Welcome! Where are you, you ask. I call this Weekend 9. Think of it as a place to warm up for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We will have thoughts. We will have tips. We’ll have tweets. But only nine in all, though sometimes perhaps more and sometimes perhaps less. As for who I am? The paragraphs below tell part of the story. I can be reached at nick.piastowski@golf.com.
Why do you want to write this story?
A great question. And one that I usually have no trouble answering since you go to places where you have at least some understanding of what’s going to happen. The Masters for example? Because they are the Masters. Easy enough. Everyone gets that. But this time, as I stood before a dozen prisoners and a chief inspector in their prison, I paused. I had encouraged the question – I simply asked: what do you want to know about me? And the question in the above paragraph was the first one I got.
To take a step back for a moment, a story was published this week on GOLF.com with the headline: ‘I Never Thought I’d Play Golf, Let Alone in Prison’: Here’s Golf Offering a Second Chance.” In one sentence, the story is about how a Washington state prison uses golf as a means of rehabilitation – but it would take me a few paragraphs to fully explain what that all means. You may be wondering:
What does that look like?
How did it start?
Should prisoners be allowed to play golf in prison at all? Should they be rehabilitated? Or should they be punished?
And why is this being written?
That took a while for me to answer. I wanted to say the right words. This was my chance to connect, I thought. That I wasn’t there to get a story. That I was there to share it.
I remember saying this at the time:
“Because you all play golf too.”
And that happened over the course of a few days, and GOLF.com videographer Darren Riehl and I were invited in. Cedar Creek Golf Club played on its home field – an old softball diamond at the Cedar Creek Corrections Center – where pitch shots were taken and some drives were placed over a 15-foot-high fence lined with razor wire. And CCGC also played their first ever ‘real’ round, on a day out to The Home Course in Washington. Sometimes they wanted to see us hit too, and we did that – and we were laughed at, and we talked to them. (More about that later.)
That’s all golf, right?
And since that’s the case, there’s a chance that some inmates will adopt some of the gaming principles that the sport’s romantics believe in. Cedar Creek Superintendent Tim Thrasher thought so when he started the program.
It all sounds like a story.
With that, I’m changing things up this weekend 9. There will still be a mix of items: some light and some not so light. But today they’re all centered around Cedar Creek Golf Club, if that’s okay with you.
Let’s see if we can find eight more.
2. If you don’t know the story, you can read it here.
And you can watch it below.
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3. As part of the story, I interviewed Professor Kimora, an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York who has studied and worked in prisons around the world. One question I asked her was why golf wasn’t played in more prisons. Her answer is below.
“It really helps people. I’m just being blunt. Rehabilitation is not a big part of this country. I taught in jails and prisons for over 30 years. … This country doesn’t believe in rehabilitation when it comes to corrections. What it does believe in is a lot of punishment, thinking that that makes a person better, and it doesn’t. Research proves this.
“Rehabilitation, if done right, is a good thing for everyone because it helps build character. It helps build people up. It gives them a sense of taking responsibility for the problems they have caused others and making amends. That’s why we have a lot more interest in restorative justice; that’s a whole different subject. But we don’t have enough of these kinds of programs like golf in general because it means you believe in people and they actually will get better. A lot of people work in corrections, sad to see them say: not worried about that. They just aren’t. They come up with punitive measures. They don’t care about the people in there. It’s very sad to see, very sad to see.”
4. Another reason Thrasher started the program?
For him and his staff.
According to an article found on the website of the Ministry of Justicethe average life expectancy of a prison worker is 59 years. Non-prison staff, meanwhile, live an average of 75 years.
“Golf is the secondary byproduct of this,” Thrasher said. “It’s about golf, but it’s not. It’s about improving inmates and staff. Interactions, just improving that communication. We work in an environment that can potentially be negative, and sometimes it is, but every interaction doesn’t have to be negative. So the improved communication. Yes, it’s nice that they might learn a new hobby – that’s another reason. But I have an inherent belief that programs like this – that improve communication, that do nothing reduce, that does all these things – bring down the tense tone of an environment, which will ultimately lead to staff becoming less stressed, I hope. And hopefully they leave a better day.
“The studies are different and the numbers are a little different, but the lifespan of a correctional worker is less than 60 years. And part of that is the stress of the job, so if we can work with these types of programs to reduce the stress of this environment and live longer, that was also one of the motivations for doing this program.”
5. What was it like in prison?
Mostly quiet, although Cedar Creek is located in the Washington woods. (There was actually no cell phone reception.) There was also a lot of pickleball playing, and on one of the days we were there, a few inmates took GED tests. There are occasional problems, but there have also been mostly calm interactions between the prisoners and the guards. Thrasher said he tried to remember the names of all the prisoners.
Cedar Creek also has a captive turtle rehabilitation program – you can read more about it here – and a photo of one of the turtles can be found below.
Nick Piastowski
6. In the story I wrote this:
Should former inmates be allowed to play golf with their prison superintendent?
Brandon has. He played in CCGC while in prison, and recently played nine holes on a real course with Thrasher one Sunday afternoon. He was nervous; it was his first real round in years, and, as he put it, “when you’re part of the criminal underworld, you don’t exactly have time for golf.” Brandon dressed like a Tour pro — red Titleist hat, white polo shirt, blue pants — although Thrasher wondered if the patriotic-looking ensemble was a nod to the late Hulk Hogan.
Thrasher, who has a single-digit handicap, also told Brandon on the sixth tee that if he could beat him on just one hole on the way in, he would give him one of the T-shirts he had recently made for CCGC. Thrasher’s first shot found water; Brandon laid down. Game on. But Brandon’s second shot also found water after he refilled it. Then he cut one. Thrasher picked up his phone and pressed the play button. David Bowie and Freddie Mercury started singing.
Busy
Pressing down on me
Pressing you
Nobody asks for it
Under pressure
But you may be wondering: did I catch that on video?
Yes, I did. And it’s below.
7. There was more from the round with Brandon and Thrasher.
On the second hole of our round, on my second shot, I held my ball up. I do it often. My friends do it too. The usual line is: ‘It’s winter somewhere’, a reference to ‘winter rules’. But as he sat in a cart a few feet behind me, Brandon said:
“I can’t believe you cheated in front of a cop.”
CCGC is therefore big on the rules of golf.
8. At Cedar Creek we were also asked to play in a pitching contest. And I won. My price?
A loofah.
Thrasher rewards toiletries during the games – they are appreciated, as personal items are limited – and the biggest one is the loofah. I let number two do it though.
9. Were we talked about? Yes.
After the round on The Home Course, I asked Rodron, one of the inmates, for some thoughts, and you can find the exchange below. My apologies for the language.
10. Let’s do 10 items.
If you’re interested in watching a movie with a similar theme to what’s happening in Cedar Creek, check it out “Sing Sing.” It features the theater program for inmates at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in New York.
11. Let’s do 11 items.
Several people have asked how they can help the program. To do this, please email me at nick.piastowski@golf.com and I can put you in touch with the prison.
12. Let’s do 12 items.
On Wednesday afternoon, a few hours after our Cedar Creek content was published, I spoke with Thrasher.
He said that Tejuan, one of the main “characters” in the story and video, was brought to his office by Tejuan’s therapist and that they watched the video together. A few minutes later, Tejuan began to cry. He was happy for people to watch it.
Afterwards, the therapist told Thrasher that this was the reason the therapist had ended up in his work.
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