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By Greg Hardwig
Naples Daily News
October 18, 2005
NAPLES, Fla. -- Lana Peterson had the attention of 50 Collier County
elementary school physical education teachers Monday. In the coming months,
she hopes those same teachers can grab the attention of their students and
get them to take up golf.
Peterson was at Gulf Coast High School to train the P.E. teachers on using
SNAG golf equipment (Starting New At Golf). Peterson represents the
National School Program, which is part of The First Tee, an introductory
program geared toward youngsters. The National School Program was started
in 2003 out of Golf 20/20, a yearly seminar that involves all aspects of
golf.
The reason that Southwest Florida is involved? None other than its two
professional golf events, The Franklin Templeton Shootout, which is Nov.
9-13 at Tiburón Golf Club, and The ACE Group Classic, which will be Feb.
13-19 at The Club at TwinEagles. The two events combined to purchase all of
the equipment and training for the area.
"We couldn't do it without them," Peterson said.
Franklin Templeton Shootout tournament director Taylor Ives said the
impetus to get involved came during the PGA Tour's meetings in March at The
Players Championship.
"Since Naples had both a PGA Tour and a Champions Tour event, it made sense
for the two events to go in together," said Ives, who appeared with ACE
Group Classic tournament director Jason Camp at the session and talked
about the program. "Having the two events involved allowed us to reach more
schools.
"The ultimate goal over a multi-year period is that all of the schools in
Collier and Lee would have an opportunity."
Today, Peterson will be teaching Lee County elementary school physical
education teachers at the North Fort Myers Academy for the Arts.
Peterson said The First Tee is encouraging the NSP to go into communities
that have professional events, with the events themselves also getting
involved with the NSP. She estimated a total of 350,000 elementary school
students would be affected by the program this year.
For Collier County students, that likely will come sometime in the next
month or so.
The SNAG equipment is made of durable plastic. The program teaches the
concept of the game in a slightly different manner than, for example, a
professional would teach a beginning golfer.
"We want this to be fun and we want them to be successful," Peterson told
her soon-to-be golf instructors from 19 elementary schools.
The P.E. teachers, who volunteered to go through the training on a planning
day, all spoke highly of the program and the opportunity it could give
their students.
"I think it's cool," said Miguel Font, a teacher at Sabal Palm Elementary.
"It accommodates a large group of kids. I don't play golf, but it makes it
successful."
"I think this is an exciting product, especially for the population we're
dealing with in Immokalee," said Margaret Hively of Lake Trafford
Elementary. "Our kids won't get exposed to golf unless we bring it in to
them."
"The equipment looks great," said Karol Tart of Big Cypress Elementary.
"It's very user friendly.
"Having the hands-on training and seeing it will help us."
For local teaching professional Ty Andersen, this is what he's been doing
for the last four years in Naples, only on a much larger scale. Andersen
has had an after-school program at Arrowhead Golf Course in North Naples,
as well as summer clinics using the SNAG equipment.
"The whole idea is to get the kids introduced to the game," said Andersen,
who has been working with Collier Junior Golf, Inc., a nonprofit
organization put together by Larry Gantzer, head professional at The Naples
Beach Hotel & Golf Club, with the hope of one day having a juniors-only
golf facility.
"The next step is to get a kids facility built," he said.
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