The First Tee’s main goal is to teach younger kids the etiquette of golf as well as long term life skills that they will need to become a good golfer and a good citizen. The First Tee program has been going on for more than 22 years now. The long term life skills and the golf etiquette is taught by coaches who have been trained for their work with younger kids. The First tee happens at golf courses and elementary schools. The First Tee has really helped me become more social because when I attended the program I had to talk to more kids and also made a lot of new friends. The First Tee program that I attended is called The First Tee of Contra Costa.

The First Tee has different life skills called Player, Par, Birdie, and Eagle. Player is when you are first starting The First Tee, Par is when you have completed some of the life skills, Birdie is when you have completed most life skills as well as being able to hit the golf ball, and Eagle is for the more advanced players who are maybe older, have completed all of the life skills and have better golf skills too.

The reason I was put into The First Tee is because I wasn’t good at the life skills but I had the golf skills. So when I started I was able to get through Player quick, but Par took me longer. I had completed all of the golfing skills but it took me a while to complete the life skills. Eventually, I made it to Birdie then stopped going because I got older and didn’t need to go so I started playing in tournaments after The First Tee.

There are nine different core values that are taught at The First Tee, which are honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, respect, confidence, responsibility, perseverance, courtesy, and judgment. With golf and the different core values, kids learn the different life skills like Managing emotions, planning for the future, setting up step-by-step goals and resolving conflicts. In order to move onto the next level, you will need to show that you can complete the core values as well as the life skills.

I would recommend The First Tee for beginning and younger golfers because it teaches both golf skills as well as long term life skills. The First Tee is good for kids who need to learn the rules, especially the nine core values.

Honesty is important because a lot of people try and cheat. The integrity value is important because I have experienced playing with players who try and say they found their ball when really they dropped a ball and said they found it.

Sportsmanship is important because even if you have a bad day you still need to shake your groupmates hands. Respect is important because when you play golf you need to respect the people you are playing with and they will respect you back.

Confidence is key because you need to have the confidence that you can accomplish your goal rather than getting down on yourself.

Perseverance is important because you can’t give up while your on the course because no matter what happens there is always another hole or day. I have learned all of these core values better while going to The First Tee.