GOLF CAN BE FUN--REALLY: The sport doesn't have to be a good walk spoiled, an innovative golf pro is proving with Operation 36.

• Date: 01 November 2022
• Author: King, Brad

Ryan Dailey has nightmarish memories of his first time on a golf course. "It was so frustrating," he recalls about his round at Ray Brook Golf Club in upstate New York. "I lost so many golf balls and shot 130 the first time I played. I don't know why I continued."

He not only continued, he became a PGA Class A Professional and a full-time faculty member at Campbell University, where he was assistant director of the business schools golf management program. After teaching courses, Dailey gave lessons at Campbells home course, Keith Hills Golf Club in Buies Creek. While there, he contemplated ways to increase participation on the golf course by making it fun to learn the game. He concluded that a holistic, trackable method should start with families, particularly junior golfers.

In 2011, after trying several...