U.S. JUNIOR AMATEUR

USNDP Grant Impact Already Being Felt at This Week’s Junior Am

By Danny Vohden, USGA

| Jul 23, 2024 | Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

USNDP Grant Impact Already Being Felt at This Week’s Junior Am

If you ask Josiah Hakala, he’ll tell you the goal has been clear since his dad introduced him to golf shortly after he learned how to walk. 

“I want to play on the PGA Tour and I want to play for majors,” Hakala said. “That’s what I want to do, that’s why I play the game.”

Getting there, as it is for every junior golfer, is where it gets more complicated for the 17-year-old, who’s competing this week for the first time in the 76th U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at historic Oakland Hills Country Club.

A native of New Ipswich, N.H.,– a town with a population of just over 5,000 and located about an hour southwest of Manchester – Hakala has already built an impressive junior golf résumé, punctuated by winning the PGA Boys High School Golf National Invitational championship earlier this month. Besting a field of more than 300 golfers from around the country, Hakala set the tournament record with a three-day total of 14-under-par.

“It was probably my biggest accomplishment in golf so far,” said Hakala. “I had a really good week at an incredible place. It’s nice to see my hard work pay off and get in the winner’s circle.”

Josiah hits tee shot

Josiah is using this week's U.S. Junior Amateur as an opportunity to build his résumé in the golf world. (Logan Whitton/USGA)

Recent winners have come from states like Georgia, Virginia and Arizona. The opportunity for a junior golfer from a small town in New England to prove his game is as good as anyone’s in the country is a fitting microcosm for what the U.S. National Development Program’s (USNDP) grant program is looking to accomplish. 

Launched last year, the program aims to mitigate barriers of cost to promising junior golfers who demonstrate both financial need and the potential to progress through the USNDP pathway. The reimbursement-based funding can be used towards actual and incurred golf and athlete development-related expenses, such as practice/green fees, competitive tournament fees, tournament travel, coach fees and equipment.

For Hakala, a 2024 grant recipient, it’s already proven to be a critical part of his success.

“It’s meant a lot and been a blessing for me and my family,” said Hakala. “I’ve gotten myself into bigger tournaments because of it, including the PGA Boys National Championship, and it’s going to help continue to do that moving forward.”

“It’s expensive to travel and play at the highest level. It’s been invaluable in helping me develop my game and get me onto bigger stages that I normally wouldn’t be able to play on because of the cost. It’s opening more doors for me.”

Those new opportunities have helped put Hakala in position to potentially become the first junior golfer to capture both the National High School Golf Invitational and Junior Amateur in the same career, let alone the same summer. 

For Hakala, though, the approach that got him to this point remains the same.

“It’s the biggest junior championship you can get yourself into,” Hakala said of the U.S. Junior Amateur. “But at the end of the day, you realize it’s still just golf. My game feels really good, and I feel like I have a really good chance to compete and try to get a win.”

The U.S. National Development Program and its grant program is supported by philanthropic giving and secured resources to fulfill the USGA’s commitment to providing pathways to elite levels of the game, regardless of financial considerations. For more information, visit usga.org/give_usndp.

Danny Vohden is the USGA’s assistant director, content. Email him at dvohden@usga.org.