If there was one word to describe the game of golf, the most understandable and acceptable would be universal. Universal in the sense that it has been able to touch many around the world, influencing many different lifelong memories and events within the sport. A big reason for this worldwide push we see is the PGA Tour and the many big names that uphold the company in itself. From those like Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, who have all played a vital role in the upkeep of this sport and business. This influence has brought comfort to those who have trouble finding the next happy thought, a big reason for the creation of a golf club within Cedar Creek Corrections center in Washington.
Golf Is Made For Everyone
With many inside Cedar Creek Correctional center looking for the next light or even a second chance, the sport of golf has given those eligible just that. Superintendent Tim Thrasher started the Cedar Creek Golf Club, a program teaching inmates patience, discipline, and respect through the sport of golf. Every outing, 12 men are able to use the borrowed golf clubs to hit foam balls across a makeshift course. Something many of the outside may frown upon, but something all 12 men take extreme pride and solace in.
“Those guys are a small minority of people that are actually probably going to do extremely well when they get out,” Professor Kimora said. “Not just survive, they’re going to thrive because of what they’re doing. That’s how valuable what’s going on here is.”
With the club highlighting three of its members in Nico, Rodron, and Tejuan, men who were once only labeled as inmates now have the chance to exercise a different outlet in life. Although they don’t have anywhere close to the same luxuries as those golfing from the other side of the correctional gates, they are building lifelong memories that no one can ever take from them.
“Speaking from my own personal experiences, this is new,” Nico said. “I’m 30 years old and this is completely new. And it’s always something you see as prestige for me. So it’s like, OK, I’m in this situation and it does give me a form of therapy to come up here and be like, OK, I’m about to go golf.”
Motivation For Change
Facilitating an environment for the betterment of others, has been the ultimate goal set forth by the Cedar Creek Golf Club. Thrasher started this club about three years ago and it has since become the stepping stone for inmates.
“It’s never something that could actually advance you in life, like golf could actually advance you in life,” Tejuan said. “Just the principles that you apply when you play golf. Then when you apply that to your life, you know, and also just the socialization that you actually get when you go to golf courses.”
Defying the odds of what a golfer should look or act like, many of the 12 within the club have managed to see a different version of themselves when looking in the mirror now. Once plagued with the many different stereotypes due to their backgrounds or tattoos, the sport of golf allows them to feel welcomed and seen in ways they may have forgotten.
“The only way I can say it is I guess it helps with my self-image, my personal thoughts on how I’m actually perceived by the world around me,” Tejuan said. “Like I say, I forget I look like this. I’ve been in certain situations where people don’t want to talk to me. … First impression is everything. So, like, if you never get a chance to talk to me or interact with me and you look at me, I look like something in a zoo. You know, I get that.”
Cedar Creek Correctional Center has laid out the blueprint for sports like golf to be incorporated into an environment where the majority may feel it has no place. Opening the doors again for those who had them shut countless times, is the motivation many may have needed.
