
Love/Hate
The American Junior Golf Experience
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Will be published approx. on 21. May 2026
Book
Hardback
172 pages
978-1-6669-5848-5 (ISBN)
Description
This book offers a critical, interdisciplinary exploration of junior golf in twenty-first century America, positioning it as a rich site for examining broader questions about identity, access, culture, and power within youth sport.
Drawing from sport sociology, cultural studies, and sport management, the authors interrogate how structures of race, class, gender, and institutional governance shape participation in junior golf, while also attending to the lived experiences, aspirations, and pressures that define young athletes' journeys. Beyond this primary focus, the book offers insight into how sport operates as a cultural and material force that reflects-and reproduces-deeply embedded social values. In capturing the contradictions of a sport steeped in tradition yet shaped by contemporary pressures, this book bridges empirical research and critical theory, inviting readers to rethink how we structure, value, and understand youth sport in an increasingly stratified and performance-driven world.
Drawing from sport sociology, cultural studies, and sport management, the authors interrogate how structures of race, class, gender, and institutional governance shape participation in junior golf, while also attending to the lived experiences, aspirations, and pressures that define young athletes' journeys. Beyond this primary focus, the book offers insight into how sport operates as a cultural and material force that reflects-and reproduces-deeply embedded social values. In capturing the contradictions of a sport steeped in tradition yet shaped by contemporary pressures, this book bridges empirical research and critical theory, inviting readers to rethink how we structure, value, and understand youth sport in an increasingly stratified and performance-driven world.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
With dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
503 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-6669-5848-5 (9781666958485)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Marty Clark | Matthew Hawzen | Ryan King-White
Competitive Junior Golf in America
A Physical Cultural Study
E-Book
approx. 08/2026
Bloomsbury Academic
€90.99
Available for download

Marty Clark | Matthew Hawzen | Ryan King-White
Competitive Junior Golf in America
A Physical Cultural Study
E-Book
approx. 08/2026
Bloomsbury Academic
€90.99
Available for download
Persons
Ryan King-White is Associate Professor of Kinesiology at Towson University.
Matthew Hawzen is Assistant Professor of Sport Management at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Marty Clark is Associate Professor at Mount Royal University.
Matthew Hawzen is Assistant Professor of Sport Management at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Marty Clark is Associate Professor at Mount Royal University.
Content
Prelude
Introduction: Why Junior Golf? Why Now?
Chapter 1: Junior Golf in America from the 1890s to World War II
Chapter 2: Modern Junior Golf: From Keynesianism to Neoliberal Late Capitalism
Chapter 3: The Contemporary Junior Golf Experience: An Ethnography
Chapter 4: Digital Takeover: Junior Golf and the Entrepreneur of the Self
Chapter 5: Family, Fatherhood and Raising Junior Golfers
Conclusion
Appendix A: Tournament Typologies and Notes on Access, Observation, and Interpretative Process via Ethnography and Autoethnography
References
Index
About the Authors