The Bangor Municipal Golf Course plans to add a small, four-hole course for youngsters.
The course will be tied to the First Tee Program, which teaches the game to youngsters ages 5-17 and is in its third season at Bangor.
The course is expected to be completed by the end of June.
Beginning on June 22, five different groups of youngsters will receive 1½ to 2 hours of instruction per week at the Bangor course. That will continue throughout the summer.
Bangor Municipal Golf Course assistant golf pro Rob Jarvis said many of the kids will be too young or inexperienced to play either the 18-hole or nine-hole courses.
“The golf course is overwhelming to them,” said Jarvis.
“We love the First Tee Program, but we recognized that if the kids can’t play the game, it’s not nearly as much fun for them,” he said. “In every other sport except hockey, where they have to learn how to skate before they can play, kids get to play the game they are learning.
“We felt we were doing half the job. We wanted our kids to have the opportunity to play the game,” said Jarvis. “Why take lessons if you can’t play?”
“It’s a no-brainer,” said Bangor Municipal Golf Course club pro Brian Enman.
At January’s PGA Merchandise Convention in Orlando, Florida, Jarvis said he talked to a man from Mississippi who built a course similar to the one they are going to construct.
“He told me he has seen a lot of growth in the junior program and family memberships” since they added the course, he said.
The four-hole course is going to be near the old scoreboard and the area where golfers work on their short games.
“It’s going to be on the other side of the cemetery, and the 10th tee and will be behind the seventh green,” said Enman.
It won’t interfere with golfers playing their rounds, he added.
Jarvis said they will probably have a couple of holes that will be 40-50 yards from tee to green and a couple more in the 70- to 80-yard range.
Jarvis, Enman and the Bangor Municipal Golf Course staff will build greens and tee boxes so the golfers can experience the true feel of the game and properly learn the rules and the order of play.
Some will use regular golf balls, and others will use the Almost Golf practice balls that don’t carry as far.
“We’re also hoping to get families out to participate and have a good time,” said Jarvis.
There used to be a four-hole course for youngsters at Bangor Municipal Golf Course, but the addition of the Kelly Nine absorbed that land, according to Jarvis. The Kelly Nine was built in 1988.
Enman and Jarvis believe it will be the only such course in the state.
They added that their golfers are very supportive of youth programs because they know the young golfers will be the future members who will sustain the course.
Jarvis and Enman said several businesses have made donations to help defray the costs including The First (Bank), Hughes Brothers Inc. in Hampden, the Family Dog in Orono and the Greater Bangor Open.