More Than Golf at Congaree
The Congaree Global Golf Initiative is something special.
Congaree Golf Club could simply be another one of America’s elite private courses with a world-class design and a member list filled with the “who’s who” of American society.
Congaree Golf Club could be a place that keeps to itself, with members entering and exiting the course’s spartan gate with no regard for the rural community the club is a part of.
Yet, Congaree Golf Club’s founders, Dan Friedkin and the late Bob McNair, decided they wanted to break the mold of traditionally elite golf courses and build something that does more than cater to the whims of America’s rich and famous.
The club, through its own Congaree Foundation, established and runs the Congaree Global Golf Initiative (CGGI), an intensive golf and academic instructional program for underprivileged youth from around the world.
Now in its sixth year, the CGGI has already graduated 138 students, with 95% attending college and 61 playing college golf (that’s almost 50%!).
This year, 43 students are participating in the CGGI, spread out over three sessions. 31 North and South America-based golfers will spend a week at Congaree itself, and 12 students based in Europe and Africa will head to the Archerfield Links in Scotland in late July.
I was fortunate to pay a visit to Congaree and see the CGGI in action as part of my summer search for the heart of golf.
A week with the pedal to the metal
A quick flip through the program’s itinerary revealed a week of never-ending enrichment for the program’s participants.
6:30 am workout sessions led into four hours of golf training, followed by academic coaching sessions after lunch, before even more golf instruction prior to a world-class dinner.
Madi Saxton, a participant from Guyton, GA, appreciated the non-stop pace of the week. She explained, “it has been early mornings and late nights but I’m really learning how to just manage myself better and have a lot more discipline.”
Management was a key theme of the golf instruction throughout the week. Each student comes into the CGGI program with a strong background in golf, many are single-digit handicaps and top players on their high school teams.
Knowing this, CGGI’s instructors place a keen emphasis on the ability to manage a course and the importance of having an unwavering mental game. Students have individual sessions with Matt Cuccaro, a mental performance coach with an elite rolodex of clients. They also spent time with Kayleigh Franklin, a golf fitness professional with over a decade of experience, as they learned how to keep their bodies in peak shape as the stakes of their golf games get higher and higher.
It’s a holistic approach to creating complete golfers.
The golf is secondary, though
Complete golfers are great, but the CGGI wants more complete people.
Ben Grandy, a PGA Professional and the executive director of the Congaree Foundation, explained, “the ultimate goal is to help each student find a good fit in college, and then most importantly, maximize their scholarship potential on the athletic and academic side.”
Students spend hours in the classroom during their week on-site, working with Ed Graf, a veteran academic advisor, and Lorne Kelly, an expert in the college golf scholarship process.
The students understand this intense focus on honing their academic skills in order to maximize their futures. John Thompson, from Columbia, SC, put it succinctly when asked about his non-golf takeaway from the week: “mostly academics; academics is a huge part of life for your future plans.”
Participants’ time on-site is just the start
The CGGI is designed to work in three phases, according to Grandy. Phase one is the week at Congaree or Archerfield Links, where students receive their intensive instruction and get to know CGGI’s professional staff.
Phase two is support during the students’ remaining time in high school, the college decision making process, and college. All of CGGI’s academic and athletic resources remain available as participants prepare for the ACT/SAT, go on college visits, and even work through the NCAA transfer portal.
Phase three, the early career phase, is when Grandy says Congaree’s membership steps up. “As they’re looking to graduate, we’re asking them what their needs are, how we can help and whether it’s networking or internships or a job opportunity, our team and membership is here to help them along there.”
Maeve Cummins and Rye Tifft are strong examples of the power that the CGGI has past the week at the course. Cummins and Tifft are in the 2017 and 2018 classes, respectively, and they both attended college on golf scholarships, using the skills and resources they received from the CGGI to navigate the college recruitment process.
They relished the ability to mentor this year’s class of CGGI students, and were sure to hammer certain points home to the participants all week.
“I would say my letter of invitation to Congaree came by chance, it was not something I ever expected,” Cummins said, “so the biggest thing I’ve tried to relate to them is to take advantage of the chances that come your way.”
Those chances change lives
The participants of each CGGI cohort are brought to Congaree from a variety of backgrounds and experiences, with golf potentially being the only common denominator.
Each class spends hours together creating deep relationships. They live together, compete against one another, learn together, and laugh together.
They leave Congaree as lifelong friends, inherently connected by this powerful, life-changing, and lifelong program.
Morgan Rodriguez, a participant from Delray Beach, FL, shared the collective experience of all the girls helping her clean her bed after she spilled chocolate milk on the sheets twice in 20 minutes.
“Nobody was upset at each other, everyone was just happy to be there enjoying and living in the moment and it took all of us to help clean it up, and I’ll definitely remember that forever.”
The golf and academic skills are great, but Morgan’s story is just one of many that she’ll be able to tell her kids and her grandkids when she talks about the magical relationships that CGGI catalyzed.
Morgan likely won’t remember her score in the Congaree Cup, Friday’s culminating tournament, but she will almost certainly remember her and Madi walking off Congaree’s 18th green together with the world’s biggest smiles despite finishing with quadruple bogeys.
You can’t put a score or a price tag on the value of the connections that are just beginning among the kids in this year’s first CGGI session. These connections demonstrate the immense power that golf has to bring people together and enrich lives.
Madi summed up the beauty of the program quite nicely, “just getting to know somebody that lives across the country from you is just unbelievable, because you’re gonna have those connections for the rest of your life.”
No matter the course, no matter the hole, no matter the shot, we all need to remember that it’s the people around us that really matter.
Congaree is doing it right. Let’s hope that others follow.
Questions, comments, ideas, and feedback can be directed to jpatterson@unc.edu. You can find me on Twitter @JakeWPatt or my Instagram @Loopers_Line. If you really want to get to know me, check out my LinkedIn.
Special thanks to Bethany Phillis for serving as my creative project mentor. Additional thanks to Caroline Maness for designing Looper’s Line’s logo.
Great writing! You taught me something new.