With his father as teacher, David Norman shook hands with golf at the age of five. The early introduction sparked a lifelong love affair with the game so intense that Norman eventually became executive director of the Virginia State Golf Association.

But what about children whose parents don’t play? How do you guide them onto the links?

That’s the challenge the VSGA Foundation hopes to meet at Independence Golf Club, a new course under construction on a site bordering Chesterfield and Powhatan Counties. Located a few miles southwest of Richmond, the course is the fruition of a 15-year dream. It will promote golf among youth by welcoming youngsters not only from the local area but from across the commonwealth. They’ll be housed in dormitories during instructional summer golf camps and will be able to play on their own Kids’ Course, a nine-hole, par three layout. "Our focus," Norman said, "is on developing new players, especially minority players, who aren’t as broadly represented in golf. This is something Virginia can be really proud of. It’s unique."

The Foundation has raised $14 million of its $18 million goal. Big support has come from the state’s corporate community. Besides the Kids’ Course, Independence Golf Club will offer an 18-hole championship course designed, as was the par-three, by Tom Fazio, whom many consider the game’s finest course architect. Both courses will be open to the public. The fee to play the Kids’ Course will be nominal—a mere $1. Rates for the adult course have not been set. The facility will open in September.

There’s more to golf than swinging and walking around lush greenery. John Crowder, a member of the Foundation’s Development Committee, says that golf has applications to life that young people might find instructive. "Golf by its nature is predominantly amateur, self-policing and has a tradition of following the rules," he says. And even though some 25,000 amateurs play golf in the U.S., there’s a concern that interest will lag. While "golf went crazy" in the 1980s, participation during the 1990s had begun to level off. Now, says Crowder, about a million people take up golf each year and another million leave. "The question is: how do we expose the game of golf to kids in the right way so that they’ll be participants for a lifetime?"

Maybe with places like Independence Golf Club. Its centerpiece will be a 20,000 square-foot, Jeffersonian-style headquarters that will house an education center, clubhouse and the Virginia Golf History Museum and Library. Right and left octagonal wings will provide space for a pro shop, locker facilities and a restaurant. Cottages located at the opposite end of a practice range will be used as dorms for youths and adults attending clinics and camps. Independence will also offer family golf programs and educational programs on golf rules and etiquette. The second floor of the headquarters, designed by Atwood Architects Inc., will house new offices for the VSGA.