Golf Program in Schools - New Courses/New Communities

​Golf Program in Schools (GPS) was established some five years ago when Tom Loegering had an epiphany to help kids in diverse communities. Tom saw that he could help kids that never would have an opportunity to be introduced to the game of golf to do just that at his golf course. But, that's not all, Tom wanted to introduce those same kids to a loving God.

In 2021, especially with the onset of Covid, GPS was able to pause the constant presence in the middle-schools after 30,500 kids had been introduced to the game and some 900+ had become junior members to Sun City CC. It was a time to review, to organize, to implement a repeatable program that could engage every middle-school in the country and, even, help struggling golf courses with increased rounds and revenue.

Tom launched an outreach effort through the National Golf Foundation (NGF) to municipal golf courses in the US. Lagoon Park GC in Montgomery, AL expressed an interest and I, Bill Poirier, with Golf From the Heart, volunteered to bring the golf course into the GPS fold. Here's how we did it;
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That's right, just pray!!

​Let's Build a Relationship!
Mike Shirley the GM of the Montgomery Municipal Golf Clubs; Lagoon Park GC and Gateway GC, saw the opportunity to grow the game at his clubs and join with GPS to introduce kids to a loving God. I traveled down to Montgomery and met with Mike for an afternoon. No golf, no fooling around, although we did have a nice lunch, but, we got to know each other, prayed for God's favor on our relationship and the implementation of GPS at Lagoon Park.

I was able to present the vision for the program at his clubs and set in motion a process that, quite frankly, had not been initiated before, but, that the Lord was orchestrating as we further discussed the plan and continued to pray.
​That's right, just pray!!

Just Pray!!
In fact, that's what we did; prayed together. I encouraged him to begin to list the names that came to his mind as he prayed for the implementation of this program at his courses and in that community. Immediately a few names came forward, in fact, while I was still in the lunch area, I met two men, one of which said he wanted to be included in the program. OK, now we had three names; mine, Mike's and our new friend.

Within two weeks we had 12 names and we began to gather as much contact information as possible for these folks and continued to pray each Tuesday morning for these folks and their involvement.

The Meeting.
Then came the meeting. On July 8th @ 8:00 AM we were to meet at Lagoon Park GC. At 7:55 AM I was getting a bit nervous as we had 1 other person besides Mike, myself and our wives. Oh boy!!

Then, in they came; 14 people overall with another person on the phone listening to our presentation. I was, personally, invigorated as I sensed the Holy Spirit's presence and the words coming out seemed inspirational to those in attendance. I mean, we, even had the Administrator for Montgomery Schools in attendance that oversees Athletic Directors and he verbally endorsed the principles and direction for GPS in the Montgomery Schools. We now have 20 people on our roster and praying that a few more may come forward.

Pray, Coordinate & Build Relationships.
Since that date we have continued to pray, to coordinate with those who indicated they would support the program and have interviewed many of them to determine what role they may want to take. It has been extremely encouraging as each person sees the program and is determining where they fit in.
​What's next?
Filling our roles. You can see the roles below. We are talking with each of our interested folks and determining where the Lord is calling them to serve and will they accept that role.

Meanwhile, we continue to pray together, interview and move to the next step in implementing our Golf Program in Schools - Montgomery, AL. Our goal is full program implementation by February 2022 with a fundraising golf event conducted to help defray the cost of the program. Costs equate to $20 per young golfer introduced to the game.

By the way, we are also building out our GPS program in Tempe, AZ at Shalimar GC and Murfreesboro, TN at Champions Run GC.

Wanna join us??

​Give us a call, Bill @ 774-212-2265