By Jeff Day, MGA Foundation Program Manager
OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. (August 19, 2013) – This year's Met Open venue Old Westbury Golf & Country Club hosted a group of 60 enthusiastic junior golfers from The First Tee of Metropolitan New York on Monday, August 19, for the third and final MGA/MetLife Youth Clinic of 2013. The clinic was held in conjunction with the MGA/MetLife Caddie Scholarship Pro-Am at the 98th Met Open Championship. The youngsters were from The First Tee programs of Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island. They were joined by Old Westbury head professional Mike Meehan and MetLife’s affable mascot, Snoopy, for a day of fun and instruction.
Instruction was moderated by Justin Koff, First Tee Program Director at The First Tee Nassau County, which uses Eisenhower Park as its home facility. Participants enjoyed chipping, putting and full-swing instruction. Pictures with Snoopy and some friendly competition were all part of the day, as well as a visit from MetLife Senior Vice President of Employee Benefits Tony Nugent.
The youngsters learned about distance control at the full-swing station and the differences between pitching and chipping at the short game area. They were in for a challenge when they arrived at Old Westbury’s expansive and undulating practice green, which provided a number of challenging hole locations, all lined with boundary strings. The participants each played three difficult holes while learning how to read putts, care for the green, properly mark their golf ball and apply the stroke-and-distance penalty for hitting a ball out of bounds.
Assisting Koff and Meehan with instruction were Old Westbury assistant professionals Sandra Jaskol and Matt Sita, as well as a number of certified First Tee instructors and counselors from both the Nassau County and Suffolk County sites. A fun day was had by all during an experience made possible by MetLife, a longtime partner of the MGA and MGA Foundation.
The event was the third in a series of youth clinics conducted annually by the MGA Foundation and MetLife. Earlier events this year were held at the USGA’s Golf House headquarters in Far Hills, N.J. and MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
MetLife has been a partner of the MGA for more than 30 years and is the sponsor of eight MGA championships as well as the MGA Calendar of Competitions. MetLife has a long history of community service and supporting MGA Foundation junior golf initiatives. For more information on MGA/MetLife Youth Clinics, please contact Jeff Day of the MGA Foundation at jday@mgagolf.org or 914-347-4653.
