USGA, R&A Considering Letting Juniors Become Logo-Clads, For Expense Money

While junior golfers are now regularly clad in corporate logos, have their own tour reps and even endorse brands on their social media bios, the governing bodies are contemplating letting them take those endorsements to another level.

In Ryan Herrington’s Golf World look at where loosened and reimagined amateur status rules may go, he notes this late in the piece.

Where USGA officials see the most opportunity for potential changes to the amateur rules to have a meaningful impact is if restrictions on accepting money for expenses were to go away. Particularly in the case for junior golfers whose families don’t necessarily have the financial resources to compete beyond a very local basis.

“We just feel like would be a game-changer,” Winter says. “Yeah there would be logos in junior golf, but it would give so many more kids access. And it would in some ways democratize what is a pretty expensive sport by giving young players the ability to not only compete in golf but just experience golf in a more robust way, to really level the playing field.”

While I have little doubt there are cases where this will be true and might do wonders for de-emphasizing privileged upbringings, I would hope some in the sport might question the need to corporatize our youth at increasingly younger ages.