Notah Begay brings his success story to Native American youth at golf clinic
Notah Begay III played golf on an NCAA men’s championship team at Stanford, won four times on the PGA Tour and is now an analyst for golf broadcasts on NBC and Golf Channel.
But never far from his thoughts are his memories of being a Native American child who fought his way to his current success because of golf. That’s why Begay holds youth golf clinics whenever and wherever he can, like the clinic he held Tuesday at Coachella Crossroads in Coachella.
“If I can come here as someone who is from these communities, who grew up on welfare, who grew up on government-issued clothing and food, I want to be able to use that story,” said Begay, who will play in the PGA Tour Champions Galleri Classic this week.
The clinic, in conjunction with the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians, the Galleri Classic and the First Tee of the Coachella Valley, was conducted on the grass field of Coachella Crossroads near the Spotlight 29 Casino. The Twenty-Nine Palms Band worked to give the clinic a golf feel, mowing in a putting green and four target greens on a driving range built especially for the Begay clinic. Each of the target greens even had its own bunker.
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“The community and the youth, our chairman (Darrell Mike) holds them straight to his heart,” said Jose Garcia, vice president of marketing for the Twenty-Nine Palms Band. “He wants to make sure that especially the youth have all the opportunities they can. So when they came to us with this idea, Notah Begay, we wanted to make sure that it was the best for all the Native youth around.”
Begay began the clinic for about 20 youths and their families with his own story of growing up on a reservation, of falling in love with golf, of turning in empty cans for money to afford the $2.50 needed to hit a large bucket of balls on the weekends at a local driving range. A job at a local golf course in exchange for being able to practice was the first step for Begay in becoming at age 17 the No. 1 junior golfer in the country and landing a full-ride scholarship to Stanford.
Successful career
At Stanford, Begay played on an NCAA championship team as a junior and was a teammate of Tiger Woods when Woods was a freshman and Begay was a senior. More importantly, Begay earned a degree in economics from the university.
But Begay never forgot his Native American roots, and he urged the youths at the clinic to hold onto their Native American identities and traditions while moving forward in life.
“I want them to believe it is possible,” Begay said of his path out of reservation life. “If you can’t envision it yourself, then it is hard to achieve it or pursue it.”
Greg Nicholas, chief administrative officer for the Twenty-Nine Palms Band, said tribe officials are delighted to work with Begay and the Galleri Classic, for which Spotlight 29 Casino is the new presenting sponsor.
“It was a wonderful gesture and just kind of shows the kind of person he is,” Nicholas said. “Our team here, it really shows you the care and the love for what they wanted to do. The chairman gives us direction and we like to make him look good. We’ve done that here, I hope.”
While the clinic was important, so is Begay’s debut in the Galleri Classic. Begay didn’t play in the inaugural Galleri Classic last year because he didn’t turn 50 until last September, making him a senior rookie in 2024.
“It was fun. It was different, because at this level, when you are a rookie, you have the youth advantage, where as in other sports if you are a rookie you are at a disadvantage,” Begay laughed about his early months on the senior tour. “You move a little better or you maybe are not in as much pain as your contemporaries.”
Begay continues to split time between his television work and the PGA Tour Champions, but he is a fan of what the senior tour offers players and fans.
“This whole thing has been wonderful, PGA Tour Champions,” Begay said. “It's a great place. For a lot of people it’s great nostalgia. To see Vijay (Singh) and Ernie (Els), to go out and watch them, and there are not 8 million people out there. You can see everything. And they can still play.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: NBC Sports' Notah Begay brings his success story to Native American youth
