First Tee Southeast Wisconsin is teaming up with Neighborhood House of Milwaukee to give kids — some picking up a golf club for the first time — lessons that go beyond the fairways.
The program uses golf to help young people build confidence and character, teaching values like honesty, integrity, respect, and responsibility that kids can carry with them at home, at school, and throughout their lives.
David Cohn, chief executive officer of First Tee Southeast Wisconsin, said the organization works with elementary and middle school students to bring golf into physical education curricula and partners with community organizations like Neighborhood House.
"First Tee is a youth development organization that uses the game of golf to help kids become better people," Cohn said. "We do it through programs at golf courses. We work with elementary and middle schools to get golf in their physical education curriculums. We also work with community partners such as Neighborhood House, who we have at Noyes Park Golf today."
Watch: First Tee and Neighborhood House of Milwaukee team up to build confidence in kids through golf
Cohn said the goal extends well beyond the sport itself.
"The goal is using the things kids can learn from being around the game of golf — honesty, integrity, respect, responsibility — and take that, apply that at home and school and for the rest of their lives," Cohn said.
For many of the kids at the event, the experience exceeded expectations. Brendan Badermeling, 8, said he was surprised by how much he enjoyed it.
"No, actually I had way more fun than I thought I was gonna have," Badermeling said. "I thought it was gonna be like just golfing, but this is like fun activities with golf and golfing, and I get to golf with my friends too, and that's even better."
LJ Lyndon, 9, said the day gave him a boost of confidence after standing out among his peers.
"Over there I scored — everyone told me I was their MVP because I was going to the most amount of points over there," Lyndon said. "And for confidence, like, I felt proud because I was the MVP."
Andrea Sain, 9, said the experience pushed her to believe in herself.
"It was a great experience. It was kinda hard for me, cause I was trying to hit it, and I thought I wasn't gonna make it, but I had the confidence in me to like hit the ball and be confident in myself," Sain said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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