Harold Varner III

Harold Varner III grew up in Gastonia, North Carolina, after his family moved from Akron, Ohio. In a signed 2017 essay, he identified himself as Black and recalled spending summer days at Gastonia Municipal Golf Course while his father worked. A junior membership cost his family one hundred dollars, and the Carolinas PGA Section describes the arrangement as unlimited golf for a single summer fee. He described that affordable access as an important part of learning the sport and eventually reaching professional golf.

Varner won the Australian PGA Championship in 2016, his first professional victory. It carried a distinction that outlasted the week: it remained the only Australian PGA Championship title won by an American since Hale Irwin's victory in 1978. In a later personal essay, he placed that victory alongside another memorable experience: reaching the final group at the 2019 PGA Championship before a difficult last round. He wrote that he remained proud of the week and what he learned from it.

That essay also credits the home in which he grew up. Varner described family values and the importance of keeping golf in perspective.

He created the HV3 Foundation in 2019 to address the rising cost of entering the sport. Its programs include help with training and competition fees, subsidized golf through Youth on Course, where junior rounds cost five dollars or less, and a mentorship partnership with First Tee Greater Charlotte that the foundation dates to 2021. The work involves organizations and volunteers as well as the golfer whose name it carries. Youth on Course named Varner its first national ambassador in 2021.

The program descriptions identify the practical requirements of participation: money for entry fees, places to play and adults who can offer guidance. Varner's own account of the hundred-dollar junior membership shows what that support meant in his case. The foundation now funds Youth on Course round subsidies in the Carolinas, extending the summer program that shaped his own game to other junior golfers.