Month: July 2019

Women’s Golf Day is an international community dedicated to engaging, empowering and supporting women through golf. Created by women and men for women to enjoy golf and learn the skills that last a lifetime. During our recent event at Dyer Park, twenty ladies representing all ages joined us to empower new and experienced golfers by creating meaningful connections. Everyone enjoyed breakfast, a rotation of stations for full swing, chipping, pitching, putting and also the opportunity to play our Par 3 course! Girls golf is more popular than ever. It is growing every year and more than 40% of our chapter’s students are female! Golf has become more appealing to girls as our industry is focusing on providing a more girl friendly and supportive environment. The First Tee is leading the way as it continues to partner with organizations like LPGA-USGA Girls Golf to create exciting new ways to invite girls to play the game that will engage them for life. For more information on LPGA-USGA Girls Golf please CLICK HERE to visit our website.

Recently Teen Golfer Association (TGA) member Kameron Povio, Savannah Mansueti, Mia Thorson, Samara Washington, Christopher Curtis and Shrey Shalia visited The First Tee of Aiken in South Carolina for the Sage Valley Junior Invitational. Chapter Coaches Emily Valentine and Jack Barrett attended and chaperoned the group. Along the drive, the TGA stopped in Jacksonville for a visit to The First Tee home office and then enjoyed a fun evening at TopGolf. Chapter Participants volunteered their time as standard bearers at the Sage Valley Junior Invitational, a tournament that is known to be the “Masters of Junior Golf.” Also, the students were working manual scoreboards. Emily Valentine commented, “Every participant had the time of their lives meeting other participants within The First Tee network, thousands of miles away! As a Chapter Alumni, I truly enjoying getting to see the participants experience these types of activities and trips, as I did.” A special thank you to Lexi Milford and Heidi Hoffman from The First Tee of Aiken for the very warm welcome for the second year at their Chapter and at Sage Valley. To learn more about the TGA, please contact Emily at [email protected]

Have you ever played 144 holes in one day? Sounds crazy and it is! With the help of the golf professionals at Bear Lakes Country Club and Chapter staff, students and supporters that played CMAA Marathon Golf, we raised over $15,000 to support the thousands of children and veterans in our programs. Special shout out to Bear Lakes’ General Manager and COO Marius Ilie and their members for hosting us this year. “We set a new First Tee chapter record this year and the three South Florida chapters together raised over $110,000,” said Mitch Stump, CPA, Chapter Treasurer and Marathon Golf Committee Member. “CMAA in total for the Seminole Region broke the $400,000 mark for the first time in Marathon Golf history.” It is not to late to donate and support the Marathon Golfers. To make a donation, please CLICK HERE. Pictured above left: Bear Lakes Professionals Adam Packard, Sean Knott, Chad Lauze and Lynn Valentine teed it up all day and received pledges from the members of Bear Lakes. Pictured above right: Chapter staff Carl Mistretta, Jack Barrett and Emily Valentine teed it up with supporter John Rothberg and student Tyler Mistretta.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis served as host at the inaugural Florida Governor’s Cup on June 3, raising approximately $500,000 for The First Tee. The event took place Monday, June 3 at the Floridian National Golf Club in Palm City, bringing together members of the Florida Legislature and the Executive Branch for a 27-hole Ryder Cup-style event. “I was honored to serve as the host of the inaugural Florida Governor’s Cup to benefit chapters of the First Tee throughout the state,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “The mission of The First Tee aligns perfectly with our goal of creating more opportunities for young Floridians from all walks of life to be successful. I am proud of what we accomplished this first year and look forward to future Governor’s Cups with The First Tee to benefit our leaders of tomorrow.” Chapter student, Savannah Mansueti attended the event and spoke to the tournament guests about her many experiences with our Chapter and how The First Tee helped her gain admittance to the University of Florida! Pictured above: Savannah and her father (in middle) with Governor DeSantis and his wife, Casey. Proceeds from the charity golf event will allow The First Tee to expand and deepen its impact in the state of Florida through grants to chapters, training and education and college scholarships.

When: July 19th, 2019 @ 5:30 pm Where: 401 N Highway A1A, Jupiter, FL 33477 Cost: $16 to walk with pull cart rental or $27 to ride per person Please RSVP to YP Chairman, Tom Bliss at [email protected] The Young Professionals (ages 21-39) invites you to join our network of active Palm Beach County based individuals dedicated to the mission of The First Tee. The Young Professionals supports The First Tee of The Palm Beaches through fundraising, volunteer efforts, and by broadening awareness in the Palm Beach area as ambassadors of our local chapter. To learn more about joining our Chapter’s Young Professionals, please CLICK HERE.