On Thursday, February 13th, First Tee — Upstate South Carolina hosted The 2025 Spartanburg County Schools Team Challenge at TopGolf. In this challenge, elementary schools in Spartanburg County select four 4th grade students to team up and represent their school. The four students and their PE Teacher completed in the TopGolf Game; TopScramble and answered life skill questions.
Mayo Elementary Won! Congratulations to Mayo! It was an exciting day filled with lots of great golf swings, teamwork, sportsmanship and smiles!
Final Results! Champions: Mayo Elementary School 2nd Place: Chesnee 3rd Place: Campobello Gramling 4th Place: Boiling Springs 5th Place: Jess Boyd
Pictures, Pictures, and more Pictures! Feel free to see all the Team Challenge pictures on our Flickr account!
The 2023 Pebble Beach Golf Trip Raffle TICKET SALES ARE NOW CLOSED
The drawing will take place on Wednesday, March 1st and will be broadcasted live our our Facebook Page.
Grand Prize includes the following:
Three Rounds of Golf for Four Golfers (Pebble, Spyglass & TPC Harding Park)
Three nights including hotel accommodations at The Lodge at Pebble Beach
Up to $2,000 in Air Transportation
Travel dates subject to availability and the trip must be taken before March 1, 2024 or the trip is subject to increase costs to the winner. PRIZE MAY BE REDEEMED FOR $5,000 CASH IN LIEU OF THE TRIP
2nd Place Prize:
A foursome at The Carolina Country Club & Cross Creek Country Club
3rd Place Prize:
A Swing Evaluation + 5 Lessons at GolfTEC – Greenville (only redeemable at GolfTEC – Greenville)
Learning Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics through Golf
Top Picture: Group Picture at By-Pass Golf Shop in Spartanburg after learning about launch monitors and how they help golfers get fit for the correct clubs and shafts. Left Picture: An action shot from a range session with former PGA Tour Player and Owner of Legacy Pines Golf Club, Tommy Biershenk. Right Picture: A group picture after a fun behind the scenes look at how TopGolf technology works!
We would like to thank both Carolinas Golf Association and The South Carolina Junior Golf Association for providing our chapter the grant money to continue this important FREE week-long camp each summer to our kids and teens. This program has helped our chapter continue to attract and retain teen participants. We are very excited to expand our STEMLinks Programming in 2023, so that more kids and teens can learn about Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in a fun way.
Congratulations To Our 8th Annual Core Values Cup Champions
From left to right: Matt Sharkey, Recognized First Tee Coach; Tyre Sullivan, Ace Level Participant; Bern Dupree, First Tee Supporter; Will Lucas, First Tee Supporter
Congratulations to the winners of The 8th Annual Core Values Cup! The UseToCoulds (team name) raised A RECORD $9,430 and won by three points! This made it back-to-back wins for The UseToCoulds and they are excited to defend their title again in 2023!
The Core Values Cup is an annual event that pairs three donors with one First Tee participant. All four raise funds to support First Tee programming. The more money the team raises the more points they receive. They also receive points through a Stableford points system base on their play at the event. The team with the most points wins The Core Values Cup!
Do you have what it takes to beat The UseToCoulds in 2023?! Contact Michael Pius at [email protected] to learn how you can get involved in this fun event.
In the face of rising social pressures, isolation and growing anxiety, our kids deserve to be equipped with the inner strength that life demands of them today. We believe every kid deserves the chance to build inner strength before the world demands it, to find the joy that comes with feeling confident in their own skin, and to access experiences and spaces where personal growth happens. We provide the safe space to make this happen!
We Build Game Changers!
If you would like to send a check, please make it out to:
First Tee — Upstate South Carolina Tax ID: 56-2199252 3515 Pelham Road Suite 201 Greenville, SC 29615
We would like to thank all of our sponsors, attendees and players! At First Tee — Upstate South Carolina we are always trying to find ways to create fun and engaging activities for our kids and teens to learn and then demonstrate the Life and Golf Skills that we teach! We also strive to create fun and engaging events and fundraisers for our donors and supporters! Thank you for continuing to participate in our unique events!
Save The Dates
If you would like to volunteer for an event committee, please contact Michael Pius, PGA Executive Director at: (864)268-3309 [email protected]
Continue To Support Our Annual Appeal
As of December 22 at 8AM, we are just $3,301 away from achieving our Annual Appeal Goal! Help us reach our goal by the end of the day! We only need 34 people to donate just $100 each!
In the face of rising social pressures, isolation and growing anxiety, our kids deserve to be equipped with the inner strength that life demands of them today. We believe every kid deserves the chance to build inner strength before the world demands it, to find the joy that comes with feeling confident in their own skin, and to access experiences and spaces where personal growth happens. We provide the safe space to make this happen!
We Are #BuildingGameChangers!
If you would like to send a check, please make it out to:
First Tee — Upstate South Carolina Tax ID: 56-2199252 3515 Pelham Road Suite 201 Greenville, SC 29615
Program Director, Derek Kinzer and Summer Program Intern, Parker Fain coached free First Tee Programming to kids and teens through Greenville Parks & Recreation this Summer! Most of these participants would not have learned our Core Values and Golf Skills if it were not for your support!
Financial Aid Requests Grew By 71% In 2022!
$15,435 In Financial Aid in 2022 Compared to $9,000 in 2021
Without your generosity, our programming would not be possible! Our goal is to make our life and golf skills program accessible to any child ages 5-18!
Will you help us raise the difference, $6,435 by this Friday at midnight?!?
In the face of rising social pressures, isolation and growing anxiety, our kids deserve to be equipped with the inner strength that life demands of them today. We believe every kid deserves the chance to build inner strength before the world demands it, to find the joy that comes with feeling confident in their own skin, and to access experiences and spaces where personal growth happens. We provide the safe space to make this happen!
Coach Brenda’s Girls Only Class at Willow Creek is always full of smiles!
Our Girls Golf Participation Grew To Nearly 40% in 2022!
Over the past five years we have experienced amazing growth, but more importantly we have introduced golf and its inherent values to many more girls! We have set lofty goals for 2023 including:
Hosting Monthly LPGA/USGA Girls Golf Events and multiple clinics with area College and University Women’s Golf Teams
Partnering with other girls empowerment organizations such as the Girl Scouts
Growing girls participation to over 40%
We would like to thank our hard working programming staff, coaches and volunteers that are the mentors who our girls look up to! We would like to thank our 2022 Female Lead Coaches; Brook Hutto, Star Kinzer, Laura Maurer, Grace McMillan, Audrey Mickey and Brenda Rutledge.
If you are interested in volunteering for our Girls Golf Program, please click here to learn about our volunteer onboarding process.
You Can Support Our Continued Growth
Your generous support will help us achieve our ambitious programming goals including our Girls Golf Programing in 2023 and beyond.
Click on the videos below to hear from our very own First Tee Ace Participant, Mercy Santerini helping to promote our programming and our First Annual Passion ‘FORE’ Fashion Show at The Carolina Country Club.
Watch this short recap of Our First Annual Passion ‘FORE’ Fashion Show! Thank you WSPA for all your support spotlighting our programming in 2022!
The First Annual Passion ‘FORE’ Fashion Show Was A Huge Success
L to R: Sheryl W. (Michelin), Jackie B. (formerly with WSPA), First Tee Girls Golfers, Lt. Governor Pamela Evette (in green pullover), Randi Revis (former Development Coordinator) and Michael Pius (Executive Director). Click on the picture to view all the great pictures from the event.
Save The Date The 2nd Annual Passion ‘FORE’ Fashion Show Saturday, April 1st Greenville Country Club More Details To Come In Early January
Thank You To The Cliffs – Valley Ladies Golf Association
On Thursday, September 8th, The Cliffs – Valley Ladies Golf Association hosted their annual charity golf outing and raised over $11,000 for our Girls Golf Program!
Ace Level Participant, Ciara Grant played with Martha and Tom Richard
Over the next few weeks we will spotlighting a number of different components of our organization including our Girls Golf Program, our Els for Autism #GameON Program, our events, STEMLinks Summer Camp and today our general programming.
We hope that you consider supporting our organization and the kids and teens that we serve. Your support at the end of the year, will allow us to start 2023 off on the right foot.
Check out some of our programming highlights below:
Our Girl’s Golf Program is still at one of the highest levels across the country; 39% of our participants are female!
We again have a record number of ACE Participants! ACE is the highest level of achievement in First Tee programming involving service projects, educational and national opportunities.
Our impact in the non-caucasian community reach a record level! Our chapter is impacting kids in communities that we have never impacted before. 39% of our participants are non-caucasian, which is up from 27% in 2021 and 11% in 2020!
Annual Appeal Goal for 2022 = $18,500
Ways to Support:
#1 Support our kids and teens by donating on our website by clicking on the button below.
#2 Join our fundraising team – Create a fundraising page and then share it with colleagues, friends and family! This is a great way to bring new donors to our mission and raise the necessary funds to continue to grow and impact more lives.
Click here to view a donor packet which will help you in your fundraising efforts.
#3 For the next week we are hosting an End of Year Online Auction. We have a number of items that have not gone during earlier fundraising event. Please click on button below to view the items and either Bid Now or Buy It Now to support our growth!
