Category: News

We had a fantastic three weeks of summer camp at the Palm Beach Par 3. The program completed its 8th year with generous funding from the Par 3 Foundation. To ensure social distancing, the number of students was kept below 14 campers each week and attended by a total of 36 students over the summer. The students had a great time, and we offer our sincere gratitude to Raymond Floyd, the Par 3 Foundation, and the staff at the Par 3 with huge thanks to Tony Chateauvert, PGA and Angie Young. We really appreciate our long-standing relationship with the Par 3 and everyone that makes this program possible each summer.

We had a fantastic three weeks of summer camp at the Palm Beach Par 3. The program completed its 8th year with generous funding from the Par 3 Foundation. To ensure social distancing, the number of students was kept below 14 campers each week and attended by a total of 36 students over the summer. The students had a great time, and we offer our sincere gratitude to Raymond Floyd, the Par 3 Foundation, and the staff at the Par 3 with huge thanks to Tony Chateauvert, PGA and Angie Young. We really appreciate our long-standing relationship with the Par 3 and everyone that makes this program possible each summer.

We are delighted to announce that our Chapter was awarded the GuideStar Gold Seal of Transparency for 2021. “From annual audits to utilizing an independent accountant, our staff and board members work tirelessly to achieve financial transparency for our non-profit organization,” said Chapter President Bobby Hendel. “We were very excited to receive this award.” Please visit GuideStar’s website to review our Chapter’s profile.

We are delighted to announce that our Chapter was awarded the GuideStar Gold Seal of Transparency for 2021. “From annual audits to utilizing an independent accountant, our staff and board members work tirelessly to achieve financial transparency for our non-profit organization,” said Chapter President Bobby Hendel. “We were very excited to receive this award.” Please visit GuideStar’s website to review our Chapter’s profile.

Discount Golf Balls recently joined our Chapter as our newest Nine Healthy Habit sponsor.  DCB’s owner, Jimmy Goodman, is the uncle of Jacie Goodman, one of our Chapter students. Jimmy is very proud of Jacie and has been very supportive of our organization. Discount Golf Balls is licensed and insured and has been in business for over 35 years and processes over 4 million golf balls each year! DCB pays industry leading prices for the balls they retrieve. If your lakes are full of golf balls please contact Jimmy at [email protected] for more information.

Discount Golf Balls recently joined our Chapter as our newest Nine Healthy Habit sponsor.  DCB’s owner, Jimmy Goodman, is the uncle of Jacie Goodman, one of our Chapter students. Jimmy is very proud of Jacie and has been very supportive of our organization. Discount Golf Balls is licensed and insured and has been in business for over 35 years and processes over 4 million golf balls each year! DCB pays industry leading prices for the balls they retrieve. If your lakes are full of golf balls please contact Jimmy at [email protected] for more information.

Thanks to an expanded partnership with PGA TOUR Superstore and The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, First Tee offered a first-of-its-kind leadership summit for our teen participants. The Leadership Summit is designed to strengthen the participants leadership skills through dynamic outdoor and team-building activities, preparing them to transfer those skills to other scenarios they will face in the future. Chapter student Tyler Mistretta attended the summit at the unforgettable backdrop of West Creek Ranch in Montana with 19 other teenagers. The students participated in collaborative workshops in to challenge their conceptions of transformational leadership. First Tee’s core competencies of building character, self-confidence and resilience were an integral part of the experience, combined with a robust curriculum that explored the concepts of relationship building, positive risk taking, and character evaluation. “This was my last participant opportunity as a First Tee student before going to college,” said Tyler. “It was an unbelievable week as all 20 students learned so much and really bonded. West Creek Ranch is just awesome. I rode a horse for the first time, and everything was incredible, especially the hospitality, rooms, and food. I cannot thank Mr. Arthur Blank, Mr. Joe Gorman, First Tee and PGA TOUR Superstore enough for this once in a lifetime experience.” Pictured right: Tyler with Ralph Stokes, Director of Partnership Marketing at PGA TOUR Superstore and the beautiful backdrop of the mountain view from West Creek Ranch.

Thanks to an expanded partnership with PGA TOUR Superstore and The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, First Tee offered a first-of-its-kind leadership summit for our teen participants. The Leadership Summit is designed to strengthen the participants leadership skills through dynamic outdoor and team-building activities, preparing them to transfer those skills to other scenarios they will face in the future. Chapter student Tyler Mistretta attended the summit at the unforgettable backdrop of West Creek Ranch in Montana with 19 other teenagers. The students participated in collaborative workshops in to challenge their conceptions of transformational leadership. First Tee’s core competencies of building character, self-confidence and resilience were an integral part of the experience, combined with a robust curriculum that explored the concepts of relationship building, positive risk taking, and character evaluation. “This was my last participant opportunity as a First Tee student before going to college,” said Tyler. “It was an unbelievable week as all 20 students learned so much and really bonded. West Creek Ranch is just awesome. I rode a horse for the first time, and everything was incredible, especially the hospitality, rooms, and food. I cannot thank Mr. Arthur Blank, Mr. Joe Gorman, First Tee and PGA TOUR Superstore enough for this once in a lifetime experience.” Pictured right: Tyler with Ralph Stokes, Director of Partnership Marketing at PGA TOUR Superstore and the beautiful backdrop of the mountain view from West Creek Ranch.

The Palm Beach Gardens PGA TOUR Superstore hosted our chapter’s annual scholarship award ceremony. Seven-chapter students celebrated their scholarship awards with parents, friends, coaches, staff and board members. Because of the generosity of the Peter G. Helie Family Scholarship (Peter pictured above right), Chapter Trustee Jon Orszag and the Andrew and Robin Hunt Charitable Fund, our chapter awarded a record $34,000 in scholarships to these deserving students. Students pictured left to right back row: Trevor Tarashuk attending Florida Gulf Coast University in the PGA management program. Sebastian Nachilly attending Ole Miss. Tyler Mistretta attending Florida Southern College where he will play on the golf team. Students pictured left to right front row: Nyla Sims attending University of Maryland Eastern Shore where she plays on the golf team and is in the PGA management program, Savannah Mansueti attending the University of Florida. Amber Steele attending Palm Beach State College. Alison Santini attending Palm Beach Atlantic University. Nyla, Alison, Tyler and Sebastian are employees of PGA TOUR Superstore and will continue to work at the store during college holidays and summer. Our scholarship fund is available to our students to apply who remain active in First Tee and our chapter through high school. Special thank you to our scholarship committee of: Lisa Bebout, Earnie Ellison, Maria Marino, Jennifer Hong and Christopher Burr.