Detroiter Joe Hooks Sets Scoring Record in the Youth on Course 100-Hole Hike
While supporting his goal to inspire black youth to play the game
By Tom Lang
Joe Hooks knows full well he doesn’t look like most golfers.
And because he is a black man, he wants to inspire other young kids of color to give golf a try – to allow them access to the great in-roads and personal growth characteristics that golf has generated in his life.
Hooks made that decision in his sophomore year at U-D Jesuit High School, where in a Morality class that had a section on Vocations, he became dedicated to let golf take him as far as it could. That led to playing golf at Wayne State University and eventually turning pro. Today, at age 29, he plays regularly on the APGA Tour, a circuit designed to serve black golfers developing their craft.
He also played this year for the second time in The John Shippen Invitational at Detroit Golf Club, where competitors were going after an exemption into the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Hooks finished the two rounds T5 at 3-under par.
Knowing he wants young kids to give golf a shot, Hooks helps raise money each year in the Youth on Course fundraising event called the 100-Hole Hike – basically a one-day golfing marathon. Youth on Course gives junior golfers a chance to play golf for $5 or less per round at participating courses nationwide. Michigan has a very robust YoC program through the GAM Foundation (https://www.gam.org/?YOC)
“For me, growing up the way I did, being blessed that my dad and mom could provide for me everything I really needed to get to as high of a level player as I could, all through my childhood,” Hooks said about living in Farmington Hills. “So, I had a rare upbringing, being black and winning junior tournaments in Michigan, being able to grow up at Detroit Golf Club and being around celebrities, successful lawyers and businesspeople. To have that as my guiding light, I kind of realized early on the value of what golf was doing for me.
“So, when I thought about the vocation part of it, I realized my calling might very well be to inspire the next generation of players that look like me that are coming along. Maybe I can be one of this generation’s golfers to inspire black kids to want to play golf, who otherwise had no interest in the game.”
Helping fund that opportunity is why Hooks accepted the invitation of a friend in Tennessee to play in their local 100-Mile Hike, when the APGA Tour was nearby in Atlanta. It was June 29, and Hooks said their group was one of five playing the Sweetens Cove Golf Club that day. He said the course management decided to turn it into a little competition.
“They planned to combine the score by the amount of time it took to play the 100 holes,” Hooks told me. “So, our group decided in advance it didn’t make much sense to be out there racing. We knew if we kept playing, we’d finish 100 holes, but that it would do a little disservice by trying to play as fast as possible. That didn’t register with us as well, so we decided to actually play golf.”
Hooks played the marathon day in 44-under par. The scorecards recorded no double bogeys, but rather an albatross (“That was more special to me than a hole-in-one,” he said), three eagles — including a hole in one — four bogeys and 39 birdies. His albatross, an eagle and the hole-in-one – his career third – happened in a 12-hole stretch. Youth on Course hasn’t recorded official scoring records, by the organization believes it's the lowest 100-Hole Hike Day ever.
Hooks’ team did finish the slowest of the five groups, but they placed first in the competition – and we are guessing first in kids’ hearts, too.
