Alexis Lamadrid, a 17-year-old golfer from Phoenix, birdied the last five holes at Old Barnwell in Aiken, S.C., to win Underrated Golf’s event in June at one of the best new golf courses in the country.

“I didn’t really think about it,” Lamadrid said in an interview.

What she was thinking about was how the tour has helped her gain greater knowledge about the world. It was founded in 2019 by Stephen Curry — who led the U.S. basketball team to a gold medal in the Paris Olympics and is a star for the Golden State Warriors — with a mission to give opportunities to underrepresented young golfers.

“Golf can take me so many places,” Lamadrid said. “Golf has helped me open my eyes to things that are related to golf. If I don’t go professional — everyone has that dream — golf has so many opportunities.”

Another young female golfer, Salma Ibrahim, 18, who grew up in Los Angeles to parents who immigrated from Somalia, hit her first golf shots after her father, a distance runner, watched Tiger Woods on television.

“He hated distance running — he wanted to teach me golf,” she said. Her six siblings also learned the game.

In addition to competing around the country, she’s found other things in the sport to transport her beyond the tee.

“When I started middle school, I knew I wanted to be a lawyer or do something in politics, and I knew those were golf-heavy fields,” she said. “If you want to speak to a C.E.O. of a company, you have 10 minutes of his time. If you get him on the course, you have the whole round with him.”

Amateur golf in America is booming, and it’s playing against type.

The fastest growing segment is not the affluent country club types. It’s women, and in particular, girls, who have been embracing the game since Covid hit in 2020. They have role models in Lexi Thompson, Lydia Ko, Nelly Korda and now Rose Zhang.

“There’s a lot of momentum in the last four years around women in golf in general,” said Jill Spiegel, the president of PGA Tour Superstore, which sponsors several programs for girls interested in golf, including Girls Got Drive, Women on Course and She Who Golfs. The stores also partner with First Tee, which supports girls and boys in golf.

“Twenty-six percent of all on-course golfers are now women,” Spiegel said. “Sixty percent of new golfers are women.”

One barrier to young girls (and boys) is price. Golf is expensive. Programs like First Tee, backed by the PGA Tour, and Girls Golf, sponsored by the L.P.G.A. and United States Golf Association, the game’s governing body, look to teach skills to young players at little to no cost.

But to get recognized players have to compete. That’s costly. Traveling to play in the tournaments sponsored by the American Junior Golf Association, which is the main stage for young recruits to be seen by college coaches, adds to the costs. Entry fees are around $200 to $300 per event, but then there’s getting there, staying there and eating there.

The Underrated Golf Tour, now in its third summer, is looking to bridge that financial gap for underserved girls and boys through its own summer-long series where all expenses are covered.

“Our players and parents don’t pay out of pocket,” said Jason Richards, the athletic director at Underrated Golf. “We fly them to every tour stop. No entry fees. We buy out the golf course, so no fee there for practice rounds. That burden is lifted so it allows these kids to compete at the highest level and not have to pay.”

The tournament at Old Barnwell was one of four this season. It’s a top course, but it is also one with a mission of helping the community of Aiken, through education and economic opportunity, such as its all-youth caddie program.

“Everything they represent aligns perfectly with our mission,” said Kitty Nicastro, the director of golf at Old Barnwell. “One of the girls, who got second place, shot 67 and set our course record on the last day.”

Yet Nicastro, who came from Congaree, another club in South Carolina with a mission to help young, underprivileged golfers, said being good at golf was just part of what Underrated and other similar programs she has worked with were trying to achieve.

“It’s cool to have really good players, but it’s really hard to be good at golf,” she said. “It takes a lot of time, athletic ability and resources. With our caddie program, we’ve had caddies talk to members about what they wanted to do with their life, and now they’ve got internships.”

Underrated brings in well-known woman professional golfers as mentors, like Mariah Stackhouse, who helped Stanford University win a collegiate championship and played on the L.P.G.A., and Henni Koyack, who played on the Ladies European Tour.

“When I talk to young golfers, I always frame it that, if you endeavor to play professionally, this is the path, but I say I’d love nothing more than you get a college scholarship,” Stackhouse said. “Or you can see it as a way to advance your career and make social connections. Golf is a tool.”

Stackhouse said her father, Ken, had been part of several Underrated tournaments, where he had given seminars to parents to help them see the possibilities of golf for their girls beyond the possibility of playing professionally.

“He tells them, ‘You want to push them to the top of their sport, but you want them to want it versus feeling that this is what they have to do,’” she said.

Shyell Lowe, who has been part of Underrated since the tour’s start, said it had allowed her to play against — and make friends with — golfers with similar life experiences.

“I had never played with another Black individual until the Underrated Golf Tour,” Lowe, who is also Black, said. “To make that connection was huge. I feel this is a more inclusive atmosphere. People get me more. I’m with people who get my struggles.”

This year, Lowe, 18, who is originally from Tampa, Fla., will attend the University of Illinois at Chicago on a golf scholarship.

In many ways, the United States is unique in how expensive youth golf is, and cost and access are the biggest barriers to youth golf.

Lottie Woad, a top English player who won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur this year, said she noticed a difference when she came to the United States to play golf at Florida State University. As she improved, she was put on various national squads where her golf costs were covered.

“If that wasn’t there, there would be a lot of people who wouldn’t be able to play in these events,” Woad said. “I certainly wouldn’t have been able to play in all the events in Europe.”

In the United States many players from affluent areas have assembled a support staff — including coaches, trainers and caddies — that resembles the professional ranks. Woad found this completely different from her experience of having a broader support network of her peers.

“When I got on Team England, I was the youngest,” she said. “I was practicing with older and better players. That drove me on and motivated me. Without playing with people who were better than me it would have slowed me down a bit.”

These growing programs for girls look to level the playing field for players who don’t have the resources or access to assemble those teams. Underrated has also partnered with the American Junior Golf Association so players who do well in its tournaments can earn points to qualify for association events and get in front of college coaches.

Still, few will make it as professionals. More will take away life lessons.

“I’ve made friends here that I actively talk to outside of golf,” said Lowe of her experience at Underrated. “The connections I’m making are so important to me. It’s prepared me very well for college.”