Chapter student Maximus Resendiz was recently featured on Covering the Bases with The Mets. Everyone at the chapter, including his coaches, Willie Scott and Mark Cammarene, are super impressed with this interview!
Check out this amazing video interview.
Spring is here and the weather has cooled off. Enroll your children in our Martin County and St. Lucie County programs.
For more information and to register, please visit our website.
Chapter students, staff and Coaches attended the annual Women’s Leadership Forum presented by The Honda Classic Tuesday of tournament week. The forum was an enlightening and educational event attended by more than 350 women to participate in an engaging discussion on topics vital to their professional and personal development.
The leadership guest speaker was Shannon Miller, Seven-Time Olympic Medalist. Miller, who began competitive gymnastics at a young age and was just 15 years old at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games. She won five medals in the Barcelona and returned four years later to lead the United States to the team all-around gold medal at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games.
Chapter female students Annika Collado, Jayda Dookie, Isabella Rubio, Maeva Adam, and Natalie Sosa with Coaches Connie Capanegra, Gabbie Budd, Nyla Sims, and Patty Cepeda-Russell enjoyed a wonderful breakfast while listening and asking questions of Sharon Miller.
What an incredible playoff finish for our local PGA Tour event with Honda in their final year as the title sponsor. Congratulations to Chris Kirk for winning a very exciting 2023 tournament that came down to a playoff. It was his first win on tour in eight years.
Kirk gave up the lead on the final hole after his second shot hit a stone wall just short of the flag and led to a bogey. He then won the tournament over Eric Cole on hole 18, the first playoff hole, with his third shot hit to a few inches of the cup to set up a victory clenching birdie.
The Honda Classic is a Founding Partner of our Chapter. They support our children’s and veterans’ programs throughout the year in many ways from grants, hosting our Monday after the Honda tournament, to providing volunteers and even donating practice balls for our driving range. Honda is ending their title sponsorship of the tournament after 42 years.
“We are sincerely and forever grateful to Honda for supporting our chapter for the last 14 years,” said Chapter Executive Director Carl Mistretta. “Honda’s incredible contributions to our organization alone total over $1.6 million. They have generously impacted the lives of thousands of children and veterans in our South Florida golf programs.”
Did you know that the “Golf Capital of the World” license plate supports junior golf? When you purchase this license plate you are supporting our chapter and junior golf programs across the state of Florida.
It is very easy to change over to the FJGC license plate when you renew your vehicle registration either by mail or online. Just check or click the box for the FJGC plate!
For more information, please visit the FJGC website.
Located in the beautiful setting of Fairwinds Golf Course in Fort Pierce, The Rusty Putter is the newest addition to must visit restaurants on the Treasure Coast. Thanks to this awesome golf course, the Rusty Putter provides a wonderful experience after a round of golf, or anytime and is available to assist with unforgettable events.
February 23rd to 26th
PGA National Resort & Spa, The Champion Course
Need tournament tickets or hospitality? Please visit the tournament website.
See you at the Junior Clinic!
We recently completed our fall semester programs at the Hope Center for Autism. The class has been a great experience for these kids. They improved their fine motor functions, practiced golf skills, and most importantly learned life skills working with Coach Gabbie Budd, LPGA.
Our 2022 Participant of the Year is Chris LaGratta! Chris qualified for the Special Olympics state level games in December. There were over 300 athletes from 30 Florida counties that qualified for the event held at Disney’s Magnolia Golf Course.
Coach David Fleck and Chapter Program Coordinator Steven Andrade accompanied Chris on this amazing experience. The two day event brought out the best in these talented athletes. Chris placed 4th in the “skills division” and looks forward to progressing his golf game to compete in the “on course” division next year!
This past fall we were proud to host veterans from the Stuart YMCA at Sailfish Sands Golf Course. The 6-week program helped the veterans improve their games by offering both full swing and short game clinics every Thursday morning.
Coach Ben Miller, PGA discussed the idea of not taking the game too seriously and learning to make jokes with our playing partners. This approach lightened everyone’s mood dramatically. The class also discussed realistic expectations and how most golfers set themselves up for disaster on the onset of a round by anticipating all perfect shots. Instead, Coach Ben encouraged everyone to anticipate plenty of poor shots and learn to laugh them off.
While none of the veterans entering the program were frequent golfers at the start of the program, nearly all of them ended up scheduling tee times at local courses with their newfound confidence. Coach Ben even hosted Bob and Kevin out for a 9-hole playing lesson, where he caddied for them as he played alongside them.
Congrats to Kevin on making his first par and to Bob for chipping in on the 7th hole!
Chapter Director Morgan Jewell, PGA, the Director of Golf at Floridian National Golf Club was recognized at the Club Manager’s Association of America Seminole Region’s champion’s breakfast at The Club at Admirals Cove. Morgan and many of his fellow golf professional and industry sales representatives raised the most amount of money in the Seminole Region to benefit our Chapter. In one day at Floridian National, $63,260 was raised to support the thousands of children and veterans we serve each year.
Martin County Police Athletic League (PAL) is a crime prevention community program designed to provide alternatives to youth delinquency through sports and mentoring. We hosted a diverse group of PAL kids for six consecutive Wednesdays this fall at Sailfish Sands Golf Course. None of the kids had any prior golf experience and our programming offered a perfect introduction to the game. Coach Ben Miller, PGA was delighted to introduce the students to their local golf course and the many opportunities the sport can provide.
