First Tee of Northwest Arkansas has an event planned, “Drive, Chip and Putt,” a qualifier for the national competition taking place at Augusta.
Here is the transcript between Alyssa Orange and Becca Godman:
Alyssa Orange: “Well welcome back to the show. Alyssa Orange joined by the First Tee of Northwest Arkansas’ Becca Godman who is the development associate. One of the things that you guys do over at the First Tee is the Drive, Chip and Putt event. I guess I can call it an event correct?”
Becca Godman: “Yeah it’s an event, a qualifier for the national competition taking place at Augusta.”
Alyssa Orange: “Well what is cool about that is it is all across the country. People from youth really get to qualify and then if they qualify and get through a couple of steps they get to go and compete at the Masters. You guys have one of those right here.”
Becca Godman: “We do. Yeah, we have a qualifier for the 2020 Drive, Chip and Putt coming up on July 14th. Registration is open at DriveChipandPutt.com. Your child just has to be under the age of 16 as of April 5th, 2020.”
Alyssa Orange: “Well it is pretty cool that you get to go over to Augusta and maybe compete at the Masters in their Drive, Chip and Putt event. But why is just the event in general so important?”
Becca Godman: “So our local event really raises awareness of youth golf in the area. We’ve had kids that have been part of the First Tee program qualify to the next level in Tulsa and move on. A few have gone a little bit further and one that made it to Augusta in the past. So it just kind of brings awareness of our facility as well the competitive youth golf in the area.”
Alyssa Orange: “Let’s talk about the First Tee of Northwest Arkansas if you haven’t heard of it. They are in Lowell and they are a great place to learn about the game of golf. But also to learn some life skills as well.”
Becca Godman: “Yeah so we teach life skills and leadership skills from kids 5-18 using the game of golf. We teach monthly classes. You can sign up and come out and work with our coaches in our outdoor facility and our indoor facility. The only indoor heated public driving range in Northwest Arkansas and we are open to the public as well.”
Alyssa Orange: “Alright so it is a lot of fun over there. The Drive, Chip and Putt is not the only thing that they do event wise. Outline just some of the quick things that you guys do throughout the year.”
Becca Godman: “So we have an event coming up on Tuesday, Tee Up Your Future, which Alyssa is our MC for that. We will have 600 girls from junior high and high schools in attendance hearing from women that are executives at some of the largest corporations based out of Northwest Arkansas. We have a golf marathon coming up in May at three different country clubs where people just play golf all day long raising money for the First Tee. We do a lot of events with the Northwest Arkansas Championship. We have a fundraiser tournament this August at the Blessings.”
Again, another event is slated for Tuesday, April 2, “Tee Up Your Future.” Six-hundred girls from junior high and high schools will be in attendance hearing from women who are executives at some of the largest corporations based out of Northwest Arkansas.
