One year ago, the Golf Course Builders Association of America (GCBAA) Foundation established the Sticks for Kids Excellence Award to recognize the efforts of its Sticks for Kids junior golf programs. The award is meant to honor an outstanding program that has utilized its granted Sticks for Kids program to reach its fullest potential by establishing and growing a junior golf program that serves as an outreach and youth development tool for area youth as well as a means to “grow the game.”
 
At a recent meeting of the GCBAA Foundation Board of Directors, a decision was made to rename the award to the Jim Kirchdorfer Sticks for Kids Excellence Award to honor a gentleman who was instrumental in the founding and growth of the program in its formative years. Jim Kirchdorfer, Sr., ISCO Industries, LLC, now deceased, established one of the first two test locations of the program in 1997 with bags of cut-down golf clubs to be used as loaner sets for children who didn’t have their own, at participating courses in Louisville, Ky.

The two pilot programs, the second located in Omaha, Neb., were the beginning efforts of the GCBAA to introduce golf to member communities as part of its efforts to support the golf industry and youth through golf instruction and golf’s many associated life skills. The program has grown exponentially over the years. A partnership with National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) began in 2006 and served to revitalize the program, hone the focus and give access to municipalities in need of junior golf programming across the United States.
 
Sticks for Kids now numbers 461 locations and has touched the lives of nearly 300,000 children over the course of its history. 
 
Nominations for the 2012 Jim Kirchdorfer Sticks for Kids Excellence Award are being received in the GCBAA Foundation Executive Office. The chosen recipient will be honored at the GCBAA Summer Meeting during its annual GCBAA Award Dinner the evening of Thursday August 16, 2012 at The Renaissance Resort at World Golf Village, Saint Augustine, Fla. Contact the GCBAA Foundation for additional information.