Golf is nothing new to North County. But using golf as an exercise to teach confidence, focus, discipline, physics and engineering to disadvantaged youths just might be. Building on the foundation of success with their City Heights facility, Pro Kids Golf Academy, Inc. will break ground on the Ely Callaway Learning Center in Oceanside this fall. As with the flagship facility, the Oceanside center will provide life-skills classes and scholastic assistance in addition to golf lessons, clinics and other developmental programs for young people.
The new facility, which incorporates the Learning Center and a 6.5-acre, multi-hole golf course, is supported largely by generous contributions of time, talents and funds by various San Diego-area companies, including Carlsbad's Callaway Golf, which kicked the project off with a $2 million donation.
Callaway Golf Company Foundation Chairperson Julie Maloy said that the Pro Kids facility perfectly exemplifies the Callaway Golf Company Foundation mission statement, which prescribes her company's involvement in programs that transform lives. “As we have seen with the City Heights facility, Pro Kids does change lives,” she said. “It's not a golf school; it's a life school.”
When it comes to Callaway's involvement in the Pro Kids Golf Academy, Maloy likes to say that golf is the hook, but education is the payoff. “Golf can change your life, not just because it is fun,
but because it can hook kids into education,” she said. “We can help children learn to play golf, and that's fun, but we can also use golf as a tool to teach many things. Aerodynamics, for example — we can use golf to get kids curious about how a ball flies through the air when hit a certain way. The dimples on a golf ball can get them thinking about the wings of an airplane.”
Callaway's involvement with Pro Kids goes back to 1994, when the original Pro Kids facility was built. The golf company was one of the first donors of the site, providing the founding grant. In keeping with the Callaway Golf Foundation's mission statement, the company's employees have been involved as volunteers ever since Pro Kids opened its doors.
For the new facility in North County, Callaway has contributed $2 million to insure that as the venture gets off the ground it has a solid foundation of funds to move forward.
“We are confident that as it progresses, community members, businesses and other golf companies will be on board with support for the new Pro Kids Golf Academy.” Maloy said.
The Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce has already committed to contributing a portion of the proceeds from its June 10 golf tournament to Pro Kids.
Chamber CEO Ted Owen said that the Pro Kids' facility provides a fine opportunity for Carlsbad businesses to give back. “Our members have always risen to the occasion when there is a need,” he said. “Partnering with a proven institution that helps enrich and educate a future generation is not only good for the community, it's just good business.”
Pro Kids capital campaign chairman Fred Arbuckle agreed. “While we have received generous donations already, we still have a long way to go,” he said. “So financial support is absolutely welcomed. There are different ways to donate; through participation in our golf tournament with the Chamber or through direct donations. There are numerous naming opportunities for individuals or corporations. We are looking for partners to help with building the facility, in-kind donations, as well as strategic long-term relationships with corporations that allow us to work with their companies to help educate children and expose them to business throughout North County.”
Maloy expects that Callaway employees' level of involvement will be even greater than at the City Heights facility. “This is in our own backyard, and where many of the Callaway employees live,” she said. “Our employees will be volunteering as instructors not only in the golf programs, but in the academic programs and the science programs. They go down and play golf with the kids.”
The 3,800 square foot Ely Callaway Golf & Learning Center will house a swing simulator room, 10-station computer lab, a classroom, small meeting/study room, equipment storage, golf pros' office, club repair center, and administrative offices.
Although built to fit on a 6.5-acre site, the course itself will have the look and feel of a regulation golf course. The player development course will consist of six holes ranging in length from 53 to 112 yards, with multiple tees for a full range of short game shots. Large greens will offer multiple hole locations. Practice greens, one for chipping and pitching and one for putting, will be provided, as will a driving cage with multiple hitting stalls. Public play will not be available on the course.
According to Marty Remmell, CEO of Pro Kids Golf Academy, Inc., the community that Pro Kids is targeting in Oceanside is similar in some ways to the population it serves in City Heights. “Both have culturally diverse populations, including many recent immigrants,” she said. “Many residents of both areas live below the poverty level. Some 68 percent of students enrolled in the schools in our Oceanside service area qualify for the federal free or reduced lunch program. Pro Kids will be free to students enrolled in that program as well as to children of active duty military.”
The facility's overarching goal is to increase the number of elementary and middle school children who have access to the holistic approach of educational programs, community service opportunities, and golf and life-skills classes.
Remmell said that Pro Kids hopes to replicate the current school partnership at this facility. “It provides golf and life-skills instruction during school, after school, and on Saturdays; additionally, we'll provide educational opportunities such as computer access, tutoring, vocational field trips, and community service opportunities, and college scholarships.”
Maloy said that Callaway's involvement with Pro Kids has provided a solid template for success before, and she is sure it will continue to be successful at the North County facility. “I don't mean so much that we'll produce the next Annika Sorenstam or Phil Mickelson,” she said. “More importantly, we will see success in these children hooked into learning, going off to earn their college degrees — to live a successful, productive life and come back to volunteer at Pro Kids. That's how we will define success.”