The Keepers 10th Annual First Tee Mentor Outing at Woodmont Country Club was dedicated to the memory of our good friend Gary Jonas. From our early days Gary was a protagonist behind many of our community service initiatives and this outing was one of his favorites.
Gary still looks over our shoulder in all the good work the Keepers do in the community
Moe negotiates with Josephine on the perfect hat color to add to her wardrobe
The First Tee of Greater Washington D.C. brought 24 amazing kids from ages 8 to 18 to participate in another afternoon of pure golf fun. We had 13 volunteers from our club along with capable professional golf staff as our guides for our normal drill of golf clinics, a picnic lunch, and a couple of hours of course time with the kids.
The First Tee program has introduced these kids to the wonderment of golf-teaching them the etiquette, course awareness, and basic skills of the game. What you see as a result is a deep reservoir of self-confidence, poise, and grace in their ability to interact with each other and adults they have to deal with along the way.
Over 40 staff, volunteers, and kids enjoyed the full flavor of this mentor outing
Our volunteers provide the high fives, cheers, and a few hugs as well helping these kids understand how much they already have accomplished with this game.
Volunteering with these kids is something this group looks forward to every year
Jill and Randy
Randy and Monroe
Rick, Randy, and Chuck
The Kommish is all smiles for this annual affair
It takes the help of the First Tee of Greater Washington and supportive parents to pull this off year after year.
Andrew and Roger from the First Tee surround Steve our Keepers Koordinator
Roger of the First Tee with parents HyeWon, EunJung, and Mary
Moe the Keeper Kommish with Mary mom of Jonathan
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The kids were split into three groups based on their golf experience and rotated through instruction clinics for full swing, short game, and putting-led by our professional staff.
No golf session should start with out a proper stretching and warm up session
Brice and Dean our PGA Professionals handled the full swing clinic on the driving range
Which included Dean explaining the proper straight line practice divot pattern on a natural grass tee
There is plenty of ammo for the kids to work on their swings
The swings on the range came in all shapes and sizes….the common denominator was good fundamentals and sheer determination.
Josephine may dress the angelic feminine part but look at that turn and balance
Young Peter the same has great arm spacing at the top
I like Gabrielle’s relaxed address position….the hands look comfortable on the grip
Myles is in the perfect handshake position with the straight away takeaway half way back
Salieus uses his height to create great extension with his arms that will give width and speed on the way back down
Caleb loads up his left side…the power this creates is evident in the height and carry of his shots
Sabrina plays for her high school team and you can see her pure athleticism at work in this move
Check out the bend in the shaft as David changes direction-uncoiling this full shoulder turn will deliver real power at the point of impact
Grant and Konnor worked the kids at the Sidney Harman Short Game area, fine tuning their pitching, chipping, and putting.
Grant explains to Sophie and Johan about smooth takeaways
Keith and Sol learn a thing or two from Eugene and David
Linc has his set-up positions in perfect order
Sabrina maintains club face position as she extends the follow through on this chip and run
The Konnor School of Putting is a full semester experience for these kids.
Konnor’s famous line dance works on putting distance control
Ryan, Sean, Gabrielle, Avery, and Josephine fire away
Rick and Jill watch Avery, Gabrielle, and Josephine triangulate their putting coordinates
Chuck is talking about visualization of the putting path to Kyle
Avery and Josephine seem to have the feel for fast bent grass greens
The clinics always work up an appetite and there were plenty of healthy sandwiches, real chips, fresh fruit, and some chocolate chip cookies for the lunchtime chat around.
It always begins with a Sol nutritional lecture that grabs their rapt attention
Linc, Eugene, David, Keith, Salieu, and Skyler pause between bites
Gene, Monroe, Steve, and Sabrina are working the through the pile
Randy and Chuck have enthusiasm for this task
Sophie and Avery have a very orderly approach
Caleb, Johan, Jonathan, and Peter are on to dessert….those cookies were special!
Then it was out to the golf course to put what they learned to the test. Here is where the mentor bonds are freshly made or simply renewed.
Steve and Sabrina
Sabrina, Caleb, and Moe
Dhira, Len, and Yuna
Alexa and Dimitrios
Myles, Jill, and Gabrielle
Monroe, Skylar, and Sophie
Randy, Johan, and Eugene
Randy, Avery, and Sean
Gene, Jonathan, and Peter
It is amazing how the First Tee prepares these kids to handle themselves on the course. All ball ball marks are fixed, bunkers are raked, balls are marked properly and they respectfully understand the term “your away”.
Rick, Justin, Josephine, Kyle, Ryan, and Chuck
Monroe, Eugene, Sophie, Randy, Johan, and Skylar
Dhira, Yuna, Gene, Jonathan, Len, and Peter
Steve, Sophie, Len, Dhira, Eugene, Randy, Skylar, Yuna, and Johan
Salieu, Sole, David, Linc, Keith, and Eugene
All that was left was to assemble the ranks thank all the folks involved and give out the goodies.
The assembled masses anxiously waiting to hear their names
The stash revealed…every kid gets an official participation certificate, a bunch of Woodmont golf course necessities, and the official Keepers Bag Tag
Monroe may be outsized by Salieu but has the reach to get the job done
Dimitrios gets the pass on a signature Konnor move
One more piece of Keepers klink for the golf bag
Special thanks to Connor Farrell, Steve Keller, Moe Dweck, and Roger Brown and the professional golf staff for all the hard work in assembling this event. Thanks to Woodmont Country Club for graciously hosting this picnic and the First Tee of Greater Washington D.C. for making it happen. And most important, thanks to these amazing kids who make this event such a special experience for all of us.
Respect-Perserverance-Honesty-Integrity-Courtesy-Responsibility-Sportsmanship-Confidence-Judgement
August, 2019
Special thanks for the photographic contributions of Moe Dweck, Steve Keller, and Mary Yoon that made this posting colorful and fun
If you have any corrections to the captioning please email them to moedweck@comcast.net
moegolf 
Amazing as always! So sorry I had to miss my first outing.
Figures Keller would team up with Sabrina in order to get some tidbits/tips on how to play the game! She can flat out play dog.
Loved the comment about Sol…priceless!
Off IL soon hopefully. Been a frustrating season for Freaky.
Ciao ciao.
John Friedson Creative Financing Solutions, LLC 15 West Montgomery Ave., Suite 102 Rockville, MD 20850 Phone: 301-610-0600 Fax: 301-610-0601
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Dear Moe,
My daughters and I were touched and delighted to see Gary recognized by the Keepers in such a meaningful way. Thank you for remembering Gary and his contributions.
All the best to you,
Roz
Roz,
I know speak for many of us at the club, Gary was a very special guy who touched our lives positively in so many ways.
There are many times when I am out on the course where we walked and shared so many hours together that my thoughts come back to things
we talked about that remain with me. It was truly a blessing to have had such a relationship with Gary and it was our pleasure
to be able to honor and remember that relationship in this way.
Best Regards,
Moe