Written by Zach Pretzer, Tournament Director and Grace Morgan, Program and Development Coordinator
Over the past weekend, First Tee — Upstate South Carolina hosted an LPGA/USGA Girls Golf Clinic in honor of Renee Powell! Grace Morgan, our Program and Development Coordinator, did an amazing job orchestrating the event and we had loads of help from other staff members, coaches, and volunteers from Beauty Marks 4 Girls.
The event took place last Saturday, February 24th from 11am-2pm at Greer Golf Course. We partnered with another local Non-Profit, Beauty Marks 4 Girls, which mentors girls with incarcerated mothers/parents. Between their participants and inviting girls of all skill levels and backgrounds from the Upstate South Carolina area, we had 26 girls in attendance! Again, we cannot thank our coaches and volunteers enough. Due to their help, the event had a 1:3 ratio of coach to participant. This 1:3 ratio allowed the girls to receive one on one instruction throughout the clinic.
The event was a station based clinic with four stations; an agility & physical education station with an obstacle course, full swing driver station on the driving range, pitching & chipping station on the driving range and lastly a Renee Powell station. The Renee Powell station included signage we had made to discuss the history and impact of Renee Powell as well as some important key words that are meaningful to our chapter and Girls Golf. All of the participants were very engaged in our Renee Powell station, asking questions about her life and legacy as well as sharing how her story relates to their lives. It was incredible to see girls of such varying ages enjoy and benefit from this event. After the clinic, we hired a local black-owned food truck to serve all of the girls lunch which they enjoyed as well!
Overall, this event was very impactful to not only the 26 girls who attended, but to all others involved with the clinic as well!
