Golfers inspired by the game and its legends pass down a love for the links

When Gail Simpson moved from her long-time home in Chicago to Springfield, she and her daughter decided to take up a new competitive activity — golf.

While she and her daughter were taking lessons at a local course, she realized the game was something she could do well — and learn more about life along the way.

"I'm looking out at people playing and I'm like, 'I can do that,'" Simpson said. "I started playing in earnest and I grew to love the game."

Several years later when she was a Springfield alderman representing Ward 2 on the city's east side, she noticed the lack of young Black men and women who were taking up golf. That gave her the idea and motivation to start the Springfield Golf Club, a non-profit group designed to teach people of all ages the skills needed not just to succeed in golf, but also in life.

"It's difficult to get young people interested in playing," Simpson said. "We decided as players that we would start a mentoring program. We understand the value of golf (but) we also understand many youth won't have the opportunity to afford to go to school. There are a lot of golf scholarships that go wanting, so we try to encourage youth to get excited about the game, learn the game, become proficient in the game into grade school, high school and hopefully apply for golf scholarships."

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After starting out with six members in 2016, the group has ballooned to 25. On Tuesday at Lincoln Greens Golf Course, much of that group

had a chance to partner up with four members of the Korn Ferry Tour in town for the Memorial Health Championship that starts Thursday at Panther Creek Country Club. The event was one of several Memorial has facilitated throughout the week to give back to the community while also promoting initiatives with the tournament.

The pros gave  the young golfers pointers and a chance to see what hard work, determination, skill and a little bit of luck could do.

In addition, Springfield Golf Club received nine new sets of clubs from the Springfield Downtown Kiwanis and Scheels.  Simpson said that the donation and the partnership with Memorial are signs of people taking notice of the program.

"It's been overwhelming to know there are others that understand the value in these youth learning the game and being able to participate," Simpson said. "We had been a wing-and-a-prayer in terms of garage sales (and) wherever we could get clubs. This will allow (our) youth to learn with a set of new clubs."

Having the chance to give back to the community and provide a legacy for the tournament was a motivating factor for Memorial to collaborate with Simpson and the Springfield Golf Club.  Jay Boulanger, volunteer services coordinator for Memorial, said that helping and promoting community groups is a key part of tournament week.

"My biggest thing is giving these kids the opportunity to come out and learn the game of golf," Boulanger said. "This game teaches you a lot of life skills and lessons and to be able to instill that in today's youth is so important."

The tour pros moved with their groups from station to station at Lincoln Greens' driving range, teaching them the right way to use the new clubs. For the youngsters, they also had the chance to see people for whom they can strive to be like one day, having the chance to chase their dreams in professional golf.

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One of those was Trey Valentine, playing in this week's tournament on a sponsor's exemption. His presence in Springfield is due in no small part to programs like the APGA Tour, an initiative promoted by the PGA Tour as a way to engage African Americans like Valentine with the game of golf.

He said the initiative is continuing to strive for developing the kind of player that can one day go toe-to-toe with the best players on the main tour.

"The tour has a goal of one of us reaching that next level in hopes that we can inspire the generations (after) us," Valentine said. "It's really cool with events like this, having an outreach to organizations that these are the kids that we are trying to inspire and it's really cool that the PGA is supporting that."

In many ways, Valentine's interest in the sport was piqued by Tiger Woods, who was his idol growing up. Valentine had the clubs, the shirts and the gear that Tiger wore, striving to try and do just a small fraction of what he did to dominate the sport.

"Without a doubt, I was a part of the generation that was inspired by Tiger," Valentine said. "I had all of his clothes (and) his golf balls. I wanted to be Tiger so bad that I wore red occasionally on Sundays thinking that I was going to win a tournament like Tiger did. I honestly watched every single Sunday round that he had. He was like my NFL team."

Valentine is a long way from matching or even approaching the greatest and most influential golfer of all time. The game of golf can be brutal for those like Valentine trying to make it to the highest level. He admits there were times this year when he questioned why he played the game.

But events like Tuesday at Lincoln Greens allow him to understand why he does what he does and why he continues to work hard to be the kind of person people look up to

"I keep constantly reminding myself, 'I want to be someone that inspires a kid the way that I was inspired by Tiger,'" Valentine said. "Even getting here today was surreal because I look at a lot of these kids and I see myself 20 years ago. It would have been really cool to have that source of energy and inspiration by looking at a professional golfer and being like, 'That's pretty cool, I aspire to do that.'"

Contact Zach Roth: (217) 899-4338; ZDRoth@gannett.com; @ZacharyRoth13

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Korn Ferry golfers mentor area youth at Lincoln Greens course