Dan Van Horn–U.S. Kids Golf - a podcast by Tom Brassell

Dan Van Horn at the 2016 European Championship

A true visionary sees a problem and finds a solution.That's exactly what Dan Van Horn did in 1996 when he founded U.S. Kids Golf.  His children wanted to learn to play golf and while they were enthusiastic at first, their interest quickly dropped."They weren't having fun,"Van Horn recalls."At the time, I didn't realize that cutoffs and junior clubs were so heavy; they were not only hurting my kids'swings, but also their desire to play."That's when the former golf professional and engineer began developing Ultralight kids clubs, which were designed to be 25% lighter than adult and most junior clubs, and he formed the company, U.S. Kids Golf. Since then, parents and pros around the world have seen the incredible difference that lightweight and correctly fit clubs have made in their young player's swing and enthusiasm for the game. Today, the company is the world’s leading provider of equipment.

Dan was kind enough to spend some time with us recently, but not specifically about U.S. Kids Golf products.  He shares with us what he and his company are doing to grow the game at the youth level through coaching, tournaments and their foundation.  Not only here in the United States, but around the world.Take a listen below on Soundcloud, on our website or on subscribe free on iTunes.

You'll not only be impressed, but also proud that we have people like Dan taking an interest in our most important asset.  Our youth.

https://soundcloud.com/worldwide-golf-shops/dan-van-horn-of-us-kids-golf-podcast-208Tom Brassell: Welcome to GolfBetter at Worldwide Golf Shops. Episode 208. Hello, everyone. My name is Tom Brassell, thanks so much for joining us. If you're a first-time listener or a long-time subscriber, doesn't matter. We're just glad you joined us today. We have a special guest joining us. He's from up in Atlanta. Actually, he is on the course at Pinehurst today where they're hosting an event. He is the president and CEO of US Kids Golf, up in Atlanta, Georgia, Mr. Dan Van Horn. Dan, thanks so much for joining us. It's great to have you.

Dan Van Horn: Well, thank you, Tom. It's great to invited.

Tom Brassell:  First off, give us just a brief history of your background, how you got started and how this all came about, because this is so, so important to the game.Dan Van Horn: Well, we started 20 years ago. I had kids, I wanted to bring kids a sport that I enjoyed the most playing, which is golf, after having played all the sports myself. I really wanted them to play and enjoy golf. That's how US Kids Golf got started. A dad who was trying to get his kids involved.

Tom Brassell:  Wow. What you're doing is so, so important. I think when I was a kid, I'm not sure how old you are, but the way we started was,"Hey, here's dad's old clubs,"or if you really got lucky, you got some cut down for you. I don't know if this is true or not, but I think there's a direct correlation with how good the young players are today with the equipment that they grew up with. Would that be far off?

Dan Van Horn:  Well, clearly, the idea of providing kids something that would be proportionate to their size was not what we were doing at the time, 20 years ago, it's hard to believe. In other words, we weren't really looking at the length of the club or weight of the club to see if it could be improved to help the young player enjoy the game. As a dad, when it became apparent to me there was a need, then that was the beginning of US Kids Golf, to provide kids with the best equipment to help them learn the game and have fun with it.

Tom Brassell: Well, many on the retail side, we know about what you do with regard to equipment, but there's so much more than that, Dan. I'm looking at your website and you have 4 tabs there. The very last one is products. Before that is coaching and lessons, learning to play in tournaments. Share with us a little about that and what's behind all that.

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