Competitive Junior Golf in America

This book is a must read for students, scholars, and parents who want to understand how the increasingly corporatised and commodified world of junior golf is situated within the sweeping economic, political and cultural orthodoxies of neoliberalism. The authors capture the richness and complexities of competitive junior golf while problematizing the inequalities and consequences embedded within it. Crucially, they offer a sophisticated, historic, contextualisation of junior golf blended with embodied (auto-)ethnographic insights and deeply moving personal reflection to create a fascinating, authoritative and compelling window into contemporary debates about the reproduction of societal privilege, inequity and power. These insights challenge the reader to grapple with the profound social consequences of a junior golf system that, at one and the same time, promises meaningful social development whilst reinforcing persistent exclusionary barriers within the broader systems and power structures that shape contemporary America. In this sense, the book is so much more than a book about golf; it provides a window through which to view broader struggles over the classed, gendered and raced consequences of neoliberalism, provides insight into how young golfers need to invest in themselves to become valorised and productive neoliberal citizens, and, imagines alternative systems that prioritise equity and inclusion. -- Michael Silk, Bournemouth University, UK