The Pellucid Perspective - July 2012 - (Page 16)

THE LAST WORD The First Tee: It’s not all about golf didn’t watch a lot of the coverage of last weekend’s Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach, but it didn’t require much viewing time to absorb the central message of the event. Commentators and contestants alike frequently lauded The First Tee’s program as being “about much more than golf.” That, I believe, is the organization’s greatest strength, and if you don’t think so, take note of the recent quote from First Tee CEO Joe Louis Barrow that the organization and its supporters are 75 percent of the way to their goal of raising $100 Million in new funding by the end of this year. You try raising that kind of money for something that’s purely golf-related – good luck. Somewhat ironically, that very strength is viewed by a relatively silent minority of folks in the golf industry as the program’s biggest weakness. It’s great that golf is helping so many kids learn life skills and personal traits that will make them better people, they say, but when they complete the First Tee program, are they going to be paying customers at my facility? In the early years of The First Tee, when the organization built a number of golf training facilities, there was some more vocal opposition from course owners who resented the competition from a non-profit entity operating on I It’s great that golf is helping so many kids learn life skills and personal traits that will make them better people, they say, but when they complete the First Tee program, are they going to be paying customers at my facility? donated funds, but that has subsided for the most part now that First Tee programs are more typically aligned with existing facilities. The difficulty in providing a response to the program’s industry skeptics is the same failing that has plagued most of the golf industry’s other growthe-game and promotional initiatives – tracking. If you can’t quantify how well a strategy is working, how do you evaluate it, and how do you justify continuing it? Further demonstrating that The First Tee understands where its bread is buttered, the organization regularly surveys participants (and their parents) to evaluate their progress in the attributes that make up the program’s nine core values related to life and social skills, all of which are impressive. Perhaps understandably, although no less frustrating, are the general lack of valid survey results from First Tee participants once they leave the program, in terms of their golf participation. Jane Fader, The First Tee’s director of communications, did tell us that as recently as last year, a survey of First Tee chapters showed that 57 percent of youngsters no longer in the program are continuing to play golf or played in high school, and 1,700 have gone on to play golf in college. (Interestingly enough, that exact same 57 percent figure was cited in a 20032008 Impact Report commissioned by The First Tee). There can be no doubt that The First Tee does A LOT of good, on many levels, and if golf is a key component of that, and a beneficiary as well, that’s the ultimate win-win. I had a chance to chat briefly by phone during the Pebble Beach event with Joe Fernandez, who was caddying for one of his First Tee chapter’s players in the tournament. Fernandez is the head pro at Diablo Creek Golf Course in Concord, Calif., heads up the area First Tee chapter and is a national First Tee trainer. Fernandez is both a true believer and, as a golf professional, a realist about the interrelationship between The First Tee’s life skills lessons and golf. “One thing we try to accomplish is to get kids to look to the future and see what role golf can play in that future,” Fernandez said. “Where does golf fit into my life, and why should I make it part of my life? One thing I do know is that a lot of the parents come back into the game once their kids get involved. It’s one piece of the puzzle for our industry.” While Fernandez, as a PGA professional, would obviously like to see some of his former First Tee participants plunking down greens fees at his course and others in the years to come, one statistic he cites makes it clear that he sees other virtues in the program. “In our local [First Tee] chapter, I identified 90 kids that I considered to be truly ‘at risk,’” he said. “Of those 90 kids, 89 went on to college and one went on to a trade school after completing the program!” Stories like that one make it clear that whether The First Tee plays a major role in growing the game or not, it is definitely not just about golf. —Jim Dunlap July 2012 16 The Pellucid PersPecTive

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Pellucid Perspective - July 2012

The Pellucid Perspective - July 2012
Contents
More golfers say “good-bye” in 2011
A victory for municipal golf
Golf ’s new frontiers in faraway places
A range of possibilities
Weather impact, flat June closes out spectacular 1st half
Steel City or Iron City, Pittsburgh is a hard golf market
Lowe Enterprises joins Suncadia Resort ownership group
The First Tee: It’s not all about golf

The Pellucid Perspective - July 2012