Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Youth Programs topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Local golf professionals pitch First Tee youth program to Fairhope Council
Summary
Volunteers and representatives from First Tee presented a proposal to run junior golf and life-skills programming at Quail Creek, highlighting safety protocols, scholarships, and requests for a standard facility-use agreement with the city.
Bobby Hall, former director of golf at Quail Creek, told the Fairhope City Council he will volunteer to help bring the national First Tee junior-golf program to the city and work with Quail Creek to host classes.
"I'm going to stay in the city and help out and volunteer my time with the city of Fair Hope," Hall said, introducing Marty Stanovich, executive director of the regional First Tee chapter. Stanovich told the council First Tee teaches "golf skills along with life skills to young people who are ages 5 to 18" and operates regardless of a participant's ability to pay.
Stanovich described the chapter's eight-county footprint and existing municipal partnerships, noting First Tee maintains safety protocols and insurance: "We maintain a $100,000 accident policy. We maintain a $1 million general liability policy, and we maintain a $4 million umbrella policy," he said, adding that both the city of Fairhope and Quail Creek would be named additional insured under a standard agreement.
Council members asked how the program would interact with school physical-education programs and whether it would displace course revenue. Stanovich said First Tee schedules programming during shoulder times agreed with the golf professional and that the program also offers coaching for PE teachers that qualifies as continuing education. He said the organization keeps class sizes small — typically no more than 20 with a 5:1 participant-to-coach safety ratio — and that coaches are a mix of paid and volunteer staff.
Recreation staff confirmed a three-day clinic at Quail Creek planned for the second week in July, and council members signaled support for staff to develop a standard facility-use agreement and scheduling plan with First Tee representatives. No formal vote was taken; the presentation concluded with staff and council agreeing to follow up on logistics, insurance naming, and scheduling.
The next step: city staff will work with the First Tee representatives and Quail Creek staff to draft the standard agreement and schedule, including clarifying coach compensation and space-use timing.
