Hall of Fame golfer Tom Watson’s latest nine-hole design alongside Mozingo Lake Golf Course in Maryville, Mo., is being tailored to children and beginners. Fundraising for the estimated $550,000 cost is underway, with donations and commitments of more than $125,000 so far.
Hall of Fame golfer Tom Watson has played some of the world’s toughest courses and designed many, but his latest nine-hole design alongside Mozingo Lake Golf Course in Maryville, Mo., is being tailored to children and beginners, the Wichita (Kan.) Eagle reported.
On a recent visit to the cleared acreage in Nodaway County, the Kansas City native surveyed the site with a rangefinder and began sketching the new course on paper, the Eagle reported.
“This golf course is short by normal standards,” said Watson. “This course is designed for beginners, for kids or anybody, really, to play the game where you aren’t forced to play 400-yard par 4’s or 500-yard par 5’s or 180-yard par 3’s.
“That’s the whole idea for this, to make it fun for them and not too long, where they can hit a shot and get rewarded for it.”
The initiative began with Maryville dentist Bruce Twaddle, who first saw a children’s course during a trip to Scotland. Twaddle worked to secure funding for the project, similar to many others being developed around the country in response to the declining number of youths participating in the sport, the Eagle reported.
“It’s an easy sell because we have the land, we have the resources to do this, and we have the people in the community who believe in young children and want to help develop them.”
Bob Gibbons, a member of Watson’s design company, helped lay out the initial course design after visiting the site in March. Gibbons has helped design five short courses for the group, including one at Kansas City’s Swope Park, and said one key element is making the course easily walkable, the Eagle reported.
“We want the kids to be able to find their ball and hit it again,” Gibbons said. “We want to make it challenging for them, but we don’t want to make it too hard to where they lose interest in the game.”
Fundraising for the estimated $550,000 cost is underway, with donations and commitments of more than $125,000 so far, the Eagle reported.
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