GILBERT, AZ: Mark Lowry, Founder and President, located in Gilbert, AZ has announced the formation of The National Golf Player Development Foundation (“NGPDF”) to provide financial support and services to young aspiring male and female people of color that are pursuing the development of competitive golf playing skills.
Mr. Lowry, noted, “The features and benefits of the NGPDF include:
- Support the development of skilled, competitive male and female golfers of color;
- Connect aspiring golfers of color with instructors and development programs in their local community;
- Assist in connecting competitive golfers of color with programs and tournaments that will advance their developmental skills at strategic competitive levels that include junior golf, high school, collegiate and professional and;
- Collaborate to provide support resources to educate parents, coaches and instructors involved with the development of competitive golfers of color.
He also noted that, “The NGPDF will provide funding to:”
- Grassroots programs that have golf skill development components which include instruction and tournament participation
- HBCU Colleges and Universities to support player development initiatives and tournament-related fees
- Individual players at the junior (ages 7-14), HS (ages 15-18), collegiate (ages 19-22) and early professional career (ages 23-26)
- Instructors that are partnering with organizations or individuals to develop playing skills in underserved communities
“The remainder of 2022 will be used to raise funding from public and private donations with a goal of making grants available beginning 2023.” More information on the NGPDF will be available in the next few months.
About The Founder
Mark Lowry’s work and success with instituting a player development system was well documented in the mid-90s when, in 1995, he was selected to create and launch the Chicago Public School’s Elementary school golf training program to feed a struggling High School team program. By 1998, the program began to receive national acclaim as over forty elementary schools were offering after school golf instruction while simultaneously, Mark expanded the high school golf program with growth from nine of the CPS system’s seventy-three high schools to over thirty who competed and advanced from city competition to producing qualifiers at the regional and state level.
In 1998, Lowry joined the new industry initiative, The First Tee, where for 20 years he held positions in senior leadership. Lowry played a key role in developing the strategies that would guide the development and operations of the organization from a concept to a nationally recognized youth golf development organization. As Vice President of Network Management, Mark oversaw the development and support of the organization’s eight national regions and over 150 network chapters. These experiences gave rise to the National Golf Player Development Foundation (NGPDF).
Lowry says, “The time has come to support the efforts of the players, parents, organizations and institutions that are working to deepen the competitive player pool of players of color. The NGPDF, through its efforts to secure individual, corporate and industry funding resources and developmental partnerships, will identify deserving young players of color and provide support to individuals, programs and institutions that equally share the goal to increase the competitive player pool representing minority communities.”
A website, social media pages and GoFundMe page are being established to accept online donations to the NGPDF and share current information. Donations will be charitable in nature as noted below can also be made directly to:
The National Golf Player Development Foundation, 3325 E. Tulsa Street, Gilbert, AZ 85295.
THE NATIONAL GOLF PLAYER DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION Is a Not For Profit 501c3 established to create funding sources to create additional funding sources to: 1)Support the development of skilled, competitive male and female golfers of color; 2) Connect aspiring golfers of color with instructors and development programs in their local community; 3) Assist in connecting competitive golfers of color with programs and tournaments that will advance their developmental skills at strategic competitive levels that include junior golf, high school, collegiate and professional and assist with support resources to educate parents, coaches and instructors involved with the development of competitive golfers of color. The NGPDF has established both a governance and advisory board.
The mission of the National Golf Player Development Foundation is, “To provide unprecedented funding opportunities to programs that provide skill development and playing opportunities to young people of color and connect them to premier experiences in competitive golf.”
