In recent years, the number of junior golfers has skyrocketed throughout the United States. Data from the National Golf Foundation reported that from 2019 to 2022, the number of on-course junior golfers had grown 36 percent, which amounts to about 900,000 new players.
The growth has not stopped with the increase in players. The highest levels of junior golf are being increasingly professionalized as well, accelerated by the emergence of name, image and likeness, known as NIL, deals. Many of the top players have agents, agreements with golf equipment companies, apparel sponsorships and outsized social-media followings.
Take Miles Russell, who one day after his 15th birthday in November 2023 made history as the youngest Rolex Junior Player of the Year. Now, having just turned 16, he holds sponsorship deals with Nike, TaylorMade and Transcend Capital Advisors. Russell has more than 96,000 followers on Instagram and is such a popular figure that the PGA Tour’s Rocket Mortgage Classic gave him a sponsor’s exemption in July. Part of his appeal is that Russell became the youngest golfer in the history of the PGA Tour’s top developmental tour to make a 36-hole cut when he tied for 20th at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Lecom Suncoast Classic in April.
On the girls’ side, the current Rolex Junior No. 1 is Gianna Clemente. Like Russell, she has a strong social-media following and generous endorsement deals that dwarf those of many professional golfers. Her 13,000-plus followers on Instagram see her represent Amundi and Titleist, and she recently was featured in a FootJoy advertisement that was promoted on Instagram.
Equipment manufacturers Callaway, Ping, TaylorMade and Titleist have expanded their sponsorship programs for juniors in recent years as they see the potential for early investments in players in middle or high school.
Callaway supported Rose Zhang as its first junior golfer in 2016, when she was 13, and signed her to an NIL deal when she was in college at Stanford. It has paid off for the Carlsbad, California-based manufacturer as Zhang won twice in 12 months on the LPGA Tour after turning pro in mid-2023, and her brand has become synonymous with Callaway’s. Since first working with Zhang, Callaway has formalized its Callaway Next program, which sponsors and supports juniors and collegians around the world.
Mike Sposa, a former PGA Tour player, leads Callaway Next and knows how important the program is to the company’s long-term success on the pro tours. Once players reach the major tours, they are less likely to switch equipment brands, and Callaway does not want to be caught behind the curve.
“That’s why we have to be in the bag at a young age,” Sposa said. “We want them to know that we’re in this for the long haul. We’re going to do everything that we can, as long as you’re showing commitment and dedication to making [professional golf] your career.”
Callaway has seen more than 700 players through its Callaway Next program in six-plus years of existence, and counts the likes of Zhang, Sam Burns and Akshay Bhatia as alumni. As their investment has grown, so have the services. It’s not just clubs and balls anymore.
Callaway provides junior golfers with biometric training, social-media consulting and analytics dashboards. Juniors also receive fitness tips and instruction, plus custom fitting to eliminate any gaps in the bag.
It’s a lot of investment, especially for kids who may not be old enough to drive, but it is a requirement as companies want to have their seat at the table when a player establishes his or her support team upon turning professional.
A strong relationship with parents sets up agents and companies for success when the player takes control of his or her decisions.
Few juniors will see a financial windfall for their endorsements, with the ceiling for the top two – Russell and Callaway-sponsored Blades Brown, the AJGA’s No. 1-ranked boy – being around $50,000, sources told GGP, and everyone else well below or not receiving direct financial compensation at all.
For top juniors and their families, the process can be daunting. It also can challenge their agents, many of whom are still learning to navigate this new world for junior golfers.
Much like the equipment companies, agents consider their potential returns in junior golfers delayed; they’re banking on the kids whom they represent to succeed as pros, but it might be a decade or so down the road. Outside of the top players, junior tournaments offer little exposure, so player-agent relationships are mostly about building trust between agents and families while creating a plan for the junior to follow while working toward professional goals.
A top golf agent who spoke on the condition of anonymity mentioned that the explosion of the market for junior golfers has caused some disconnects between families and companies.
“Parents and junior golfers don’t understand what the market really is, and they don’t realize that the dollars that they think they’re worth is oftentimes more than what a player on the Korn Ferry Tour is worth, in their mind,” the agent said. “When you hear these high numbers from other athletes and other sports, that doesn’t translate the same into golf.”
Even if parents might have incomplete information, they are crucial, as they are the ones who often make the final decisions for the junior golfers. A strong relationship with parents sets up agents and companies for success when the player takes control of his or her decisions.
These developments are still so early that a market correction could come in the next few years, as agents, companies and juniors figure out what works best for their bottom lines. Regardless, though, these NIL deals and agent-junior relationships are here to stay. These early partnerships lay the groundwork for the legacy that brands are attempting to build with players.
“Without having this Callaway Next group in place, you can’t tell that story,” Sposa said. “You [would] really just start when they turn professional because you pay them a bunch of money. We want to be able to tell that loyalty story and explain how much of a family this really is.”
Patterson worked as a communications intern for the AJGA in early 2024.