The SCGA Junior Golf Foundation and Tee Divas & Tee Dudes Golf Club to Provide Affordable Junior Golf Opportunities in Underserved LA Neighborhoods
LOS ANGELES, June 22, 2022 – More than 200 juniors in the South Los Angeles area will receive golf instruction along with tournament playing opportunities, thanks to a recent grant from the golf industry’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) campaign, Make Golf Your Thing. The SCGA Junior Golf Foundation and the Tee Divas & Tee Dudes Golf Club received the award and will administer programming in South Los Angeles.
With an established partnership, the SCGA Junior Golf Foundation and Tee Divas & Tee Dudes Golf Club will provide more affordable and accessible tournaments, girls golf opportunities and youth programming in the South Los Angeles community. The two local golf organizations will serve predominantly Black youth in South LA neighborhoods, including Los Angeles, Inglewood, Compton, Hawthorne, Gardena and Watts. They will also seek additional partnerships with local schools and youth programs to further serve the immediate area.
“Receiving this grant gives us the ability to reach youth in South LA that we haven’t had the infrastructure for,” says the SCGA Junior Golf Foundation Executive Director Kevin Gigax. “Specifically, we expect to reach 200 juniors with our Player & Youth Development and Girls Golf programming, host four junior golf tournaments and develop a sustainable framework that later will lead to expansion to more locations.”
“Working with the SCGA Junior Golf Foundation, we are creating new pathways for the youth in our community,” Tee Divas & Tee Dudes Golf Club Junior Golf Chair Jenny Bethune said. “We are excited to start hosting tournaments and programming for juniors that they can actually afford and access.”
As one of 81 designated organizations across the U.S., the SCGA Junior Golf Foundation and Tee Divas & Tee Dudes were chosen for their efforts to increase golf participation among underrepresented populations of the sport.
Formally launched in May 2021 and administered by the American Golf Industry Coalition, Make Golf Your Thing is the industry’s movement to make golf accessible to individuals from all backgrounds.
The grant program was established to support organizations or programs dedicated to increasing golf participation among underrepresented populations in the sport. The program has now issued 155 grants to 111 unique organizations, totaling more than $1 million. Funding for the program is led by industry supporters, such as TaylorMade, the LPGA Tour and Golfweek – all committed to making the sport more welcoming and inclusive for all.
For more information on the SCGA Junior Golf Foundation, visit scga.org/jgf.
For more information on the Tee Divas & Tee Dudes Golf Club, visit teedivas-dudesgolf.com.
For more information on Make Golf Your Thing, visit makegolfyourthing.org.
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