GREENSBORO, N.C. — Studies show more students are reporting mental health issues stemming from the 2020 pandemic. A North Carolina man is on a mission to help young people navigate their mental health, one putt at a time.
"Play the ball where it lies." It’s one of the greatest lessons Robert Jones Black said he learned from his Great Grandfather Bobby Jones. Jones was an American Amateur Golfer known for co-founding the Masters Tournament.
“The game of golf is like the game of life,” Jones said. “You get bad breaks from good shots.; you get good breaks from bad shots, but you have to play the ball where it lies."
Black is now using this famous quote to help address the nation's youth mental health crisis. He recently founded The Generation Next Project. The Generation Next Project is a charity that teaches mental strength for life through the game of golf.
"I was impacted directly through a business partner with this youth mental health crisis," Jones said. “Back during the pandemic, he, unfortunately, lost his 12-year-old son to suicide three days before his 13th birthday. That really opened my eyes to kind of explore what's really going on. What we were seeing was frightening.”
The program provides parents and players with both the knowledge and tools that focus on essential golf and life skills including expectations, fight or flight, shame, and more.
“Our program teaches them intentional thinking,” Jones said. “How to really kind of slow down and think through a process and then self-assessment. Once we show them on the golf course how they can fix that, we take them and say now these exact mental and emotional responses that we are seeing on the golf course exist in real life.”
For example, how conquering nervousness and anxiety caused by first tee jitters can also be used in their daily lives.
“What does that in life?” Jones asked. “Class presentations, public speaking, testing, asking a girl on a date. Anything like that creates that fight-or-flight mentality. It creates that shame and you've got to find a way to work through it."
Improving resilience and self-esteem is what Black said the program is all about.
“We're going to get good breaks,” Jones said. “We're going to get bad breaks. We're going to have good days and bad days, but you've got to keep playing and you've got to play it as is."
The Generation Next Project will have its first program at the Grandover Resort & Spa, a Wyndham Grand Hotel on May 20. Young golfers and their parents will participate in a two-day retreat.