Robyn Miles/ Daily News
Champions Tour player Allen Doyle practices Wednesday at the First Tee golf course in LaGrange. Looking on is his daughter, First Tee Executive Director Michelle Griffith.
Champions Tour player Allen Doyle practices Wednesday at the First Tee golf course in LaGrange. Looking on is his daughter, First Tee Executive Director Michelle Griffith.
“It’s a way to raise more money and open up the facility,” said Champions Tour player Allen Doyle of LaGrange, chairman of the First Tee board of directors. “It’s got some real value, and it should be better utilized by the community.”
Memberships for unlimited play seven days a week are $20 per month or $200 per year for individuals, and $30 or $300, respectively, for families.
“It’s a great, inexpensive way even to practice without needing five hours” to play a standard round, said Doyle, who hopes to stretch two or three holes into par 4’s within the next year.
The membership fees don’t apply to the youths ages 8 to 18 who participate in the First Tee’s golf and life skills program, summer registration for which will be April 26 through May 7. Volunteers are always needed, officials said.
The golf course also is being used by Twin Cedars Youth Services, New Ventures, the Troup County Senior Center and the golf team at Troup High School, which practices there once a week.
“We’re doing everything we can to expand our reach and make the facility available to as much of the community as humanly possible,” Doyle said, although “the first goal is to develop youth in the community.”
Meanwhile, the sixth annual First Tee Pro Am, scheduled for April 26 at Highland Country Club, aims to raise 40 percent to 45 percent of the First Tee’s $85,000 annual budget.
About 10 players from the Champions Tour will be on hand for the 20-team scramble, including Doyle; John Mahaffey;2005 Player of the Year Dana Quigley and his aspiring pro son, Devan Quigley; 1999 Player of the Year Bruce Fleisher; Mike Goodes; Tim Simpson, and perhaps Keith Fergus and Hall of Famers Ben Crenshaw and Larry Nelson.
The entry fee is $500 per player or $2,000 per team. Each team will have a pro for nine holes.
As another fundraiser, the First Tee clubhouse now sells premium “barely been hit” range balls from the Masters and PGA Championship.
— To register for First Tee classes or sign up for the pro am, call Executive Director Michelle Griffith at (706) 883-1655.
Joel Martin can be reached at jmartin@lagrangenews.com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 235.
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