Coachella Youth Golf league returns for third year with more players, eight tournaments

Dave Menke knows that the junior golf league he and friend O.D. Vincent started in the desert in 2021 is a long-term project. But Coachella Youth Golf is on its way to filling the void Menke and Vincent saw for desert golfers.

“We’ve got eight events over the summer, every Tuesday and Wednesday,” Menke said. “This is our third year. We are really excited about the growth. We doubled participation last year from our first year.”

The third year of Coachella Youth Golf begins Tuesday with the first day of the two-day event at La Quinta Country Club. With divisions for middle school and high school golfers, CYG is designed as a throwback to a time in the 1990s when desert juniors had more local opportunities to play top courses rather than having to travel out of the area for top-tier completions from the Southern California PGA or the American Junior Golf Association.

“The Desert Junior Golf Association was so successful, but that was 20 years ago now,” Menke said. “A lot of the pros now weren’t around then and don’t know about DGJA and how good it was and how special a program it was.”

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Menke, who is the boys golf coach at Xavier Prep High School and an assistant pro at Thunderbird Country Club, and O.D. Vincent, a former Palm Springs High School star golfer who went on to be a head coach at Division I schools like UCLA, started CYG in the summer of 2021. While only a handful of golfers played that year, that number is growing, Menke said.

“We are on our way, definitely, The word is starting to get out there,” Menke said. “We definitely need more support from the local clubs, the professionals and the schools. The schools is the one place where we really haven’t been able to infiltrate yet.”

The Coachella Youth Golf league is set up as a non-profit and is waiting for approval of its 501 c3 application, which will allow the league to accept donations and sponsorships. But it is already gaining support from sponsors like the junior golf division of golf manufacturer TaylorMade.

“They are giving away, as tee prizes, stuff for the kids,” Menke said. “Each kid gets a dozen balls and a hat or a towel or whatever else TaylorMade is sending us to give to them. We can give the kids each a lunch. We sit down and we have a nice lunch and awards ceremony after the second day.”

Membership in CYG is $75, with each player then paying $95 for an entry fee per tournament. Non-members pay $135 per tournament. Middle school golfers play nine holes each day, while high school golfers play 18 holes each day. If a fourth or fifth grader wants to enter to play against middle schoolers, Menke is fine with that, as he is with middle schoolers playing against the high school players.

"That always includes a cart, so the kids get to ride," Menke said. "They are not walking or having to carry (their own clubs) or anything like that."

For more information, visit coachellayouthgolf.com.

*-An earlier version of this story included an incorrect spelling of Dave Menke's name