Free golf lessons for kids offered Saturday in Dallas to get more minorities involved in the sport

DALLAS - On Saturday in Pleasant Grove, there will be free golf lessons by two of North Texas' best instructors for children and teens.

The community event will be used to spark interest in a game that for different reasons hasn't caught on among many minorities.

Those putting the event on see it as driving for equity in the game of golf.

"I feel like this is a great sport," teen golfer Joshua Puga said.

Puga has been playing golf for nine years, and through First Tee, an international youth development organization that introduces young people to the game, he has been certified as an ace.

There are only ten of those in North Texas.

[REPORTER: "What's the secret to having a great golf game?"]

"It's not really a secret moreover, just, you put your mind in to it," Puga responded.

"We want to spark the interest of getting more people involved and more kids involved in to the sport and give access to the sport of golf," Chandler Gadis said.

Gadis operates Chandler School of Golf and is the director and regional outreach manager of First Tee of Greater Dallas, teaching golf to kids in 17 school districts.

"We teach golf in P.E. programs," Gadis said. "113,000 kids in the DFW. That’s how many kids we reach."

Gadis himself briefly played at the pro level, and is now working to develop people of color swinging the clubs with the help of Lee Carter, who toured five times with the PGA, and Allied Golf Management.

"What we want to do is make sure that we have representation on the PGA Tour to change the racial makeup and the racial fabric of the PGA Tour," he explained.

During the 80s, there were eight Black men on the tour then, and the numbers are about the same now 

"We want to make a level playing field for minorities and people of all colors," Carter said.

They are doing that by offering golf lessons at reduced prices.

Even if it rains, they'll be at the First Tee of Greater Dallas Saturday. The event starts at 2 p.m.

There will be free golf lessons, food trucks from black owned restaurants will be out there, and much more as they introduce the game of golf to a new generation.