IRGF Impact on My Life
“It will take me a about an hour to write this. But from the time Blake & I became involved with IRGF…..let’s just say you’ve greatly impacted my life, the life of Blake & so much more. I am actually going all in on becoming a PGA teaching professional and while I played college golf, had I not had the opportunity to be around kids, get to know you, share tons of memories with Blake & many other kids….I never would’ve realized at 37 Golf would be my career path. I have had the opportunity to meet tons of wonderful people, realize how much junior golf impacted my life and how important it is to pass it on. I have accepted a job at John’s Island, caddied & been involved with golf as much as possible for the past several years. The opportunities & dedication I have seen from you is amazing. You’re relentlessly creating new ideas & opportunities, getting kids out that otherwise wouldn’t have ever been introduced to golf, been able to afford it, and provided a rewarding experience structured with building character, respect for one another on the course & in life. Key points to have measurable results & setting goals with evaluations after each teaching period. You’ve implemented ways for kids to have fun & not be overly serious, but also while teaching the proper rules, course management and a clear path for each age group/graduating class to continue to progress into playing tournaments beyond the IRGF, middle school & HS golf teams. And if I am not mistaken I believe you have been successful in many achieving college scholarships and more.
Personally, I am incredibly grateful for your patience, encouragement and dedication to the kids in this county. You’ve done an excellent job with having HS players help with younger players and give the kids some real opportunities to learn how they can become one of those guys or gals one day.
You have successfully found ways to have men & women assist across the board, getting into schools with kids at a young age. SNAG golf has been great. You have essentially created an organization that a child can come out with nothing but the desire & willingness to want to try to give golf a try. And without clubs or a dollar to their name this organization has been able to make it possible for clubs, fees, instruction & equal participation for any kid that has the desire to come out. Not to mention, Sandridge, Sebastian & Pointe West giving kids a chance to attend without major issues getting to a location near them. Roger has integrated team golf, the PGA team golf & been very successful with all these endeavors. Roger has always made it a point to invite parents to learn & interact, to really befriend boys and girls & interact with them on their level. I could write an essay on what IRGF has done for my son, step-son & myself. I have a tremendous amount of respect and appreciation for the foundation and hope I am able to have 1/10 of the impact Master Professional Roger Van Dyke has with being a tremendous steward and teacher of the game in not just this county but quite a few in other states. Roger has easily been responsible for introducing 10k+ kids from Michigan, Georgia and right here in Indian River County to this wonderful game. My apologies for writing this off the top of my head while I had a break from work….but hopefully that may answer a few questions about IRGF and its validity, success and importance to the county!”
By Clay Reed – Father of IRGF Youth Player Blake Reed (2026)