A One of a Kind Opportunity: How Peters Township is Transforming the Sport of Golf

Skyler Gaudio

The Peters Township Golf Program has been in the spotlight recently with multiple WPIAL and PIAA State championship wins for both the boys and girls teams. However, the program is about to make history with the creation of their new golf facility located on the Peters Township High School campus that will potentially shape the future of PTHS Athletics.
“The golf facility is definitely a one of a kind thing. As far as we know, it will be the only public high school in the country with its own golf practice facility,” said boys head golf coach David Kuhn. Traditionally, golfers have to travel to driving and putting ranges, but the Peters Township High school campus will offer a short driving range, an area for putting and chipping, space for training equipment, and a green with sand traps and synthetic turf.
“This will allow our kids to develop their skills throughout the year and give us as coaches a top-notch facility to develop current and future players,” said Kuhn. “The design of the facility will also allow players to work on all aspects of their games.”
While in the past players were not offered much flexibility due to having to conform with other facilities’ hours, students are going to be able to practice when they want and for however long they want.
Two time PIAA team state champion Sophia Severns concurs, “Golf takes a lot of practice and hard work. With a practice area like this Peters Township golf will become even better than it already is,” she said. “The golf practice facility will help the golf teams be the best they can be.”
The dedication of student athletes is what has really driven the golf program’s success, but the facility will be an added bonus to make this success easier to achieve. However, those students who are graduating will still have access to the state of the art facility.
“Honestly, it’s shocking and surprising that we are going to have something like this at our own school that will allow us to practice as much as we want whenever we want.” state team champion and WPIAL individual champion senior golfer Colton Lusk said. This opportunity will foster the development of the golf community and allow the sport to continue to grow.
“I think it’s going to push a lot of players to want to continue to work harder and improve their game. There is no doubt this will continue to push our program forward.This will give us one central place where we can all work together, help each other, and push each other to excel.” said PIAA State Team Champion Griffin Hansbury. The dynamic between golfers will be revamped, allowing for a better experience on the team.
None of this would have been possible though without the ample amount of support from the golf community.
“From parents and players who volunteered their time for cleanup and projects to businesses and corporations donating their financial resources, services, and products, the facility has truly been a team project,”said Kuhn.
Donors were able to provide funding to cover the vast majority of the costs to build the new facility and a project of this size has a significant number of expenses associated with it.
“We don’t have a solid number at the moment but with all of the donated services, materials, labor, monetary donations, etc. we will be around $250-300,000 [of funds] provided,” said Kuhn
However, even with generous funding, construction warrants unexpected costs, and unavoidable problems. This project is no different and Kuhn has had to work around these challenges by figuring out how to allocate all of the donations to solve the unexpected challenges.
“We have had to get creative in some areas and find innovative solutions to solve problems to provide the best outcome due to lack of [unlimited] financial resources,” Kuhn remarked. The building process was built on strong community support.
“The first wave of donors included several alumni and people close to our program. Since then, we have had many local businesses and individuals who have an interest in supporting us step up to provide services, materials, labor, expertise and financial support,” explained Kuhn.
The Golf association plans to show their gratitude to everyone who donated by recognizing everyone else who contributed after the opening of the facility- and even announced a name rights sponsor. Centimark Corporation, a local roofing contracting company, was granted a five year naming rights deal for their generous contributions.
However, because it will be funded privately, student-athletes will be the only ones with direct access, and it will stay closed to the general public.
“We do plan to run clinics for youth and others that will help our players/coaches share their skills and knowledge with the community and promote interest in golf,” Kuhn said. “These clinics are expected to bring even more attention to the already growing sport of golf -beyond a local level. The goal is that future athletes will be able to use these new opportunities to win more championships.”