A little more than a quarter century ago, the New York City Parks Foundation created a golf program. How did they find a way to let kids hit golf balls in New York City, you wonder?
Baseball fields.
“We were bringing the game right to them in their local neighborhood parks,” Jonathan Gamberg, the Director of Sports at City Parks Foundation, said. “Transforming outfields by putting flag sticks out and creating temporary greens, bringing modified equipment into the parks and the ball fields to teach kids all of the basics of the game.”
The program wrapped up by taking the kids out to an actual golf course. Nearly 1,000 kids signed up that first year. And it’s only grown since then. Fast forward to 2026, and the City Parks Foundation has three junior golf centers in New York City. And a golfer from one of them, Ava Chen, qualified for the 2026 Drive, Chip, and Putt at Augusta National.
The golf centers in Queens, Staten Island and Brooklyn are a far cry from the baseball fields the program started on. The one in Brooklyn where Chen, age 11, plays is near Dyker Beach Golf Course. It has a six-hole par-3 course, a netted driving range, classroom space, and putting and chipping practice areas. Equipment is provided, as is coaching. It’s only for children, and it’s completely free. Kids ages 6-17 can sign up for the programming that runs from the spring through the summer. City Parks has relationships with local public courses, and gets the kids course time, too.
“I’ve been in the golf business for 30 years, and I’ve never seen anything like it,” says Chris Brady, a golf professional at City Parks and Ava’s coach.
If you’re waiting for a catch, the only one is that it’s so popular, it’s hard to get into the program. The Chens encountered this when Ava became interested in golf. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, with not much else to do, Ava’s dad, David, took out his golf clubs and was swinging in their backyard in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Ava, then just 5, became interested, but it wasn’t easy for her parents to find ways for her to engage with the game. They went to simulators and hit balls together. They went to the public courses nearby, too, but it was a tough environment for a kid to try to learn the game. If you think the public courses in your area are packed, imagine what the courses in New York City are like.
When the family learned about the City Parks program, they wanted to sign Ava up. It wasn’t until 2025, however, after three years of trying, that she won the lottery system and got in. Ava could be dropped off and left with coaches and peers to practice. She could hit golf balls off grass, not just mats. There was space, and time, to dump a bucket of balls and chip each one. She could learn, have fun, and be a kid.
Chen (second row, right) took up golf at age 5 during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo courtesy of City Park Foundation)
“It’s been amazing because it’s very hard to find a place, especially in New York, for kids to practice,” David says. “So she gets to practice there and it’s very safe, and there’s a lot of friends there, so she hangs out.”
“All my friends are there,” Ava says.
That’s her favorite thing about the center: That she met new friends and gets to spend time with them playing golf. “I also like the practice facility there,” Ava says. “It helps me with my short game.”
The three City Parks golf centers are uniquely well-suited for Drive, Chip and Putt, which requires the juniors during qualifying events hit three drives, three chips and three putts. Participants accrue points for the accuracy of their drives and the proximity of their chips and putts. City Parks golfers like Ava spend all of their time hitting these types of shots. She’s the first Drive, Chip and Putt competitor out of the Brooklyn center, but two girls from other centers within the City Parks program have won their respective age groups at the Drive, Chip, and Putt in Augusta.
With this year’s DCP national finals on Sunday, Ava said she is looking forward to being on television and getting to experience Augusta with her family and friends. The day after the competition, she and her family will attend the Masters Monday practice round. She hopes to see Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa. When she grows up, she wants to play on the LPGA Tour.
The City Parks program has produced juniors like Ava who compete at the national level and college golfers. But the goal was never to create tournament golfers. It was simpler, and more important, than that.
“It’s really fulfilling and gratifying to see the kids having this success,” Gamberg says. “But really, I look at our organization as a sports-based youth development program. I look at students like Ava, at such a young age she’s so poised, so mature.
“Last year, she came out to our annual golf outing and spoke in front of a group of 100 adults. To do that with the poise and composure that she did, it shows that these kids are not only getting the gift of learning golf, a sport they can play for life, but they’re developing all of those life skills that will hopefully carry them through college, career, and all of the things that come with leading a positive life.”
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
