Hidden Valley Golf Course’s Get a Grip Foundation, a program designed to motivate kids to get smart about school and golf at the same time, has quickly become the talk of the Orange county golf community and average citizens as well. The Get a Grip Foundation was not always a household name amongst Orange County golf enthusiasts, however. Like most great ideas, it started as a mere musing, but fortunately, the musing occurred at the right time inside the right mind. That mind belonged to Jay Miller, owner of the Riverside golf club known as Hidden Valley Golf Club. The year was 1984, and Jay Miller was enjoying a vacation in Maui with his wife, Barbara. As he was rambling on about his life dreams, Barbara suggested that he put pen to paper and write down a plan for his dream’s fulfillment. On a whim, he took his wife’s advice and drew up a plan for a program he tentatively dubbed Tee it High, a golf/after school program hybrid that would allow young kids to learn the game of golf while simultaneously honing their academic skills. When the vacation was over, Miller’s dream seemed less viable, and for thirteen years, it lay dormant in a drawer. Then, in 1999, the dream was reawakened by tragedy. When his dad died on the same day that Jay turned forty, he knew it was time to do something truly important with his life. Although by that time, the name Tee it High was already taken, his wife came up with an even better one, and the Get a Grip Foundation was born. In 2002, Miller bought the Riverside golf club that at the time was called Creste Verde Golf Club. After a continuous stream of renovations, the private club, renamed Hidden Valley Golf Club, began attracting members of the Orange county golf community as well as golf enthusiasts all around Riverside , noticed his efforts and improvements and flocked to Hidden Valley Golf Club The Riverside golf club’s Get a Grip foundation now provides free golf lessons and academic tutoring to kids ranging in ages from seven to eighteen. Jay requires one hour of academic and golf work weekly for everyone of the 300 children in the Get a Grip Foundation. People in the Orange County golf community have certainly taken note of Miller’s efforts, and so has prestigious industry organizations such as the California Golf Course Owners Association (CGCOA) who named Miller’s course the 2010 Golf Course of the Year and the National Golf Course Owners Association which recognized Hidden Valley Golf Club as the National Golf Course of the Year. Both organizations evaluate a course or club’s contribution to the community as well as the game of golf as a whole when awarding these honors. Miller’s Riverside golf club foundation goes well beyond meeting the criteria for any award, however. The Get a Grip Foundation is effecting real change among the Orange county golf community. Not only is he helping kids by providing them with a healthy leisure activity, an opportunity to excel at a sport, and the encouragement and motivation to succeed at school as well, Jay is also bringing positive attention and new fans and players to the game of golf. Not bad for a fleeting idea dreamed up on the beaches of Maui over 20 years ago.
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