Rez golf
Cronkite News | Jake Goodrick
For the Navajo, rez golf is about community, entertainment, family, sport and health – both physical and mental.
Played among livestock, medicinal plants, sport builds community
By Jake Goodrick
Cronkite News
LOW MOUNTAIN, Ariz.
On a late September morning deep within the Navajo Nation, Larron Badoni practiced his golf swing.
Sun blanketed the plateaus and mesas surrounding the Lowerville Stingers Golf Club – nine holes scattered over a rocky, hilly, shrubby landscape dotted with blue shade structures, weathered carpets and pins flying red and white flags.
It was just about time for the club’s seventh annual Rez Golf Two-Player Scramble to tee off in Low Mountain, population 700.
“Rez golf” is growing in popularity among the Navajo, but few outsiders know of it.
It’s a game unto itself, an innovative sport designed to be played on rugged courses built amid rocks, medicinal plants, and grazing livestock.
On the sprawling, isolated reservation, people play rez golf for reasons – community, entertainment, family, sport and health – both physical and mental.
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