First Tee 2011 at Wiu Harry Mussatto Golf Course

[Western Illinois First Tee 2011] Just hanging out with your friends and you get to play golf holes with your friends and everything. Lia Lukkarinen, First Tee Program Director and Women's Golf Coach: First Tee is part of the World of Golf Foundation and it started in 1997, and our chapter started in 1999 so we were one of the first chapters to start the program. It's a junior golf program, basically trying to incorporate some nine core character building values that are kind of inherent in the game of golf So we try to work on life skills as well as golf skills. You learn how to grip clubs differently so you can hit better shots. Like on the driving range you can grip your club lighter and you take it back all the way through, keep your feet on the ground and you hit it, and it goes really far. They teach you strategies in golf and stuff, like on what club to use for how far the hole is away and stuff. If they can learn some of the nine core values of the First Tee which are: honesty, integrity, courtesy, confidence, respect, perseverance, judgement, sportsmanship - if they can learn some of those things along the way I think they'll be good golfers, good citizens - that's what we're really trying to do. Usually in May we get the word out. The middle of May is the goal. With school ending and everything we try to send home all the information in May, and the program usually starts the second week of June, obviously depending on when school gets out and snow days and things like that. For information about First Tee at Western Illinois University, contact the Harry Mussatto Golf Course at (309) 298-3767 or at golf@wiu.edu