PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — First Tee North Florida students thought they were just getting a tour of TPC SawgrassWednesday.
The tour also came with a $10,000 donation from TruGreen, an official partner of the PGA Tour.
"Anytime you can help a community and do it by way of in this case with a learning center that will help a community for years to come it brings a special feeling inside you and honestly this feels like it has such a real purpose," TruGreen Vice President of Customer Care & Retention, Eric Petrosevich, said.
The donation will go towards the creation of a learning center at Blue Cypress Golf Course. The center will feature a golf simulator and synthetic putting green for First Tee North Florida students.
"It could help possibly new members coming in, and I think that could really help newer kids that aren't familiar with what First Tee does for us and I think that any type of donation like that can help make things better," First Tee North Florida student, Alanis Santiago Maldonado, said.
"The performance center at Blue Cypress will be a new building for us, we are renovating a building that did exist on the property but it was never a performance center so for the city of Jacksonville to step up and allow us to take over that structure and turn it into a safe space for kids is an amazing opportunity for us, First Tee North Florida Director of Programming, Ron Castillo, said.
Castillo added the learning center will be complete by the end of 2022 and should be ready to use in early 2023.
The mission of The First Tee of North Florida is to impact the lives of young people by providing educational programs that build character, instill life-enhancing values and promote healthy choices through the game of golf.