First Tee event fosters support for young women

BENTONVILLE — Lauren Milligan was 9 years old when she was introduced to golf. Three years later, she is hoping the game becomes her career. Milligan, a seventh-grade student at Bentonville’s Fullbright Junior High, will turn 13 in a few days. Although she was introduced to golf by her father, Tony Anderson, it was her involvement with the First Tee of Northwest Arkansas that helped her learn all aspects of the game. “My ultimate goal is to get to the LPGA and be a pro,” Milligan said Wednesday at the third annual Tee Up Your Future; An Expo for Young Women at the Sam’s Club corporate headquarters. Milligan was one of almost 500 junior high and high school girls in attendance at Wednesday’s First Tee-sponsored event. The program links the First Tee with the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship golf tournament to help grow the game for girls. Milligan said golf became her game of choice after first trying tennis. “My mom said I had to play some sport, so thought I’d try golf,” she said. “When she first told me, I thought it was going to be like Putt-Putt. I really didn’t know what it was, and now it’s really interesting and I love it.” Through the First Tee, she has improved enough that now she competes on the Arkansas junior golf circuit in the summer. She is hoping to compete in more tournaments this summer, she added. “It’s really helped me with my putting,” Milligan said. “I used to be the worst putter there ever was. I was like a five- or six-putt, and now I’m down to a two- or one-putt.” Wednesday’s event featured some of NWA’s most successful female business leaders. Although golf was the central theme of the expo, the message spread across all platforms was to empower these young ladies with the confidence to excel at whatever they choose. “My hope is that these young women take away knowledge and insight that they can use for the rest of their lives,” Elizabeth Prenger, Executive Director for The First Tee of Northwest Arkansas said in a news release. “With all of the bullying, body image issues and other battles this age group has to deal with, we hope this experience can inspire these girls to start thinking about their lives past high school and how to lead a successful adult life.” That message rang clear with Milligan. “What I got from today is that you should always believe in yourself,” she said. “No matter what comes at you, walk with confidence and just believe in yourself. Have a purpose for what you are doing.” The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville women’s golf coach Shauna Estes-Taylor was one of the featured speakers at the expo. The UA golf team has a connection with the local First Tee chapters by conducting various clinics each year. “The First Tee of NW Arkansas is a great organization that introduces the game of golf and uses it as a vehicle to teach many life skills,” Estes-Taylor said. “These skills come in the form of nine core values: honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, respect, confidence, responsibility, perseverance, and courtesy. My philosophy as a coach really aligns with this way of teaching and I believe it is Arkansas women’s golf ’s duty to help promote and grow the game in this way.” Julie Janga, a director of regional affairs with the national First Tee program, has 17 chapters in her region from Canada through the middle of the country. The former college golfer has been associated with First Tee for more than 10 years. Janga grew up in a single-parent household in Canada and learned the game of golf from her mother. Her only Christmas gift each year from the age of 13 until she left for college at New Mexico was a membership to the one and only golf course in town. “For me, today and all these amazing speakers talking about what they learned from personal experience from when they were little to what they were able to translate into their real life, that is what golf and The First Tee is all about,” Janga said. “To hear these young ladies today get up and speak so eloquently and talk about what their passion is, and there was no giggling, and everyone just supporting them. That was what this event was about, supporting each other.”

“What I got from today is that you should always believe in yourself. No matter what comes at you, walk with confidence and just believe in yourself. Have a purpose for what you are doing.” — Lauren Milligan, Bentonville Fullbright Junior High seventh-grader

NWA Democrat-Gazette/DAVID GOTTSCHALK Shauna Estes-Taylor (right), head women’s golf coach at the University of Arkansas, calls the Hogs with members of her golf team and staff Wednesday at The First Tee Girls on Course: Tee Up Your Future; An Expo for Young Women at the Sam’s Club...