Bank of America’s “Golf with Us” program is back for a second year — and the bank has set an aggressive new target: 150,000 enrolled junior golfers by June 15, 2026.
Run in partnership with the nonprofit Youth on Course, the program offers $5 tee times to kids aged 6 to 18 at participating courses nationwide. The first year ended with nearly 100,000 young golfers enrolled across all 50 states. Year two adds new benefits — and a structural change that materially expands access for kids who don’t yet have golf clubs of their own.
What’s New In 2026
The program retains its $5-per-round headline pricing for member juniors, but the 2026 expansion adds three notable benefits:
- $5 simulator rentals at Golf Galaxy and Dick’s House of Sport locations — significant for families in northern states where outdoor golf isn’t available year-round, and for kids in cities where access to a course requires a long drive.
- Free PGA professional lessons at the same retail locations, removing one of the biggest cost barriers for new players.
- Targeted outreach to girls. Year one drew 22,000 girls — many of them first-timers — and the 2026 push aims to grow that figure substantially as part of the broader national effort to close the gender participation gap in golf.
Why This Matters For The Sport
Golf has a long-running youth-pipeline problem. Cost, transport, and the perception that the sport requires expensive equipment have historically pushed it out of reach for kids whose parents didn’t already play. The cost-stack has been the biggest barrier of all: a typical junior round at a mid-tier public course runs $30 to $60 even with junior pricing. Multiply that across a summer of weekly play and the math gets ugly fast.
$5 is a different kind of math. At that price, golf becomes competitive with other youth sports — soccer, baseball, basketball — that have benefited from established cheap-or-free access infrastructure for decades.
How The Program Actually Works
Eligible kids enroll for free through Youth on Course. Once enrolled, they can book $5 tee times at participating courses through the Youth on Course app. The non-profit subsidises the difference between the $5 paid by the junior and the green fee charged by the course. Bank of America funds the bulk of that subsidy, with additional contributions from the network of golf courses (more than 2,400 nationwide as of 2026), donors, and PGA section partners.
The model has been quietly proven by Youth on Course since the early 2010s — what Bank of America’s involvement has done is dramatically expand both the marketing budget and the network of participating retail partners.
What Parents Should Know
Three concrete takeaways:
- Enrollment is genuinely free. No catches. No credit cards. The $5 tee times are paid course-by-course via the app or in person at the pro shop.
- Course participation varies regionally. Coverage is densest in California, Texas, the Carolinas, and the upper Midwest. Smaller markets may have fewer participating courses — the Youth on Course course-finder is the easiest way to check.
- Lessons are limited but real. The free PGA Pro lessons at Golf Galaxy/Dick’s House of Sport are short clinics rather than full one-on-one instruction. They’re an excellent first exposure for absolute beginners.
For Kids Who Already Play
If your child has already taken to the game, the program effectively doubles or triples the volume of golf they can play in a season at no additional cost — the single biggest predictor of skill development at any age. Volume of repetitions matters more than expensive equipment or boutique instruction. Our guides on improving with practice efficiency and on developing course-management awareness apply just as much to a 12-year-old logging twice the rounds as they do to an adult amateur.
The Bigger Picture
The youth golf movement isn’t just Bank of America. PGA Jr. League now serves more than 81,000 kids on team-format leagues across the country, and added a 9-and-under recreational division for 2026. The USGA’s National Development Program, launched in 2023, has now grown to include 30 state junior teams identifying and developing the country’s elite 13-to-18-year-olds. First Tee continues to operate one of the most successful youth golf programs in the country.
None of these programs alone will solve golf’s pipeline problem. Together, layered, they’re the most coordinated youth-development push the sport has mounted in modern memory. For a game that has spent decades worrying about its long-term future, this is genuinely good news. If your kid has shown any interest at all, 2026 is the cheapest year to give them a real shot at finding out whether they like it.
