Urban Kids Learn Golf at Weequahic Park Golf Course

It may be surprising to know that there is a hot spot for golfing right in the South Ward.

And local youths are taking advantage of it. On a spring day, several tweens and younger kids gather at a green, verdant rolling hill as they learn the fine art of how to handle various golf clubs and the proper stance to swing - all under the watchful eyes of trained professionals, many of them city residents.

The group is the First Tee of Essex County, a non-profit golf organization geared for urban youth, which is celebrating its fifth year at the Weequahic Park Golf Course.

The group, an off-shoot of First Tee Metropolitan New York, was started to get youngsters interested in the game, develop their skills, and impart life lessons that will carry them beyond the golf course and into adulthood.

“Golf is a game of life,” said Chaz Moses, director of the First Tee of Essex County since its start in 2006. “What's unique is there is no referee. It's like life more than anything else. It's up to you to make the calls. It’s about how much effort you put into it.”

“The First Tee of Essex County was formed through a partnership between the Metropolitan Golf Association, New Jersey Professional Golfers' Association of America and New Jersey State Golf Association,” according to the group’s website.

It’s not the only youth golf group that operates at the Newark golf course. There is Newark Youth Golf, which tries to expose as many kids as possible to the game, Moses said. Kids who show aptitude at Newark Youth Golf are steered towards First Tee for further instruction, he said. Newark’s First Tee is funded by donations from local private country clubs and corporate sponsors, Moses said.

Moses, who is working on becoming a PGA member, oversees a staff of five instructors and currently teaches 127 children enrolled in various levels of skill - from basic to advanced. Ages range from pre-school to teens.

The kids come to the golf course on Saturday mornings through early afternoons to practice at the First Tee’s Junior Learning Facility, an outdoor space that has been cleaned up and refurbished.

After sessions, the kids get to practice for free on the Weequahic Park Golf Course. Moses called the 18-hole course one of the best kept golfing secrets in New Jersey because it’s not too crowded and is fairly challenging.

“You can always go out and play three-and-a-half hours on 18 holes,” said Moses, noting that it can take five or six hours to cover the same ground at a more crowded course.

Moses, a Newark native, said he picked up the game when he was 10 because his uncle, Grady Brantley, and his friends started Renaissance Youth Golf, which is based in Kenilworth and devoted to teaching the game to urban children.

After his uncle died, Moses, then a freshman at Malcolm X. Shabazz High School, dedicated his high school golfing career to Brantley. Moses went on teach fellow students the game in order to form a team, and won a golf scholarship to Johnson C. Smith University at Charlotte, N.C.

“I fell in love with the game because it's awesome. It's about you and what you want to do,” he said.

Moses imparted his love of golf to the First Tee children, who have gone on to play at tournaments all over the country. Older ones now play for their college’s golf teams.

Jamel Morrell, an 18-year-old Newark resident, has played as far as California as part of First Tee and now helps Moses instruct budding golfers.

He also has three younger siblings who are part of the program. He even got his parents to play the game - particularly his dad, who is now addicted to golf.

“I like it because it’s a very peaceful game that teaches you etiquette. It’s a good way to stay active,” said Morrell.