Category: Stories

Greenwood County Expansion Keeps on Growing

Written by Zach Pretzer – Tournament Director

As some of you may know, First Tee — Upstate South Carolina recently expanded into two new counties in 2023; Greenwood and Oconee Counties. Now the chapter conducts programming in six of the ten counties that make up the Upstate of South Carolina. First Tee programming began in 2000 in Spartanburg County and now encompasses Anderson, Cherokee, Greenville, Greenwood, Oconee Counties with plans to expand into Pickens and Union Counties before the end of 2024. In 2023 and now into 2024 Greenwood County experienced some of the most recent success so far with our programming, events, and the start of our school program in District 50!

Our first programming location in Greenwood County is The Fort Club (formally Star Fort) in Ninety Six. In 2022, a new ownership took over the club and welcomed our First Tee with open arms. We are so grateful to have a Program Location that is excited to grow the game of golf and be so welcoming to kids and teens of Greenwood County. In our first year we hosted programming in collaboration with the local Boys & Girls Club and have been able to host with the support of the SCJGA, The Rick Vieth Junior 4-Ball Championship for the past two years. Sponsorships for the event go directly to First Tee and continue to help our chapter grow our programming in Greenwood County. During that event in 2023 we had two of our Ace Level Participants, Julia Conroy and Mercy Santerini complete in the Girls Division! Below are pictures from the winners of both the girls and boys divisions of the event!

Classes at The Fort Club have been fantastic and we love utilizing the club to not only give kids in Greenwood County the opportunity to learn the game golf and build their character within our programming, but also provide opportunities to compete in state-wide tournaments!

We also have reached the community by getting equipment in the hands of kids while they are in school. We love to see kids out at the golf course, but our school program gives kids the opportunity to learn the game of golf and teach our character education during regularly schedule school hours. We are grateful for the support of the community and District 50 investing in their young people by providing the equipment, teacher training and curriculum to all eight elementary schools in District 50. The equipment bag allows PE Teachers to teach up to 48 kids at one time our golf and life skills curriculum in a safe way in the gym or outdoors! Learn more about our school program by clicking here and if you would like to see our First Tee School Program in your school, please reach out to Michael Pius, PGA Executive Director at [email protected].

Our expansion into new counties has been amazing to not only help our chapter grow as a whole, but continue to impact kids and teens and enable them to build the strength of character that empowers them through a lifetime of new challenges.

Are you interested in programming in Greenwood County? Click on the button below!

Greenwood County Class Offerings
Nelia L. is a BIRDIE level participant, a Girls Golf member and a sophomore at Southside High school in Greenville county. She is participating in our First Tee at Home e-learning classes to further her golf skills and life skills while staying at home during COVID-19. Her First Tee Coach, Coach AnnaLeis, challenged the BIRDIE participants to create VISION boards to better showcase their Dreams & Goals for their future! Nelia was excited to showcase her past, present and future goals on her VISION board. Here is what she wrote: “This collage captures my past, present, and future in golf. Some of the experiences from my past that have led me to play golf are running varsity cross country and playing tennis for my high school. My parents also put me in a lot of different sports at the YMCA when I was younger. I have always enjoyed playing all kinds of sports and trying new things, so I decided to try golf. I included some pictures from my first golf match that I won, which is one of my proudest moments in golf. Some of the people who have influenced me in golf are my parents and little brother. Coach AnnaLeis is another huge influence to me because she is an amazing, encouraging coach and mentor. Also, she started golf with the First Tee when she was 13 and went on to play in college, and I admire her story because I started playing golf at 15 with the First Tee, and my dream is to get a golf scholarship to play in college as well.”

Persevering Through the Past, Present, and into the Future – Coach Laura

Honesty. Integrity. Sportsmanship. Respect. Confidence. Responsibility. Perseverance. Courtesy. Judgement. As an alum of The First Tee of the Upstate, I proudly attribute all 9 core values to my success. But when asked what my favorite core value is, I always answer Perseverance. Looking back on my 24 years, I see a lot of perseverance woven into my story. My journey with The First Tee of the Upstate began in 2007 when I was enrolled in my first session with Coach Floyd. Many sessions and certifications later, I was given the opportunity to attend the National Life Skills and Leadership Camp in Phoenix, AZ in 2011. I went to camp loving golf and returned from camp in love with the first tee. It was at this camp that I made a promise to my 16 year old self that I would always be involved with The First Tee in some capacity. The First Tee’s mission statement  is “To impact the lives of young people by providing educational programs that build character, instill life-enhancing values and promote healthy choices through the game of golf.” I am proof of that statement. I can’t recall the golf skills I learned at camp, but I vividly recall, and continue to use the leadership skills learned. At the closing ceremony, each participant was gifted with a putter cover embroidered with The 9 Core Values. This putter cover followed me to every high school match and junior tournament throughout the rest of my high school career before following me to college tournaments. However, there is a specific story with this putter cover I often refer to. It was a very hot and humid July day in Sumter, SC. I was playing in a practice round while wishing I was anywhere else. As I approached the green and grabbed my putter, I skimmed the core values and Perseverance jumped out at me. Maybe because it was the longest word on the cover, or maybe because that was the exact core value I needed in the moment. I chose to believe the latter and changed my attitude about the round. I felt better, I played better, and I was proud of myself. From that moment on, when tournament rounds got tough, with weather conditions or unfortunate lies, I would glance at that putter cover and remind myself to persevere. As perseverance became more important to me on the course, it also became a battle cry in school and personal life. I was a collegiate student athlete at Columbia College in Columbia, SC where I had the chance to pursue 2 dreams- playing collegiate golf and earning a degree in speech language pathology. As you can imagine, perseverance was an important characteristic to have with the demands of being a student athlete. During my second year of college, my team began volunteering with The First Tee Columbia chapter. It was amazing to see my teammates develop the same passion for The First Tee. In fact, one of my teammates is now a volunteer with The First Tee of Greater Charlotte. After graduating college, I returned home to the Upstate to begin a career as a speech language pathologist- assistant. I was chasing my dream but there was something missing. I became the assistant coach for MHS girl’s golf, thinking that coaching at my alma mater would fill the void. But the void continued. I soon realized that The First Tee was in fact so different from other junior golf programs, and was the missing piece.
Coach Laura with her Willow Creek participants
I contacted the chapter and soon became a Level I coach. I thought I would breeze through my first sessions, but it took perseverance to grow into the coach I am today. After coaching for 6 seasons, I am learning the art of good coaching is committing to life-long learning.  Through my 6 seasons of coaching, I personally have coached approximately 90 PLAYers. Through coaching these 90 young PLAYers I have made a few observations. These PLAYers have come from different backgrounds and different stories. But guess what, golf doesn’t care. Golf is the only sport in the world I can think of that gives an even playing field to every gender, age, race, body type, socio-economic status, and ability. The player is truly competing against themselves while enjoying the diverse company of others. While its been beautiful watching these PLAYers grow in their own game, it has been breathtaking to watch them grow in the core values. I could share 90 stories of different core values I have seen, or heard parents tell me, develop in a meaningful way since beginning programming with The First Tee of the Upstate. Because I have the unique experience of benefiting from TFT as a participant myself and seeing firsthand almost 100 children in 2 years benefit from the program, I am extremely passionate about providing The First Tee experience to as many communities as possible. Within the past year we have launched into the Hispanic community using a bilingual coach in addition to continued growth with our Boys and Girls Club partnership and LPGA Girls Golf partnership. However, it is now time that we bring The First Tee experience to the special needs community. I am ecstatic to announce an initiative that will start during our 2020 year with Ernie Els #GameON. As part of our overall programming we are partnering with Ernie Els #GameON to provide the golf and life skills curriculum to children and young adults on the autism spectrum. It will not be easy. It will take hard work and resources, but with perseverance, we will succeed. With the most recent statistic reading 1 in 58 children are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, the community is large and in need of help. From a speech language pathology perspective, I can assure you that Ernie Els #GameON curriculum is unique and going to impact people with autism in the Upstate in a powerful way. Since funding for the program will be part of the overall budget, the need for financial support is also great. I would love to invite you to persevere with me and our chapter through the launching of this programming. Through sharing donations of time, financial resources, and network connections we will be sure to reach our goal! Because of generous donations, our chapter is thriving in a variety of communities! If you are interested in persevering with us for this launching with a financial contribution, please check out the DONATE tab on our website to complete your tax-deductible contribution. If you are interested in persevering with us by volunteering your time or sharing network connections, please email me at [email protected]. On behalf of alum, current participants, volunteers, and coaches, I want to thank you for your donations thus far, and in advance for future donations. I cannot wait to celebrate the success stories we will hear from a range of communities together in 2020 because of the perseverance of our chapter supporters!

It’s been ONE WEEK …

Last weekend, The PGA Tour Champions conducted the 16th edition of the tournament at Pebble Beach where 78 of their members are paired with 78 The First Tee participants from across the country. These participants are chosen based on playing ability and an application process. Our goal here at The First Tee of the Upstate is to have one of our participants be selected to play in The Pure Championship in the next 3 years. This will require a lot of hard work, sweat, dedication and application of the Life and Golf Skills that our PLAYers learn each week. I had the opportunity to caddy for a friend of mine back in 2016, Tim Petrovic. It was an amazing experience to see how the kids were treated like Tour Players on such an iconic golf course and bond with these Players. Petro still talks to the young man from The First Tee of Delaware, Kaden Kinard, that he played with. Kaden is a sophomore at Catholic University and a star on the golf team. Kaden will always have a relationship with a Tour Player because of this experience, much like our own AnnaLeis Dibert who played in 2 Pure Championships. We can’t wait to be rooting for The First Tee of the Upstate’s first ever participant in this Tournament!!   Matt Sharkey