Expand your golf instruction business with Birdie Basics!
Birdie Basics is a fun and effective program designed to teach the fundamentals of golf to children as young as 3. With our proven methodologies and tools, coaches can tap into a previously overlooked age group and join in the creation of a whole new generation of lifelong golfers.
Why it works
Kate Tempesta’s Urban Golf Academy has spent more than a decade developing and refining an incredibly effective teaching methodology. Now it's available to golf pros and coaches across the U.S.
We’ve taken the complex concepts involved in proper golf technique and turned them into simple, memorable metaphors delivered through fun games. The curriculum encourages every child’s success along the way and keeps them coming back for more.
The 5 pillars of the Birdie Basics methodology
1. Whole-Child Approach
Birdie Basics leverages the Whole Child Approach, an early childhood educational philosophy that values the human spirit and results in a lifelong love of learning. Our curriculum develops all facets of the child—physical, social, emotional, cognitive—for a better experience and outcome.
2. Creative Play
Kids learn better when they are using their imaginations and having fun. Our activities leverage storytelling and creative play to keep kids engaged and delighted.
3. Multi-Sensory Engagement
Kids also learn better when more of their senses are engaged. The Birdie Basics activity props are designed to stimulate sight, touch, and hearing. Our curriculum and props keep all of the kids engaged and participating, even when they are not the active golfer.
4. Age-Appropriateness
On the surface, most golf techniques are beyond the reach of little ones. We’ve developed a way to teach sound golf principles that are accessible to these young minds and bodies, adjusting the technique for every developmental milestone.
5. A Really Cool Mascot
Birdie and her friends are integrated into every lesson, entertaining the kids and giving you an invaluable teaching tool—and a really lovable assistant.
What you'll get
With a Birdie BasicsTM Pro Membership, you'll receive everything you need to teach Birdie Basics to kids ages 3 to 6. It's all the expert instruction developed by Kate Tempesta's Urban Golf Academy, packaged in an easy-to-digest program. You'll receive:
- 13 core instructional videos on our philosophy, core concepts, class structure, curriculum, and more.
- Birdie Basics Pro Booklet, a 28-page curriculum handbook with instructions and lesson plans.
- Birdie's Bag of Tricks, all the activity props and teaching aids you'll need to implement the Birdie Basics curriculum, including:
- 1 large Birdie hand puppet
- 6 small multicolored Birdie finger puppets
- 24 score cards
- 10 Birdie-ism™ flash cards
- 24 Magic Shoes™
- 10 coloring page master templates
- 2 target rings
- 4 foam bricks
- 1 pad of Birdie bucks
- New video content each month, including new games, core concepts, and best practices for working with children ages 3 to 6
- Weekly emails from Kate with new tips, tricks, and ideas
- A monthly live, dial-in Q&A session
- A quarterly in-person event (NYC)
And we're continually working on new innovations, games, tools, and props, which we'll roll out to our members when ready.
Your Instructor
Kate Tempesta’s education and early career focused on exercise science and fitness. She later transitioned to the educational arena where she created and taught the movement education program at St. Thomas More Play Group for ten years. After becoming an LPGA T&CP member, she founded the Urban Golf Academy to combine her passions for golf, early childhood education, and movement. To this day she considers herself to have the best job in the world.
Kate has spoken on several panels about growing the game of golf, including the Inaugural PGA of America Junior Golf Summit, the National Golf Course Owners Association Annual Conference, Proponent Group's Power of 6 and Under presentation, as well as the Youth & Family Golf Summit at the 2014 PGA Show. Additionally, the PGA of Canada invited Kate to take part in their professional development series, offering Canadian PGA members the opportunity to learn some of the best practices of UGA. The most useful of which are UGA’s trademark “Birdie-isms”; effective and engaging metaphors that take the complex physical, mental, and emotional concepts of golf and make them both accessible and memorable for children.
Over the years, with Kate at the helm, UGA has provided the joy of golf to 1,000 children annually. Most recently, Kate has engaged with her team to develop the Birdie Basics and Birdie Basics Pro boxes; a joint curriculum, lecture series, and utility kit that gives parents, teachers, and professional coaches alike the tools and access to implement UGA’s proven methods to turn their children and students into lifelong golfers.
Kate resides on the Upper West Side of New York City. In her spare time, you can find Kate kickboxing, swinging a sword and planning how KTUGA can positively effect children the world over. Kate regularly practices gratitude and believes in leaving each day a little better off than when it started.
Kate's favorite aspect of KTUGA: “Creating an empowering, child centric, PLAYful learning environment and watching children shine.”