confidence build up in their faces after a good shot was made, and wide smiles when they made a putt and reached down to get the golf ball from the holes.”
 
Cooper explained to the group on the first day of Golf 101 that she met all of her lifelong friends through the game of golf. She was touched with how quickly the group seemed to bond over the game. By the end of the final Golf 101 class, it was obvious to Cooper that the group was eager to get back out on a golf course and practice everything they had learned through the program.
 
The women came to the program with optimism and expectations of learning about golf. Their missions were accomplished. Now they’re all friends who own confident swings and a newfound love for the game. The TGA looks forward to more Golf 101 classes in spring of 2018.