Kate Tempesta — Early Childhood Educator and Golf Evangelist - a podcast by Gordon G. Andrew

“I walked into the library of this pre-school, and found life. I saw joy, and children learning and playing, and I knew that I wanted to be around that…It was a defining moment for me.”

Kate Tempesta

Founder, Owner and President of Fun

Urban Golf Academy

New York City and Montauk, Long Island

As you can see, part of Kate Tempesta’s  title at the Urban Golf Academy includes “President of Fun.” In fact, you don’t have to dig too deeply into her website to believe that she really does enjoy her life’s work. And I suspect that the source of that happiness is based on the fact that she’s combined two of the things she enjoys most in life. And those would be her love of children, and her love for the game of golf…which also seems to be a recipe for her success in business.

Kate Tempesta’s education, and her 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 Teaching and Club Professional, she founded the Urban Golf Academy, located in the heart of New York City.

According to Kate, “Children are always my source of daily inspiration.”

With Kate at the helm over the past 12 years, UGA has delivered the joy of golf to at least 1,000 children each year. Most recently, Kate and her team have developed the Birdie Basics and Birdie Basics Pro boxes; a joint curriculum, lecture series, and utility kit that gives parents, teachers, and professional coaches the tools and access to implement UGA’s proven methods designed to turn their children and students into lifelong golfers…but more importantly, to empower them as individuals.

Kate has consistently been recognized by Golf Digest magazine as one of the best women teachers in the game of golf (which is even more remarkable, given that she was 30 years-old when she started playing.)  She’s spoken on several panels about growing the game of golf, including the Inaugural PGA of America’s Junior Golf Summit, as well as the Youth & Family Golf Summit at a recent Merchandise 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. These include UGA’s trademark “Birdie-isms”; which are effective and engaging metaphors that take the complex physical, mental, and emotional concepts of golf and make them both accessible and memorable for children.

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 UGA can positively effect children the world over. Kate believes in leaving each day a little better off than when it started…and I’m confident that hearing what she has to say will brighten your day.

Show Highlights: 

• Kate’s lost sense of purpose and disconnection with “her tribe” during her early years in New York City


• The combination of circumstances that enabled Kate to find her true...

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