Poor Minority Kids Served Through the Game of Golf

Visitacion Valley students get exposed to golf


Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, October 8, 2009

Sixth-grader Billy Smith could see the fairways at Gleneagles Golf Course from his school across the road, but he never knew anyone who had played there.


Golf - an expensive sport more commonly connected to country clubs than inner cities - wasn't something a lot of people did in Billy's predominantly low-income neighborhood.

That's changing.

Billy and his classmates are now driving, pitching and putting on the Visitacion Valley Middle School's state-of-the-art driving range, sand trap and putting green as part of their formal public education on the school's playground. Billy now has his sights set on playing 18 holes across the street, maybe in one of the carts he's spied through the fence.

A unique facility

The new First Tee of San Francisco Learning Center, officially unveiled Wednesday by pro golfers and public officials, is the only one like it in the United States - placed in a community more familiar with gunshots than golf shots.

"This is an equity issue," said school Principal Jim Dierke. "This is a glass ceiling that we've crashed here."

The school's enrollment, fewer than 300 students, includes many children from neighboring public housing.

The city's First Tee program provided the design and funding for the center - about $300,000 in all, Dierke said.

"It's amazing," said seventh-grader Tristan Saaga, with a wide smile. "We're very honored to have it at our school."

First Tee, started by the World Golf Foundation 12 years ago, brings the game to children who might not otherwise be exposed to it. About 2,000 public schools in the country participate in the program, with students traveling to driving ranges and golf courses to practice and play. In San Francisco, First Tee has operated out of Harding Park Golf Course since 2005.

Visitacion Valley is the only school with its own facilities - a pilot program that First Tee officials said they hope will inspire 100 more.

"This is a big deal to this community," said Mayor Gavin Newsom. "Most of the time and attention out here is focused on what's wrong, not what's right."

The program focuses not only on learning golf, but also on the life lessons that come with it.

Indeed, golf is cruel, unforgiving and, more often than not, humbling - the perfect tool to teach children about life, said the middle school's First Tee site director, Tony Anderson.

Learn to face the frustration of a mishit ball or an unforgiving green with dignity and patience, and "you can tackle anything in life," Anderson said.

Lessons from two pros

Pro golfers Paul Azinger and Nick Faldo, on the sideline for the Presidents Cup tournament in the city this weekend, set up on the driving range to give the 100 students participating in the program a few lessons in swinging a club.

Faldo comically demonstrated the swings of a few of his friends on the PGA tour, including Tiger Woods, to the whoops and laughter of the students. Then he gave a quick lesson on lining up a swing and executing the follow-through.

Azinger followed up with some serious lessons. Golf is a game of rules - strict rules that apply even when others don't see you swing or the ball roll, he told the students surrounding the netted driving range.

"Golf is a game where you can tell a person's integrity by the way they carry themselves on the golf course," Azinger said. "The definition of integrity is what you do when no one is around."

The new center will be used during gym class, as well as before and after school, at lunch and on Saturdays, Dierke said.

The school also will use the center to help teach math and science, including a little geometry - information that could help sink putts on Visitacion's unforgiving and sloping green, which is made of artificial turf.

Maintenance required will be minimal, the principal said.

"All you need is a rake," Dierke said. "It never grows."