RECREATION
Moloka'i finds driving force for youth golf
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| "We hope to produce kids who have the opportunity to play off-island and out-of-state and hopefully go on to college," says Mary Bea Porter-King, the president of the Hawai'i State Junior Golf Association. "That's the dream."
Photo by Curtis Crabbe |
Moloka'i has friends lining up from here to Florida to support its junior golf program. The Moloka'i Junior Golf Association, formed in 1978, was revitalized two years ago by Curtis Crabbe, a golfer with four golfing sons.
Crabbe, who works in electrical construction, moved to the island from Mililani in 1996. He loved the lifestyle but was appalled at the dearth of activities for kids.
"I figured why not get involved. I had a few spare moments. I didn't waste time in traffic anymore," Crabbe said.
For Crabbe, golf was the vehicle, but Moloka'i had little gas for the game. Few kids could afford clubs and there was no practice area or teaching pro.
The laid-back nine-hole layout is in Kualapu'u. The kids are all over the island, with commutes of 40 minutes or more common. Teaching pros are all on other islands. Transportation is a major obstacle, particularly on a depressed island where gas costs $2.25 a gallon.
The start of Crabbe's golf rescue operation came, not coincidentally, in conjunction with the start of the Hawai'i State Junior Golf Association. HSJGA President Mary Bea Porter-King wanted her organization to have an impact on kids all over the state, and Crabbe has been on her board since its conception.
'First full-blast season'
Before the HSJGA, Crabbe's program had 14 kids and was not able to raise money because it did not have nonprofit status. Now it does, and Crabbe has 45 kids for his "first full-blast season."
The HSJGA used part of its grant money from the U.S. Golf Association to finance the MJGA, with the Aloha Section PGA kicking in to help its pros get to Moloka'i to teach. Porter-King and the section found used equipment and balls to ship over. The USGA flew in leftover merchandise from the U.S. Open, giving the modest MJGA a uniform any golfer would envy. The Hawai'i State Women's Golf Association helped.
Last year Kevin Carll and Jehu Fuller, from Ko'olau's Aloha Academy of Golf, made the trek to Moloka'i five times to provide three-hour clinics.
"They've got some juniors that are decent players," Carll says. "They are a little rough, but there are definitely some players."
Carll and Fuller were also part of a day-long HSJGA clinic that came complete with five pros, a USGA Executive Board member (Porter-King) and video. Ironwoods pro Darryl Rego broke out the generator to power the VCR, and parents popped up a tent and set up chairs.
But it wasn't until this year that the MJGA truly hit the golf grant jackpot. First, the PGA of America — the Aloha Section's governing body — gave it $16,380 for 108 hours of instruction and airfare. Then the USGA anted up $10,000, with about half directed to Crabbe as a monthly stipend and the balance going to coaches, mostly for transportation costs.
The PGA of America's contribution was part of its $2 million Growth of the Game Grant Program. The USGA's came from its Foundation Grants Committee, which has awarded $2 million this year as part of its 10-year, $50 million commitment to the game; of its 62 grants, 53 went to junior golf programs for "economically disadvantaged youth."
Support from all corners
Other "grants" have come in more tangible forms.
Rego, the program's guardian angel, donates course time and even created a driving range on the fifth fairway that includes two target "greens." Juniors hit borrowed balls with their borrowed clubs, then clear the range by hand. Darryl's sister Brenda, who works at Wailea Golf Club on Maui, has donated her time.
Matson donated a 45-foot container that was renovated into the "Home of Moloka'i Junior Golf" recently. It sits in the parking lot at Ironwoods.
A few thousand miles away, a company in Chicago is preparing to send the MJGA range mats, markers, bag stands and other equipment, simply because it was asked and Moloka'i's kids were in need.
"The guy said, 'What do you have?' " Crabbe recalled. "I said, 'Nothing.' He said he'd send a heap of stuff. It will make a huge difference. Now, we're taking chunks out of Darryl's fairways.
"So ... we're doing something with nothing."
The 2002 MJGA season starts April 25, with clinics continuing for eight consecutive Thursdays afterward. Annual dues are $20, which includes a shirt and all equipment and instruction. Porter-King will fly over May 4 to give a rules clinic. Each player must pass a written test to earn playing privileges. Etiquette is addressed, for parents as well as players.
Flexible participant rules
The only parameters for membership involve age, and even those are blurred. "We take kids ages 6 to 17," Crabbe says. "But if a kid is 4 and the parent will come along and listen, we'll take them."
Carll says now that the "foundation is set," he can get into more in-depth teaching and hopefully produce players who can gauge their game against the rest of the HSJGA later in the year.
Porter-King is an ardent fan. "It's been anything to give children the game," she says. "In my heart, I feel Curtis and Darryl have the greatest of intent. We will continue to help them.
"We hope to produce kids who have the opportunity to play off-island and out-of-state and hopefully go on to college. That's the dream."
It is a dream of long-term dimensions. First, the MJGA wants to reach all the distant pockets of its island and bring instruction to the schools.
Crabbe also has his eye on a 22-acre parcel of land that could provide a practice range "so kids can do things other than what they do now" with their free time. He also envisions endowments and scholarships.
"It could be something good for the kids and the community," Crabbe says.
For more information, contact the MJGA at 567-6362 or mjga@aloha.net.
