Author: ogibbs

Congratulations to Malisone Chanthapanya, First Tee – Fort Worth alum, who becomes the very first to graduate with a degree as a First Tee Scholar – and in record time! Read more about Malisone’s experience!

FORE! the Kids is back! Join us for a unique team-shamble event out at Squaw Creek Golf Course on Friday, June 9th presented by Gilchrist Automotive! Several chances to win prizes with on-course games and plenty of sponsorship opportunities available! Check it out on our FORE! the Kids page!

Annual traditions are back! From Caddie Days to shuttle drivers, check out what opportunities are available for our participants, families and volunteers!

There is a long-tenured history of Mr. Ben Hogan in Fort Worth. He has inspired so many young men and women through his perseverance and ability to never give up. He particularly inspired one young man in our First Tee chapter, Hayes Richardson. Hayes has been a participant with us since he was 6 years old and has heard the story of Mr. Hogan many times while attending classes with us. Hayes took it upon himself to write a book report on Mr. Hogan. 

Hayes has an outstanding record in school and loves to participate in every class he is a part of. His coaches can’t say enough nice things about him. Hayes, like Mr. Hogan, inspires others while he is in a class by encouraging them even when things might not go his way.

“I have never seen a time when Hayes doesn’t have a smile on his face” – Coach Travis

Hayes is a great role model for kids his own age, he sets the standard for every class he is in and others follow! Hayes even sometimes teaches his coaches more than we can teach him!

Written by: Coach Travis Jones

Volunteer Highlights: The Farmer Family

The Farmer Family has been involved in First Tee Programs consistently for many years now. They live in Granbury and drive up on Saturdays to do programming at Squaw Creek. Since Robert Farmer was always in attendance he asked if he could be a volunteer coach. He has been volunteering now at Squaw Creek for over 4 years. Coach Robert played college football at Notre Dame and played for the New York Jets after college for a season in 1999.

“As a parent I appreciate the life lessons the children learn respect for yourself, respect your surroundings, and respect for others. These basic tenets will follow them in various situations through their journey in life. Additionally, First Tee has established a very safe environment for children to share, grow, and lead within their weekly classes. Another important aspect while learning the game and rules of golf, it allows children exposure to more experiences and people they would not necessarily meet in their everyday lives. First Tee is an important part of our family and the relationships we foster are far reaching.

As a coach it gives me the opportunity to interact with my children and teenagers in a social setting to support their development. Coaching enables me to learn and share in positive way to help others grow and learn. The game of golf allows each person to challenge themselves and compete against their personal best and coaching children up to meet those mental challenges is what I enjoy most. Coaching up children to have the right mental process and thoughts when faced with adversity on the golf course can translate into making better decisions in life, process thinking. Lastly, coaching challenges me every week because you want to give them the answers however coaches need to guide children to find their answers and when you share in the eureka moment with children, it is a great feeling.”

Coach Robert

Coach Robert has attended all the trainings to become a level 1 trained coach and plans on leading classes at Squaw Creek this Spring. His two oldest sons also participate in PGA Jr. League and Coach Robert helps as one of the coaches on-site every other Saturday. His family comes to Squaw Creek in the mornings on these PGA Jr. League days and leave at dark. He has 3 boys and girl who are all involved in our programs.

We are so grateful for Coach Robert’s time and effort devoted to our program and the kids in it!

Written by Coach Charleton “Chuck” Dechert

As we end a tremendous year, we also come to the end of a tremendous era for First Tee – Fort Worth as our longtime Executive Director, Kevin Long, retires from his position with us to pursue what has always been his passion: working with young people. Through his nearly 18 years of service to First Tee – Fort Worth, we have seen amazing growth, the opening of three facilities, and countless opportunities open up to the thousands of young people in our four county service area.

Some of Kevin’s favorite sayings were “You made the mistake of asking ‘How can I help?'” and “Run through the finish line!” To commemorate, the First Tee staff created this video as a sentimental thanks for the many years of service.

We cannot thank Mr. Long enough for the work and passion he has poured into our chapter over the years and wish him the best of luck in his new position as the Head Coach of the Texas Wesleyan University Men’s Golf team! While we’ll see him in a new role, we know he will remain connected with First Tee long into the future. Best of luck in this new chapter!

A Message from Kevin Long

December 21, 2022

Dear Friends of First Tee – Fort Worth,

As most of you may have heard by now, I am stepping down as Executive Director of our chapter and have assumed the role of Head Men’s Golf Coach at Texas Wesleyan University. I will continue to work with our chapter, serving  as a consultant in 2023 while also consulting for other First Tee chapters and non-profits.  I have been honored  and privileged to lead our chapter as Executive Director for almost 17 years and in that time, have been fortunate to work with amazing staff members, board members, volunteers, donors, advocates, community partners and most importantly, thousands of young people in our community! We have created three distinct and unique facilities in the Ben Hogan Learning Centers at Rockwood and Squaw Creek as well as the Briscoe Program Location located on FWISD property. Our program has grown exponentially since we started, and we are consistently recognized as one of the top chapters in The First Tee Network. It has been both professionally and personally fulfilling to be the leader of the organization during that growth!

In all my years of youth development, I have never seen a better or more effective character education tool than the First Tee’s Life Skills Experience and Curriculum. It is research driven, constantly evolving, child focused, and activity based. I know that every young person that has been impacted by this program has been strengthened with life enhancing skills like resiliency, interpersonal communication, conflict resolution, goal setting and decision-making capability that every young person in our society needs, more now than ever as we recover from COVID. I have been driven all these years by one simple vision of providing this empowering program to as many young people as possible, including our golfers at Texas Wesleyan. In doing so, all of us, working together, have made a positive and lasting impact on our community that has a ripple effect for generations to come!

As we come up on our 20^th Anniversary year as a chapter in 2023, I felt the time was right to get involved once again in working directly with young people in some fashion and return to competitive athletics. I have always considered myself a teacher and coach first and foremost and spent the first 25 years of my career doing just that. The chance to build First Tee – Fort Worth into a preeminent youth development agency was a once in a lifetime opportunity that called to me in personally meaningful ways.  I will never do anything that is more important professionally than my years at First Tee but I look forward to this new challenge of working with the young men in our golf program at Texas Wesleyan to be all that they can be, both on and off the golf course. The tradition at Texas Wesleyan is a strong one that includes seven NAIA National Titles and I look forward to continuing to raise that bar for our student-athletes and building a team culture, much like what we have done at our First Tee chapter.

I also look forward to helping our chapter to new heights in my backstage consulting role. Our new Executive Director, J.R. Holland, was our Director of Development for over 4 years from 2011-2015 and has an extensive background in fundraising, business management, operations and is also a Class A PGA Golf Professional. I know that he will do an excellent job, along with our Board of Directors and Staff, to create a compelling strategic plan and vision for the next several years, which will be a NorthStar in our journey ahead. I hope that you will join me in supporting those efforts and work with us to continue to build game changers in our community.

I wish the very best of holiday seasons to you and your loved ones. I hope you all take a  moment to be grateful for the people in our lives who enrich us and tell them how special they are. Please continue to ask, “how can I help” and always run through the finish line!

With Gratitude,

Kevin Long

Former ED – Now Chapter Consultant

First Tee – Fort Worth

We always hope that the lessons learned on the course will go far beyond the clubhouse, so it’s exciting here at First Tee – Fort Worth when we hear about participant’s who are doing just that!

Hunter Hamman, age 9, was recently awarded Student of the Month at his school in Aledo for his unwavering demonstration of integrity. Hunter has been a participant in First Tee for almost 2 years now and his family credits his interactions with the program and it’s coaches for helping reinforce such valuable attributes shared at home.

We are very proud of Hunter and encourage him to keep up the good work! Hunter is truly an example of what a game changer should be!

Congrats, Hunter!

Congratulations to First Tee – Fort Worth participant Katie Freeman on signing with the College of Saint Mary Women’s Golf Team in Omaha, Nebraska! Katie, a future graduate of L.D. Bell High School, has been involved with First Tee from a very young age and credits her coaches and the lifelong friends she has made at First Tee to much of her success. Along with the support of her amazing family, Katie has accomplished many great things with First Tee – Fort Worth, but she is most proud to have completed all four projects to be named a certified ACE participant, the pinnacle of achievement for First Tee participants.

Katie always comes to class and events with a fantastic attitude and her smile is contagious. She leads by example with integrity and respect at every turn, regardless of how her day is going. An active participant of the chapter, she is truly one of the best representatives of what First Tee is all about: building game changers.

We are incredibly proud of Katie and the amazing young woman she has become! We will certainly miss her when she heads off on a wonderful adventure next year, but until then we know she will finish out her senior year strong! We wish her the best in her future endeavors and look forward to keeping up with her college golf career as it begins in Fall 2023! Go Flames!

Progress is being made at our Briscoe Elementary program location thanks to The Junior League of Fort Worth, Inc.! Check out our new gadget from Promethean that will help youth in the community learn not only the fundamentals of golf, but skills needed to be successful in life! In addition to the new Promethean panel, we were also able to purchase 20 brand new Chromebooks and a snazzy cart to store them in.

With the funding and volunteer support of The Junior League of Fort Worth, Inc. we’re making strides to provide access to the most current technologies and create a space that puts youth at the center, including a bright and colorful interior and plenty of room for activity! By Spring 2023, we’ll be able to conduct even more programs at this facility such as STEM activities, family events, community events, mentorship and leadership opportunities and more! Stay tuned for more updates!

To learn more about the Junior League of Fort Worth, their initiatives and impact, visit www.juniorleaguefw.org!

Introducing our 2023 Club Champions!

Boys Champion: Colin Price

Girls Champion: Samantha Gibbs

In honor of First Tee and the USGA’s 25-year partnership, the USGA shows it’s continued investment in the First Tee by awarding IDEA grants to chapters across America – including First Tee – Fort Worth! We are honored to be named 1 of only 25 chapters to receive this grant to help break-down barriers and improve Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility to the game of golf and our character building programs! Read the full article at the link below for a deeper dive into this amazing opportunity!

Our next Girls Golf event is coming up on Saturday, Nov. 12th from 10:30AM-12:00PM at our Squaw Creek Program Location!

We’re grateful for our time with friends and family – so let’s celebrate with a little bit of fun! We’ll have a variety of Thanksgiving themed activities to get us in the thankful spirit!

Download the Girls Golf app, find our chapter and register for our next event!