National Gay Golf Association Launched

[TalonRider]

Organizers have launched the Gay Golf Association ("the GGA"), a nationwide network of local golf leagues for the GLBT community and their friends and families. With their website, www.gaygolfassociation.com, as the focal point, the GGA has designed an easy-to-follow format for joining and playing within what amounts to an outdoor social club, whether the user is an expert, a novice, or merely "Golf-Curious."

Bartenders/owners, church leaders, innkeepers, even therapists have the opportunity through the GGA to network and promote their enterprises by joining as Members or becoming local League Captains. The GGA's ambitious and entertaining website offers simple, step-by-step resources for joining or organizing a League. All the tools are there to bring those thirsty players in and beef up a weekday happy hour, raise non-profit funds by galvanizing a group of golfers, or use a League as a platform to teach Zen and the art of golfcart maintanence!

FUN, FOOF, FREE, FORE!

"We've seen individual gay golf leagues here and there across the country," explains co-founder Richard Ray Harris, "but, mostly, they seem to cater to people who already know the game - people in the same social clique who happen to get together. And often, those we've seen are expensive to join. Golf can be a little intimidating - it's had an unfair reputation as being stodgy. So, we wanted to create something that's really accessible, fun and inviting to everyone."

To that end, membership in the Gay Golf Association is free, and one can learn the game in the privacy of her or his own home through the GGA website and newsletters. Members also receive regular updates on new Leagues opening in their area, and national contests and events are in the works. League Captains (who pay nominal fees to organize their Leagues using the GGA's considerable resources) are advised to include and help anyone who wants to be on a team.

IT'S A SCRAMBLE!

The standard GGA League plays a shortened (nine holes) variation of the golf game called a Scramble. For each weekly or biweekly game, players are shuffled into random teams competing against one another, so that players of all backgrounds and levels of experience have the opportunity to mingle and "Win Big Prizes!" Gambling is prohibited, as is excluding a player for any reason other than breaking the rules. "The sandtrap is a great social equalizer," Harris notes.

For more information, visit GayGolfAssociation.com.