Partnership

We at The First Tee here in Kansas City are lucky to be able to partner up with the Midwest Section PGA to help administer their SNAG-in-School golf program. The Midwest PGA has poured in an incredible amount of resources into bringing golf to all Kansas City children, reaching over 225,000 elementary and middle school kids since February 2012.

There are quite a few similarities between the PGA SNAG-a-School program and The First Tee National School Program. The most obvious similarity is that both programs use the same Starting New At Golf (SNAG) equipment. This means that, regardless of whether we are working in a PGA SNAG-a-School location or a National School Program location, we can utilize a lot of the same lesson plans/teach the same things. This uniformity makes everyone’s lives a lot easier. Another noteworthy similarity between the programs is that both empower the physical education teachers to be able to teach golf on their own, regardless of their own experience with golf. The other biggest similarity between programs is the end goal: to get more kids to interact with golf in a meaningful way. The First Tee has 9 program locations scattered all across the metro area where we can funnel kids who enjoy playing golf in school. This gives them the opportunity to experience golf on a real course that is convenient for them to get to!

A program of this scale needs to be managed because of the natural turnover that occurs from year-to-year in school districts. The Midwest Section PGA realized the importance of following up with teachers in tracking the effectiveness of this program. It is our honor to take part in this incredible effort from the Midwest Section PGA, bring in our own expertise, and enrich the entire process for the teachers and students.

Functions:

The First Tee provides several functions in this partnership with the SNAG-in-School Program:

1. Making sure equipment is in good shape/replacing broken equipment
2. Assessing teacher training needs of districts we are already in and scheduling those trainings
3. Coming out to assist in implementation/delivery of lessons
4. Providing lesson plans/game ideas to make teaching golf units easier

Photos:

Summit Christian Academy

This was a create your own mini golf hole day. Some of the coolest, most original hole layouts we’ve ever seen. Future golf course architects?!

Progress:

We started this partnership in 2017 and since then have introduced SNAG-a-School and donated equipment to Blue Springs School District and Summit Christian Academy. Since the teacher training, we have made it out to Brittany Hill Middle School as well as Summit Christian Academy. At Summit Christian Academy, we worked with kids at the Elementary, Middle, and Secondary schools on multiple days. We are excited to be getting out into the Olathe School District as well. The Olathe School District is a huge proponent for SNAG-a-School since it was introduced back in 2015.