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Michael McDermott and Cole Berman, both former Philadelphia Amateur champions, had individually pondered the idea of bridging the gap between the older and younger generations in golf.
The pair, who played an epic match in the 2016 Philly Am Round of 16, fondly remember being strengthened for life with advice while on the court with older players. A post-COVID conversation on the Merion Golf Club practice range made the idea a reality.
In 2021, driven by what McDermott calls Berman “the doer,” the duo founded the GolfBridge Society, a nonprofit mentoring program for junior players in the Philadelphia area.
“How can we create an organization for the current generation of junior golfers that takes the happiness and circumstances out of it?” said Berman, 29, a two-time All-Big East player at Georgetown who won the 2015 Philly Amateur.
The program, free to any junior golfer who registers, is held on a summer/fall afternoon at golf courses in the Philadelphia area for golf, food and a little wisdom from the mentors. Three juniors play with one mentor per event. After golf, while the children eat and listen, the mentors talk.
“That 30-minute mentoring session of ‘if I knew then what I know now’ is very powerful,” says McDermott, principal/CEO of Kathmere Capital Management. He emphasized the impact of the messages not only on the children, but also on the parents and mentors.
McDermott’s business success has led to a small wealth of golf club memberships, including Augusta National Golf Club, Merion, Aronimink and Pine Valley. Through its network, GolfBridge Society members have been treated to videos on leadership and the lives of Hall of Famers Peyton Manning, Gary Player and Andy Roddick, ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt and decorated amateur Stewart Hagestad, among others.
The themes and topics also range from time management to college recruitment.
Starting with 24 players in 2021, the GolfBridge Society now has 70 players and 75 mentors, essentially subsidizing the program with their donations.
“The biggest driver is word of mouth,” said Berman, an investor at Susquehanna Growth Equity and from 2019 to 2222 the boys’ golf coach at the Haverford School, his alma mater. “The children are talking and so are the parents.”
By the way, almost all players have at least one piece of headgear with the GolfBridge Society logo proudly displayed.
The program is designed to improve the interactions junior golfers have on the course with older people, but not for short game tips.
“Golf is almost a superpower for a young kid,” said McDermott, 50, a five-time Golf Association of Philadelphia Player of the Year with three Philly Amateur titles to his name. “It puts a 16-year-old kid in front of so many different types of people.
“We teach all the soft skills that you don’t learn in school, and that you might not want to hear from your parents,” McDermott added. “If it comes from an experienced corporate golfer, it might sound like a better idea.”
McDermott and Berman said golf is just an excuse to get everyone together.
Due to the popularity of the program, they created an online curriculum called the GolfBridge Academy, which is a weekly 20-minute Google Classroom session, open to members and parents, that focuses on their seven principles for success and relies on teachable moments pulled from YouTube, as well as messages from the co-founders and mentors.
“We started it this year because we had too many kids for too few golf spots and more messages than we could get across in one day,” said McDermott, who played collegiately at St. Joseph’s University.
Berman, a member of the Philadelphia Cricket Club, said their “team” is made up of local golf attorneys and helps with much of the necessary administrative work and details.
Heavily involved in the work of the GolfBridge Society is GAP’s tournament director Chris Roselle, who Berman describes as “Philadelphia junior golf”; Jackie Rogowicz, a standout player in her career at Penn State who recruits both young female players and female mentors through her work as an investment analyst; Trey Runkle, who runs a popular Instagram account called Outside the Cut; and Rob Powellson, CEO of the National Association of Water Companies.
The program is maturing as its first members graduate. McDermott, an inveterate writer of thank-you cards (“It’s like a magic trick,” he says) said the first class sends letters thanking the association for lessons well learned and applied to personal success.
The GolfBridge Society, although a lean organization, is well in the red thanks to the contributions of mentors and hopes to provide an open-ended grant this year.
And the golf world is taking notice, as the program has received inquiries from a handful of other regions.
“We’re not in franchise mode, but it should happen,” McDermott said. “There’s no reason this doesn’t exist outside of the Philadelphia region.”
Berman and McDermott are committed to continuing to bring golf back through the GolfBridge Society.
“We’ve tried to reach this as broadly as possible across First Tee, private and public schools and use it as a melting pot,” McDermott said. “All these kids from different circumstances can become friends through this program.”
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