FIRST TEE at HENDRICKS FIELD GOLF COURSE
First Tee is an international youth development organization impacting the lives of young people by providing educational programs that build character, instill life-enhancing core values and promote healthy choices through the game of golf, with a focus of serving minority and underserved youth. The project at Hendricks Field was designed specifically to fulfill the need to create a ”Learning Links” where children can be introduced to and learn the game, and have an education and community gathering place where everyone is welcome. This First Tee Campus will combine the spirit of Charles Blair Macdonald’s golf designs and his disciple Charles Banks who laid out Hendricks, and philosophies of Frederick Law Olmsted and his namesake firm as the creator of great parks, college grounds and private estates.
In 1924, industrialist and philanthropist Harmon W. Hendricks, owner of a copper rolling mill on the Second River, donated his family home and the adjoining 23 acres to the north of Branch Brook Park. An additional 94 acres were acquired by the county to link Hendricks Field Golf Course and Bellville Park in an unbroken swath of green. An estimated five of those acres have been repurposed in 2020 to support the needs of our community through the First Tee program.
Founded in 2001 as part of a national organization, the Metropolitan Chapter includes New York City, Long Island, Westchester County and Northern New Jersey with five dedicated Learning Centers and over a dozen affiliate sites throughout the region. Celebrating 20 years of success in 2021, FTMNY serves more than 10,000 young people annually through outreach programs, school partnerships and girls golf initiatives – giving every participant the opportunity to learn the game of golf delivered by highly skilled golf coaches and PGA professionals. In addition, experienced educators provide tutoring services and extensive STEM curriculum programs.
First Tee of Essex County is under this umbrella, currently based at Weequahic Park in Newark’s South Ward. Weequahic’s transformation, beginning in 2005 through the support of the Ryan and Wilf Families, has led to more than $5 million in additional investment. In addition, the USGA provided critical early support through a construction grant of a practice facility at Weequahic that helped the project gain credibility.
This Weequahic campus currently serves more than 600 youth annually, with a 50/50 male to female ratio, and more than 85% of the students from minority backgrounds. Through both golf and Path to College advisement/SAT prep programs, this initiative has been profoundly impactful.
Through this project at Hendricks, every young person in the City of Newark will be within a few miles of a First Tee site accessible by public transportation, with public golf designed in the classical tradition, and educational facilities that are anchored in the middle of Weequahic and Branch Brook’s historic Olmsted parks and fully integrated into the community.
In 1924, industrialist and philanthropist Harmon W. Hendricks, owner of a copper rolling mill on the Second River, donated his family home and the adjoining 23 acres to the north of Branch Brook Park. An additional 94 acres were acquired by the county to link Hendricks Field Golf Course and Bellville Park in an unbroken swath of green. An estimated five of those acres have been repurposed in 2020 to support the needs of our community through the First Tee program.
Founded in 2001 as part of a national organization, the Metropolitan Chapter includes New York City, Long Island, Westchester County and Northern New Jersey with five dedicated Learning Centers and over a dozen affiliate sites throughout the region. Celebrating 20 years of success in 2021, FTMNY serves more than 10,000 young people annually through outreach programs, school partnerships and girls golf initiatives – giving every participant the opportunity to learn the game of golf delivered by highly skilled golf coaches and PGA professionals. In addition, experienced educators provide tutoring services and extensive STEM curriculum programs.
First Tee of Essex County is under this umbrella, currently based at Weequahic Park in Newark’s South Ward. Weequahic’s transformation, beginning in 2005 through the support of the Ryan and Wilf Families, has led to more than $5 million in additional investment. In addition, the USGA provided critical early support through a construction grant of a practice facility at Weequahic that helped the project gain credibility.
This Weequahic campus currently serves more than 600 youth annually, with a 50/50 male to female ratio, and more than 85% of the students from minority backgrounds. Through both golf and Path to College advisement/SAT prep programs, this initiative has been profoundly impactful.
Through this project at Hendricks, every young person in the City of Newark will be within a few miles of a First Tee site accessible by public transportation, with public golf designed in the classical tradition, and educational facilities that are anchored in the middle of Weequahic and Branch Brook’s historic Olmsted parks and fully integrated into the community.
