With Bulle Rock Golf Course in Havre de Grace celebrating its third year as host of the McDonald’s LPGA Tour Championship this week, the First Tee of Harford County is also celebrating its three-year anniversary.
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The Harford County chapter, based out of The Wetlands golf course in Aberdeen, is one of 200-plus First Tee chapters around the country, including five in Maryland. It was founded when the LPGA Championshipmade the move to Bulle Rock in 2005.
First Tee is a worldwide initiative that helps 8- to 18-year-old children of all backgrounds develop life skills and gain character education through the game of golf.
“We serve about 350 kids a year,” said First Tee of Harford County executive director Judy Stout. “Through our school-based program and after-school programs, we have served nearly 1,000.”
All First Tee participants receive a golf shirt, clubs, instruction and access to golf courses year-round. The cost for joining the program is pro-rated for players who can afford it, but is free of charge for those less privileged.
Some of the benefits of the program include scholarship offers from the Life Skills and Leadership Academy in Manhattan, Kansas in mid-July.
“It teaches you great life skills off the course and teaches you etiquette on and off the course,” said 14-year-old Zayne Dadressan.
Before he heads to C. Milton Wright High next fall, Dadressan will be the third First Tee of Harford County representative headed to the camp this summer.
“It opens up more doors for me,” Dadressan said. “It gives me an advantage over other kids.”
The significance of the LPGA Championship this weekend is not lost on Stout or Dadressan.
“The tournament gives us an increased chance for exposure and increased community awareness and that helps with fundraising,” Stout said.
For Dadressan, the tournament gives him a chance to meet the pros.
“I am volunteering Saturday and Sunday at the tournament,” said Dadressan, who has been a standard bearer for all three years of the tournament?s local existence. “I am really looking forward to it again.”
