Boston's Urban Golf Club teaching kids the game and financial lessons
BOSTON - For some, golf is a stress reliever. Others have dreams of becoming good enough to play professionally.
Marcos Baugh has a bigger vision with his Urban Golf Club in Boston - use the game he loves to teach young people lessons that will benefit them far beyond the course. Baugh is the club's founder and CEO.
"I started when I was nine years old in Puerto Rico with my family," Baugh told WBZ-TV. It was his mother who first took him and his brothers to the driving range.
"Next thing you know I hit a good golf shot," he said. "Ever since then, it's just been a constant battle to get better."
But it wasn't enough for Baugh to just be a good golfer. When he went to college, he realized he wanted to do more with his skill.
"You rarely see any Black or Hispanic kids out here, playing golf on their own. So, it really inspired me to do some of the work that I think was missing in Boston," Baugh told WBZ.
Work that gives teens of color access to a game and a network that may have otherwise felt out of reach.
Fourteen-year-old Eliezer Bobabilla said he enjoys the people.
"I like to socialize a lot. Learning to play a new sport, that was fun," he told WBZ.
"My favorite part was probably when we first came over here to Franklin Park," said 15-year-old Alexander Hidalgo.
"I like how I'm able to golf with my friends. And he's a great mentor and coach," 13-year-old Raynel Villar said of Baugh.
"There's so many opportunities, so many doors to be opened," Baugh told WBZ.
He is also equipping them with financial literacy skills, in hopes of helping to bridge the socioeconomic gap in Boston.
"Financial literacy is really a priceless skill to understand, and if we can get more of that in the city, I think it's only going to be better," said Baugh.
It's knowledge they'll get to put into play right away as the teens caddy this summer. So, what will they do with the money they earn?
"Most of it, a lot of it, it's going to my savings," Bobabilla said.
"I want to save most of it. Probably like 90, 80 percent," Villar told WBZ.
"I'm going to buy the stuff I necessarily need and put the rest of it in the bank for the future," Hidalgo said.
A future Baugh hopes he has changed for the better.
"You have to work for what you want, and I think golf is the ultimate challenge, in terms of getting better," Baugh said.
Right now, he is working with kids at The Vine Street Community Center and The Boys and Girls Club of Brockton. He's worked with 10-to-20 kids at a time, but hopes to expand and work with many more.
For more information about The Urban Golf Club, click here.