Local Golf Organization Looks To Inspire Youth

RALEIGH, NC – Behind every successful organization, there is a passionate leader that drives it in a direction that allows for meaningful change in the world. In the world of golf, there is an organization that is emerging as the premier program promoting youth golf interest that has grown steadily over the past 3 years and is now aligned with the Jr. PGA with a golf tournament attracting celebrities with large cash prizes and helping kids to improve their understanding of the sport.  The Front Back 9 has grown into a jewel for the triangle region, attracting kids from as far as Washington DC to promote golf as a pastime.  As this organization grows, Darryel Washington, the founder, seems to cross his arms, smile, and watch with pride as his eyes witness kids developing a passion for the game that he loves. 

Washington grew up in a Brooklyn neighborhood that knew crime and violence as a way of life.  The neighborhood with the motto, “You either do or you die” rang true for many of its residents.  It was no surprise that when Darryel moved to Raleigh to attend St. Augustine University, he felt as though Raleigh was a paradise compared to the neighborhood he had previously called home.  After graduating in 2003, it was no surprise to anyone that he chose to make his home in North Carolina.  Along his road to becoming a successful financial planner, Washington was invited to hit golf balls in 2009.

From that first swing, Washington was in love with the sport.  He dedicated himself to learning the game and improving it.  By the time he took a breath and looked up, he had discovered that he had a passion for the sport and wanted to use that passion to improve the lives of others.

One day, while playing golf with a friend, he was told about a book that had introduced golf to a group of inner-city kids in Washington DC.  Darryel Washington, upon reading the, decided to take action and develop a golf program geared towards introducing golf to kids from southeast Raleigh.  He began to lay the foundation for The Front & Back 9.   A foundation designed to spread his passion for the game of golf to kids.

Washington started The Front & Back 9 with 40 kids from southeast Raleigh and would take them to nearby Hedingham Golf Club to hit golf balls and begin their passion for the game Washington loved.  Located in southern Raleigh, Darryel Washington began to smile as he watched inner-city kids discover the joy he had obtained from swinging clubs.  After a slight change, the young golf program received its first taste of adversity as the new golf pro decided he did not like the complexion of the kids, most of whom were black, beaming from their newfound love of the sport.  It was then that The Front & Back 9 program was told they were no longer welcome to play on the course close to the young golfers’ homes.  Washington decided to respond to the blatant racism expressed by Hedingham Golf Course with the understanding that they were missing out on an amazing opportunity to promote the sport to a younger audience and began to search for a new course to call home.

It was then that The Front and Back 9 quickly overcame this adversity by moving their program to the Lochmere Golf Course in Cary.  It was at this new location that Washington’s emerging program began to grow through attracting new golfers from an increasingly more diverse membership.  Today,  over one hundred forty young golfers are members as the program has welcomed members from all walks of life.  It seems as though parents all across the triangle are eager to let their child develop a passion through the leadership provided by Washington.  And it is safe to say that the kids and Lochmere Golf Club are reaping the benefits.

Each year, The Annual Font & Back 9 Golf Classic has grown and now attracts celebrities, corporate sponsorship, and large cash prizes.  There is now a waiting list to enter the tournament with eager sponsors scrambling to endorse the program recognized by the Jr. PGA as an emerging jewel in the golf world.  As the tournament grows, it is also promoting entrepreneurship among children by placing businesses owned by youth on each hole to promote the development of marketing skills among the children involved with the program.  One 14-year-old girl has watched her lemonade business, OMG LEMONADE, blossom from a stand on one of the holes in a previous year’s tournament to now being sold in stores today.  It is very clear that every child inherent to this tournament is experiencing growth in ways that far exceed the fairways of a golf course.

Today, when golfers arrive on the green grass of Lochmere Golf Course, the beaming faces of young golfers grace them, as they discover the sport Darryel Washington has found as a life passion.  As Washington stands back to watch the kids feel their lives improved by the development of a passion, he simply smiles as he watches his passion spread to everyone involved with the blossoming program.