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CHRIS LANG ; FRED VUICH , USGA |
looked forward to doing ,” says Woo , who was a P . J . Boatwright intern for the VSGA last summer . “ The First Tee has enabled me to become a better golfer , but a few aspects of the program that stand out to me are the life skills that are embedded in each First Tee activity and the network and relationships I created while going through the program . My entire life has been built on a First Tee foundation .”
The First Tee began in late 1997 with an announcement in New York ’ s Central Park by former President George H . W . Bush , then-PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem and Earl Woods .
Fred Tattersall , a successful businessman in Richmond , saw a newspaper article about the announcement , called the PGA Tour and asked about how to get something established in Richmond . Tattersall
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also asked the Tour to send someone to Richmond to talk about the program .
“[ The Tour ] sent two guys ,” Tattersall , a First Tee icon , recalled in a recent interview . Tattersall got some friends together — Harry Easterly , Bill Goodwin , Robert Wrenn , Bobby and Jimmy Ukrop among them — to hear about the program . “ They had a lot of questions for these two gentlemen , and the [ Tour guys ] didn ’ t have the answers .”
The national First Tee , a non-profit founded by a coalition of all the major organizations in golf , hired an executive director in January 1998 and set a target of 100 facilities across the country . The facilities would provide access and affordability for children and youth . Augusta National chairman Jack Stephens contributed $ 5 million in April that year as the program ’ s first benefactor .
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Richmond , supplying vision and ideas to the national level through Tattersall and others , became a pilot city for the program . Tattersall announced the formation of The Richmond First Tee in January 1998 .
“ The common bonds are the love of kids and the love of golf . We ’ re trying to blend the two to create a great program . We want to make this special and be a model for the rest of the United States . Juniors don ’ t always get the same treatment as adults . We ’ re excited about the possibilities of providing first-rate instruction and access ,” Tattersall said during that announcement .
The Greater Richmond chapter currently operates two golf facilities designed by well-known architect Lester George , a First Tee supporter from the beginning . George has designed five other First Tee facilities .
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