Coach a Driving Force for Youth Golf
Chick Epstein is one of those fortunate people who makes money doing something he enjoys.
For 10 weeks each summer, Epstein hosts the Fairways Golf Camp in the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area. Epstein, a counselor and golf coach at Birmingham High in Van Nuys, uses high school golfers as counselors.
The two-week course for kids ages 6 to 17 covers everything from etiquette to putting, from chipping to driving. The regular cost is $475 for a two-week session, but an early-registration discount is available.
Epstein would not disclose his revenue or income, but says the venture is consistently profitable for him. Business has been so good in recent years, he said, that he’s had to turn students away.
“Thank goodness for Tiger Woods,” he said. “It’s really a popular game now.”
Instruction is given at the golf courses in the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area, with field trips to other area courses during the second week.
Participants are grouped four to a teacher according to ability levels. “It’s amazing. The little kids get good at it,” Epstein said. “They putt well and they chip well.”
Most golf courses offer lessons, but there aren’t similar all-day camps in the area, according to Troy Rodvold of the Family Golf Center, which holds the golf concession at Encino Golf Course.
“The difference is [Epstein] is a teacher,” Rodvold said. “He has the technique, he has a way to motivate children and make them learn. Also, he is a baby-sitter. It’s usually over 100 degrees out here. He’s got to coordinate all the coolers and the lunches for all these kids. He’s got to look out for their well-being.”
A former head football coach at Birmingham High, Epstein started his camp 15 years ago. He originally wanted to start a camp for quarterbacks but then decided there was a bigger demand for a golf camp.
Epstein became partners with longtime friend Saul Rowen, who owns the Cali-Camp Day Camp in Topanga Canyon, to launch the golf camp. Now, the camp has 20 employees.
“It was a beautiful mix” of golf expertise and camp management, said Epstein, who is now the sole owner.
In the early days, Epstein hired golf pros. Today, he looks for students who are good with kids.
“A 6-year-old doesn’t understand velocity,” he said. “You have to say, ‘See how the elephant swings his trunk.’ Not all pros have the patience.”