ST. LOUIS — St. Louis could soon get a new golf course thanks to help from the PGA. But it might not be built where you'd expect. There are plans in the works to turn the old Carter Carburetor site at Grand Avenue and Dodier Street into a six-hole par three course with a driving range and practice area.
The non-profit Urban K-Life provides after-school programs for kids in north St. Louis, and instructors there are already teaching about 80 kids the basics of golf with the help of the PGA's REACH program. They say the new course could dramatically expand that program where the focus isn't just lowering golf scores, but raising expectations for kids born into underserved areas of the city.
"What if we had golf teams in St. Louis public schools...and it's free?" ask Urban K-Life's Jerome Harris. "We want to be in a position to impact more kids not only for the name of golf but they're lives, for their futures," says Harris who says the new course could allow the program to expand to "thousands of students."
The Herbert Hoover Boys And Girls Club owns the land and would run the course along with Urban K-Life.
The PGA is currently raising the money to build the course. Construction could be complete as early as the fall of 2019.
