Leading the Teens…

After many hours on the tee with both our outreach and Core participants, I have been “approved” to teach my own class during the remainder of Summer Core Programs. Last Tuesday was my first night with the Teens – and my first program as lead coach. I must admit, I was terrified! I understand how to entertain 7 and 8 year-olds with games and gimics, but teenagers see right through the silly games and gimics so I had to come up with 90 minutes of golf and life skill activities for a group of high schoolers. Thankfully, I was not alone during this venture – one of our best volunteers George was there to help me! We talked through various plans of action for the program and came up with a pretty good range of activities for the participants. We were all set up, ready for those 7 teens to arrive; unfortunately, 10 minutes after the program was scheduled to begin, only 3 participants had arrived. Not knowing how I was going to adapt to my very small class, I had to think on my feet and modify my lesson basically while I was giving it!

We talked about confidence (ironic I know), then chipped, pitched and practiced up-and-downs. The three juniors seemed engaged and interested – two things I was worried were not going to happen since we had so few participants at the lesson. I was impressed by their maturity and willingness to try the drills we had set up. I also thought they listened and took my direction well. We were able to give them a little more one-on-one attention, which they seemed to appreciate. Following the lesson, George and I did a “Good Better How” evaluation of the day and concluded that we were successful despite our last minute modification efforts. I am looking forward to continuing with this group and can’t wait to help them improve both their golf and life skills.

-Lexie

TFT is HOT at Wescott Plantation

Our first session of classes for The First Tee at Wescott Plantation was in April of 2009 and we had a Monday PLAYer class for about 10 participants. In our session starting in April 2010, we held both Monday and Tuesday classes of PAR and Advanced PAR and both classes were filled with 16 participants in each class.  It is a real treat for Coach Dan and me to watch as these kids develop golf skills and absorb life skills.

Just last month we had all our kids attempt the golf skills test for Par Certification. I could not have been prouder of those kids. Not because of their successful shots, and there were some, but because of their unsuccessful ones. Being put in a stressful testing situation in a relatively new sport can be difficult to handle but I saw kids cheering for each other. I saw kids encouraging each other and using the four “Rs” after bad shots and helping each other use the four “Rs”. It made me wonder if I could handle one of my bad shots as well as our First Tee kids handle theirs. Dan and I could only look at each other and smile.

What’s more important for these kids, golf skills or life skills? Everyone can make up their own minds about it. Coach Dan and I have made up ours…

- Perry Green

Spring at Oak Point…

First of all the First Tee was my first Job in the golf industry and I believe that this program is a great way for any child to learn the game of golf in every aspect. I am very proud to be a part of such a great organization.

This past 8 week program we held at Oak Point on Kiawah Island involved two different groups a Par Group and an Advance Par group.  On our last day we played 4 holes in each group.  After being on the driving range week after week, it paid off for both groups.  The Advance Par played their own ball and put all their lessons together to accelerate on the golf course.  Each child experienced excellent shots and a even had a couple pars in the group on their own ball. In our Par Group the players enjoyed seeing great shots more often and learned how much fun the game of golf can be on the golf course.  Each player learned how to focus on each shot and understand how all the shots work together.  In the end of our 8 weeks program it all came together for each player and everyone excelled on the golf course impressive to not only the coaches but to the parents also.  Congratulations to all the players and hope to see them this coming summer.

- Abby Welch



My first year…

Going into our summer season this year marks my one year anniversary with The First Tee of Greater  Charleston, and what an amazing year it has been! Thank you to all our participants and volunteers, we made it through this year with safety as our #1 priority and I can confidently say we did a great job!

During my year with the First Tee, I have seen our program grow immensely. First Tee participants are becoming better golfers everyday.

As a teaching pro, the first aspect of a good shot I judge for is the sound. When our First Tee students hit down and make a divot from under the ball going forward they create that click sound that indicates the ball has been hit solidly on the sweet spot. Hitting down is the key to getting airborne and really, that is my goal with a lot of our PLAYer and PAR classes. Normally with our juniors, if we get the ball in the air we actually get a lot of consistency in their shots.

While I love teaching the golf swing to our juniors, I have also enjoyed covering our life skills. As our kids are progressing through the different levels of First Tee they are becoming more and more aware of the life skills and how to use them in everyday life. I see this as we get into the Advanced PAR level and Teen group – the kids start introducing themselves to each other using the meet and greet skill on their own. It is skills like these that seem like mostly common sense, but practicing them with the kids proves to be so useful in everyday life. Just sit back and think parents, how often you meet people during your week? We are teaching the kids how to handle these introductions in a way that is respectful and courteous, believe it or not they will use this skill everyday and it’s something I have improved on myself just by teaching the juniors.

Going forward I am looking forward to an exciting summer of First Tee as Lexie and I’ll be teaching both the Outreach and Core programs!

As a final note I’d like to encourage all First Tee Participants to use their cards that they’ve earned to come out and practice creating that “click” sound more often.

I look forward to seeing y’all at the course this summer!

- Brandon Ray

Seeing improvement…

It is always nice to see improvement in our participants’ golf skills. Although I am relatively new to The First Tee, I have gotten to know some of the players in the few weeks that I have help coach. This past week (May 24-28), I was amazed at the improvement I saw in just a couple of weeks of programming. For the Teen group that comes on Tuesday afternoons, we took the participants out on the course and played a 5-person scramble with Brandon and I on separate teams. Being my first time out on the course with this group,  I must say I was a little anxious – I did not know if there practice on the range would transfer over to the course. Looking back, I have no idea why I was so nervous! Brandon put a stipulation on the game saying that the group could only use mine or his shots once per hole and the rest was up to them. My group didn’t use a single one of my shots and made par all on their own! I was so proud of them for applying what we taught them in the past weeks to their game on the course. Their improvement and focus was so impressive! What was even more impressive, though, was their composure on the course. We taught them about respect and integrity on the course, but I saw it in action that day. They stayed calm under pressure and encouraged the other team members if they hit an errant shot. Their maturity and poise on the golf course was better than most adults’ behavior on the course!

I had been told that junior golfers will amaze you with the things they absorb and produce on the golf course, but I did not expect the improvements to be so rapid! I am thrilled with the golf I have seen this week and look forward to future programs.

- Lexie

Welcome!

Hello! Welcome to The First Tee of Greater Charleston’s official Coach’s blog! Here coaches can recap programs, highlight participant success, and provide any other details about the various sessions during the weeks that they found interesting or important. Feel free to comment on our posts with any suggestions of content you would like to see in the future. This is just another tool for us to keep in touch with all of our volunteers, donors, parents, and participants – you all make this organization a success and we would not be where we are today with your support!

For more information about our organization or to register, donate, or volunteer, visit our website: www.thefirstteegreatercharleston.org

Check back soon!

- Lexie