For the past 11 years, First Tee – The Lowcountry has been a force for positive change all across Beaufort and Jasper counties. From their beautiful Hilton Head Island facility on Gumtree Road, they have reached far and wide to teach area youth the game of golf and the importance of upright moral character. Visiting area schools and holding clinics at courses across the Lowcountry, they have been changing lives as they have set students up for lifelong success on and off the course.
Yes, they might be located on Hilton Head, but from that tee box, they have launched programs north of the Broad River and south, east of the county line and west. Anywhere a child in the Lowcountry needs a guiding hand and some tips on their backswing, First Tee has been there. Yes, it makes for a little bit more of a drive. But there’s a move in the works to help shrink that distance.
A new space in Bluffton’s Plantation Park will serve not only as an administration building for the organization, but also it will provide a foothold in an area that is experiencing massive growth.
“The idea is to get closer to where kids are and to where growth is expanding to,” said Pat Zuk, executive director. “The kid population is surging out there, so (this location) puts us closer to them, while not changing anything about how we do things on Hilton Head Island.”
The kid population isn’t the only thing that has grown. As First Tee – The Lowcountry has gone from success to success, their own population has grown to the point where they simply didn’t have the space for everyone on Hilton Head.
“It was time for some office space,” Zuk said. “We had one person whose office was just an 8-foot folding table in the middle of the lobby. We had officially reached our capacity.”
While the primary purpose of this new First Tee office is administrative, its presence allows the organization to serve students even better, reaching those far afield from Hilton Head, in Jasper County and north of the Broad River.
“This is going to make it much easier for our instructors to access all the places off-island where we’re already doing classes, plus enable them to spend a little more time finding additional venues for classes and schools to add to our school program,” Zuk said. “It becomes a much more convenient way for us to do business.”
When you’re in the business of changing young people’s lives, every little bit helps, whether that’s a generous donation from the community or a few minutes shaved off a commute. It all serves the greater goal of teaching young people the game of golf, while shaping them into future leaders in our community and around the world.
