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Tours aim for equal access

Local golfer Vincent Reid hopes to provide more prospects for women and girls.

By BOB HARIG, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 10, 2002

Martha Burk has received much publicity for her fight against Augusta National and its lack of female members. Vincent Reid supports the cause, but says it is directed in the wrong place.

Reid is starting a local women's professional golf tour and a related junior girls tour -- areas where issues of access truly exist, he said. "I think her efforts would be better spent providing resources to help girls play golf," Reid said of Burk, chairwoman of the National Council of Women's Organizations. "Would I like to see a woman become a member at Augusta? Sure. But if they can't afford to get in Augusta, they don't have any hope."

Later this month, Reid will complete the kickoff of the Next Generation Women's Golf Tour at Rogers Park Golf Club in Tampa. It is a tour intended to provide a place to play for aspiring pros and amateurs during the fall, winter and spring months when opportunities to compete in tournaments are limited.

In conjunction with the pro tour will be the Next Generation Girls Junior Tour, a series of events divided into age groups for girls 12-14 and 15-18. The idea is to promote and develop girls golf, while providing training and scholarships.

"Girls golf in this country is the lowest point in the game of golf," Reid said. "It stinks. Why? I can't tell you.

"At most high schools in Pinellas County, it's not considered a conference sport. Golf is not pushed. Students are not exposed to it. Try to field a girls golf team. I have tried to promote and push golf for girls and we felt there was a need to try to fill the void of getting girls into the game of golf."

Reid, 48, was an aspiring golf professional (he still hopes to play on the Senior PGA Tour) who spent more than eight years as the director of junior golf for the Chi Chi Rodriguez Youth Foundation in Clearwater.

Three years ago, he started the Vincent Reid Foundation, which serves children with disabilities and their families.

The women's and girls golf tours are simply filling a need, he said.

"We need a drawing card to get girls into the game of golf," he said.

That's why his program has two parts. First is the professional tour, offering players an opportunity to compete for prize money in 36-hole events. The first is Oct. 25-26 at Rogers Park, with an entry fee of $225 for pros, $125 for amateurs. There is no cut, and the purse will be paid through 70 places, with about $2,000 going to the winner, Reid said. Sixteen events are planned through Feb. 28.

The other is the girls junior tour. On Oct. 26, the first event will take place at Rogers Park. For $35, girls get a round of golf, range balls and lunch. Reid expects to incorporate clinics and instruction with the pros on hand for the event.

The idea is for the pro events to help subsidize the junior events, making them affordable. Reid also hopes that the young golfers will look up to the pros.

"There has to be a way to pump these girls up, give them a model," Reid said. "If they are not at a certain level, they have no chance the way things are now. In our tour, you can still be a 90-shooter, a 100-shooter and still be a winner. You can compete."

Reid works with the girls golf teams at Tampa Prep and East Lake High and mostly sees players lacking fundamentals at the high school level.

"Most teams have one player who is a 30-40 shooter (for nine holes)," he said. "If you can find one more who can shoot in the 40s, it's a bonus. The rest are in the 50s. We're hoping to change that."

Reid said he doesn't want to compete with the American Junior Golf Association or other junior programs for top-flight youngsters. Instead, he wants to complement those organizations, perhaps preparing players for them.

"We want to try to get them started, try to build a future," Reid said. "To do that, we need to provide girls an opportunity."

-- For more information on the Next Generation Women's Golf Tour or the Next Generation Girls Junior Tour, call 727-251-8317.

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