Golf program seeks to help at-risk teens

For Alex Lopez, the mission of PAR FORE, the program he started to keep Long Island middle-schoolers out of gangs, has come full circle.

Last week, Kean University -- Lopez's alma mater in his hometown of Newark -- launched a PAR FORE chapter to serve high-risk teens and youth.

PAR FORE -- an acronym for perseverance, accountability, resiliency, fellowship, opportunity, respect and empowerment -- began six years ago with 10 middle-schoolers on a Brentwood golf course fumbling with golf clubs for the first time. Lopez said the skills needed for golf -- etiquette, patience, perseverance -- as well as the down time between holes that allows for conversation made it a good fit for mentoring at-risk kids.

Lopez, who teaches occupational therapy at Stony Brook University, invites his college students to coach the teens in life skills while they learn to play a nonaggressive but demanding sport. He's partnered closely with the Town of Islip and Councilman Steven Flotteron, who attended the Kean University launch last week.

Flotteron said more than 100 kids from Brentwood, Central Islip and Bay Shore have been through the program since its start. Many parents have noted higher academic success and increased interest in going to college among their kids, he said. In its first year, seven of the 10 kids in the program went on to join the Brentwood High School golf team, Lopez said.

For Lopez, the biggest reward has been bringing the program to his home turf.

"I wish I'd had this program growing up," he said. "What really makes me enjoy doing all this work is it makes me feel like I'm at home again, it gives me an opportunity to work with people I feel are similar to who I am and where I come from."