Students, Coaches, parents, Board Members, volunteers and supporters had a fantastic time during our last Saturday session of the year at the Finnegan Learning Center in Dyer Park. The morning began with exercise and stretching for everyone with Austin Hetzer from the Florida Institute of Performance (pictured below left). The students were next given a sleeve of golf balls to celebrate the birthday of Chapter supporter, John Stark
(pictured below right).
Our students then competed in a Golf Skills Challenge rotating through stations of putting, chipping, sand and full swing. Of course, for our younger participants there was a giant inflatable hippo and shark to try and hit balls into the animals’ mouths!
Hall of Famers Beth Daniel and Meg Mallon then spoke about their incredible professional playing careers and answered questions regarding their journey through competitive golf and how they managed to win so many tournaments
(pictured above left to right: Beth Daniel, Coach Suellen, Meg Mallon and Coach Connie). The two Hall of Famers then presented the winning students from the skills challenge with their prizes
(pictured below left).
Our third featured Hall of Famer of the day was Dennis Walters (pictured above right). Dennis entertained the crowd with his inspirational story that dreams can come true with hard work and PERSEVERANCE (one of our Nine Core Values). He hit some incredible trick shots for the audience including his 3 headed 3-iron, the radiator hose shafted club and his famous rapid-fire machine gun shot. Special guest, Adrien Pendaries, a junior on the Duke University golf team and the #1 ranked college golfer in the country was introduced by his grandfather, Chapter Director Dr. Ed Slotnick. Dr. Slotnick of course took all of the credit for Adrien’s incredible career! Adrien spoke with members of the Palm Beach Gardens and Benjamin high school golf teams about the commitment and dedication needed to play college golf. Adrien then hit balls with Chapter students to compare their Trackman numbers
(pictured below left: Adrien with Chapter student Felipe Obando and Coach Anthony Coletta).
The day concluded with a delicious BBQ and special thanks to Jersey Mike’s for providing subs! Coach Sam and Coach Tom rocked the back deck with saxophone and keyboards
(pictured above middle). Veterans from the Navy Seal Museum broke out their air cannons and let students and coaches fire some golf balls down range
(pictured above right: Rick Ortiz and Ray Dillman). 