Friday, Jan. 7, 2005 | 3:43 a.m.
WEEKEND EDITION
January 8 - 9, 2005
For information about joining The First Tee of Southern Nevada, call 433-0626. Any child between the ages of 6 and 18, regardless of family income, can participate in the program's clinics, seminars, tournaments and special events.
Hundreds of local children have boosted their grades as well as their self-confidence while learning golf, thanks to a nonprofit organization, The First Tee.
That's one of the conclusions of a new study of the program conducted by researchers from the University of Florida and UNLV.
Created in 1997 to introduce golf to children who otherwise might not have been able to afford to play, The First Tee is a nationwide group with several regional branches, including one in Las Vegas, where Brian Greenspun, the president and editor of the Las Vegas Sun, is a member of the advisory council.
Most of the group's activities are free to area children, but all fees are waived for children of low-income families, Jane Schlosser, executive director of of The First Tee of Southern Nevada, said.
The study is the first of its kind for the group, which paid for the research. But the results did not surprise the organization's supporters. Long before the study quantified the effects of the program, employees and educators witnessed its impact.
"It kind of confirmed what we'd known for years," Hayden Ross, a physical education teacher at Miller Middle School in Henderson, said. Many of her students have participated in the program.
"I've seen students who have been with the program for two or three years who are more confident now and better at school," Ross said.
Seventy-four percent of parents and guardians surveyed for the study said their children had made a positive change in their communication skills as a result of participating in the program. That compares with 24 percent of parents who saw no change in their children.
Also, 52 percent of parents surveyed said their children's grades had improved since they had entered the program.
Several months ago, a co-worker told Ruben Garcia, a father of four, about the positive results of the program, so Garcia encouraged his three youngest children to participate. On Thursday night at an open clinic sponsored by the organization at the Las Vegas Golf Course's range on West Washington Avenue, Garcia and his wife, Wendy Garcia, watched as Jasmine, 12, Cheyanna, 9, and Dylan, 6, practiced their swings. It was cold outside, but his children did not put up a fight when it was time to head to practice, Garcia said.
"They drag me out here; I don't drag them," Garcia, an electrician, said. In front of him at the range, a line of children from the ages of 6 to 16 drove golf balls into the night sky. Their shirts were tucked in and those who wore baseball caps had the brims facing forward. That kind of decorum is required. Breaking a rule is punishable with 10 push-ups.
Nearly 800 local children between the ages of 6 and 17 are active participants in the Southern Nevada branch of The First Tee, attending camps and clinics and competing in tournaments. But the group reaches about 6,000 area children every year because its coaches lead clinics in schools as well, Jim Hart, one of the organization's instructors and directors, said.
Simone Hodnett, 12, has played golf with the group for two years and shows great promise, according to Hart.
"She's going to be a heck of a player," Hart said.
The game has also helped Hodnett with her schoolwork, the sixth grader said. "It has helped me focus much better," she said.
Unlike other competitive sports, such as soccer and basketball, there are no referees in golf. This is one key to the program's success, Hart said. Players have to keep track of their own scores and call their own penalties. While cheaters can sometimes get away with being dishonest, such practices usually catch up with players, Hart said.
"They're only cheating themselves," he said.
Fewer girls than boys participate locally. About 200 girls, compared with nearly 600 boys, comprise the core group. Almost half of the children are minorities, according to local officials.
In the 10 years he has been coaching golf to area children, Hart said, he has seen a huge increase in interest in the sport.
That's good news for the organization and for the golf business in general. According to the National Golf Foundation, the number of golf games played in the United States has gone down every year since 2000. In 2003, the last year for which data is available, nearly 495 million rounds of golf were played in the country, compared with 518 million rounds in 2000, the foundation said.
Meanwhile, the number of junior participants has gone up from 4.4 million in 2001 to 5.5 million in 2003, the foundation reports.
Out on the greens, Mark Fritz, another instructor, said he and the other coaches always try to integrate life lessons with the golf lessons. When reminding a young golfer to introduce himself to an opponent, he might also ask the child on what other occasions he should introduce himself to a stranger.
It's these kind of pointers that help children get along better with family members, classmates and teachers off the greens, instructors said. They're the lessons organizers hope children learn long before they enter the working world.
"If we spend our money to get these kids to have better life skills now, this will be better for everyone," Hart said.
The study is documentation that the money has been wisely invested, said Joe Louis Barrow Jr., the executive director of the national organization, from its headquarters in Florida.
"When you're able to document the level of impact you're having, you're able to confirm with parents that the program is working," Barrow said.
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