The MGA Junior Golf Fund

Program History & Timeline of Support
It all started in 1992 when the MGA hosted a first-of-its-kind junior golf clinic at Franklin Park Golf Course in Dorchester . The organizers expected only a handful of children to attend, but Tiger Woods was competing in the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at Wollaston Golf Club that year – and with his participation – hundreds of enthusiastic participants showed up to take part in the MGA's first free clinic.

Many of them had never picked up a club before that day. The overwhelming response spurred the MGA to create the ForeKids Golf Program and, more recently, to launch The First Tee of Massachusetts. Here a timeline of our success over the years.

1992: The MGA - with the able help of a 16-year-old Tiger Woods - conducts its first junior golf clinic at Franklin Park Golf Course in the Dorchester section of Boston.

1993: The MGA ForeKids Golf Program formally launches with a five-day "inner-city golf camp" attended by 400+ youth at Franklin Park GC - the camp's chairman Michael Reilly, its progam director Bill Flynn and 11 NEPGA professionals oversee the initiative.

1995-97: MGA ForeKids expands to conduct golf clinics in Lowell, Springfield and Worcester - more than 2,400 total youth are reached with the help of 100+ NEPGA pros and 25 volunteer counselors.

1998-2006: Two pilot MGA continuing education programs open in 1998 in Chelsea and Springfield and for older youth metriculating from MGA clinics - programs expand to reach Worcester, Cambridge, Lowell, Boston and New Bedford.

2003: The MGA purchases an 18-hole golf facility in Norton, renaming it MGA Links at Mamantapett - youth golf programs at the site in the first year serve more than 200-area youngsters.

2003: The First Tee of Massachusetts - a local chapter of the renowned national golf organization - is chartered by the MGA, which locates its headquarters to the newly-opened MGA Links at Mamantapett

2005: The MGA opens The First Tee of Massachusetts' first two satellite facilities - in Springfield and Lynnfield Centre. Collectively, the three sites serve more than 1,200 youth during the first year.

2006 and Beyond: After 15 years of serving more than 25,000 youth, the MGA Junior Golf Fund is created with the goal of "giving a little back" to the future of the game of golf.