“There is nothing more important than opening doors for young people,” Luten says.

“It’s not all about golf. It’s about making well-rounded, successful individuals.”

A worthy cause
First Tee runs eight-week sessions in spring, summer and fall. There’s a $50 registration fee, but families who cannot afford the cost are welcome as well. Between traditional evening classes and outreach programs, the organization reached almost 1,000 kids in 2009. Any shortfall in registration cost is made up for through individual donations and funding from corporate partners such as BB&T, Wachovia, and Rex Healthcare.

For many kids, their first exposure to First Tee comes in gym class, where instructors work in partnership with the First Tee National School Program. Last year, more than 25,000 area children received a primer on pitching and putting.

“Our goals for 2010 include increasing our partnership through the National School Program,” says Luten, who attended Hampton University in Virginia on a golf scholarship.

“We’re now in 34 elementary schools in Wake County, and we want to be in all 10 in Chapel Hill and Carrboro,” he adds. “We’re also trying to raise the profile of the organization in the region so that people really understand what our mission is. Along with that, we would like to increase our volunteer base.”

A group effort
Volunteers are crucial to First Tee. The weakened economy has forced the nonprofit to rely on an all-volunteer staff for the programs. Not all volunteers are golfers, however; the organization is happy to have adults who assist with life skills teaching, event planning and office work.

Paul Pfeuffer is one of almost 100 volunteers who work for the local chapter. A sales engineer for Novus Group and a bogey golfer, he has dedicated his free time to First Tee’s mission for the past five years.

Last September, Pfeuffer completed a one-week training session in Seattle along with 50 others from around the country. Now he teaches and mentors other volunteers, in addition to helping kids. Like most First Tee supporters, he is most impressed with the curriculum, which focuses on life beyond the golf course.

“If you’re a golfer, you usually have pretty good life skills — you know how to meet people and show respect to people,” Pfeuffer says.

“Most of the time, golfers are honest people,” he adds. “Life parallels golf so well.”

That correlation is what First Tee wants to capitalizes on.

“We teach resolving conflicts, which we all need to understand,” Pfeuffer says. “We try to teach them something called CARE: communicate, actively listen, review all options and end with a win-win.”

“We see children come in all the time with low self-esteem and no confidence,” says Tom Tyndall, the organization’s director of programs.

“Some of them are very loud and boisterous, some of them are very quiet,” he adds. “Once we get to know them and they know us — and they understand that we care — they start to blossom. They start to really get it. They start to internalize the things we teach them. It’s everything from meeting and greeting to setting goals to fitness.”

Programs are available for children ages 8 to 18, with Hedingham Golf Course in Raleigh serving as the organization’s home course. Program participants can rise through various levels to earn discounted greens fees at area courses as well.

Beyond local instruction, First Tee offers a long-range goal for kids. More than 25 universities from around the country offer merit-based scholarships for qualified participants.

But it all starts with golf.

“When you see a kid get the ball airborne for the first time,” Pfeuffer says, “that’s pretty exciting stuff.”

Kurt Dusterberg is a freelance writer based in Apex.