Category: News

Hundreds of Chapter participants and local youth visited The Honda Classic on Tuesday afternoon of tournament week for our annual Junior Clinic.  PGA Tour Professionals Bryson DeChambeau and Emiliano Grillo joined golf prodigy Tommy Morrissey for an afternoon of hitting shots and answering questions.  Pictured above: Chapter students were invited up to the tee to hit a few shots with Bryson’s and Emiliano’s clubs! Bryson, Emiliano and Tommy signed many autographs and took tons of pictures with the students.

Three of our students joined Program Director, Connie Capanegra, to play with PGA TOUR player Curtis Thompson in the Saturday Pro Am on the Palmer Course at PGA National at The Honda Classic.  “What an incredible experience!”  exclaimed Frances.  “We had a great time and we won.  I also learned a lot about what it really takes to play professional golf.” Pictured below: Connie Capanegra – Program Director, Kai Francis, Curtis Thompson, Frances Melendez, and Wen Barto

For the fourth year in a row United Technologies has provided for a generous grant to our Chapter benefitting our programs serving Veterans with disabilities. A check was presented in the amount of $35,000 in the Patriots Outpost (the tournament’s military appreciation tent sponsored by UTC) in the presence of hundreds of Veterans. “United Technologies continued support has allowed our Veterans programs to flourish and grow,” said Carl Mistretta, Chapter Executive Director. “We now have hundreds of our nation’s heroes enjoying recreation and socialization.” The Honda Classic honors our country’s military personnel, past and present, through the Military Appreciation Program. This initiative provides free admission to the tournament and a special hospitality venue at the 17th hole. The program is but a small token of gratitude for their service on behalf of all of us. Pictured above left to right: Ken Kennerly- Executive Director of The Honda Classic, Carl Mistretta – Chapter Executive Director, Beth Amato, Mike O’Neill and Mary Milmoe from UTC, Jack Barrett- Chapter Development Director, David Norris – Chapter Director, and Coach Dave McNulty PGA- Lead Instructor of Veterans programs.

Ernie Els and his wife Liezl discovered their son Ben was quite impacted by Autism at an early age. Ernie and Liezl, established the Els for Autism Foundation in 2009 with the goal of funding an Autism Center of Excellence, the first of its kind in the world, now open at its brand new campus in Jupiter, Florida. The Honda Classic, Ernie Els, our chapter Coaches and The Els Center for Excellence hosted a special clinic during tournament week for children with autism. Fifty plus local children attended and had a wonderful time on the driving range with Ernie and our Coaches.  The clinic concluded with Dennis Walters and super dog Bucky entertaining the students with incredible golf shots (by Dennis) and math wizardry (by Bucky).

The PGA TOUR Executive Women’s Day was held at PGA National Resort & Spa on Tuesday of tournament week for the fifth year in a row.    The event is a powerful platform for celebrating, empowering and inspiring women executives.  This forum brings together hundreds of local business leaders and innovators for an engaging day of corporate dialogue, networking, and idea sharing and professional development. Three of our chapter high school female participants were invited to attend and enjoy the event to help these young ladies advance their professional careers and thrive in today’s fast-paced business environment. Pictured above left to right: Quinn Reid, Frances Melendez, Donna White LPGA, Brooklyn Pimpo, Program Director Connie Capanegra LPGA

Brice, Charlton, Tony and Anna from The First Tee of Aiken, South Carolina (pictured above left) worked side by side with our Chapter students (Theodore and Harriet pictured above right) as they greeted patrons with complimentary pairings guides upon entering The Honda Classic on the weekend.  Students wore bibs with the tournament and Chapter logos and a request for a $1 donation. The students from Aiken had an awesome four-day trip that included: volunteering at the Els Center for Excellence, spending time at the tournament on the weekends, being hosted for a round on the ocean by the Palm Beach Par 3 Golf Course and joining us to play in the Monday after The Honda Invitational. All of the students that donated their time on the weekend handed out over 20,000 pairings guides and collected over $2,000.00 to support our mission and programs.  Thank you to all tournament patrons that donated to our Chapter.

Chapter students Wen Barto, Kameron Povio and Frances Melendez served as roving PGA TOUR Junior Course Reporters at The Honda Classic. The students received inside the ropes media credentials and shadowed reporters preparing articles and videos for media publications. The students will complete an essay regarding their experience with the PGA TOUR players and the media experts for submittal to the TOUR’s website. Pictured above: Kameron Povio with Sergia Garcia: Frances Melendez interviewing Emiliano Grillo and Wen Barto walking inside the ropes with Rickie Fowler’s group on Saturday.

The PGA TOUR Superstore has supported our chapter for many years through the generosity of Trustee Arthur Blank.  The Blank Family Foundation supports chapters in all markets where there is a PGA TOUR Superstore.  In addition, the Superstores established incentive dollars for chapters that met certain benchmarks in participant growth.  Our Chapter has met or exceeded this benchmark every year it has been in place. (Pictured:  Joe Gorman- PGA TOUR Superstore General Manager, fourth from left, presenting the big check to our Chapter Participants, staff and President Bobby Hendel.)

Seven Chapter participants were invited to tour the set of Golf Channel on Friday morning of tournament week.  Not only did they hang out with Golf Channel Anchor Rich Lerner, but they were invited to tour the on-site T.V. production truck.

PGA TOUR player Morgan Hoffman (pictured above with our students) earned a 2^nd place finish at The Honda Classic and he also visited our golf facility for a junior clinic on Wednesday of tournament week.  Wells Fargo, a Trustee corporate partner of The First Tee, hosted and organized the clinic for our students. Wells Fargo is committed to community organizations like The First Tee® that help to create a brighter future for young people. As part of this commitment, their annual Succeeding Together program celebrates the huge impact The First Tee has on students across the country and allows participants to express how The First Tee has had a positive effect on their lives.

Thank you to all participants in The 2017 Bear Trap Challenge.  The BTC is a fun, fantasy league style activity/contest during The Honda Classic tournament week that correlates directly to the unique three-hole stretch known as THE BEAR TRAP. The objective is to draft the player that ends up with the lowest cumulative score through The Bear Trap (holes 15,16,17) through all 4 rounds of the tournament. The 2017 winner in a scorecard playoff was Jeff Webster, who received player Rickie Fowler through a blind draw. Fowler, the eventual tournament champion, played The Bear Trap holes through the four tournament days in 38 strokes or 2 under par. Jeff and Rickie will have their names engraved on the trophy. In addition, every participant was automatically entered into a raffle to win a free twosome in next year’s 2018 The First Tee Monday After The Honda Classic Invitational. Congratulations to this year’s raffle winner- Joe Steranka! Actually, the big winner was The First Tee of The Palm Beaches. Thanks for the great support everyone!

The First Tee home office and Trustee Jim Crane recently hosted a Trustee outing at Floridian National. The event brought together a small group of existing Trustees and new Trustee candidates.  Chapter Director, Ken Ohrstrom, confirmed his acceptance of becoming our newest Trustee. Chapter participant, Frances Melendez, was asked to attend the opening dinner and speak to the group about how our Life Skills program and the Chapter has helped her in school and life.  Frances, who plays high school golf for Cardinal Newman, spoke about her many experiences since joining The First Tee, including her upcoming assignment as a Junior Course Reporter at The Honda Classic and her goal to play The First Tee Open at Pebble Beach.  She had the opportunity to meet some of the most important leaders in the game of golf.  (Pictured above left to right: Trustee Jim Crane, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monohan, Frances Melendez, The First Tee CEO Joe Louis Barrow and new Trustee and Chapter Director Ken Ohrstrom.)