A golf facility is a unique amenity for a Hope VI area, but Columbia, South Carolina's innovation is a welcome addition to the $26 million Saxon Homes Hope VI project area. With new-found enthusiasm, Donovan Fields, an inner-city Columbia youth, eagerly describes his new golf technique as "you keep your legs (spread) out and your head down."

He easily could have added "…and an eye on the future." A 10 year old girl named Vermeke Briggs visits the driving range weekly as part of a field trip from the W. E. Ritter Center for Early Childhood Development in Columbia. She summed up their field trips and hopes for the future by saying: "we practice putting, chipping the ball and we have to concentrate. We hear about famous golfers like Tiger Woods, who won The Masters, and I want to be like him."

Donovan and Vermeke are among many inner-city black youths who spend at least one day a week at this new inner-city golf range. The City of Columbia dedicated the range earlier this year, and sees its $700,000 investment in the driving range, putting green and clubhouse complex as an investment in the future of the inner-city, and especially the inner-city kids. The city is planning to build a small par-3 golf course adjacent to the driving range so that youngsters and adults can learn more about the game and hone their skills, or even learn to love this ancient sport as so many Americans do.

The golf complex was made possible by the City of Columbia Golf Center, located adjacent to the Saxon Homes public housing complex which is part of the Hope VI project area.