Dyker Beach Park

The Daily Plant : Tuesday, November 21, 2006

A Golf Course Just For Kids

Photo by Daniel Avila

Golf is one of America's most popular sports but there has never been a course where children - and only children - could practice their putts and swings.  Until now.

On November 1, Mayor Bloomberg announced construction of the new and nationally unique $6 million CityParks Junior Golf Center, in Dyker Beach Park in Brooklyn.  The facility will have a six-hole course, driving range, and practice facility with free golf instruction. The Center, available to those ages 5 through 17 and their accompanying parents and guardians, is expected to open in September, 2007.  It will occupy 11.8 acres of the public Dyker Beach Golf Course and will be built, managed, and programmed by the City Parks Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving New York City’s parks.  The Mayor was joined at the announcement by Borough President Marty Markowitz, State Senator Martin Golden, Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe and City Parks Foundation Executive Director David Rivel.

“With this beautiful new facility – the first of its kind in the City – we will be able to introduce more young New Yorkers in all five boroughs to the great game of golf,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “Not only is golf good exercise, it teaches self-discipline, sportsmanship, and humility. Who knows?  This may be the training ground for the next Tiger Woods.”

The $6 million project is being funded through a combination of public and private funds, with $1.5 million being allocated by the City of New York and the New York City Council.  Additional funds have been allocated by the New York State Senate through the efforts of Senator Golden.  The remaining funds are being raised by City Parks Foundation from private sources.  Of the total $6 million, approximately half is needed to construct the center, and the rest will establish a permanent operating endowment to support annual programming, operations and course maintenance.  

The CityParks Junior Golf Center will consist of a six-hole golf course, a 9,875 square foot practice putting green, a 9,075 square foot chipping green, a 8,100 square foot sand trap, a nine-station covered driving range, and a 4,275 square foot Clubhouse Learning Center with classroom space. The Clubhouse has a covered patio area and three family viewing stands so parents and friends can watch the golfers practice.

The facility will be the centerpiece of the free golf instruction program the City Parks Foundation has operated for over 1,500 kids ages 5-17 since 1999.  Children learn the game of golf in 10 parks, 6 driving ranges and 7 public golf courses each summer.  The program serves beginners and advanced players alike and equipment is provided free of charge.  By offering instruction in neighborhood parks, City Parks Foundation has been able to introduce thousands of kids, in all five boroughs, to the game of golf who would not have otherwise had the opportunity.  Construction of the CityParks Junior Golf Center will give kids in the program a place to hone their skills and to meet other junior golfers.

The Center is being constructed on unused land that is part of the Dyker Beach Golf Course.  The public golf course is managed under a concession agreement with the City of New York by American Golf Corporation, the country’s largest operator of golf facilities.  American Golf will provide annual maintenance of the CityParks Junior Golf Center.

The legend of Tiger Woods has its roots at the Dyker Beach Golf Course.  Tiger's father, Lt. Col. Earl Woods, was bitten by the golf bug while he was stationed at the neighboring Fort Hamilton Army Base during the 1970s, and he frequently played the Dyker Beach course.  Years later, he passed his passion for golf on to his son.  We hope that this new course will similarly pass on a lifelong devotion of golf to new generations.

QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

“I had a lot of fun in Cambodia.  Much more so in Cambodia than Vietnam.”

Ed Bradley
(1941 – 2006)