The patch of land near the entrance to Ocean County Park sits less than two miles from the Lakewood Community Center, where J.R. Smith first picked up a basketball as a 5-year-old.
Twenty-three years later, the Knicks guard made one smooth pass at the golf ball after another, launching short iron shots to one of three greens that will make up the First Tee of Monmouth & Ocean Counties facility, with the J.R. Smith Foundation signing on as the naming sponsor for the project.
“I’ve been given a great opportunity because of what I’ve done on the basketball court, and it’s put me in these situations where I can help with things like this,” said Smith, an avid golfer. “A lot of the guys I grew up with are still in the area and have kids, and as parents we all want our kids to be able to do stuff that we haven’t experienced.”
And that’s precisely what the First Tee is all about, a national organization that strives to expose the game to children who might never otherwise have a chance to play golf.
The JR Smith Learning Center, however, has been years in the making, with so many others contributing their time and money to make it all possible, with the facility scheduled to open sometime in June.
There’s Bob Hodnett, who —along with Britt Lapp — were running programs at the Boys and Girls Club in Asbury Park back in 2005, with the ultimate dream of forming a local First Tee chapter at the Jersey Shore. It became a reality three years later, and a small practice facility at Colonial Terrace Golf Club in Ocean Township followed.
But the learning center — a three-hole short course — marks their first facility designed specifically to draw young players into the game. The undulating greens, which average around 4,800 square-feet, are similar to putting surfaces you’d find on a regulation course.