Children in Memphis can easily find a basketball court. Hoops are everywhere — schools, parks, driveways. But golf?
Golf calls for acres of land, clubs, instruction and someone to actually introduce youngsters to the game.
The question of access to golf was at the heart of a groundbreaking on Tuesday, Sept. 29, attended by city and county officials and private philanthropic partners at The Links at Audubon for the Loren Roberts Family Clubhouse & Learning Center. The new permanent home expected to open in fall 2027 for First Tee Tennessee–Memphis, a youth development organization
Along with instruction and practice facilities, the new golf center will offer mentoring, character development and financial literacy programs led by employees of major funder First Horizon as part of a first-of-its-kind initiative in a First Tee facility, bank officials said.
It could become a model for other communities. Local children may enter the center’s doors to learn how to hit a golf ball, but leave knowing how to handle money and navigate life.
Memphis City Councilman Ford Canale, a former golf coach who has championed investments in the city’s municipal courses, said golf can be especially difficult for young people to discover if their families aren’t already connected to the sport.
“For too many of them, golf can seem like a sport that belongs to somebody else,” Canale said.
He has advocated for the city to invest in public golf to create a pathway into the game, he said, “so that a kid who has never held a golf club has a chance to learn and does not have to belong to a private club or come from a family that already knows the game to feel like there’s a place for them.”
More than recreation
For Memphis Mayor Paul Young, creating youth recreational and developmental opportunities fits into a larger strategy for the city, including the effort to reduce crime.
“We all know that crime is the output of a lot of things that have gone wrong,” Young said when asked how providing activities such as golf for young people can show up elsewhere in the city. “The more opportunities that we have to engage our young people in something different, capture their mind and get them engaged in something else, then it changes their trajectory.”
Not every child who comes through First Tee will become a professional golfer, Young acknowledged. But that would miss the point.
“Just giving them an opportunity — whether sports or academics — that allows our young people to be occupied with something” is important, he said.
The bigger picture at Audubon Park
The clubhouse is part of a much larger investment in Audubon Park.
Justice Bolden, director of Memphis Parks, said the city previously invested about $9 million in renovations to The Links at Audubon, helping drive the city’s commitment of another $7.5 million to the clubhouse project. Nearby, the Leftwich Tennis Center has already transformed another section of the park across the street from the Memphis Botanic Garden. And a new splash pad is expected to break ground later this year.
“Together, these projects are creating more than individual facilities,” Bolden said. “They’re creating a destination here at Audubon Park.”
Young described the clubhouse as roughly a 50-50 public-private partnership, with the city providing about half the funding, and the Tennessee Golf Foundation and private philanthropic partners contributing the rest.
Millions more for golf — and kids
During Tuesday’s ceremony, additional private support also was announced.
FedEx had announced a $1 million commitment to the project Monday. At the groundbreaking, Tennessee Golf Foundation President Witt Turnbow announced three more commitments of $1 million, each connected to the clubhouse and youth programming.
The short course and practice areas will become the Martin Family Junior Golf Grounds, accompanied by a permanent First Tee scholarship. The financial support of Bill Rhodes, the former president and CEO of AutoZone, and his wife, Amy, will be recognized in a Hall of Fame-style entryway featuring memorabilia of Memphis golf greats.
First Horizon’s contribution adds something that has little to do with keeping a tee shot in the fairway.
Bank employees will volunteer to teach financial literacy to young First Tee participants. David Popper, chairman of the board for the First Horizon Foundation, said the Memphis program is intended as a pilot that could eventually be expanded elsewhere.
“This is a one of a kind,” Popper said. “This is the first time within a First Tee facility there’s been a financial literacy aspect or teaching program as part of the curriculum — apart from just golf.”
The 69 players who competed in this year’s FedEx St. Jude Championship also contributed $10,000 to the Loren Roberts Scholarship Fund, Turnbow said during the ceremony.
The golf center’s building will carry the name of longtime PGA Tour professional Loren Roberts, a multi-PGA Tour winner who moved with his family from California to Memphis in 1992.
Roberts said he also believes the new golf program at Audubon could serve as an example beyond Memphis.
“This could be a nationwide footprint,” Roberts said, “what can be done for the game of golf, for kids, for communities.”
When access becomes personal
For Shelby County Mayor Mickell Lowery, the promise of First Tee holds practical significance. His daughter participates.
“Golf is, unfortunately, one of those sports — if you don’t have access to it, you’ll never be able to participate,” Lowery said after the ceremony. “And my daughter got involved in First Tee. She’s thriving because of that program.”
Lowery said the program has introduced her to a sport she can play for years while teaching “life skills and lessons as well.”
Still, access to the game has yet to translate into Lowery family bragging rights. Asked who wins when father and daughter play, Lowery laughed.
“Man, I still beat her,” he said. “Now, I gave her strokes one time, she beat me. But, you know, I gotta stay on her right now. I can’t just let her have it easy.”
Young, meanwhile, apparently has no plans to challenge either of them.
After the media scrum ended and the conversation turned to the possibility of getting the mayor on the course, Young offered a blunt assessment of his golf game:
“You don’t want me out there.”
