Merger brings renewed focus on youth golf

Youth golf for area athletes just got even better.

The Greater Sarasota Junior Golf Association (GSJGA) is merging with The First Tee of Sarasota/Manatee to create something of a super organization.

What this tangibly means is an 18-hole winter tournament series for boys and girls golfers. Age groups include 12 and under, 13-15 and 16-18. Events will include three in East County, Feb. 10 at Palm Aire Country Club, April 7 at Heritage Harbour Golf and Country Club and a May tournament, date TBD, at Lakewood National Golf Club. Entry is $50 per player.

Your reaction might be, “There is a First Tee branch in this area?”

The First Tee was founded in 1997, and per its website, is an “international youth development organization introducing the game of golf and its inherent values to kids and teens.” The organization focuses on not just golf, but teaching kids its nine core values: Honesty, Integrity, Sportsmanship, Respect, Confidence, Responsibility, Perseverance, Courtesy and Judgment."

It also teaches nine “healthy habits,” like learning to play sports safely and learning to use your mind for self-improvement. Classes run in nine-week sessions, and kids move up levels as they progress, from "Little Linksters" (4, 5 and 6 year olds) to "Eagles" (minimum age 13). When area kids are done with all the sessions, they can now smoothly transition into playing GSJGA tournaments.

Its Sarasota/Manatee First Tee chapter was opened in 2000. It has been popular in Sarasota, where its office is stationed, but executive director Lexi McKenney is not satisfied with that.

“We need to do better in Manatee (County),” McKenney said. “We need more coaches, more training.”

The chapter is also committed to quality over quantity, putting it in a tough position when looking to expand. It takes three years of learning to become a First Tee coach, McKenney said, something on which the chapter is unwilling to budge. That is good news for kids in the program, who are guaranteed to get high-quality instruction from people like Dave Wall, who has coached with The First Tee for 13 years, and McKenney’s daughter, Katie McKenney.

There are people in place to help the Manatee part of the organization flourish. Board members Bryan Veith and Jon Whittemore played golf together at Sarasota’s Riverview High, where they won the state title in 1986 and 1988. Veith, now a Heritage Harbor resident, and Whittemore, a Lakewood Ranch resident who owns Legacy Golf Club, said they wished The First Tee had existed when they were younger, so they could have learned life skills instead of just playing tournaments — though, those were fun as well.

And kids love it as well.

Phoenix Scanlan, a 10-year-old resident of Rosedale Golf and Country Club, where the organization’s “Birdie” level classes are held (10 and up), said she loves the game and it allows her to hang with her friends. Scanlan, who wears a bright orange hat like her favorite golfer, Rickie Fowler, said the classes offer a nice mix of serious learning and goofing around.

“I want to keep golfing as long as I can,” Scanlan said.

The First Tee of Sarasota/Manatee can help other kids in the East County area experience the same joy as Scanlan. You might have to drive them a bit farther than you would like sometimes, but if golfers in the area sign up to be coaches, that eventually will not have to be the case. The GSJGA tournaments are already bringing First Tee events for older kids into the area. It is on everyone involved to keep the progress going.

For more information on both The First Tee of Sarasota/Manatee and the GSJGA tournaments, visit thefirstteesarasotamanatee.org.