For 25 years, First Tee has been building strength of character through golf
to empower kids across a lifetime. Each year, First Tee reaches 2.2 million youth,
and it’s working to impact more. Its mission provides wide-ranging and ever-growing
education, life, leadership and golf opportunities to its participants.
It was J.P. Ray’s father who enrolled 8-year-old Ray at First Tee - Tulsa. “My dad loved playing golf, but he always said he didn’t want me to learn his bad golf swing,” he says.
While it began as a recreational activity, Ray discovered the leadership skills he was acquiring on the golf course could be implemented in other areas of his life. “In school, I was starting to enter leadership positions, or on my golf team I was becoming a team captain.”
Ray continued his involvement into college. There, he took advantage of several national alumni opportunities, like an invitation for select First Tee scholars to attend THE PLAYERS Championship hosted by the PwC Executive Forum, where Ray was inspired to pursue a career in law. “To be able to network with different people and hear their experiences, hear how they got into their profession—it just kind of got the ball rolling on,
‘Okay, well what do I want to do with my career?’”
Speaking to Forbes just after passing his bar exam, Ray, now 25, says he still lives by what he learned from First Tee. “You learn to fix your divot and fix somebody else's divot and leave the course better than you found it…so now I try to leave all of my environments better than I found them,” he says.
“You don't always see people of color on golf courses,” says Ray, which is why he’s working with First Tee to promote diversity and remove barriers to entry in the sport. His Tulsa chapter, for example, offers free clubs to First Tee participants and provides funding for those who may not be able to pay for program fees or event costs. “First Tee has done a really good job of making golf…less expensive, and just providing that opportunity for people to get involved.”
J.P. Ray and PGA TOUR Champions professional golfer Scott Simpson at the PURE Insurance Championship, an annual event that brings First Tee participants to the PGA TOUR Champions tournament at Pebble Beach.
Taryn Yee says she was an introverted child. But when
her mother enrolled 10-year-old Yee in First Tee - Greater Sacramento, a more outgoing personality emerged.
“Really just trusting myself, trusting my golf swing…and interacting with a lot of people as well made me a much more confident person.”
Yee’s First Tee experiences inspired her to play competitive golf in college, where she pursued a bachelor’s degree in business. Now 30, Yee says the social skills developed through First Tee have translated into her professional success as a program manager. “[First Tee teaches] perseverance; on the golf course you could hit bad shots,
Yee is excited about more deeply connecting with alumni and across chapters. A multi-year re-investment in technology advancements will provide more opportunities for alumni and participants to stay engaged with First Tee. “I’ve built a First Tee family,” she says. “Having coaches, my friends in First Tee that I’ve met, have all been super instrumental in my life—and I still lean on them to this day.”
you could hit good shots, and it's what you do next…that has been really helpful.”
Yee now volunteers and mentors with First Tee chapters in both Sacramento and San Francisco. “We get to be role models for the kids, and I see a lot of myself in them as I was growing up,” she says.
Taryn Yee volunteering as a chaperone at The First Tee Innovators Forum in 2021 in San Jose, California.
Brittany Woo’s 8-year-old self would be surprised to learn that First Tee would develop into a passion. “I was about carrying my bag on the golf course,” the now-26-year-old remembers of her first season. “Then it evolved into, okay—well First Tee hosts all these events for kids like us, and we get to travel all across the country and meet new people and try different things. That sounds pretty cool!”
Woo was a dedicated participant throughout high school and in college she began volunteer coaching. “The reason why I do it is so I can see that moment when the kids are either interacting with one another positively…Or when they have
“The more coaches we have, the more youth we can impact. I think that’s kind of our biggest hurdle right now,” Woo says. First Tee is actively recruiting volunteer coaches of all experience levels to serve as mentors on and off the golf course. Woo also believes new coaches can create more relatable role models. “Kids are more comfortable when they're with people that look like them or come from the same background…
A diverse group of coaches will help us connect with [our] diverse group of participants.”
Brittany Woo poses with First Tee participant Nicole Chang at a First Tee - Greater Richmond Halloween event
in 2017.
not
that moment where they’re like…‘Oh, this
is how I can put goal-setting to use outside of golf class.’”
She now serves as a
full-time senior director of programs for First Tee - Greater Richmond. “It's very humbling to see [the kids] grow up as their own person, and the coaches have a piece
in that.”