Bloomberg and city official open CityParks Junior Golf Center

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and CityParks Foundation opened the CityParks Junior Golf Center, a facility that is free of cost, and open only to juniors ages 6 to 17. Instruction at the $8 million center is available for beginners and advanced golfers alike. Adjacent to the city's Dyker Beach Golf Course, the facility will serve thousands of junior golfers each year. It has a six-hole golf course, a 9,875 s/f practice putting green, a 9,075 s/f chipping green, an 8,100 s/f sand trap, a nine-station covered driving range, a 4,275 s/f Clubhouse Learning Center with classroom space, and full-time instructors. The mayor was joined at the opening by borough president Marty Markowitz, state senator Martin Golden, city council members Vincent Gentile and Domenic Recchia, Parks & Recreation commissioner Adrian Benepe and David Rivel, executive director of CityParks Foundation, the private, non-profit organization that built the center and will manage and program the facility. Also participating in the opening were youth golfers from the CityParks Golf program and students from PS 229. "This facility will introduce so many children, who otherwise wouldn't have had the chance, to all the benefits of the game, including sportsmanship, self-discipline, and enjoying the outdoors," said Bloomberg. "The CityParks Foundation is an impressive organization that provides recreational, educational and arts programs to people young and old in parks across the city, which will now include golf instruction for youth at this top-flight facility." "The CityParks Junior Golf Center will be the cornerstone of our CityParks Golf program, which begins teaching kids about golf in neighborhood parks across the city," said Rivel. "The CityParks Junior Golf Center will give New York City's kids a chance to develop into advanced golfers, with the potential to earn college scholarships, while also enjoying the outdoors, learning sportsmanship, and developing skills that translate for life off the course." Construction on the $8 million Junior Golf Center began in November 2006. The project is being funded through a combination of public and private funds, with $2 million allocated by the city, $400,000 by the NYS senate through the efforts of state senator Martin Golden, and the remaining funds raised by CityParks Foundation from private sources.