From $5 Rounds to Golf-Mathletes: The Youth on Course Siblings Turning Golf into a Classroom

Bennett Hong heard about Youth on Course from friends. It didn’t take long for that tip to change how often he could play.

At Los Verdes Golf Course, $5 rounds meant Bennett could keep coming back: to practice, to get better, and to fall harder for the game, all without worrying as much about what each round cost. The more he played, the more golf became his own.

That access did more than build a better golfer. It showed Bennett what can happen when a barrier comes down, and it left him wanting to open the same door for other kids.

Where the fairway meets the classroom

As a high school student, Bennett founded Future Fairways, an enrichment program that pairs golf with hands-on math. At workshops hosted by the Boys & Girls Club, kids rotate between putting, chipping and golf-themed math stations. Each completed station earns a stamp on their scorecard, and a full card makes them a certified “golf-mathlete.”

The idea is simple: angles, distance and scoring are already part of every round. Future Fairways brings those concepts off the worksheet and onto the green, where learning feels a lot more like play.

“A lot of the kids we work with struggle with math going in and have never touched a golf club,” Bennett shared. “But we’ve seen how much that changes once it’s delivered in a fun, hands-on format. They get curious, start seeking out the answers themselves and actually want to work through problem-solving.”

For Bennett, that shift is the whole point. The right introduction can turn a subject a kid has written off, or a sport they’ve never tried, into something they want to explore.

Passing it forward

With Bennett now away at college, his sister Audrey is stepping into a bigger role. She has supported Future Fairways from the start, and now she’s bringing her own ideas and helping the program reach more youth organizations.

“Making a difference doesn’t have to start with something big,” Audrey shared. “Sometimes it starts by helping someone else in small ways.”

That’s the story of Future Fairways in a sentence. One affordable round led to a love of the game, and that love became a way to give other kids a chance to learn, play and discover what they’re capable of.

Bennett hasn’t forgotten where it began.

“We would like to say thank you for giving young golfers opportunities that can have an impact far beyond the course,” he said. “Your support made golf more accessible to me, and that experience ultimately inspired us to introduce the game to other young people through Future Fairways.”

It’s what access to golf is meant to do. One opportunity, handed to the right kid, becomes many more.