Topgolf’s CEO thinks the sport’s next star could get their start at one of its driving ranges

The world’s eyes this month are glued on soccer pitches across the 16 host cities of the World Cup. Stories of a former electrician-turned-breakout goalkeeper; of a factory worker now star German forward; or even arguably two of the sport’s biggest stars, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, being born into working class families and finding solace in pickup soccer games that led to their stardom status.

Soccer is known as the world’s most unifying sport, allowing anyone to play so long as you have a ball and a wall or people to pass to. Golf, on the other hand, was not normally seen this way: It’s an expensive sport that requires clubs, balls, caddies, and lush greens and a dedicated space on the links. The sheer cost of lost balls alone could bar the common man from picking up golf, but now, five months into the job, that’s something Topgolf CEO David McKillips is trying to change about the sport.

He points to a $5-a-day youth golf program, a pledge to create 10 million new golfers by 2030, and the company’s scale as evidence Topgolf is becoming a real on-ramp into the sport. In fact, McKillips says he wouldn’t be shocked if the sport’s next breakout star first picked up a club at one of the company’s driving ranges instead of a country club.

“I would love to see if there are golfers that started at Topgolf that ultimately would end up on the tour,” McKillips told Fortune. “I think that would be pretty cool.”

“They very well could be,” he said about the next golf superstar. “That’s part of our commitment of 10 million new golfers by 2030, and we’re putting our money where our mouth is.”

There’s a concrete program behind that pledge: Topgolf recently partnered with Youth on Course, a nonprofit that provides golfers 18 and under with subsidized access to the sport, to offer its members and alumni network $5 bay access on Mondays through Thursdays, from 9 a.m. to noon, running from July 1 through Sept. 3. “This is an opportunity for them to come in, practice their game, to be on the........

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