First Tee - North Florida, Mayo Clinic partner on learning center at Jacksonville Beach

Garry Smits, Florida Times-Union
·3 min read
A First Tee learning center opens at the Brentwood Golf Course in 2010. Another learning center will be completed later this summer at the Jacksonville Beach Golf Club.
A First Tee learning center opens at the Brentwood Golf Course in 2010. Another learning center will be completed later this summer at the Jacksonville Beach Golf Club.

A First Tee -- North Florida learning center will be completed at the Jacksonville Beach Golf Club later this year, with plans to serve more than 500 children and youth each year.

The Mayo Clinic is the first corporate partner to contribute to a capital campaign of up to $500,000 to complete the project, with one anonymous donor contributing $100,000.

The First Tee already partners with the Carver Center at Jacksonville Beach to reach underserved children. Around 65 percent of the children are from the Beaches community, with the rest traveling from nearby areas to participate in First Tee clinics and activities.

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Once the learning center is completed, it will be used for after-school classes, camps and special events such as training and career education.

Groundbreaking is scheduled for later this spring and a late summer opening is planned.

“This new facility will really be a game changer for us,” said First Tee – North Florida executive director Jeff Willoughby in a statement. “It’ will allow us to increase capacity and partner with a nearby youth center so that even more kids can experience the mentorship, golf education and character-building activities that are central to our mission at First Tee – North Florida. We’re grateful for Mayo Clinic’s support.”

First Tee – North Florida has affiliate programs at 11 First Coast golf facilities and more than 140 schools and eight youth centers, in addition to the original site at the Brentwood Golf Club in downtown Jacksonville. There are plans to construct two additional learning centers at municipal golf courses in the Jacksonville area. To learn more about First Tee – North Florida or support its capital campaign, visit firsttteenorthflorida.org.

JU's Olivares earns ASUN honors

Jacksonville University junior Susana Olivares earned ASUN player of the week honors after sharing the medalist trophy at the Rivertown Intercollegiate in Charleston, S.C., with one of the best 54-hole scores in team history.

Olivares, a transfer from Central Oklahoma shot 72 in the final round and shot 3-under 213, a tie for fourth-best tournament score in Dolphins history. It was her first victory on the Division I level and the first for a JU player since Casey Powell won the Sea Best Jacksonville Classic on Sept. 28, 2021.

She is the 13th player in JU history to win a tournament.

Spring Four-Ball opens schedule

The Jacksonville Area Golf Association Spring Four-Ball will be March 27 at the Jacksonville Golf and Country Club, open to professionals and amateurs, men and women, and with no age restrictions.

Players must have a verifiable USGA handicap index. There will be gross and net divisions, with tees dependent on age. Team members do not have to play from the same tee.s

The entry fee is $270 per team. There will be a 9 a.m. shotgun start, with lunch and an awards ceremony to begin at 1 p.m.

Visit jaxareagolf.org for information or to enter.

Dawkins grant supports Moore-Meyers

Jacksonville native and Pro Football Hall of Fame member Brian Dawkins is donating $50,000 in the name of his family to the Moore-Myers Children's Fund, which uses golf as the basis for character-building and academic support.

Dawkins, a Raines and Clemson graduate who played in the NFL for 16 years, has established the grant in the name of Altamese and Ralph Dawkins Sr. The goal is to inspire young golfers who have not yet had previous access or exposure to the game.

The Moore-Myers Children’s Fund was created in 2014 by Justine Redding and her husband Richard Blackston to make an impact on the lives of young children. More information can be found at moore-myers.org.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: First Tee learning center coming at Jacksonville Beach this summer