Michigan Golf Journal June 2019

There are different ways to get children involved in the game of golf – but a program newly introduced in Michigan uses a very unique approach – a field trip to the golf course to teach science and math concepts to school children. It’s called First Green and was originally developed in the Pacific Northwest two decades ago. On May 13, Pine Lake Country Club in West Bloomfield hosted the first in Michigan – to a group of 5 th graders from St. Joseph School in Lake Orion. “It’s hard to find things that are engaging for the students to actually get their hands into and experience first- hand,” said teacher Lindsay Matthews. “And we wanted to do a science-based field trip and felt this would be a great opportunity.” Partnering teacher Emily Zande added: “The kids are having a blast with this. We could see they were really engaged and enjoying being outside – even enjoying the math parts. It’s nice being outdoors and working as a team.” Pine Lake Golf Course Superintendent Terry Poley helped set up four different ‘stations’ the kids would rotate through. Students got their hands on a Stimpmeter (how many true golfers can say that?) to learn how math calculations measure the speed of the greens. Students also measured various shapes on the driving range and used mathematical formulas to compute area; and one Teaching STEMThrough Golf By Tom Lang Michigan Golf Journal First Green for STEM