Category: Palm Beaches

Kids and teens registered for our on-course programs will soon have a new way to bring First Tee home! The First Tee App has games and challenges that will reinforce the life and golf skills they learn on the course. Your participant will earn badges and points as they complete the activities in the App, encouraging them to continue playing and tracking their progress over time.  

The First Tee App will be available for download on your mobile device or tablet or from your computer’s internet browser on May 31.

2022 was a great year! Please review our Annual Report to learn how we impact our community. 

Summer is almost here!  Enroll your children in our Palm Beach County programs. We have 16 program locations across the county.

Classes are grouped by ages.  All ages (from 2 to 18 years old) are invited to Saturday classes at the Finnegan Learning Center at Dyer Park!

2-3 years old: Little Chippers
4-6 years old: Rugrats
7-9 years old
10-14 years old
15-18 years old

For more information and to register, please visit our website.

Volunteers are needed for the US Disabled Open Golf Championship at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie from May 7-10. Scores, spotters and other positions available. Sign up at their volunteer website. 

The Admirals Cove Foundation exists to improve lives in our surrounding community and to strengthen Admirals Cove through their culture of giving. Through their annual giving campaign, the Foundation’s efforts are focused exclusively in the areas of education, health, and social services.

Palm Beach Director and Chairman Emeritus Dick Sheehan and wife Susan (pictured above left), and Philanthropy Coordinator Chelsea Mistretta attended the Grant Reception to receive the $25,000 grant from the foundation and their Executive Director Rebecca Devine (pictured right). Our organization sincerely thanks the Admirals Cove Foundation and the members of the club for their continued support of our programs. Their generosity provides a far-reaching impact in Palm Beach County.

Banyan Golf Club recently completed their annual First Tee Club Drive to support our programs and students.  The thoughtfulness and generosity of the club members is sincerely appreciated.

Interested in an end of season Club Drive?  Please contact [email protected] for more information.  It is so easy, and the members love to participate.

Chapter alumni Felipe Obando was recently featured in an article on the national First Tee website and social media channels.

Check out this amazing interview.

Veterans’ programs are in full swing! Every Friday, Coach Katrina Howard hosts a lady veterans’ group at Drive Shack (pictured above left). Coach Nancy Stuart offers veterans’ programs at John Prince Learning Center (pictured above right) and of course we have weekly sessions at the Finnegan Learning Center in Dyer Park. These groups have so much fun socializing and practicing golf which each other. We host veterans’ programs free of charge to Palm Beach County veterans at various locations.

For more information, locations, and schedules, please visit our website.

Congratulations to Executive Director Carl Mistretta Jr., who was awarded the Inner-City Youth Golfers’ Community Giants Service Award with his family, and Chapter staff, Directors and supporters in attendance.  Carl was delighted to receive the award on the same night as our former Treasurer Marty Dytrych of Rehmann was recognized.  Chapter Director and Chairman Emeritus Steve Rockoff has also been recognized by ICYG as a Community Giant. “I was very humbled and honored to be recognized,” said Carl.  “I am very appreciative to Malachi, Essi and the entire ICYG board for this award.  Both of our organizations serve the community through the great game of golf.” Inner City Youth Golfers celebrates, serves, and advances the game of golf. ICYG is specifically an academic excellence and golf program that uses the excitement, etiquette, rules, behavior, dress, manners, speech about golf to help inner city children focus on the positive, mold them into good citizens and make them future role models.

Chapter students Asha Farrelly and Davis Lucas played in the exclusive Reunion tournament sponsored by The Gary and Vivienne Player Foundation at Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter. The event celebrated the reunion of lifelong friends & Vivienne’s birthday. The event’s focus was to raise funds through the sale of teams and an auction to benefit organizations that lift children out of poverty through education, health, and housing.

Pictured above left to right are golf legends: Nancy Lopez, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Retired NFL player Victor Green, Asha Farrelly, Gary Player, Ian-Baker Finch, Lee Trevino and Dennis Walters.

Special SHOUT OUT to Amanda -Leigh Player Hall for inviting and coordinating our First Tee students to play.

Congratulations to chapter student Jayda Dookie for earning The Evans Scholars Caddie Scholarship! The Evans Scholars Foundation is a charitable trust that provides full, four-year tuition and housing college scholarships to deserving caddies. The Foundation is overseen by the Western Golf Association.  To earn the scholarship, students must demonstrate a strong caddie record, exemplary grades, financial need and leadership and community service.

Jayda is a senior at Suncoast Community High School in the International Baccalaureate Program (IB) and Innovative Interactive Technology (IT) magnets. During high school, she caddied at Seminole Golf Club and completed a total of 90 loops. She plans to study Business Administration and International Studies at college.

“This was a big commitment and to be honest, I was not sure I could pull it off as a Suncoast IB student while also playing competitive golf,” said Jayda.  “The caddie experience changed my life because of the people I met and their mentoring me to choose a career path.”

Our chapter has partnered with seven clubs in Palm Beach County that have teens caddying to eventually apply for the scholarship.  The clubs currently involved are The Bear’s Club, Seminole, Old Marsh, The Country Club of Florida, Gulfstream, Pine Tree and Boca Rio.  If your club is interested in helping teens, please contact [email protected] for more information.