Dear Friends of First Tee – Sandhills:
I just realized if I had a First Tee – Sandhills GHIN Profile for this golf season, I would have logged over 28 afternoons spent with our team – our kiddos, our coaches, our volunteers, our staff – at green spaces throughout the Sandhills where we operate curriculum programs. That’s a record I’m proud of.
During these visits, I wore many hats… some days shadowing a class with a prospective new coach or interested community member, other days completing an assessment for a team member who’s working to improve their delivery and engagement, and many days getting to put my assistant coach and mentor hat on to support program delivery alongside our amazing Nationally Trained Coaches!
While spending time with our kids and teens is not a consistent part of my role, when I do have a chance to leave the office, I am reminded of why we work so hard to accomplish our goal. Namely, to ensure we offer access to programming that will positively support relationship building, inner strength, self-confidence, and resilience.
Whether it’s Guiliana, Jacob, Madeline, Christian, Jameson or Brantley, every visit to a program and observation of our kids and teens in action creates an impactful story to share with others. Many times, it’s a story that simply uses golf as its catalyst, not its outcome.
Each season, our coaches and mentors are encouraged to submit participants for our monthly Spotlight Series. And, they don’t have to look far to notice kids and teens worthy of the recognition.
The keys to submitting a participant for the spotlight:
- Have you noticed them displaying a Key Commitment, Value or Life Skill?
- Have they overcome a hurdle between Week 1 and Week 5 of programming?
- Are they leading by example for their classmates and peers?
Liam, spotlight participant in our programs at Bayonet at Puppy Creek, can be found cheering for his team and their competitors, as they play a friendly game of tic-tac-toe or 21. Liam exudes positivity and wants to see everyone improve, succeed and have fun learning new activities with one another!
Then, there’s Ruby, spotlighted as a participant in our Just Fore Girls program at Pinehurst No. 6. Ruby has learned the power of goal setting while attending programs. She is an attentive listener who is excited to learn new things. When she was encouraged to embrace goal setting, Ruby’s engagement went up an octave, as she was eager to achieve the milestones set with her coaches and mentors. This passion and commitment became infectious with her classmates, too!
Thanks to your generous and steadfast commitment to First Tee – Sandhills, our team is able to continue planning, developing and executing programs across the community, delivered by trained, caring, and committed coaches and mentors.
Today, it is critical we continue to invest in our curriculum programs. New studies show that parents now see investing in their child’s extracurriculars as an investment in their future with 9 out of 10 in agreement that kids and teens develop character and life skills by playing sports under the guidance of caring coaches and mentors.
But a parent’s desire to invest in their child’s future doesn’t always mean they have the ability to do so. Therefore, investing in the Capacity Building of our programs at First Tee – Sandhills means we are able to continue ‘going where the kids are’ in the communities we serve, promoting and delivering scholarships to families through no cost programming, and providing equipment and basic supplies. All this, while retaining our talented coaches, mentors, staff team members and recruiting new talent to join us in our community vision.
With your continued help, we’re making great strides to build confidence, improve social skills, develop resilience when facing challenges, and encourage the desire to do well in school.
As we move into 2026, we are committed to staying the course to deliver our mission right here in the Sandhills. So today I ask you: Will you join us in these efforts by contributing to the 2025 Annual Fund Campaign?
Together, we are Building Game Changers through golf!
With sincere thanks,
Courtney Stiles | Executive Director, since 2015
Request a printed Annual Fund Campaign by contacting: Courtney Stiles, Executive Director [email protected] or 910.255.3035