You will hear many people say the children are our future, and Mark Lowry is someone that certainly believes in that!
Lowry is the founder and president of the National Golf Player Development Foundation which is a 501c3 dedicated to providing resources to young people of color that are trying to play golf at a competitive level.
Mark got his start in Chicago public schools, where he was first tasked with starting a junior golf and tennis program. From his successes with those programs Lowry embarked on a 20-year career with the First Tee national office, where he served as Vice President of Network Management. After retiring in 2018 Lowry was looking to fill his time, which led him to launch the National Golf Player Development Foundation.
“There was a void in providing support and resources to young people of color who don’t necessarily get the same amount of support and resources that other kids get that are trying to play golf on a competitive level,” Lowry said.
Like any business it takes time to grow. The foundation is only three years old but is already making major impacts. Being a Grassroots Grant recipient has been able to help the foundation continue to flourish.
“It has allowed us to grow the amount of young people. We’ve gone from nine initial members to 20 in 2024. This grassroots grants program has allowed us to expand the resources we give them,” Lowry said.
The foundation has a grant program, GRIP; Golf Reimbursement Incentive Program, which allows funds to become available to offset the cost of the game.
Lowry’s goal is not only to continue to uplift minority groups in the game of golf, but challenging them to continue to play well at the competitive level. Aiding students on the course is not all that the foundation promotes, Lowry reminds the youth often that an education is the most dangerous weapon in the world.
“We track their progress from playing skills, physical skills, and also from the classroom. All of our young people have a 3.6 GPA or above,” Lowry said.
The foundation is laser focused on continuing to raise the bar for young competitive minority golfers, aiming to grow to 100 kids over the next three-years. Lowry looks forward to partnering with other organizations to continue to promote the advancements of the game of golf.
“Golf is like life, it’s different with every shot. In basketball when things aren’t going well you can call a timeout or get someone to take your place for a minute, golf is not like that. You have to figure out if the winds are going to be different today, or even on the next hole. It mirrors life”.
The game of golf offers you a different challenge each hole. Golf is more than a physical event; it is a mental test full of life lessons. To donate or learn more, contact Mark Lowry at: https://ngpdf.org/ and mnl@ngpdf.org.
