Great Expectations

[Bob_Huntley]

In reading the genesis of how the majority of GCA contributors started playing the game, it seems as though the passion started early and was not accompanied from the deep pockets of major corporations and foundations. The impetus was generally from a family member or by caddying at a local club.

I see The First Tee, with its principals earning hundreds of thousand dollars a year, raising vast sums of money to bring children into the game with absolutely no effort on the part of the beneficiaries. Are they being set up for a let down; where will these very many children play?

Bob

[Mac Plumart]

with absolutely no effort on the part of the beneficiaries

You lost me here.  Please explain.

[RJ_Daley]

Yes Bob, I'm a little confused also, regarding the principals and beneficiaries. 

But, making an assumption here (please correct me if I'm wrong); you are speaking of principals probably being the paid members of the First Tee Program, employed to administrate the program nation-wide.  And, the beneficiaries being the kids, who you may be indicating are not turning out in proportion to the resource-funds and administration being expended. 

If that is the case, I'd have to agree with you.  Our own local experience with this First Tee program is that there was a very nice piece of change designated to our local county golf course owned facility to expand a small 3 hole practice course with expanded practice range and short game area.  The plans remain in our display case in our lobby, with First Tee logo printed on the drawings, yet nothing is going forward.  I don't know any inside story as to what has now delayed the plan for over 3 years. The first year the first tee was established, a small semi-private (really open to the public at all times - even for walk-up play) had a First Tee grant, and built a small snack shack like club house for the kids with 3 practice holes.  It has since gone fallow, unmaintained.  That is about 20 miles from the County proposed facility.

I knew the local golf pro who was the leader of the regional FT program.  It is a sad story, but he fought cancer for several years and passed last winter.  He was a very nice man, yet I suspect he had no real local support beyond some social conscious obligatory corporate sponsor donations over the years, and to my knowledge the program as an ongoing endeavor to have kids playing and learning on the ground, never really materialized beyond a few driving range presentations by that local director and some volunteers he enlisted.

So, I wonder if there is now a paid regional staff person in our area from First Tee, and what the heck are they doing?  They certainly aren't advancing any youth exposure to golf in this region that I can discern.  Thus, there are no on-going beneficiaries, with the exemption that there may be a single First Tee day at some local courses or clubs, where they have the kids out for a day to whack balls or hear a lecture on golf etiquette by some old gas bag who generally don't relate to kids. 

The only youth golf that has any standing in our region is the local High School programs, of which there are many and each school has a girls and boys team playing fall for girls and spring for boys.

I took a look at the local regional web site, and I'd have to say that the site is full of fluff, with no substance.  I wonder if the same condition of a hollow program with a website facade, yet no substantive activity is typical for other regions through out the country.

http://www.thefirstteenew.org/club/scripts/public/public.asp 

[Mac Plumart]

Dick:

Each local chapter is run locally.  I'm sorry your chapter is not doing well and/or folded its tent.  The First Tee of Atlanta is serving 700 kids actively.  The First Tee of East Lake is also doing very well.

[RJ_Daley]

Mac, apparently a budget or grants are given to local area chapters, or regional committees to develop their own specifics tailored to the needs and resources in the area.  Would that be correct?  If that is the general structure, it only seems logical that some chapters or regions would be out front of others.  Local regions have various cultural and traditional approached to issues.  Population density, and demographics are obvious aspects that require local administration tailored to the resources of the region. 

But, the bigger question seems to be; does the concept of the First Tee, and the structure of national administration serving down to local organization actually deliver a result proportionate to the input of donations, and expense of resources?  Since the program was started in 1997, there should be some measurable or demonstrable results with specific examples, it seems to me.  What sort of measurements or sampling of data about youth participation at the beginning stages of life-long participation can be measured?  I'd like to know if there has been any measurable spike in the last 10 years, giving First Tee a 5 year head start to develop from '97-02.  If a kid 12 started participation in '98, that kid would be 23-24 now.  Is that kid, or figuratively speaking representative of those kids from that era a measurable demographic now in golf participation?

I'm still hoping that Mr. Huntley will come back on here and elaborate on what he means.

[Terry Lavin]

I doubt that Bob Huntley is alone in his doubts of the lasting value of the First Tee program.

It raises a lot of money. It spends a lot in advertising. The donors feel good. A bunch of kids get exposed to the game.

The jury is still out on whether it's as effective as it claims.

[Mac Plumart]

Dick...

Our mission is to teach our kids life skills through the game of golf. We measure our success by how our kids perform in life...graduation, college success, jobs, health, etc.  That is our mission.  Our success is measured and tracked, we are pleased.  If you desire more information on the specifics, it is available through The First Tee.

[Bill_McBride]

Of course the big issue is, where do these kids play now that they are turned on to golf?

Here in Pensacola, where several hundred kids play in our program, our local public courses have agreed to offer a $5 green fee after school and after noon on weekends.  I'm not sure what the take up has been, but it's a good program. 

I'm not sure how anyone could be opposed to a First Tee program with its emphasis on core values, with a public course follow up like ours. 

[Terry Lavin]

I can't imagine anybody being opposed, but I'm still waiting to be impressed. Or convinced. It has the vibe of being a Susan B. Komen golf charity: heavy on ads and admin, light on real results. Having said that, there's something ineffably good about a mentoring program like this that exposes kids to good role models with a good message.

[RJ_Daley]

One thing that occurs to me regarding regional success is climate.  My friend Wild Bill speaks of success in Pensacola, and Mac has positive comments about Atlanta.  The mentoring process would certainly be more likely for succeed, if the activity underlying the interaction of mentor and target youth participation can actually meet at the facilitating venue through-out the year.  Here in Green Bay, the best one could hope for is late May to early Sept, when the course venues are trying to squeeze all the other activities of their memberships and customers into that few month stretch.  And, when mentoring youth, isn't the most critical time when the youngsters have most of their problems during the months of school, around the daily peer pressures and influences of that most active social time for them?  No mentoring likely is taking place regarding First Tee activities, during our winters...  just a thought to explain possible differences in success patterns. 

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Bill I cannot imagine anybody being against the first tee on paper. Mac made a nice easy to love chamber of commerce speech as well.  I like that Pensacola is giving it a chance to have a life after the initial stat making stage. I tend to have concerns about the long term viability of these type organizations where the key connect between the contributor and the end product( young golfer) can be easily lost over time. Lets hope this is the exception and does keep touching young people and brining them into the world of golf for life.

[Pat Burke]

Our experience with the First Tee
We had a program, good people, and helped tutor 225+ kids per week
Each child who did their one hour of education in our center (per week), received
a free 1/2 hour lesson each week.  Free range balls.  Golf for $1 after 1pm.  Free SAT Prep was available, counseling,
and private tutoring to enhance the homework assistance was offered.
We raised our money privately.  Allegations of mishandling the funds, led to a loss of funding from our primary giving foundation.

Those of us left, approached the First Tee in hopes of keeping part of this wonderful program going.  We were told that they were interested in our program becoming a chapter, but there was no grant money or funding of any kind. 
They offered the name and programs (which we were pretty successfully doing already), but no assistance that would have
allowed us to stay open long enough to survive the loss of 85% of the private funding we were missing due to our departed leadership.

Now, our program also offered Grants up to $1000 for any student who went on to further education, who also volunteered in
some way with us.  We hired some former participants for summer jobs tutoring or teaching golf.  We were developing after high school golf programs, but never got the chance to go there.

The First TEe and their values were very similar to what we were accomplishing, and we too measured our success not by golf but by helping kids become good students and good citizens.  We were concerned about bringing these kids to the game and turning them loose, and were trying to address that. 

[Bob_Huntley]

I agree I was guilty of some sloppy writing in opening this thread. The beneficiaries of the program are of course the children. I was not thinking or referring to the "Life experiences" that the children receive but rather as they get older, where will they play?  Do we have enough Municipal courses to cater to the mass of  converts to the game?  Will they have the same attitude to golf when they have to pay for the chance to play?

Just musings.

[Ronald Montesano]

A) The muni or public course should offer a follow-up deal to the kids (the $5 deal mentioned above is excellent), a parent-child deal (parent pays, child is free) or a work-for-play exchange (fix ball marks on greens for 45 minutes a week and earn a non-prime green fee.)

B) Kids should be directed toward other golf work opportunities. Most clubs have course access as a benefit to caddy and other employment jobs. Perhaps it's not a career path, but it does give an opp for course access once weekly throughout high school and college.

C) Exposure to successful members ought to have some benefit (interview experience, other suggestions for career betterment.)

[RJ_Daley]

Stan, I completely agree that opportunities should be programmed into a First Tee sort of experience for follow-up participation.  Or, it seems any good work of donors and volunteers in time and $ cost would go fallow as time passes and no access to beginner facilities are available.  Interest has to be maintained.  I love the idea of some sort of exchange of chores done for green fees reduced or waved.  Unfortunately, the litigious environment we live in would probably mitigate against that idea due to work liabilities of an injured kid doing some chore out on the course, lame as I think we might say that may be.   I wish that impediment were not so. 

Sir Bob, I think the availability for follow-up participation at entry level or modest facilities at a good price point are quite regional in nature.  Where I live, there are plenty of good, affordable, and accessible golf course facilities. Getting the powers that be who make the decisions at the various facilities to buy-in, is also probably a mixed bag of willingness by the owner-decision makers to step up. 

[Steve_Lovett]

I think this thread is missing the point of The First Tee entirely...

First - I know Joe Barrow, the director of the organization. He is a friend, we belong to the same club, and until a year ago lived 2-houses from one another. He is a fine man with who is fully committed to the good the organization does. He's been an effective leader and fostered great partnerships that have enabled The First Tee to achieve a lot.

Second - I don't believe it is the primary goal of the organization to grow the game of golf. Golf is a means to an end - an opportunity to engage youth at risk in a sport/game built on honesty, sportsmanship, etc. It makes the game available to kids who otherwise wouldn't have access to it or couldn't afford it.

Third - Because of this "intervention" some kids may go to college, or at minimum be directed from the streets. Some continue to play, or pick it back up as adults. Some may not. If they do, the familiarity to the game as kids will be helpful later in life - and the lessons of the game learned as kids is valuable.

I've supported The First Tee in the past and believe it's purpose is a lot bigger than golf. It's possibly the most useful way golf has helped to create positive social change.

 

[Mac Plumart]

Steve...great post.  I'm with you.

Bob...

as they get older, where will they play?

I think this question is much bigger than The First Tee.  It encompasses junior golf as a whole and much of the potential golfing world.  In fact, isn't this macro-concept the basis behind The Affordable Golf Symposiums?

[Joel Zuckerman]

Although I don't live anywhere near there, I have been hearing quite a bit about the first tee program in Bridgeport, Connecticut.  This industrial city is decades past it's prime, and has a lot of social and economic problems that are endemic to older cities in the Northeast.

As I understand it, the first tee program there has grown measurably over the years, and hundreds of at risk youth are the beneficiaries.  While 99% of the play is conducted at the municipal golf course, they have a very interesting twist.... One of the prestigious nearby private clubs will invite 50 of the highest achieving first tee participants over for the day, along with their parents.  The idea in letting them play the course, and treating the parents to lunch, is to show them the possibilities that exist should they continue to work hard, and try and fulfill their potential.  The head professional comments that they have had caddies who eventually were able to join the club themselves, so this is taking that same concept to a much broader scale...

[Patrick_Mucci]

In reading the genesis of how the majority of GCA contributors started playing the game, it seems as though the passion started early and was not accompanied from the deep pockets of major corporations and foundations. The impetus was generally from a family member or by caddying at a local club.

I see The First Tee, with its principals earning hundreds of thousand dollars a year, raising vast sums of money to bring children into the game with absolutely no effort on the part of the beneficiaries. Are they being set up for a let down; where will these very many children play?


Bob,

It's an excellent point, one which I will bring up to a Trustee who's a friend of mine.

[Jeff Blume]

I am a new poster so please excuse my ignorance with regard to DG protocol, but I do have some knowledge of the funding and operation of the First Tee program here in Houston.  Most First Tee programs are sponsored and operated by local non-profit entities that are chartered through the National First Tee office.  The vast majority of funding comes from the efforts of the host organizations in seeking donations and corporate partners to assist in providing resources for the operation of the chapter.  In the case of our local chapter, the Houston Golf Association holds the charter to operate and administer the program.  The HGA provides funding through various individual and corporate donors, and through some of the proceeds from the Shell Houston Open PGA Tour Tournament (the HGA is the host organization for that event).  The HGA Staff who are responsible for running the program are highly motivated and dedicated people with a heart for service (they are personal acquaintences of mine), but are certainly not highly paid.

Our program is the second largest chapter in the country.  We have two "green grass" facilities, one designed by Rees Jones at Redstone Golf Club, and the other designed by Baxter Spann at Houston Oaks Country Club.  A third facility is planned at Quail Valley Golf Course.  Although we reach alot of children at the "green grass" facilities, the vast majority or our impact is through the implementation of the National School Program in area elementary schools.  This program is taught in the PE classes with SNAG equipment, and in Houston we are reaching over 150,000 kids.  Each school is supplied with the equipment (cost of around $4,000 per school) and the teachers or volunteers are trained by the HGA staff.

As was stated above, the First Tee's mission is about changing lives through exposing kids to their nine core values.  Golf is the vehicle to deliver the program, but it is not about creating new golfers.  If the kids buy into the program and become high character, productive and responsible adults, then a side benefit can be that they embrace the game that taught them good life skills.

[Lynn_Shackelford]

Jeff, first welcome to Golf Club Atlas.
Secondly I no doubt know some of your friends in the HGA.
I think you would surprise many of your contributors if they learned that "it is not about creating new golfers."
I think Bob Huntley's point was more that in order to grow the number of golfers it usually requires some passion on the part of the kid.  Secondly, they then have to work or strive in some fashion to feed that passion, because working or striving for something then makes it more rewarding.
For example when I was 14 I had the passion and waited 4 hours on Saturdays to get a "loop" at Lakeside CC in Hollywood so that I could qualify to play free on Mondays, or I waited for an hour patiently on a wait list at Griffith Park muni so that I could get out during the twilight rate at 4 PM and get in as many as 14 holes before dark.
Finally, after spending all this money and the national staff commanding all these substantial salaries, where are these kids going to play when they are 19?
Now if you as you say, it has little to do with growing golf, and the mission statement does confirm that, then I have misunderstood the First Tee all along.  Can't they accomplish the same through lawn bowling?

[Mark Pritchett]

If I remember correctly the First Tee was initially created as an avenue to introduce children to the game of golf, specifically children who might not be exposed to golf otherwise.  Somewhere along the way it changed its focus to "life skills".  Hopefully the First Tee is successful in doing both! 

[JMEvensky]

For example when I was 14 I had the passion and waited 4 hours on Saturdays to get a "loop" at Lakeside CC in Hollywood so that I could qualify to play free on Mondays, or I waited for an hour patiently on a wait list at Griffith Park muni so that I could get out during the twilight rate at 4 PM and get in as many as 14 holes before dark.

Apologies for the threadjack--but really?

I just assumed you played basketball 24/7 to get that good.

[Rich Goodale]

For example when I was 14 I had the passion and waited 4 hours on Saturdays to get a "loop" at Lakeside CC in Hollywood so that I could qualify to play free on Mondays, or I waited for an hour patiently on a wait list at Griffith Park muni so that I could get out during the twilight rate at 4 PM and get in as many as 14 holes before dark.

Apologies for the threadjack--but really?

I just assumed you played basketball 24/7 to get that good.

What do you think Lynn did for 4 hours every Saturday at the Caddyshack at Lakeside while waiting for a loop?  I'd guess shooting hoops....

[RJ_Daley]

Sorry for the treadjack diversion, but since Lynn may be looking in, and basketball did come up....

Lynn, what is your snapshot impression of Jack Taylor's scoring binge?  Was it even basketball they were playing?  And, the kid missed 56 shots out of 108!!! Are there many H.S. players that can make that many shots in their driveway in 36 minutes, alone?