Darby Foundation founder shares love of golf with South Shore kids

Young and aspiring golfers took to the Merrick Golf Course for the Darby Foundation’s fourth annual Golf 4 Kids event on Aug. 23. Some had never stepped onto the green before, said the organization’s founder, Chris Arceneaux, 47, of Freeport. For him, the event was an opportunity to evoke change.

Golf changed the course of Arceneaux’s life. “It actually saved my life,” he said. Growing up in Lafayette, Louisiana, Arceneaux said that most youth were not safe from the gang activity and drug trade that plagued his community. He recalled being ambushed on his bike one day for not selling cocaine. One day, however, his neighbor handed him a golf club, and he has played the sport ever since.

Arceneaux traveled to New York in his adulthood and began the Darby Foundation, a non-profit that holds youth development programs, with an emphasis on golf. “There’s a lot of discipline in golf,” Arceneaux said, adding that it teaches kids a lot about patience and confidence.

In addition to Golf 4 Kids, The Darby Foundation holds multiple golfing opportunities events throughout the year, including this June’s Junior Golf Academy at the PGA Superstore in Westbury. There, Arceneaux met Merrick native Adrial Justin Afanador, 16. Since they met, Arceneaux has been helping Afanador advance in his golf pursuits.

Afanador began taking private golf lessons at six and has since been training to compete in junior tournaments. Recently, he competed at the 18th Original Tee Golf Classic in Hamburg, New Jersey, were he was able to meet professional athletes and golfers like Doug Williams, football coach of the Grambling State Tigers, and John Starks, of the New York Knicks. “They all said that I played pretty nice,” Afanador said with a smile.

Afanador also credited the sport with bringing his father, Carlos, and him closer. At Golf 4 Kids, the two helped fellow golfers learn how to putt.

“Golf allows us to connect on another level,” Arceneaux said, observing the two play.