Bakari Bolden ’14 has taken his golf prowess to the big screen. Bolden has been acting in a feature film for the past two weeks in Palm Springs and will be filming until Nov. 20, he said.

The movie, entitled “Little Loopers,” is about a young golfer, played by Bolden, and his relationship with his new coach, who is a drinker and a former pro golfer, Bolden said.

The two characters don’t get along at first, but end up forming a close relationship.

“My old golf coach, Scott Wood ’88, wrote the script along with middle school assistant Coach Boyd Kestner,” Bolden said. “They actually wrote the script about 10 years ago but it took a while for them to get everything together. They said that I was the first person to pop into their mind to play this role.”

Bolden, who committed to the University of Southern California for golf earlier this year, was the Wolverines’ scoring leader and Mission League boys’ golf champion last season.

This spring, he will lead the boys’ varsity golf team.

Bolden said he has been accessing most of his schoolwork online through slideshows and worksheets provided on the Hub. While he has tried to keep up with his classes the best he can, he admitted it was hard balancing schoolwork with filming. He does not film Mondays or Tuesdays, however, so he drives up from Palm Springs to school to meet briefly with his teachers.

“So far I’ve missed two weeks of school, but I’m going to be missing another week,” Bolden said. “My teachers have been very supportive and have answered all my questions via email.”

Bolden does not know when the feature film will come out, as they are still filming on location.
“What I’m doing on set is just a lot different from what I’m used to doing [at school],” Bolden said. “I really like acting, and it could be something that I would like to pursue in the future.”