Who We Are
Gator Junior Golf is a 501(c)3 non-profit sports-based youth development program that focuses on teaching golf skills and life skills through the game of golf. We build a foundation in our children’s lives that begins on the golf course and matures to success in life.
Our Mission
Our Mission is to enhance the lives of youth by providing educational programs that build character, promote team-building, and establish mentorship through the game of golf.
Our Vision
Our Vision is to provide equitable opportunities for the children in our community to develop through the game of golf regardless of socioeconomic status, race, gender or physical ability.
Our Story
The problem we seek to solve
Gator Junior Golf was founded in 2016 and began with passionate golf coaches and an underserved need for youth in the greater Gainesville community. Golf has historically had many barriers to entry that makes it intimidating and oftentimes financially unattainable to get started. Our Founder and Executive Director, Sean Warner, moved to Gainesville to attend the University of Florida in 2011. At the time, no organizations existed to teach junior golf—so began our journey. Our vision is to provide equitable opportunities for the children in our community to develop life skills through the game of golf regardless of socioeconomic status, race, gender or physical ability. Our founding directors and officers drew on their experience with First Tee to establish Gainesville’s first nonprofit junior golf program. Today, we have a program that reaches 400 kids with 30 coaches annually and a footprint that spans six golf courses in three counties in north central Florida.
About our programs
Our primary program started with weekly golf classes held once per week for 10 weeks, two seasons per year. Shortly after our founding in 2016, we partnered with two after-school nonprofits, Girls Place and Reichert House to deliver golf instruction at no charge to the organizations or their participants. These two organizations cater to children that are underserved and/or at-risk. Fast forward to 2022 and we also have golf programs with Shands Children’s Hospital and Special Olympics of Alachua.
After-school enrichment programs. Girls Place is an all-girls organization, and the golf class is girls only; this is a key element as female participation in golf is significantly lower than male’s. Sean and our founding officers learned from the research driven by First Tee that girls learn more effectively when they are paired in all-girl classes. Reichert House is generally known as a reform school for boys; many of them are deemed as at-risk defined by the Florida Department of Children and Families- some of them are court-ordered juvenile delinquents, orphans, victims of abuse and other situations that would otherwise hinder their cognitive development without the intervention of the Reichert House program.
We started offering golf classes for the kids of Girls Place and Reichert House free of charge to break the biggest barrier to entry for the sport- the stigma that golf is only for the wealthy. Girls Place and Reichert House provide transportation to the golf course and we teach the kids. These kids are able to try the previously unattainable sport of golf with their friends and learn the life virtues that the game has to offer.
Shands Children’s Hospital & Special Olympics. Programs for In 2020, we partnered with Shands Children’s Hospital to deliver a golf program for kids afflicted with serious illness, many of whom are terminal. For this program, we take plastic golf clubs and mini tennis balls (SNAG) to teach kids in the confines of the hospital. We’ve been able to provide countless kids with the opportunity to play a sport during a seemingly impossible time. We also work with Special Olympics of Alachua to assist in delivering a golf program to children of all abilities. Approximately 15% of our class enrollment has a disability, and our coaches are trained to handle the challenges that each individual is faced with.
The biggest barrier we’ve encountered is the stigma that golf isn’t for them- whether it’s viewed as a culture mismatch or a financial need, we seek to overcome the barriers in place. Our targeted after-school programs with Girls Place, Reichert House, Special Olympics and Shands Children’s Hospital help overcome the psychological barrier of trying a new sport in an unfamiliar environment. We use golf as the fun vehicle to develop kids socially, physically and emotionally to prepare them for success later in life.
What we teach
Gator Junior Golf’s founding team designed the teaching curriculum to center around three core principles of character development, team-building and mentorship. We have 7 class levels where kids are exposed to an age-appropriate curriculum. For character development, we teach our core values such as honesty and respect. Our kids learn how to exhibit the core value on the golf course, at home and at school. Kids participate in team-building games to learn how to work with others in a group setting and how to handle social conflicts. The kids in our advanced levels are encouraged to volunteer for the beginner level classes to earn community service hours and mentor the younger students. Several years after our founding in 2016, many of the kids that started with us are now volunteer mentors.
Another key aspect of our teaching is our healthy habits. This includes managing our Physical, Emotional and Social health. These are less obvious life lessons that the game of golf can teach, and our program helps make our students aware of that and how to manage all aspects of their own health.
For Physical health, we teach the importance of having a balanced diet, exercise and safety. Our kids learn how the choices they make about when to eat, how much to eat, and the types of food and drinks impacts the body and brain’s ability to perform and succeed. Lastly, we focus on physical safety, which includes setting boundaries so we stay safe from swinging golf clubs and flying golf balls. It also includes stretching before participating in a physical activity so we can keep our bodies flexible and avoid injury.
For Emotional health, individuals learn how to learn from the past and present and apply those learning lessons to improve and develop a plan for their future. Our teaching highlights that although we might not be able to control how we feel we can control how we behave; we refer to this as self control. Our behavior has a distinct impact on our emotions and can be utilized in a positive manner to help one succeed on and off the golf course. Lastly, we focus on the importance of team effort.
For Social health, maintaining healthy relationships starts with managing one’s own emotions and leads to our interaction and impact on those around us. Unique to the digital challenges that face our newest generations, we teach how we impact others extends to the digital environment such as texting and social media. One of the quintessential components of our curriculum connects what we learn on the golf course can also be applied at home and at school. This begins with a class discussion about the core value of the day, and kids are asked how it can be applied on the golf course, at school and at home.
Several years after our founding, we now deliver 20 weekly golf classes, offer on-course playing opportunities, tournaments and more year round. All of our non-after-school golf classes amount to just $15 per hour- among the lowest in the state- and we haven’t raised our prices since we started. We offer need-based scholarships for all of our classes to reduce the class fees or eliminate them altogether. We offer subsidized golf shirts, hats and golf clubs for our families in need to encourage kids to practice outside of golf class. Today, our website is home to our eLearning portal “Golf at Home” where we have instructional golf videos, homework and quizzes to enable kids and their parents/legal guardians to continue the learning process with them off the golf course.
How we solve the problem
Since we started, we have introduced golf to thousands of participants and provided hundreds of scholarships. We have weekly golf classes where kids can progress through our 7 levels of instruction from age 4 to age 18. We offer scholarships which eliminate the class fees for families in need, provide golf clubs, golf clothes and the permission to practice at the golf course outside of class free of charge. We have playing programs to introduce kids to the golf course. We have competitive tournaments where kids can participate in competition. We offer targeted programs to reach low income communities, including minorities and girls. We provide targeted instruction for kids with disabilities and terminal diseases. Lastly, we offer virtual learning programs on our website to encourage kids to continue the learning process in the comfort of their own home. We continue to break down barriers and reach kids with the unique opportunity of learning the game of golf that matures to success in adult life.
Check out our Impact Reports over the years to see our data driven approach to evaluating our results, and read our blog articles to see how we document our impact over time and view our pictures to see it all in action.
