I don't get this, 100 million dollars to fund this program. where does all the money go? What exactly is it used for? What is the pay for a first tee employee in the field? I thought this was a program that relied more on volunteers. What do the kids get out of it, beside the ridiculous notion of core values? Does the 1st tee grow the game of golf? Does the 1st tee give any scholarship money to participants who attend college? At this level of funding do the participants get anything for free besides a lousy tee shirt? Where will this 100 million dollars be invested? Is this a tax shelter for the PGA Tour? How many PGA TOUR players attend 1st tee events each year? Does the 1st tee fund private jets to Pebble Beach every year?

I don't know enough about this programme to be critical, though the little I have read has made it sound woolly and unfocussed, but these sorts of numbers make me wonder if there are not better places for this money.

And much greater needs. Important as it may be to grow golf by interesting a new generation, it seems to me more important to make sure a next generation is fed.

Core values. Presumably this includes how to play the game as slowly as possible?

Scotland's equivalent is Clubgolf. Plenty of stats on number of children being introduced to the game but zero stats on how many actually stay in golf. The 'stay in' factor of girls in particular, as far as I can see, is every bit as dire as it was when I took up the game and that was more than 55 years ago! There has always been a healthy take-up of boys but I'm sure that won't stop Clubgolf from taking all the credit. They are, however, noticeably reticent when it comes to the subject of girls' golf!

Area organisers are certainly not voluntary! Circumstantial but I have heard in the region of £35 - £40,000 pa. Just another politically induced quango set up in the wake of Ryder Cup announcement of it coming to Scotland in 2014.

C'mon John Huggan, time to rattle some cages on this subject and find out just exactly what value this organisation has in the development of the game in Scotland.

A3: Joe Louis Barrow makes close to $1 million per year running the First Tee. If you count his expenses flying fist class all over the country it probably exceeds that amount. A number of the individuals who run each chapter make over $75k up to $100k per year.

Factor in the food, clothing, equipment and other items given to these children and you can see how the money adds up.

There is no question this type of program is needed, but one that is ripe with excess and overhead like this has to be questioned?

Maybe it's going towards staff raises?

As of 2009...

Joe Louis Barrow Jr. CEO, First Tee $511,900

There is always room to question how a non-profit spends its money and that scrutiny is a good thing. But Geoff, I think your cynicism is veering into unhealthy levels on this one. Why is it a bad thing to use the values of golf to help make kids better public citizens? Isn't that one of the things we love about the game? How is trying to grow the game through an initiative that is built around some of the intangibles that make golf powerful a bad thing?

It may not be your favorite golf growth program, but we "fear" this? Really?

Typical tone deafness from Ponte Vedra. Those "core values" have to come from somewhere other than the First Tee: family, teachers, community, peers. The only things these kids need from the First Tee are a set of clubs (3, 5, 7, 9, 3W, driver, putter) and a place to play at a cost their parents can afford. A place to play is NOT a glorified driving range, either. If they stick with it they will eventually learn to count to 7, probably at about the same time they don't need to count that high very often. The other "golf values" will then follow. And a few of them will stay with the game throughout their lives. Win, win, win.

JSS, PHK, where is the First Tee based? Is it a stand alone non-profit?

Where does the First Tee stand on the issue of encouraging walking golf, and caddy programs across the country? It they are willing to devote a full one-third of all First Tee resources in that direction, they might get my support.

Otherwise, add "the Evans Scholars Program" to organizations that are far, far more desrving.

The First Tee is located at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine, FL.

It may be a stand alone 501c3 but it's founding partners are the PGA, USGA, LPGA, the PGA tour and Augusta National. Shell, Walmart, FedEx and various other corporations are corporate sponsors.

I don't doubt the program is doing some good with some children but golf is a $70 billion a year industry which employes thousands of people yet the golf courses are crumbling. Look at Pecan Valley, a classic which closed yesterday or Sharp Park a public Mackenzie which is in danger of closing.

According to the National Golf Foundation, less kids play golf in the U.S. today (2.5 million) than in 1995 (2.8 million) before The First Tee was created. And yet, The First Tee claims to have had 4.7 million participants in that time. I'd be interested in hearing how Joe Louis Barrow reconciles these numbers and why Tim Finchem thinks it's wise to invest so much in them (and so little to other jr programs) given the data.

PHK: You a little off on Joe Barrow compensation. From their 2009 filing:

Base: $300,713
Bonus: $298,854
Other $ 13,260
Retirement &
Deferred: $350,186
Non taxable
benefits: $32,439
TOTAL: $993,452

Wasn't 2009 during the recession?

Great posts from a number of folks.

A mashup of KLG, Chuck and SDT's perspectives seems about right to me.

I am the ED of a newly formed chapter of The First Tee. We are just started in 2011, but I want to encourage all of you to consider giving to the LOCAL First Tee chapters. While there seems to be some excess at the Headquarters level, I can assure you that it doesn't happen at the local level. Every single dollar we used locally, and every dollar we RAISED locally.

My salary for 2011 was 25K, and I am currently a one man band. Our total costs were under 50K for our first year. We had 78 participants in our first year in on course programming (not just driving range). 80% of these students couldn't afford lunch at school, 73% were minorities, and 46% were girls. And our students ALWAYS walk, unless it is a special event (like the one we set up with two local universities' golf teams - matching each student with a collegiate golfer). We reached an additional 200 through various one-time opportunities.

Please don't throw us all under the bus. I've got two students who already want to try out for their high school golf team next year. We are making an impact through the game, and maybe not every kid sticks with golf, but they've learned a ton through the experience. That makes them better neighbors and citizens in the long run.

I am the ED of a newly formed chapter of The First Tee. We are just started in 2011, but I want to encourage all of you to consider giving to the LOCAL First Tee chapters. While there seems to be some excess at the Headquarters level, I can assure you that it doesn't happen at the local level. Every single dollar we used locally, and every dollar we RAISED locally.

My salary for 2011 was 25K, and I am currently a one man band. Our total costs were under 50K for our first year. We had 78 participants in our first year in on course programming (not just driving range). 80% of these students couldn't afford lunch at school, 73% were minorities, and 46% were girls. And our students ALWAYS walk, unless it is a special event (like the one we set up with two local universities' golf teams - matching each student with a collegiate golfer). We reached an additional 200 through various one-time opportunities.

Please don't throw us all under the bus. I've got two students who already want to try out for their high school golf team next year. We are making an impact through the game, and maybe not every kid sticks with golf, but they've learned a ton through the experience. That makes them better neighbors and citizens in the long run.

Tyler; I welcome your comments.

Naturally, I am not concerned about your First Tee kids walking as they play golf. I don't doubt that they all do. What I am concerned about, is whether your First Tee kids have a chance to break into a little bit of money-making of their own in golf, as caddies? And that particular equation requires other golfers (not your kids, but the kinds of golfers Tim Finchem routinely speaks to) to walk, and to pay the caddies. There is always a critical mass; you need to have golfers who will walk and hire caddies, and you need caddies to be available when those golfers want to play. They have to feed each other.

Geoff makes the point very well in some of The Future of Golf essays; whole generations of golfers joined the game not because they were club-brats, or enrollees in their national sports federation competitive golf teams, but because their first job was as a caddy at a club near their home. They learned the game of golf from good golfers, and developed a taste for proper golf. Their friends caddied too, and they became as competitive as the club members they worked for. And some of those caddies got means-tested scholarships to college.

Tyler:

Some very nice thoughts, good luck with your chapter.

Geoff - what does the PGA's failure on one front (e.g. not supporting the restoration of public courses) have to do with its attempt, on another front, to introduce youngsters to a wonderful game and teach them life lessons in the process? Sure, in an ideal world we'd all be entirely consistent in our values and actions. But by your standards, we should be mocking someone who drives a car yet puts solar panels on his house; and we should be holding in contempt a wealthy commodities trader who donates 10% of his income to charities that help starving children in Africa. If you wanted to suggest that the CEO is being paid too much money, you should have said that. Instead, you created a false dichotomy between "restoring old municipal courses" and "engendering core values" in young people. Sorry, but if I had to choose between the two I'd choose the latter -- and so would I think most folks, even on a site enamoured with the thought of restoring golf courses.

Tyler...

Great stuff!! Keep at it. You are making a difference in people's lives. Don't let any naysayers get you down.

It is great stuff, Tyler! Thank you. You are doing great things and you have no naysayers here, or anywhere else where golfers congregate. It's just that there could be 20 of you out there for the cost of one Joe Louis Barrow, Jr. Or 2000 of you for that $100 million Tim Finchem talks about. To be "conservative," how about 1000 of you at a decent salary, including benefits, with the remainder used for equipment and access? It would be a long term project, but imagine the reach and import of that! BTW, what did Mr. Barrow do to earn that bonus or roughly 100% of his salary? And 100+% in deferred compensation and retirement contributions?

Tyler.
It's a great suggestion to give locally as opposed to the Joe Barrow fund.

What's ironic is Walmart is a major supporter yet pays its employes about $1 per hour. I wonder if they know how much Barrow makes?

So Tyler makes little money and raises money locally and gets no national first tee money? What??? So what is the point of this 100 million fund raising effort? What a joke. This is totally corrupt.

Tyler...kudos to you and ditto above...there is a huge disconnect between what you do and the beauracrats at the top...and as per Chuck, take a look at the methods and results of the Evans Scholars organization. The work you do is to be commended.

First of all, I want to thank you all for the support.

I do want to clarify some things on the $100 million campaign. While I don't completely agree with how it is distributed, this is how it works.

As a chapter, you have a "scoresheet." If you do well enough, you are eligible for matching funds through the Home Office. Unfortunately as a part of a new chapter, we are not eligible for these funds (our scoresheet isn't good enough). However, many chapters that are excelling are being rewarded with funding from the Home office.

Also, that $100 million helps pay for other things - training for coaches, events for our best students (Pebble Beach Open, Future leaders forum, etc.) and scholarships for some shining students throughout the country, etc. While I don't completely agree with how they allocate their funds, there are certainly some good causes out there.

Locally, I'm meeting with a country club's Evans scholar representative. I hope to make a partnership locally with this great program. If nothing else, I can steer some of my students into the caddy program at the local CC's that have Evan's Scholars program. I know that full-scholarship is a game changer, and unfortunately we don't have those kinds of pockets here yet.

Let me know if you have any other questions!