Professional Golf Training

With the generous support of LPGA life member and professional coach, Dana Bates, we have introduced golf training at RSLA!

Athletics training has always been a big priority of ours at Rising Star Leadership Academy. For many years we have focused on soccer training and have ensured that students of all ages and genders have access to competition opportunities, both through tournaments hosted at our campus and at other local schools. We have also introduced volleyball, handball, and track and field. As of 2025, with the help of a generous donation of state of the art golf equipment, golf has also been introduced, and is practiced daily with the virtual support of Dana Bates who shares her holistic approach to coaching and professional experience with our students.

Group of students in school uniforms standing outdoors, holding golf clubs, with a teacher or coach on the right, under a partly cloudy sky.
Two golfers celebrating on a golf course with their golf bags and clubs, high-fiving each other, in a cloudy outdoor setting with trees in the background.

Dana Bates, a Life Member of the LPGA, finished 47th in the 2022 US Senior Women’s Open, competed on the reality show ‘Big Break Ka’anapali’, worked in prestigious Golf Clubs across America, and most recently built a golf course in Petrolia, CA, lostcoastgolf.com. This led to coaching golf to the students of Petrolia, now ‘Mattole Junior Golf Program,’ along side teacher and soccer coach Michael Obah.

Obah was born and raised in Sampa, Ghana and an idea sparked, “What if we could introduce golf at Rising Star Leasership Academy? If we could make a difference in one child’s life, it is well worth the effort.” So it began. LPGA colleagues donated golf clubs, golf balls, we raised money to pay for the oversized luggage costs for Obah and his family to deliver the golf equipment to begin Golf in Ghana.

Today the students of Rising Star Academy practice golf on school grounds everyday before school. 28 additional students have enrolled in the school just to learn how to play golf. Dana makes instructional golf videos for Rising Star students so they can improve their skills, and continue their enjoyment and success with golf.

With the dream of making a difference with one child’s life, together we have introduced a game that has inspired many.