The First Tee is a youth development organization introducing the game of golf and its inherent values to young people. Through after-school and in-school programs, we help shape the lives of young people from all walks of life by reinforcing values like integrity, respect and perseverance through the game of golf. And it’s making a difference.

 

WHY GOLF?

You’ve probably heard the saying, “It’s not always ‘what’ you know – but ‘who’ you know.”  Strong influence certainly gives a boost to business connections and where better for today’s urban youth to run into that influence than working or caddying at a country club in the New York Metropolitan Area? The success stories have been endless over the years.  The key for the youth is to make an exemplary commitment and a world they never thought possible can open up to them.  We train them to have “Grit”, to stick to the task “doing what most won’t”. At The Country Club of Life, “Grit” stands for “Gratitude Responds Intensely to Testing”. When I made the decision to leave the golf business, through the golf contacts I had made I was blessed to be in a new profession within a week that I would have never gotten on my own due to lack of a college education.