Building leaders through golf, God

“From the first swing with a wooden shaft garage sale club on the school yard playground to rounds played on some of the top golf courses in the world, it has been a learning process that never ends. The same is true of my walk with God.”
With those words, Mark Eberle begins his 283-page workbook that is the cornerstone of a 20-year-old program he created for young people with the focus on combining sports and spirit.
Eberle is the director of golf at Tartan Pines in Enterprise. He is also the founder of Growing Kids Through Golf, a program “designed to teach golf, honesty and integrity.”
The program is currently operating in 18 states and six foreign countries. GKTG is committed to equipping and training adult volunteers to reach out to kids and families in every corner of the world, Eberle said. “Recently I was contacted by a man who runs an orphanage in Uganda who passes by a golf course every day on his way to work,” he added. “He wanted to know how to begin a GKTG program for his orphanage.”
The GKTG program took two and a half years to write, Eberle said. Participants are boys and girls between ages 7 and 17. Currently he is working with the Enterprise Parks and Recreation Department to offer the GKTG program and the Andalusia Recreation Department will soon offer the program. Eberle has also worked with Enterprise First United Methodist Church to offer GKTG. The non-profit organization offers a four-hour training session for volunteer leader/coaches.
“Personally, I would like to see every church offer their youth GKTG,” he said.
“The mission of GKTG is to provide direction for young people in a world that offers multiple choices and challenges,” Eberle said. The first two-thirds of the work book focuses on developing leadership. The last one-third focuses on giving of their time and talent. “Giving back, that’s one of our goals,” Eberle said.
GKTG programs are designed to develop the physical, emotional and spiritual growth of young people, Eberle said, “by developing their skills in a sport that offers life long participation.”
“I’m not trying to create the next Tiger Woods,” he said, adding that he credits Woods with being an inspiration to children. “When Tiger Woods hit the scene,” Eberle said, “our GKTG program in inner city Detroit, Mich., exploded. Tiger Woods made golf cool.”
“The mission of GKTG, in a nutshell, is to provide direction for young people in a world that offers multiple choices and challenges,” Eberle said.
“Golf is a sport of hope,” Eberle said, “providing quality leadership and materials for the purpose of teaching kids that their value and ability to achieve is found within themselves rather than from their circumstances or environment.”
“Through golf, you can get beyond your circumstances,” he said. “My God is a God of opportunity.”