If March, April, and May are any indication of what’s to come in the golf world this year, its going to be a great year for golf! I’ll start by telling y’all about my year so far in the golf world:
To start March, I took a trip to Austin, TX for Level II Training in The First Tee Coach Training Program. I went to Level I Training in Austin last year and was so excited to go back. I split an AirBnB with one of my new favorite people, the Executive Director of The First Tee of Greater Charleston, Bucky Dudley. Bucky and I had never met before he picked me up from the airport in Austin, but splitting this orchid filled two bedroom smart house was one of the best decisions I’ve made in a while! Bucky and I became fast friends and had quite the adventure during our time in Austin.
It felt so good to be hitting balls again in the warmer weather. We had plenty of opportunities to act as “participants” in mock classes during our training which meant plenty of opportunities to hit golf balls. It sure felt nice to be back! One night, after training wrapped, Bucky and I headed to Topgolf Austin for a fun night with some of our other new friends from chapters across the U.S. One of the coolest parts of working for The First Tee is the people you meet from all across the country during the Coach Training Program.
I made some great friends, but nightly wind-down discussions with Bucky over a glass of red wine or a nice cold Lone Star (we were in Austin after all) were the discussions I am so grateful for. Bucky and I discussed where I see myself progressing through The First Tee over the next few years and I started thinking about where my passions truly lie. I love coaching, especially the kids I have started building real relationships with, but I also love the fundraising and development side of The First Tee. After long energetic discussions, Bucky and I had decided that I would start talking to my bosses about seeing if I could transition into a more fundraising focused role in the next year or two. When I got back to NWA, I started thinking about how I could make this happen, but not before a very intense kidney infection landed me in the E.R. two nights in a row… That was rough. But, once I recovered (thanks to my Mom for making a trip up to take care of me) I started to work on a proposal for my own job. On March 14th, I met with my Executive Director and proposed a new position for myself as “Development and Marketing Manager”. Later that week, she called me into her office to offer me the position (with a nice promotion to go along with it)!
I will now be working closely with our Executive Director to increase our fundraising efforts and expand our impact in the greater NWA community. I will continue to coach, but on a limited basis. I love working with the kids in our program and seeing them grow into awesome golfers and even better people. My real passions when it comes to working with kids lie in growing the game among girls and working with the teens in our program, especially those looking to continue playing golf competitively after high school. With that being my focus, my time coaching will be spent with our Girls Only classes, Girls on Course program, BEA (Birdie, Eagle, Ace) program for advanced golfers, and Junior Advisory Council. I’ve been running the Girls Only classes and Girls on Course Program for two years now and love working with girls that are curious to learn more about the game that has given me so much in my life. I love introducing a new generation to a sport they can play for the rest of their lives, and helping them find other girls to play golf with is just an awesome perk!
At the end of March, my favorite outreach event took place. To kick off our Girls on Course program, we hosted over 500 seventh to twelfth grade girls from across NWA for an Executive Women’s Expo at Sam’s Club Home Office called Tee Up Your Future: An Expo for Young Women. This was my second year to be in charge of this event and it was so much better than the first, if for no other reason than I actually knew what the event was so I could plan and promote it properly. And good thing I was ready for promotion because I was on KNWA the day before at 5:55 in the morning and again at 7:15. (Your girls is quickly becoming a local KNWA celebrity) We had Executive Women speaking from Sam’s, Walmart, Tyson, and J.B. Hunt as well as two women working in the Athletic Department at the University of Arkansas. I’m pretty lucky to be working in an area of the country that houses four of the largest national and international companies head quartered in the United States. The event was a huge success and the speakers did a fantastic job talking to such an impressionable group of young women. I can’t wait to see what 2019 holds for this event!
After Tee Up Your Future wrapped, I started teaching our Birdie, Eagle, Ace class. This class is designed to advance the skills of our participants that have gone through the certification process and are advancing through The First Tee program. After attending Level II Training, I am more prepared to lead this group of talented individuals. I love working with kids that are dedicated to getting better at golf. In our first class, we talked about setting goals and I was happy to hear that all eight of the participants have goals of playing golf in college and even making it to the LPGA and PGA TOURs. The future of the game of golf is in good hands with this bunch!
On April 2nd, my new job went into effect and I am so happy with where it is leading me as I advance in The First Tee of Northwest Arkansas. As part of this new job, I am heading up our inaugural Junior Advisory Council. The JAC is made up of 15 outstanding participants who all have a passion for the game of golf and The First Tee of Northwest Arkansas. This group is advising me on how we can make TFTNWA better and even helping with some awesome fundraisers of their own. At our last meeting I had them watch one of the speakers from Tee Up Your Future who talked about writing your own personal mission statement then had them come up with a mission statement for the JAC. This is what they wrote:
“We will make a positive lasting impact on The First Tee participants by introducing them to the 9 Core Values and Life Skills through loving the game of golf and encouraging them to follow their dreams on and off the golf course. We will also impact the greater NWA community by representing The First Tee of Northwest Arkansas as ambassadors -becoming engaged by giving back and promoting The First Tee through social media.”
HOW COOL IS THAT?? This is the mission of 15 teenagers that I get to work with in my day to day life. I couldn’t be prouder to lead this group and I am learning so much from just being around them. Like I said earlier, the future of golf is in good hands! You can check out their first fundraiser at TFTNWA Junior Golf Marathon, it’s going to be pretty awesome!!
Now, lets talk about the professional/competitive golf world:
The Valspar Championship kicked off the first full week of March with the resurgence of the professional golfer that helped me fall in love with the sport 20 years ago when I watched him win his first major, The Masters. Yes, that golfer is Tiger Woods, and yes he has made some bad decisions in his personal life, but when I was 7 and had just started playing golf with my dad, I was awestruck by this man who would run the golf world for the next 15 years. I could go on a tangent defending Tiger’s golf legacy, but that wouldn’t change the fact that I don’t agree with the choices he has made in his personal life. It also wouldn’t change the fact that he brought so much to the game of golf while he was proving that it was not just a sport for white men and laid the ground work for the resurgence among the youth in America to love golf. His presence and dominance led to what is happening with the young guns of today (Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Daniel Berger, Rickie Fowler, etc.) that are now playing against a man that helped spark their love for the game as well. To say it was awesome to see Tiger in the running for a tournament title again is an understatement! TIGER IS BACK BABY!
And, the next week was better still! Rory McIlroy played an amazing Arnold Palmer Invitational. In 72 holes, Rory had 100 putts, ONE HUNDRED PUTTS, which means he had 44 one-putts and 28 two-putts all week. Talk about dominance! I think Tiger’s resurgence put a fire back under Rory McIlroy, the man who is probably tired of hearing how he had the potential to be the next Tiger Woods. I’m here to say, that should not be past tense. Rory still has potential to be the greatest current player and 100 putts in 72 holes is a great start. Rory will win that final major, The Masters, and claims his Career Grand Slam. And I think it will be sooner rather than later.
Speaking of The Masters, this year’s tournament was exciting as it always is! I’m not personally a fan of Patrick Reed so I wasn’t thrilled to see him claim the title, but Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth made another run for the green jacket and it looks like Rickie could make a run for all 4 majors again in 2018, he’s definitely off to a strong start! I love seeing these two in the mix at all times and can’t wait for the rest of the majors this season.
And there was an exciting announcement that starting next year, there will be an invitational tournament for top female amateurs in Augusta, Georgia starting in 2019 that will include one round played at Augusta National Golf Club the week before the Masters. This just means I better start working on my game and get noticed so I can get an invitation! #HEYO
As many of you probably know, I used to work for The FedEx St. Jude Classic and am pretty sad that I will be missing it next week. I’ll be missing the chance to talk to some of my favorite people and get an up close and personal interaction with many PGA TOUR Pros. Speaking of PGA TOUR Pros, I am beyond excited to announce that a childhood friend of mine will be making his PGA TOUR premiere next week in Memphis, which makes missing the tournament this year even harder! I will be live streaming and following Grant Hirschman closely all week! Go Grant Go!!
I’ll post in the next few weeks about Grant and my other friends playing this year: Troy Merritt, Peter Malnati, Harris English, Stewart Cink, Cody Gribble, and Ben Crane! I would love to see one of them don the Seersucker jacket on June 10th, I would really love to see that!
Golf and God 