First Tee teaches lessons on life from the golf course

MARYSVILLE — Jeff Cornish is teaching lessons in character development.

He just chooses a golf course as his classroom.

Cornish is the director of The First Tee of North Puget Sound, a nonprofit organization teaching life skills th

rough golf.

“It’s about interpersonal relationships and respect,” Cornish said. “Golf is a great context for teaching the lessons we are trying to impart.”

He leads classes with about two dozen volunteer coaches and a few paid instructors. The local chapter of the national organization started in 2005, serving about 300 students a year.

Grants, golf fundraisers and community support allow The First Tee to keep tuition at about 30 percent of the cost for a regular golf class, Cornish said. Help with fees is available for qualifying families.

Jeff Allen of Marysville has had only good things to say about The First Tee since his son Jack, 10, and daughter Abbie, 12, enrolled in one of Cornish’s classes.

“I like that it gets me outside more,” Jack said. “I also like that I’m learning and getting better.”

Allen and his wife were glad to find something new to interest the kids, who grew tired of the requisite baseball, soccer, wrestling and gymnastics.

“It was nice to find a sport again that I wanted to play,” Abbie said.

Allen works in construction and his wife, Christie, is a teacher. They like to get the kids outside for camping, fishing and bike rides.

He plays golf a few times a year and looks forward to taking his children along someday.

“I hope it teaches them that things don’t come easy,” he said. “Golf is not an easy game. If you work hard, you can succeed at whatever you want to do.”

Jay Halle of Edmonds has been a volunteer coach for The First Tee for about four years. He decided to get involved after seeing his son, Davis, go through the program. Halle likes the concept of building life skills through the game of golf.

“Any time you have the opportunity to pass on knowledge and skills to the younger generation — I always like doing that,” he said.

Davis is now 19 and playing golf at Northwest Nazarene University.

Katya Yefimova: 425-339-3452, kyefimova@heraldnet.com.

First Tee

To learn more about The First Tee of North Puget Sound, go to www.firstteenorthpugetsound.com or contact Jeff Cornish: 425-422-9527 or local_knowledge@msn.com.