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A group of Pleasanton girls are shaking things up in the golf world. Donning pink and black, the Tee Party Girls Golf Club hits the green to play hard and share the sport they love.
The group started about three years ago by Patti Bodnar and Anna Reali, golfing moms with daughters who played as well. Word spread and soon the club was traveling to and competing on Bay Area courses. Members range in age from 12 to 17 and meet up about once a month. In addition to learning more about the game, the club’s goal was to grow in character and leadership development as well as build friendships.
While this routine was fun, some of the seasoned young players were looking to give back and help other girls become interested in the sport.
“We’ve evolved into something really cool,” Bodnar said. “The girls started out with the club being about them, but now it’s about giving back.”
Partnering with Tom Morelli, a coach for RADD (Recreational Activities for the Developmentally Disabled) athletes and founder of Tri-Valley Special Needs Fund, the club welcomes the RADD athletes.
“It’s become a huge hit,” Bodnar said, adding that the girls bond over the game, as well as clothes and “American Idol.”
The RADD athletes practice weekly at the Pleasanton Golf Center and will often meet up with a fellow Tee Party member, Bodnar said.
Natalie Bodnar, a freshman at Amador Valley High School, is glad to combine helping people with her favorite sport.
“It’s actually really fun to give back,” she said. “The RADD girls are really fun and you get to help them and they really appreciate it.”
When it comes to club events, it is all fun and games. Last Sunday, it was the girls learned from some leading female golfers at the second annual Mentor Day Scramble at Callippe Preserve Golf Course.
Special guests at the scramble included Jenny Park-Choi, a former LPGA and UCLA golf team player who teaches golf. There were two other LPGA alumna Dana Dorman, who has earned several titles and is an assistant coach at San Jose State University, and Jean Zedlitz, who won the 1985 PGA National title and played for UCLA. Kay Cockerill, winner of back-to-back U.S. Women’s Amatuers titles (1986-87) and Golf Channel commentator, and Syndie Kohara, a golf enthusiast and co-anchor for CBS Channel 5 news, also played.
Wearing hot pink and black–the club’s signature colors–the young golfers stand out on the green.
Kelly Shotwell, an eighth grader at Pleasanton Middle School, began playing golf when she was 5. At Sunday’s game she not only won the closest to the pin on hole six, short by only 5 feet, 2 inches, her team of Dormann and Jennifer Dreisbach won the day with six under par for nine holes.
“The mentors said they didn’t have programs like this [growing up],” Shotwell said. “I’m really fortunate they have these programs.”
In addition to fun prizes at each monthly tournament, she said she enjoys golfing with friends.
Wanting to do more, the girls started putting clinics for Girl Scouts. With funding from The First Tee of the Tri-Valley to pay for equipment, whose goal is to positively impact young people through golf, the young golfers teach other girls in hopes of getting more girls on the green.
Rachelle Reali, a junior at Granada High School in Livermore, said she enjoys teaching the sport she loves with other girls.
Natalie Bodnar agreed, saying the more girl golfers, the better.
“[Tee Party] is really great, especially to get more girls involved,” she said. “Not too long ago, they didn’t have girls golf teams.”
To learn more about the Tee Party Girls Golf Club, visit www.golfteeparty.com. Details on their partner organizations can be found at www.tvsnf.org and www.thefirstteetrivalley.org.
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