USGA Awards $25K To First Tee MA At Boston Red Sox Game

BROOKLINE, MA — The United States Golf Association (USGA) awarded a $25,000 IDEA grant to the youth development organization First Tee - Massachusetts on Tuesday night before a Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park as part of a community celebration to welcome the U.S. Open to Brookline.

Cathy Engelbert, a member of the USGA Executive Committee, presented a check to First Tee CEO Greg McLaughlin, First Tee Massachusetts director of operations Kyle Harris, First Tee program manager Allyson Mollung, and First Tee participant and 14-year-old Boston resident Christopher Taylor.

First Tee - Massachusetts applied for the annual grant to help attract more diverse coaches and volunteers, particularly in underrepresented communities in Boston, Brockton, and Springfield, where participants can join for free.

Funds will also be used to offer free or low-cost rounds of golf at William J. Devine Golf Course, a municipally owned course in Franklin Park, and to cover transportation costs for youths to attend free Youth Golf Day events in Norton, Worcester, Dorchester and elsewhere.

As part of an ongoing effort to empower programs that foster inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility, the IDEA Grant program was launched by the USGA in 2021 with a focus on its championship host communities and for programs delivered through its Allied Golf Association network in every state. First Tee - Massachusetts is supported by Mass Golf, a USGA Allied Golf Association, and its community of over 100,000 members and 340 member clubs.

Since the program’s inception 25 years ago, the USGA has allocated nearly half a million dollars to First Tee programs across America.