First Tee Teams With Wal-Mart During Black History Month

"Uneven Fairways" - The Story of the Negro Leagues of Golf, hosted by Samuel L. Jackson and featuring The First Tee CEO Joe Louis Barrow, Jr., will go on sale at the Wal-Mart location nearest you on Tuesday, February 7, in conjunction with Black History Month. Proceeds from the sale of the DVD will be contributed to The First Tee. In order to share this terrific story with family and friends, as well as support The First Tee, go to your local Wal-Mart store to purchase this historic film or purchase it online at www.walmart.com.

In addition to writing about golf, Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Pound Ridge Adds More Private Club Amenities

Individual and group plans with flexible playing options and an assortment of benefits are available this year at Pound Ridge Golf Club, the public daily fee Pete Dye design in Westchester County.

Season plans start at $4,000 and several inducements have been added for 2012. Plan holders will get a ten percent discount on pro shop merchandise. They'll also be eligible to compete in the inaugural club championship and monthly tournaments as well as a meet-and-greet social in the spring. The pro shop discount will come in especially handy given the number of balls you'll need to play the demanding course.

Corporate plans feature rounds priced at lower advanced reservation rates for unlimited designated individuals from a business. Plans start at $16,000 and include a complimentary foursome voucher, a $940 value.

“Our individual and group plans offer customized options specific to the unique needs of today’s modern golfer,” says Pound Ridge owner Ken Wang. “From the boardroom to the first tee, our corporate plans are designed for ease-of-access and entertaining clients on a world-class, resort level course.”

Since Pound Ridge opened in 2008, the club has proven there is a market for high-end daily fee golf in Westchester. It may be priced a bit out of the range of the four-rounds-a-week retiree, but it has filled a solid need for golfers looking for a country-club experience on a pay-as-you-go basis.

In addition to writing about golf, Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Some Positive Ideas About Public Golf

The golf course architecture firm of Robert Trent Jones II® (RTJ II), designers of such storied public golf courses as Poppy Hills and Spanish Bay in California, Washington’s Chambers Bay, and hundreds of others in more than 40 countries around the world, offers ten tenets supporting accessible and affordable public golf.

They come in the form of a Public Golf Proclamation that complements efforts of the ASGCA, NGCOA, USGA, The PGA of America, and golf organizations, associations, and governing bodies worldwide to bring the game to more people in more places.

We should all embrace the comments made by Master Architect Robert Trent Jones, Jr., who said, “We believe that golf should...be easily affordable and accessible to everyone who wishes to play it.” Jones took this further, writing in a recent letter to the New York Times, “Golf architects are often called upon to design courses that support upscale real estate developments. But the game’s roots reach down into the Earth, not up into trophy homes. Golf first developed 500 years ago as an accessible and affordable sport that brought people together outdoors, rather than separating them. Many great golf courses serve the public and the environment. The future of our sport lies in embracing the Scottish tradition in which all people are equal as they stand over a white ball.”

The firm's tenets say:

We aspire to:
1. Work with municipalities and other government entities to create great golf courses for their citizens through insightful, integrated master plans specific to each community.
2. Assist communities in creating programs and initiatives that make great public courses accessible and affordable to everyone.
3. Advocate for the creation of golf facilities on degraded sites to return unproductive land to productive and sustainable public uses.
4. Always protect and enhance the environment for the good of all.
5. Design courses that require less earth moving, water, fertilizer, and other resources in an effort to keep investment and operating costs—and therefore green fees—reasonable.
6. Create wider strategic routings and sets of shorter “family tees” to encourage children to take up golf and have fun playing it.
7. Advocate for innovative practice facilities where young people and newcomers can learn to love golf, and support programs and organizations that introduce new players to the sport.
8. Design facilities that encourage speed of play, including inventive layouts such as “Learning Courses,” par-three routings, 6-, 9-, and 12-hole loops, and others.
9. Create public courses that are flexible, fun, and challenging to golfers of a wide range of abilities.
10. Encourage golf course owners to support local businesses and take an active role in their communities.

Given the declining state of the game today, it makes sense doesn't it?

In addition to writing about golf, Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.

Invaluable Lessons From John Kennedy

At last, a golf instruction book that tells you how to think about the game, not just swing a club! It's Tales From The Lesson Tee by John Kennedy, Director of Golf at Westchester Country Club. Kennedy writes in the spirit of the famous quotation from Bobby Jones, "Competitive golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course, the space between your ears." His book is a compendium of stories, suggestions, and well-thought-out examples that prove how we mentally approach the game of golf is just as important--if not more so--than the physical moves we use to play it.

Kennedy's long, rich experience in golf shows on every page. He talks about the lessons he learned teaching the game to everyone from rank beginners to tour pros during his more than 20 years at Westchester, a PGA Tour stop for decades and one of the largest private clubs in the country. The PGA of America gave Kennedy the 2010 Horton Smith Award, honoring him as the nation's leading educator in his profession. When he makes suggestions about how to think about your game, you should listen.

Reading the book is like having a long, easy conversation with Kennedy. He doesn't just tell you to practice more, for example, he explains how to get the most from your time on the range, then mixes in a few stories of players who've done it both the right way and the wrong way--often to humorous effect. There are sections on how (and why) to set reasonable goals for yourself, how to find and work with an instructor that's right for you, how to maintain your mental equilibrium before, during, and after a round, and much more.

It is absolutely refreshing to read a golf instruction book that never once promises to help you hit it longer, higher, or straighter. The subtitle tells it all: "How To Know Your Game, Know Yourself, And Play Better Without Changing Your Swing."

In addition to writing about golf, Dave Donelson distills the experiences of hundreds of entrepreneurs into practical advice for small business owners and managers in the Dynamic Manager's Guides, a series of how-to books about marketing and advertising, sales techniques, motivating personnel, financial management, and business strategy.