When Adam Betz walked through the grocery store with his infant daughter Riley in his arms, watching other young families navigate the aisles, he had an epiphany. "I said to my wife, Melissa, I want every young family in the community to know and think about Family Golf and Learning Center when they are ready to introduce golf to their kiddos. Even before they are ready to hold a club," he recalled.
That moment crystallized everything Adam has built at Family Golf and Learning Center in Kirkwood - a revolutionary approach to making golf accessible to families of all backgrounds and skill levels.
It's a mission that earned him the Youth Player Development Award from the Gateway PGA, but more importantly, it's changing how families experience the sport.
Connect with the Ball
Adam recalled being seven years old and tagging along with his dad to a golf course. While the adults played the main course, Adam and the other kids learned how to play on a nine-hole course under the guidance of PGA professionals.
"I can still remember my first shot," Adam said. "I hit the ball and watched it fly. I said, 'Woah. That was fun.' I was immediately hooked. A short time after that, I told my mom I wanted to be a golf professional, and I never turned back. I credit my parents for allowing me to play various sports to figure out what I enjoyed most, and golf certainly won in that regard."
That early connection with the game of golf became a lifelong journey that included college opportunities, world travel, experiences in national tournaments, and countless meaningful relationships. "Almost every one of my relationships has some connection to golf," Adam said.
The Mulligan
After college, Adam pursued a career in professional golf for five years, competing on mini-tours in South Florida. After coming close to qualifying for the PGA Tour in 2008, Adam moved back to St. Louis. "I was kind of broken, like a puppy dog with its tail between its legs. Like, I failed. I didn't make it," Adam said.
But what seemed like failure became the foundation for something greater. During his seven years as a Golf Pro at Meadowbrook Country Club, Adam became a PGA Professional. He immersed himself in every aspect of the golf industry, including merchandising, retail management, tournament operations, and course management. Most importantly, he discovered his gift and love for teaching.
"I was running the entire player development program and managing about 60 junior golfers," Adam said. "I noticed something interesting about those kids; nearly half were grandchildren of club members. I began to think to myself, 'Where would these kids go if Grandma and Grandpa weren't members?' There was no program for kids to discover golf if they weren't connected to a county club."
Driven by Vision
After a life-changing health scare in 2017, Adam knew it was time to take a leap.
"I was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease, and the doctors were convinced it was cancer; that's when I realized how short life could be," Adam recalled. "At that point, I decided to do something more with my passion and try to make a bigger impact with my life; for me, that meant creating a space where golf could be shared with the entire community."
Turning the Course Around
Before Family Golf and Learning Center became the top-ranked public golf facility it is today, it was, in Adam's own words, "a very dilapidated, rundown, under-managed property." But where others saw weeds and worn turf, Adam saw the best place to develop his vision.
Adam had a chance encounter with Stan Shaver, the former owner of Family Golf. When Stan mentioned he was selling Family Golf, Adam immediately became interested in purchasing the property.
Adam first recruited RJ Villafuerte, a former golf professional at Old Hickory and Meadowbrook Country Clubs, to become the General Manager of Family Golf and Learning Center. Adam remembered the first time RJ drove onto the property. "RJ looked at the property and said, 'What is Adam thinking? This place is a dump.'" Adam laughed. "I just kept telling him, 'This is what St. Louis needs, trust me.'"
"The reason why Family Golf made sense more than any other property I looked at is that the nine-hole golf course was perfect for learning and family golf. It fit my vision to create a first-class practice facility with all the resources for a golfer to reach their goals," Adam said.
Adam bought the property in 2018 and began the extensive renovation. The entire facility underwent an upgrade, including a brand-new building featuring state-of-the-art training and indoor practice spaces, which opened in December 2020.
Building a Family at Family Golf
After Adam had established his core team with RJ and Blake Sharamitaro, PGA Teaching Professional and Director of Golf, also a Gateway PGA Teacher and Coach of the Year, as well as a recipient of the Youth Player Development and Player Development Awards, they began searching for golf instructors.
"We wanted to create a place that was positive, encouraging, and fun," Adam said. "Whether someone's picking up a club for the first time or aiming for a college scholarship, we're here to help them reach their potential." The instructors — nine in total, including two women — teach "the Family Golf way," a well-rounded approach built on camaraderie, encouragement, and continuous improvement and learning.
One of the instructors to join the Family Golf team was Melissa, a fellow golf professional and now Adam's wife. Their love story, in true Family Golf fashion, began with golf.
Melissa recalled joining the team at Family Golf and Learning Center (FGLC). "I was happy working and teaching golf at Old Hickory Golf Club. RJ invited me to interview for an assistant professional position at FGLC. I recognized the significant potential of FGLC for the St. Louis community, and I was excited about the unprecedented opportunity to shape the learning environment from the ground up." What she didn't expect was to fall in love with and marry Adam. A little over a year ago, Adam and Melissa welcomed their baby girl, Riley Jo, into their family. "Family Golf and Learning Center was the foundation for my family," Adam said.
More Than a Game
While Family Golf and Learning Center has been recognized continually for the past seven years as one of the Top 50 Stand Alone Ranges in the country by the Golf Range Association of America, Adam was quick to note that this isn't a place you just hit a bucket of balls and leave.
"We want to create the type of community experience found at private clubs. We have music on the patio where you can hang out with a friend and grab a drink from our bar. We have leagues for couples, ladies, families, and indoor Trackman Simulators," Adam said. Most importantly, Adam and his staff have built FGLC's PGA Junior League into one of the largest in the country.
The Junior League programming is structured using a team format that emphasizes cooperation over individual achievement. Birdie Bandits begin around age four or five, then advance through clinics, leagues, and even competitive training as they grow. "If your kid has never picked up a club — or if you're not sure which hand they'll swing with — Family Golf will help you figure it out together," Melissa said.
"We're developing players from first swing to college recruitment," Adam said. "But our real goal is to help every golfer reach their personal best, whatever that looks like."
He added, "There's no pressure to be great right away. Some of the best golfers don't shine until they're teenagers or adults. Our message to parents is: just expose your kids to golf and see if there's interest. Golf is a journey; oftentimes, the best golfers in this game are the late bloomers."
"Even if your child never goes pro, the game teaches valuable life skills: patience, resilience, integrity, and self-management," said Adam. "And it's a game they can play for the rest of their lives. It's one sport where mom, dad, the 10-year-old, and the eight-year-old are all out there together."
A Hole in One
The facility actively works to eliminate the barriers that keep families away from the sport: cost, time, and intimidation factor among them.
"Cost is the number one barrier in this game. Time is another big deterrent," Adam explained. FGLC's nine-hole course can be played in about an hour, and driving range sessions take even less time. They offer complete junior starter sets for under $150, individual clubs for $30, and even loaner clubs for families just testing the waters.
The dress code barriers are gone, too. "Families that are members of clubs come here saying, 'Our kid didn't want to put on a collared shirt. He wants to come to Family Golf because he can wear his hat backward and wear his athletic shorts,'" Adam noted. "We're making golf fun for the whole family."
When renowned instructor Stan Utley visited, he praised it as the most impressive public facility he'd ever seen.
The results speak for themselves. Over 600 people walk through the doors of Family Golf on a typical summer day.
"It's really cool to see a vision come to life and actually work out like you thought it might," Adam smiled. "Oftentimes in life, that's not how things work. You might think it will go one way, and it goes a totally different way. I've been lucky. Golf has always been the thing I've centered my life around. It has given me so much. It's fun to share my love for the game and allow the community to enjoy it as much as I have."