Riverside Golf Club Helps Kids Putt Their Way To Better Grades

By Author: hiddenvalleygolf
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not news that our society has become increasingly concerned about American kids and their achievements in school and in life. Whether you attribute the apparent decline in motivation and academic success to the public school system, parenting failures, or the onslaught of negative messages our kids face from the media these days, complaining about it won’t do a thing to solve the issue.

Riverside golf club owner Jay Miller isn’t much for complaining, but he does like solving problems and helping make his home near the Riverside and Orange County golf communities a better place. That’s exactly what was on his mind two decades ago while he was vacationing with his wife in Hawaii. Whereas most people in that situation would be letting their cares slip away with the island breeze, Jay was doing what he does best—problem solving. Although it wouldn’t be fully realized until thirteen years later, the Riverside golf club owner’s life dream was solidified that day: he would create a foundation for kids to help them succeed in school through the game of golf.

“It ...
... is something I feel really strongly about,” the Riverside golf club owner says. And it’s no wonder. The combination of golf and learning was an equation that equaled success for Jay, and he thinks it can work for other kids throughout the Riverside and Orange County golf communities as well: “I had success in my life, and I looked back to how that happened, and it all came back to golf.”

Along with friend Bob Hoff, Jay has raised over four million dollars for the Get a Grip Foundation. The goal of the program is to get kids hooked on learning by offering golf as the motivating factor. The kids, who range in age from seven to eighteen, are required to spend a minimum of twenty minutes in the education center for every hour that they spend on the golf course. Jay is also expanding the program beyond the Riverside and Orange County golf communities by partnering with juvenile detention centers and foster care organizations in the area as well.

Miller and Hoff are not alone in their efforts, however. PGA Tour player Estaban Toledo has become an ambassador for the foundation and gives freely of both his time and money in an attempt to reach out a hand to the next generation of Riverside and Orange County Golfers.

Like most promising new programs, the foundation started small. Miller recalls that on that first day, only eight kids showed up and he had to go out searching for those. As word got around though, the numbers grew. Currently, the Get a Grip Foundation serves over 400 children in the areas surrounding the Riverside and Orange County golf communities.

Although golf is the tool the foundation uses to get the kids in and motivated, it is certainly not the end goal according to Jay Miller. The Riverside golf club owner has high hopes for every kid who walks through his doors: “We hope to give them the tools they will need by the time they turn 18…we hope they learn something more than golf.”