Winter 2016
INVESTING IN YOUTH. BUILDING THE FUTURE.
15-Passenger Van + $1,300 Dollars + 100 Kids + 2 Sets of Golf Clubs =
Ace Kids Golf Program It began with a 15-passenger van, a budget of $1300, 100 kids and two sets of golf clubs. It became a flourishing, life-changing organization thanks to the dedication and heart of one man. At first, Preston Pinkney was “just” the driver, except from day one he was much more. Preston believed in the kids he shuttled around Oakland and harbored an interest in learning about both the sport of golf and its intrinsic values. Over the next eight years he developed a deep passion for the game as he learned alongside his young charges. In 2008 the Ace Kids Golf Program—which had been launched and supported by the City of Oakland and the Ace Foundation—was dissolved and its future was uncertain. Preston was put in charge, and was determined to keep “his” kids golfing and oriented on positive futures. He learned about the Sticks for Kids Foundation and, shortly thereafter, received 10 sets of clubs from the foundation. As time passed, enrollment in Ace Kids increased to 400, from age eight through high school, many of them from tough neighborhoods. Preston also initiated a partnership
Ace K ids- G
ir ls Golf Gro
up
with Camp Sweeney, a juvenile hall in Alameda County, California, in order to offer comprehensive life skills programming and job training to young men who needed some extra coaching. The road to success was rocky at times. In addition to struggling for funding and supplies, Preston also had to prove to young people that golf was as exciting as their go-to sports, basketball and football. Once, famously, he tried to convince a bunch of boys at a rec center in a rough part of Oakland to give him a chance. In order to do so, he had to take on the group’s best player in one-on-one basketball. The stakes were high.
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“I said, ‘I’ll play against your best player. If I win, you play golf. If I lose, I never bother you again.’ I won, and they got in the van and went with me to the golf course.”
‘I’ll play against your best player. If I win, you play golf. If I lose, I never bother you again.’
In addition to the athletic aspects of the sport, Preston believes that golf has a great deal to teach at-risk kids about succeeding in the game of life.
TOM SHAPLAND
GCBAA Foundation President
Board Members MARK ARRIMOUR Total Turf Services JIMMY KIRCHDORFER ISCO Industries BILL KUBLY Landscapes Unlimited, LLC KUN LI Forward Group RICK LOHMAN The Toro Company RON STEPANEK Community Golf Services DENNIS WAGNER Hunter Industries DOUG YORK Ewing Irrigation
“There is a whole etiquette to golf,” he explained. “When we start out, the kids don’t even know that word. We explain that etiquette is how you carry yourself in a certain situation. Respect the course, respect yourself, respect your coaches, and respect each other. Look people in the eye, shake hands, tuck your shirt in. There is discipline and a focus involved. This leads into their schoolwork and helps develop confidence. Also, with golf there’s no referee, no one is watching to see if you’re cheating. We tell them integrity is what you do Ace Kids from Camp Sweeney–Landscaping when nobody is watching.” The life skills focus is even more intensive with the young people at Camp Sweeney. While most Ace Kids participants attend eight-week camps or summer introduction to golf programs, youth at Camp Sweeney receive coaching yearround, three days a week. Over time, graduates of Ace Kids can apply for paid internships, which set them up for success in careers at golf courses or with other community partners.
Golf Course Builders Association of America and Foundation 6040 S. 58th St., Suite D, Lincoln, NE 68516 Tel: 402-476-4444 • Fax: 402-476-4489 information@gcbaa.org www.gcbaafoundation.org www.sticksforkids.org JUSTIN APEL Executive Director justin_apel@gcbaa.org SAMANTHA HUFF Program & Planning Manager samantha_huff@gcbaa.org STEPHANIE BRUSS Information & Education Coordinator stephanie_bruss@gcbaa.org SARA GILLIAM Writer/Editor sarapipher@gmail.com NEBRASKA PRINTING CENTER Design & Layout www.npcenter.com
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One of Preston’s favorite success stories is that of Will. Now 27 years old, Will grew up in Oakland’s low-income Castlemont neighborhood and struggled academically. He was a hard worker, though, and with the support of Ace Kids, he graduated high school. Preston hired him after graduation to work at the Lake Chabot Golf Course, and he’s been there ever since. Preston refers to another memorable young man as his “adopted son.” Dominic is 17 years old, and has been with Ace Kids for less than a year. “He came through the program with a great attitude, a bit younger than the other guys. He went through our job-training program and he was great with all the tasks we asked of him. He really stuck
Ace Kids particip ant show ing of f her signed hat.
with all the requirements, and so I hired him on. I’ve been working with him closely for the whole summer. He’s interested in architecture, so I’m in the process of getting him an internship with a construction company. I’ve developed a plan with him; he has a year left of high school, and then I’m pushing higher education, and we’re on pace with the plan.”
“Golf has been exclusive and we’ve got to make it more inclusive. Women are just as smart and talented and have a lot to bring to the table,” Yet another aspect of Ace Kids is its unwavering support of girl’s golf. For years there was no girls golf program in the Oakland Unified School District. Now Ace Kids runs girls golf teams in three out of the six high schools. “Golf has been exclusive and we’ve got to make it more inclusive.
Women are just as smart and talented and have a lot to bring to the table,” Preston said. “It’s a game changer for them. It helps with character growth, and we’ve got a number of girls who have gotten scholarships for their academic performance, because through Ace Kids they started to see the importance of education.” Ace K ids fr On the topic of inclusion, om C amp S weeney Pro gr am–Put ti Preston recognizes that golf ng has a reputation as a sport of negative, negative. And then you the elite, but in fact his experiences come into (the golfing) environment have proved the opposite to be true. and everything is positive, positive,
“There are just an abundance of opportunities. I’ve been able to play at a lot of places, exclusive places,” he noted. “You meet all these people who really care and have a heart and want to make a difference. When you’re just in the neighborhoods, life is difficult. There’s blight, police are out policing in a negative way… everything you see is negative,
positive. It opened my eyes; the way I was thinking was all wrong. It’s all about people. We have got to do what we can to help each other. And that’s what I try to instill in the youth that I’m working with. We have a lot of success stories. A lot of great kids came through our program. It’s so motivating, it’s just time to tell our story.”
Ace Kids–Girls Golf Practice Range
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GCBAA Scholarship Funded by GCBAA Charter Member Landscapes Unlimited, LLC Spotlight on Scholarship Recipient Yujie Gao It’s a long way from Beijing, China, to Lincoln, Nebraska: 6365 miles to be precise. Culturally, the two locations are wildly different as well. Beijing has world-famous cuisine; Chinese food in Lincoln… well, it isn’t really Chinese at all. Lincoln’s pleasant climate stands in stark contrast to the air pollution of Beijing, and there are rarely big-city style traffic jams in the Beef State’s capitol. Nevertheless, both cities are beloved homes to Yujie Gao. Yujie, whose father runs one of Asia’s Top 10 golf courses— Shenzhou Peninsula Golf Course, located on Hainan Island—came to Lincoln two years ago on a scholarship to study Professional Golf Management, a signature program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Yujie’s father has collaborated with Lincoln-based Landscapes Unlimited, LLC, a Certified Builder Member of the GCBAA, so when he arrived at UNL, Yujie already had a friend in town. In the PGM program, Yujie has kept busy studying turfgrass management, merchandising, tournament operations, human resources, golf cart fleet management and teaching. Outside the classroom, he puts his coursework into practice via two internships.
“It’s all about human communication, working at a golf course,” he explained. “I talk to a lot of people, share my stories with them, and they become my friends.” Like father, like son. Socializing and building relationships come naturally to Yujie, whose father has worked in hotel management for much of his career, and has mastered the art of hospitality. While Yujie would love to work for his father one day, his dad wants to help him launch a driving range/social club in Beijing. “I really like that idea,” Yujie notes. “People don’t have four or five hours to play golf in China, but they have a little time to swing the club and have fun. It’d be a combination of golf and recreation.” His read on China’s golf culture is astute. Golf is not yet a big game in China, and the industry has struggled to find footing. Nearly 100 courses have shut down in the last two years due to government restrictions, even as more Chinese are taking up the sport. Meantime, playing even one round of golf in China can BEIJING • be too expensive for most citizens; a round at Shenzhou Peninsula runs about $300, making it inaccessible for many Chinese men and women. Yujie hopes to be a part of a new generation of managers who increase the sport’s accessibility in his home country.
“As an intern, I am learning a lot at Landscapes Unlimited and ArborLinks (a private club in Nebraska City, Neb.) I enjoy the on-the-job training aspect,” explained Yujie. “I can learn more about golf course management and get in touch with real American golfers, not just learning from books and professors. It’s more life experience.”
“I want to teach people that golf is not a game for only rich people,” Yujie said. “They have public golf courses in the U. S. for all sorts of people to play. When I go back to China, I need to change peoples’ minds a little bit. In the U.S. we have public golf courses, private, resort, etc. People can play at different courses. All kinds of people can play this game in the U.S.”
(He finds time to play, too. His love for the game started less than four years ago and he recently shot a personal best 74 Par.)
After graduation, Yujie will return home with big ideas and excellent models in mind. He has developed a discriminating eye when it comes to golf courses. His alltime favorite course is Erin Hills, the future location of the 2017 U.S. Open. He also speaks highly of Chicago Country Club. Soon enough, he’ll be ready to take an active role in changing the face of golf in China.
When he began his internship, Yujie paid his dues cleaning clubs and carts and greeting customers. Now he is becoming more involved in tournament management. Jeff Porter, ArborLinks’ general manager, has asked him to 4
assist with merchandise sales and organize the pro-shop, and Yujie also prepares financial reports for the golf course. But his favorite part of the gig is talking to members.
2017 GCBAA Summer Meeting The 2017 Summer Meeting will be held the week of August 7, 2017 in Charlotte NC. More to come in our Spring 2017 newsletter.
Sticks for Kids Humbled by Endorsement from Golf Legend Greg Norman As a 20-year member of the GCBAA, Greg Norman has always been a strong supporter of the Association, its Foundation, and the Sticks for Kids program. That support was elevated when, earlier this summer, the GCBAA office shared news that Greg wanted to show his personal support of the Sticks for Kids program. Accompanying the exciting news was a letter addressed to our Association and Foundation presidents expressing his backing of the program.
Greg did a radio interview with Golf Course Industry giving high praise to Sticks for Kids, while also discussing golf course design and construction trends. We invite you to listen www.golfcourseindustry.com/video/greg-normangolf-construction/
Since then, Greg generously donated personal, autographed memorabilia to the Foundation’s annual Auction at the Summer Meeting in August. Additionally,
We look forward to getting Greg to a Sticks for Kids site to see first-hand how one of the Foundation’s active programs utilizes the equipment and program material. 5
Mike Katherina for SFK Foundation It may have been the fastest email response of Mike Katherina’s life. After reading a message about the GCBAA Foundation and its Sticks for Kids program, he replied within 30 seconds, as he immediately knew that he wanted to be involved.
“This (SFK program) was not developed by people in an ivory tower, this was developed by people who know the game…” Katherina explained. “This (SFK program) was not developed by people in an ivory tower, this was developed by people who know the game, know what it takes to get the methods, the principle, the foundations and the skills across to children,” Katherina explained. Those foundations and skills are essential to Katherina’s work with kids in North Tucson, Arizona. He runs a co-ed citywide program, supporting kids before and after school and during the summers. His programs always run at full capacity; if he has space for 15 kids, there will be 15 kids ready to golf and a dozen more reminding him to enroll them in the next class. “There is something about the achievement of making contact with the golf ball that’s just exhilarating to that age group,” he said of his charges, who range in age from six to fourteen. “They come into the program initially pretty sure that they are not going to be able to do it, and they leave wanting to know how they can take it to the next level.” Some kids pick up golf effortlessly; for others, learning to golf requires tenacity, endless patience and a coach’s creativity. Katherina told the story of one young girl who couldn’t 6
grasp the concept of keeping her head down. She was determined to hit the ball and watch it. No matter how much Katherina described the correct posture, his instructions didn’t connect. Finally, he decided to mix things up with a new prop: a roll of pennies. “I put a penny down right next to the tee, made her close her eyes, and then I would cover the penny with a piece of paper,” he explained. “I would tell her to make sure her eyes were right on that penny. After she was done hitting, she needed to pick up the paper and tell me if the penny had landed on heads or tails. She kept doing that and after a while she got into a repetition of looking down on the ball, picking up her penny and the tee.” Another boy, Solomon, was already an outstanding volleyball player when he joined Sticks for Kids. He assumed that because he already was a good athlete, those skills would automatically transfer to golf. “He couldn’t hit a ball straight if I held the club for him,” Katherina joked. “Finally, we straightened all that out and he got it, and it got to the point where all of a sudden he was helping other kids from what he had learned. This took about two years. Now, he would play golf with me every day if we could.” Tucson’s Sticks for Kids program serves an interesting mix of children; some are from affluent families and others live in low-income neighborhoods and have had little exposure to extracurricular activities and organized sports. But Katherina believes all kids deserve great coaching and life skills development. “I tailor my teaching to each individual,” he said. “My teaching isn’t about their income status but about making them good citizens in their community.
I’m here to provide recreation, but I use golf as character development. (Initially) the affluent kids are more extroverted and self-confident, more exposed to golf and social. The lowincome kids tend to be shy or need more acclimatization when they first start the program. However, at the end of the program they are all walking out with something positive. They are no longer on a social ladder, they are walking out with new friends, understanding of the game, confidence and diversity.” He continued, “One of the greatest benefits of the Sticks for Kids program is from beginning to end, being able to see the increase in self-confidence. It’s like walking into a math class and starting with simple addition and leaving doing calculus. I’m talking to them about a grip the
first day, and by the time they leave, they are trying to figure out if they have the right club in their hands to hit that shot.” Of course, Katherina’s teaching goes far beyond the mechanics of golf. He takes every opportunity to prepare kids for the bigger game of life by building their confidence, self-respect, respect for others, sportsmanship, listening skills, and socialization. That said, he never loses sight of fostering their love for the game.
Support the GCBAA Foundation While You Shop What is AmazonSmile? AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support your favorite charitable organization every time you shop at no cost to you. When you shop at www.smile.amazon.com, you find the exact same low prices, vast selection, and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to your favorite charitable organization. How do I shop at AmazonSmile? To shop at AmazonSmile, simply log on to www.smile. amazon.com on your computer or mobile device.
Can I use my existing Amazon. com account on AmazonSmile? Yes, you use the same account. Your shopping cart, Wish List, wedding or baby registry, and all other account settings are the same. How do I select the GCBAA Foundation to support when I’m shopping on AmazonSmile? On your first visit to AmazonSmile, you will be prompted to choose a charity. Choose the GCBAA Foundation and start shopping.
Sticks for Kids 2016 End-Year Survey Due December 31, 2016 Another year is coming to an end and it’s time for us to evaluate this year’s performance and start planning for next year’s programs. As a Sticks for Kids participant, you are required to complete a year-end survey. Your feedback is essential to gauge the current success of Sticks for Kids and to continue maintaining the program. Failing to offer the Sticks for Kids Program or to complete the survey may result in a request to return the Sticks for Kids equipment for redistribution. Links to the Sticks for Kids Year-End Survey hit email in boxes October 5, 2016. If you did not see the initial email or the reminders, please contact the GCBAA Foundation Office immediately at 402-476-4444. A link to the survey is also available on our website www.sticksforkids.org. Why do we collect this information? The GCBAA Foundation utilizes the survey data to analyze the success of the Sticks for Kids Program and to report the findings to donors and grant makers through the GCBAA Foundation Annual Status Report. Without this information, Sticks for Kids funding may no longer be available. What if data requested was not collected? Please provide your best estimate of the youth population served. If you do not feel you have collected enough information to make an estimate, please mark “N/A” and indicate a reason for omission in the text box. What if my organization did not run a Sticks for Kids Program in 2016? You must contact the GCBAA Foundation to provide an explanation if the Sticks for Kids Program was not available to your community in 2016. Please contact Stephanie Bruss at (402) 476-4444 or stephanie_bruss@gcbaa.org. Failure to report an explanation may result in a request to return equipment for redistribution. Please complete the survey no later than Friday, December 30, 2016. Failure to complete the survey could result in your program being suspended and/or being ineligible for future funding. Thank you for your dedication to the Sticks for Kids Program and for all you do to serve the children and families in your community. 2017 is already shaping up to be a very exciting year and we can’t wait to see where the new year will take us. We look forward to working with you again next year! 7
Apply Now: New Program Application Due March 1, 2017 Looking for a way to serve the youth in your community? How about a Sticks for Kids Program? The GCBAA Foundation will consider granting support to any program that may help achieve the overriding vision of growing participation in the game. Recipients of Sticks for Kids program materials and funding will be selected based on how the resources will be used to achieve objectives and make the biggest impact. Any golf course, company, or youth organization is encouraged to complete and submit the Sticks for Kids Application. Recipients may be eligible to receive: •U p to ten (10) sets of US Kids junior golf clubs and bags •S ticks for Kids teaching and marketing materials If you have the time and the skills to lead the program, the GCBAA Foundation can help by providing equipment and teaching materials to get your program up and running. Applying is easy, just log onto www.sticksforkids.org to download a copy of the New Program Application. Tell us a little about yourself and how you plan to implement the program. What makes Sticks for Kids unique is the program’s adaptability. Each program can be designed and implemented in a way that works best for everyone involved. Whether you’re a small summer camp in the heart of Kansas or busy after-school program near downtown L.A., Sticks for Kids can help you introduce the game of golf and all the life lessons that go with it to the children and families in your community.
Maintenance Grants Due March 1, 2017 In 1997, the GCBAA Foundation launched the Sticks for Kids Program. The goal was to bring the game of golf to children who may otherwise never have the opportunity to play by providing equipment and teaching materials to help them learn the game. The GCBAA Foundation always intended Sticks for Kids to be a long-standing initiative. Right now, there are more than 300 active Sticks for Kids Programs operating in the United States. After years of heavy use by active programs, many Sticks for Kids clubs and bags end up needing to be replaced. Many successful programs also find themselves needing more equipment as their enrollment grows. In 2012, the GCBAA Foundation established the Maintenance Grant which allows existing Sticks for Kids Programs to apply for additional assistance to supplement their thriving programs with new equipment. To be considered for a Maintenance Grant, programs must be in good standing, maintain an Active status, and complete the annual Sticks for Kids Year-End Survey. All requests are subject to Foundation Board approval. For more information or to complete a Maintenance Grant application, visit us on-line at www.sticksforkids.org or contact Stephanie Bruss at stephanie_bruss@gcbaa.org.
All we ask is that you take good care of the equipment and report back to us every now and then so we can see how your program is impacting the lives of the children you serve. For more information on how you can get started, contact Stephanie Bruss in the GCBAA Executive Office at 402‑476‑4444 or stephanie_bruss@gcbaa.org.
GCBAA members pause for a photo at this year’s Sticks for Kids tournament at Galloping Hill Golf Course in Kenilworth, NJ.
GCBAA Foundation • 6040 S. 58th St., Suite D • Lincoln, NE 68516 Tel: 402-476-4444 • Fax: 402-476-4489 www.sticksforkids.org 8