On Wednesday, November 1, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz joined Mayor Bloomberg, State Senator Martin Golden, Department of Parks and Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe, and City Parks Foundation Executive Director David Rivel to announce the construction of the City Parks Junior Golf Center, New York City’s first-ever public golf center exclusively for youth.

The new $6 million facility, set to open in September, 2007, will occupy 11.8 acres of the Dyker Beach Golf Course, and will include a six-hole course, driving range, and practice facility with free golf instruction to anyone between the ages of 5 and 17. Golfer Tiger Woods’ father, Earl Woods, first fell in love with golf when he played at the Dyker Beach course in 1972 while serving as a colonel at Fort Hamilton. The new center will be built and managed by the City Parks Foundation, a non-profit organization that has provided free golf instruction for over 1,500 children since 1999.

The project is being funded through a combination of public and private funds, with $1.5 million being allocated by the City of New York and the New York City Council.  The additional costs will be covered by funds allocated by State Senator Martin Golden and the City Parks Foundation, which will raise money privately.

“Brooklynites relish every new recreational resource for our young people, because we are eager to promote healthy habits like exercise and increase our range of athletic skills,” said Borough President Markowitz. “The new Junior Golf Center is a welcome addition to the Dyker Beach Golf Course — Brooklyn’s diamond in the rough — because it means that, like Earl Woods before them, the golf legends of tomorrow will be hitting the links in Brooklyn today.”