KemperSports and Roger Steele Unveil Second Annual Youth Golf Week

KemperSports properties nationwide to dedicate a week to youth players as part of commitment to #MakeGolfCool and more accessible for the next generation of players

NORTHBROOK, Ill., June 26, 2024 – KemperSports, a leading golf, sports, entertainment and hospitality company, announced today the dates of its second annual KemperSports Youth Golf Week. Scheduled to take place July 29 through August 4 across KemperSports’ family of facilities nationwide, KemperSports Youth Golf Week will feature discounted and exclusive tee times, golf clinics, instructional events, special giveaways, contests and more for young players (through age 16).

Once again, youth golf advocate and KemperSports Community Advisor for the #MakeGolfCool Initiative Roger Steele is helping spearhead the program. Properties, participants and their families will be encouraged to share their KemperSports Youth Golf Week experience on social media by tagging @kempersports and using #MakeGolfCool. Select content will be featured on kempersports.com/growthegame and on KemperSports’ social channels to celebrate the week’s festivities and inspire others to get involved.

“For more than 45 years, we’ve been committed to inspiring a love and passion for golf in young people and using the sport to unlock new opportunities to help them grow on and off the course,” said KemperSports CEO Steve Skinner. “We’re excited to work with Roger and our teams across the country to introduce this great game to thousands of kids, and we look forward to making Youth Golf Week an even bigger success in year two.”

According to the National Golf Foundation’s (NGF) 2024 Graffis Report, there were more on-course youth golfers (> 3.5 million) in 2023 than any year since 2006. Notably, this player segment (ages 6-17) has experienced the largest on-course participation gains of any age group since 2019 (+40%) and is proportionally more diverse (females and minorities) than the broader green-grass golf population. Off the course, youth participation has jumped 1.8 million over that same period — from 2.2 million to 4 million, representing an 82 percent increase. Overall, junior golf participation, accounting for both on- and off-course players, has increased by 60 percent over the last four years.

“From my own life experiences, I’m a big believer that golf has an incredible power to positively impact the trajectory of your life. And I feel like every time we introduce a kid to the game, we’re ultimately helping their life, which is why initiatives like KemperSports Youth Golf Week are so important,” said Steele. “As a community, we have a great opportunity before us to bring the game of golf and all it has to teach and offer to kids everywhere. I couldn’t be more excited to be running it back with my KemperSports family and use Youth Golf Week to truly help shape and impact the future of the game.”

In addition to using his social platforms to spread the word about Youth Golf Week opportunities at KemperSports courses nationwide to new and avid junior golfers across his growing network of followers, Steele will help kick off the week-long celebration from his hometown by hosting a clinic in partnership with Youth on Course on Monday, July 29 at Deerpath Golf Course in Lake Forest, Ill.

Youth on Course members will enjoy putting, chipping and/or driving instruction and a meet and greet with Roger and professional teaching staff before being paired with a new golfer to guide them through a 9-hole round. Established in 2006 to break down financial barriers and bring diversity to the world of golf, Youth on Course makes this possible by ensuring members have access to play rounds of golf for $5 or less, while also offering opportunities to succeed through college scholarships, mentorships, internships, and leadership development.

KemperSports Youth Golf Week is the company’s newest annual initiative to make the sport more welcoming, accessible and fun for youth players. It also comes on the heels of the company’s 11th annual Player Development Month, which took place in June across all KemperSports facilities, aiming to promote and grow the game in an effort to create new and engaged golf communities through a variety of instructional offerings and social programming.

Representing the latest chapter in KemperSports’ 45+-year history as an industry leader in growing the game by introducing new players to the sport, Youth Golf Week joins other impactful company initiatives and community partnerships such as its partnership with Chicago Public Schools and Callaway to sponsor three CPS boys and girls high school golf teams, its decades-long partnership with local First Tee chapters nationwide as well as being the first golf course management company to sign on as a founding supporter of Make Golf Your Your Thing.

For more information about KemperSports Youth Golf Week, contact your local KemperSports course for ways to get involved or visit kempersports.com/growthegame.

About KemperSports
KemperSports is a leading sports, entertainment and hospitality company that delivers operational excellence in property and experience management. Headquartered in Chicago with regional offices throughout the U.S., KemperSports manages more than 140 golf courses, private clubs, sports venues, and destination resorts nationwide. It has more golf properties named among the top 100 U.S. public and resort courses as rated by GOLF Magazine, Golf Digest and Golfweek than any other management company. For more information about KemperSports, visit www.kempersports.com.

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Media Contact:
Gehrig Parker, KemperSports
gparker@kempersports.com | 847-977-3400