El Camino College students can now ace a class with a hole-in-one since the college brought golf classes back.

The El Camino athletics department opened a golf class in the 2024 spring semester, seven years since it was last offered.

The class is at the Alondra Park Golf Course, an 18-hole regulation golf course located beside campus.

“Golf is one of the most expensive sports if you want to play, you gotta buy clubs, you got to have shoes and green fees,” Dean of Health Sciences and Athletics Russell Serr said. “This class is really good for people who would never be able to afford golf because we have clubs that we loan the students and then the green fees, [the golf course] only charges them $4.”

The athletics department loans out a set of golf clubs and a bag to students who don’t have them.

“Granted, they’re not something that a pro would use, but they’re great for a beginner,” Serr said.

The students can check the golf clubs out and use them for the semester, including golf balls that are also expensive, Serr said.

“It’s a great opportunity for people who normally either couldn’t afford it, or someone who may be like, ‘Wow, I’m really interested in golf, but I can’t afford golf lessons’,” Serr said. “Can you imagine how much a lesson is? Probably very expensive.”

Under the agreement between the college and the Alondra Park Golf Course that the Board of Trustees ratified at its Feb. 21 meeting, students will pay a discounted weekly green user fee for the 3-par, nine-hole short course.

This is a $12.50 discount from the golf course’s published rate. A green fee is the amount paid to play on a golf course.

Student-athletes from the El Camino Golf team will pay $5 for the use of the regulation course. Both the team and the class will get a 50% discount on the E-keys that dispense the golf balls.

The contract needed ratification because the golf course changed ownership last year and “there was a delay in receiving the contract and certification of insurance from the golf course,” according to the Board of Trustees meeting agenda.

Board of Trustees Vice President Katherine Steinbroner Maschler did not vote during the approval of contracts for both golf and badminton.

Maschler said she excused herself from voting and left the room during deliberation because she is currently taking the golf class at El Camino.

“Because I was at that point taking a golf class, I felt it was not appropriate for me to be voting on the acceptance of the contract for Alondra Park Golf Course. So I excused myself for that,” Maschler said.

She said she also didn’t vote on the contract for Manhattan Beach Badminton Club to host the college’s badminton team matches.

“I have family that are members there and have been very involved with that for 50 years. So I felt it was best for me to excuse myself since there was a family connection,” Maschler said.

Maschler, who’s “over 65 but not much over” and lives three minutes away from the course, said she’s been looking for a class to take since she became a trustee in 2021. She said it made sense to her to take the golf class because it’s a low-impact type of exercise with a lot of walking.

“So I thought for me, at my age, that would be a good thing for me to do. And so I’ve never played golf…as learning a new skill, which is very good for the brain. So I thought it just was a plus-plus, win-win situation,” Maschler said.

Serr said only 20 students are accepted in the golf class and the college is planning on having a class every semester.

“We probably could have more sections if the golf course would allow us but when we’re playing, they’re not making the money that they usually would,” Serr said.

Kirsten Green who teaches the golf class said there was a waitlist for the class because “it’s the first time that it’s been taught in a while.”

“We have some kids on the waiting list. I should say ‘students’ and not ‘kids’ because I’ve got an 18-year-old all the way to a 60-year-old in class. So that’s kind of a fun, fun range of people,” she said.

Green said the college put a limit on the number of students for the class.

“I believe they put a cap at 20 or maybe even 20 to 22 on this class,” Green said. “And then I was able to add if other students wanted to add, so yes, there was a waitlist.”

Green said she wanted to get a feel for how many students she could properly teach in the current setting and how many the golf course could accommodate.

“I definitely had a few students that are going to try to get it next term because I wasn’t sure on numbers and I think we could go easily to 25 or 27,” Green said.

Golf student and business administration major Paige Hamilton, 20, said she easily got into the class because she has priority registration.

“I’m part of the Honors Transfer Program, so I personally didn’t have to get off the waitlist. I just got a spot in the class,” Hamilton said.

Tyler Kawasaki, assistant general manager of Alondra Park Golf Course, said the cost of hosting El Camino’s golf class is very minimal.

“I mean, it’s not like like they’re paying the junior rate, just $4, so it doesn’t hurt,” he said.

Kawasaki said they’re not making any money from hosting the class, but will continue to host the class beyond this semester, as its value lies in getting new golfers to play the game.

“So if they can come back on their own and they bring their families and all that, they get into golf and all that stuff,” he said. “So I think you know, as long as you get new golfers, it’s like a lifetime sport.”