Our Mission is to impact the lives of young people by providing educational programs that build character,
instill life-enhancing values and promote healthy choices through the game of golf.
What We Do
With 170 chapters nationwide, The First Tee is the
largest youth development organization in golf.
We offer innovative, proven youth development
programming that uses golf as a platform for teaching
important life skills, core values and healthy habits
lessons that kids can use in all aspects of their lives to
help shape their futures and flourish.
The First Tee-GCNKY welcomes all children,
7 to 18, from Clermont, Hamilton, Boone,
Campbell and Kenton counties.
Nine Core Values
Honesty, Integrity, Sportsmanship,
Respect, Confidence, Responsibility,
Perseverance, Courtesy, Judgment
Life Skills
Interpersonal Communications,
Self-Management, Goal-Setting, Resiliency
\Nine Healthy Habits
Physical: Energy‒Play‒Safety
Emotional: Vision‒Mind‒Family
Social: Friends‒School‒Community
Our Impact in 2015
Life Skills Experience
Our core programming, LSE, is delivered in multi-week
spring, summer and fall class sessions at various golf
course teaching locations.
A total of 543 children participated in our 2015 LSE
program: 29% female; 71% male; 22% teens; 16% nonCaucasian; 40% retention; 37% progression.
Outreach Programs
2015 Highlights
Advanced Opportunities
Coaching Team
Four TFT-GCNKY students (Maddie Aragon, Victor Lim,
Eric Emanuel, and Kelsey Wessels) were selected from
a competitive pool of applicants from TFT chapters
around the country for prestigious scholarship,
leadership and golf experience awards.
Todd Kyper (left) joined us as Program Director, and
we welcomed two new Head Coaches, Shannon Kelley
and Don Leifling.
Partnering with other youth-serving organizations and
schools, we brought The First Tee programming to
their locations, reaching more than 600 additional
children, many who might otherwise be unable to
benefit from our character-building programming.
Kelsey (at right), who joined TFT in 2006,
was also named to the 2015 Outstanding Participant Leadership Summit, the organization’s most prestigious advanced opportunity.
New Teaching Location
We added Neumann Golf Course on the west side to
our existing locations: Reeves GC, Meadow Links & Golf
Academy, and The Golf Courses of Kenton County.
We began offering introductory
girls-only The First Tee classes to
welcome more girls to our program.
Survey Results
In
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
a survey of parents conducted in December 2015…
81% say their child’s 2015 experience was strongly positive.
86% say their child definitely or probably will participate again in 2016.
Benefits of participation: My child…was interested & engaged (77%); was motivated (70%), was challenged
(60%), was more confident (44%), was more responsible (33%), improved grades (33%).
What positive impact has participation in The First Tee had on your child? Here’s sampling of their answers:
 [TFT] is the perfect fit for learning life skills and golf in a non-competitive, social, and accepting environment.
 I have seen my daughter use some of the core values she learned [at TFT] in real world experiences.
 My kids have benefitted by learning from excellent models. The coaches are wonderful examples for them.
 It presented a challenge to him and allowed him to get out of his comfort zone.
 Core values, meeting and engaging with kids from all over area and advanced opportunities have really helped
to instill a moral compass.
Personnel Our programming is led by an exceptional team of coaches and golf instructors, and supported by a
dedicated and enthusiastic corps of more than 70 volunteers, all overseen by our Executive Director, Board of
Trustees and Advisory Council.
Staff:
Executive Director: Gale Wallmark
Program Director: Todd Kyper
Chapter Administrator: Amy Miller
2016 Board of Trustees:
Matt Davis, Kit Duval, Barbara Farmer, Steve Fischer,
Christina Heithaus, Patrick Lynch, Kevin McMurray,
Taylor Metcalfe, James Muething, Ben Russert, and
Tom Torre (President).
Advisory Council:
Andrew Berman, Tom Binzer, Ken Campbell, Lesli Hopping, Todd Johnson, William Keating, Charlie Mechem,
Steve Pacella, Doug Stultz, Chris Virgulak (Chair), and Tony Yates.
Financials In 2015, we continued efforts to strengthen our financial position to ensure the quality and growth
of our programming operations. We are careful stewards of the support we receive, keeping a sharp eye on our
expenses and seeking operating efficiencies wherever possible. Our budget is increasing in 2016 as we add two
teaching locations, train additional coaches, and expand our outreach initiatives to serve more children.
2016 Budget
$347K
2015 Actual
$233K
Fundraising
16%
Programming
67%
Management
18%
Fundraising
17%
Programming
68%
Management
15%
The First Tee of Greater Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit; TIN #810669666. Address: 4747 Playfield Lane, Cincinnati, OH 45226; 513-321-1433; info@thefirstteegcnky.com.
To learn more visit us on the web at www.TheFirstTeeGCNKY.org.