For over 25 years, we’ve used golf to teach lessons about life. We’ve spun the unexpected challenges on the fairway to coach kids about adversity in the everyday. It’s not just a game, its game-changing.
Our alumni are a reflection of that commitment we made to building game changers. Below are just a few of our exceptional alumni who are making a difference in the world because of the lessons learned at First Tee.
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!
Visit our 25th anniversary page for more impactful stories and videos from our alumni.
First Tee is celebrating its 25th anniversary this month, and over the years, it’s helped produce no shortage of game changers.
One example is Marcus Freeman from First Tee – Greater Charlotte. He says the organization has helped him grow as a golfer and person.
“Being a part of this community has helped me get through hard times. First Tee – Greater Charlotte was a safe place for me in 2020. During this time my grandfather was going through end stage pancreatic cancer and my family, like the world, was navigating COVID-19 and social distancing,” he says.
The support he received from First Tee inspired Freeman to pay it forward.
He completed more than 300 hours of volunteer work for First Tee in 2021. He collected more than 500 books for a First Tee book drive, and he’s a member of the chapter’s participant advisory council. Freeman has also volunteered for his swim team and tutored students in Japanese.
“An aspect of volunteer work that I enjoy is seeing the impact that giving to others can have,” he says.
Freeman is one of 28 First Tee participants from across the country who’ll attend Innovators Forum this November in Dallas. The workshop empowers First Tee teens to develop a meaningful service project in their community focused on education, health or sustainability. Eight participants will be awarded scholarships totaling $32,000 after the event.
A junior at Palisades High School, Freeman is an accomplished violinist, and he won a medal for performing Japanese poems in 2019. Freeman aspires to study sports science in college. “I enjoy learning more about physical fitness and how the body works,” he says. Freeman spends his free time researching training tips and injury recovery.
As he progresses as an athlete and student, Freeman says he’ll continue to use the lessons and qualities he’s learned at First Tee, including confidence.
“When I first joined the program, I was a little shy when meeting new coaches, parents and other players. I spent time observing the instructors and how they interacted with all the different people coming and going. I saw them shake hands, make eye contact, smile and speak confidently,” he says.
“I knew I wanted those skills as well. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone, and I started to apply what I observed to my own social skills. I practiced a strong handshake. I introduced myself to people I didn’t know, and I have met many interesting people, like professional golfer Davis Love III, all because I have improved in sharing my personality.”
Learn more about Innovators Forum.
Lots of kids aspire to become astronauts but few go on to build careers in space exploration. That hasn’t stopped Hannah Rens from chasing her dreams into orbit.
The 24-year-old is a systems engineer for Boeing Space and Launch, working on Boeing’s Starliner, a commercial crew and cargo vehicle that will be transporting NASA astronauts to the international space station.
“My ultimate career goal is to be chief engineer of a permanent human habitat on the moon,” says Rens, a former participant at First Tee – Siouxland and First Tee volunteer. “To achieve that goal, I need to develop advanced business skills, gain industry experience and further my engineering technical education.”
That’s why she’s attending the First Tee Alumni Summit presented by Gallagher this November in Dallas. The event provides an opportunity for selected alumni to advance their career by building new skills while reconnecting with fellow alumni and chapter leaders.
“I’m looking to learn more about working in a rapidly evolving industry, startups and founding your own business, and how to develop an effective personal brand,” she says.
Rens says her nine years in First Tee helped shape her future. “It provided me with a structured path to improving my golf game, peer and trusted mentors, and interpersonal and professional skills that have been essential in achieving my goals,” she says.
While in First Tee, she was selected to attend the Leaders and Entrepreneurs Forum at Disney World. “Getting to meet other students from across the U.S. while listening and working with successful business owners and entrepreneurs was unlike any other experience I had in high school,” she says. “The business principles and goals I learned have stayed with me.”
A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Rens began her career with internships focused on aircraft maintenance and repair. As Starliner prepares to expand its service to additional sites in Earth’s orbit, Rens works on vehicle life span and sustainment. Ultimately, Starliner will become one of the first spacecraft with turnaround times closer to traditional air traffic. Talk about a Game Changer.
Rens now serves as a mentor for high school and college students who want careers in the space industry, and she’s enrolled in an astronautical engineering master’s program at the University of Southern California focusing on human spaceflight.
Rens still golfs, and she’s a certified open water and dry suit SCUBA diver. Learn more about the accomplishments of First Tee alumni.
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!
The Junior Advisory Committee is hosting the next First Teens event at the Ben Hogan Learning Center at Squaw Creek Golf Course with a spooky twist!
Join us on Saturday, October 28 from 6PM-8PM for some glow golf, Top Tracer long drive challenge, Halloween costume contest and delicious eats and treats! This event is free to our teens age 13-18 who have been active in First Tee within the last 12 months. Register at the link below!
First Tee staff will be in attendance at all times as chaperones for the event. Any additional chaperones or volunteers must be an approved volunteer with First Tee – Fort Worth. Please contact Samantha Pogue if you are interested in becoming an approved volunteer.
All participants should be mindful of the First Tee Code of Conduct when selecting a costume. Please refrain from any costumes that could be considered offensive or inappropriate.
Location: Ben Hogan Learning Center at Squaw Creek Golf Course (1605 Ranch House Rd, Willow Park, TX 76087)
Have you ever thought about your achievements in life? What were the dreams and ambitions that you wanted to work towards? How did you get there? At First Tee, these are the type of questions we propose to kids and teens to help them understand the process of attaining goals; but to reach their goal, they must first understand how goals are formulated.
A goal is something that you want to do, be or have, but it’s not something that you can do, be or have right at this moment. It’s something you must work to get in the future, and you can apply that to any challenge in life. For example, if your child wants to achieve Honor Roll and receive all As and Bs in school this year, what would that require them to do? They would need to do well on tests and assignments. How would they accomplish that? Encourage them to take good notes, turn in their work on time, and study for their tests.
For kids, having guidelines or tools can effectively help them identify their goals and make them feel comfortable about reaching them. At First Tee, we utilize four guidelines to do this. Talk to your child about the dreams they currently have and try these out for yourself.
Four Guidelines for Setting a Reachable Goal:
Goal setting is a strategy kids and teens will apply for the rest of their life. When we set our goals, we want to be very clear about them so that we have the best chance to achieve them. The key to remember is that goals come in all shapes and sizes. Just because it doesn’t work for someone else doesn’t mean that you can’t achieve it. Your kids will learn from both their achievements and setbacks, but as they begin to set personal goals, they will learn and grow in ways that you did not think possible.
Want to get involved with what we are building at First Tee? Click here to find out more.
As a youth development organization, our goal is to provide our kids and teens the tools they need to be successful in life. In a full circle moment, our hope is that those same kids and teens will one day bring their children back to the organization that provided them countless opportunities to grow. One family at our Benbrook location has done just that!
First Tee – Fort Worth was founded first as the Lindy Miller Foundation before becoming First Tee – Fort Worth in 2004. From the beginning we have conducted classes with our small staff of coaches and our dedicated volunteers. The Driggers family patriarch, affectionately referred to as Granddaddy Driggers, was one of our pioneering volunteers, and so began what would become a family affair.
“Years ago we quickly realized what a blessing the First Tee program would be for our kids and for many others! The formula was compelling: solid and organized golf instruction, helpful short game drills, golf etiquette taught by a winsome staff; and embedded in the curriculum is an emphasis on character!
And here we are years later, and my children’s children are having fun learning about golf with First Tee! We have 16 grandchildren under 12 (and 2 more on the way) and 8 of the 16 are in First Tee. It’s a wholesome intro to golf and life!
Monte and his staff are just outstanding! It has been a pleasure to see him helping the kids and have a good time doing it!”
Granddaddy Driggers
Leah, Faith, Mark, Adam, and Noah Driggers all participated in the First Tee program as kids and teens in it’s early days. While the program looked a bit different than it does now, at it’s core, our mission has always been the same: providing youth with the life skills needed to be successful in life through the game of golf.
They have all grown up to lead wonderful lives and now have kids of their own! The Driggers, Burke, Carroll and Spina clan actively participate in classes and camps with First Tee – Fort Worth year-round. With their clan consisting of 10 kids involved in the program (and a few more on the way), we’re excited to see the growth of each of these kiddos in this expanding family tree!
Granddaddy Driggers attributes several things to the success of the program including a “guide, not push” teaching method, a learning atmosphere that is fun instead of intense, communication at the kids level, focusing on their successes rather than correcting every miss hit, and encouragement!
First Tee – Fort Worth continues to strive to create more experiences like these and we hope that down the road, we’ll have more stories just like the Driggers!
