by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
When Hampton Golf President M.G. Orender’s term as president of the PGA of America ended, the PGA presented Orender with a grant to be used for any golf-related project in the Jacksonville area. Wednesday morning, Ordender was one of many who cut the ribbon on the new SNAG Golf Park at the Clanzel T. Brown Park on Moncrief Road.
The park cost $30,000 and every bit of funding came from the grant and money donated by Hampton Golf and LandMar, which owns Hampton Golf. It features nine holes all between 35 and 85 yards long and is geared towards kids who have never played golf. The kids may check out two plastic clubs and a tennis ball-sized golf ball and play all they want.
“The PGA was very generous, but it wasn’t enough,” said Orender, who then approached LandMar President and CEO Ed Burr about funding the rest of the project through Burr’s Monique Burr Foundation. “Ed and I agreed to whatever they (the City) would need and we built it for the City.”
The park is the first like it in Jacksonville, but may not be the last. The First Tee — a national organization dedicated to exposing young kids to golf and the life lessons that come with learning the game — is part of the national Golf in Schools program. The program is in many elementary schools across the country and Orender — a pretty good golfer himself — said the objective is to eventually have the program in every elementary school in the nation.
The beauty of the SNAG (Starting New at Golf) concept is the ease by which is can make golf fun for kids, said Orender.
“This is less intimidating than real golf and the kids can learn the perfect grip,” he said. “There’s instant success and the game can be played in a park, at church or in a gym.”
Orender said his company is currently building 3-6 new courses at properties across the state and SNAG courses will be installed at all of them.
“We may add it at our South Hampton course if there’s a demand and need,” said Orender, adding the Brown Park was the ideal location for the first SNAG course in Jacksonville. “There’s enough room and it’s close to The First Tee.”
Mayor John Peyton was also on hand. While Peyton grew up playing tennis, he did take a few swings. The park is part of his “Seeds of Change” initiative, which is designed to help two area neighborhoods in virtually every facet. He said the SNAG course represented the kind of private/public partnership he’s looking for across Jacksonville.
“This was an opportunity for M.G. to do something in his hometown and he chose this area and we appreciate his generosity,” said Peyton. “We want to take our park system from being the biggest to being the best and this brings us one step closer.”
Peyton said the park will provide neighborhood kids the chance to engage in a challenging activity while finding something of interest.
“There are no down sides, all upsides,” said Peyton.
The park was formerly the Golfair Park. In 1977, the City bought the property and on Feb. 19, 1985 then-Mayor Jake Godbold and City Council member Denise Lee (who recently rejoined Council) dedicated the park in honor of Brown, who was an advocate of African-American rights in the 1960s and ‘70s. Brown spent 16 years as the local leader of the Urban League and was the first African-American elected to the now-defunct Downtown Development Authority. He died in 1982.