The First Tee’s long, winding path finally finds Lowcountry home

On an office wall at the new home of The First Tee of the Lowcountry, visitors can see a pair of framed architectural renderings for the facility, each bearing the name of Hilton Head Island designer Clyde Johnston.

Upon closer inspection, the date might seem a little unusual: 2003. And as it turns out, that’s not the only riddle.

“Those were actually done by somebody else,” Johnston disclosed, chuckling softly. “And I don’t know who.”

One of Johnston’s design associates in the day, certainly. Nonetheless, it illustrates the history of a project that stalled many times over the decades, to the point that recollections have become murky.

Johnston has drawings in his files going back to the mid-1990s, assessing four different sites on the island. Karen Ferree says the concept goes back even farther, recalling a Tom Fazio blueprint from perhaps 1986 — yes, 30 years ago.

Little of that matters now. The swath of grass behind the Boys & Girls Club of Hilton Head Island is real, and so are the golf balls that sail across.

In the mornings, the facility is a teaching tee for the chapter’s inaugural summer camps. It becomes a public driving range in the afternoons — the island’s longest at 320 yards — or the range can be closed to convert to a six-hole, par-3 short course. There’s even a disc golf course built in.

“To have all that space is so awesome,” said Boys & Girls Club director Kim Likins, who helped give the effort new life after discovering some old plans in a closet. “We’re kind of this hidden little secret back here.”

Indeed, the club’s Gumtree Road entrance or even the parking lot gives little hint of the 13-acre expanse that lies just around a bend from The First Tee’s office and meeting space.

“The kids get excited and the parents say this is really great,” said Johnston, who also volunteers as a First Tee instructor. “Most everyone that goes out for the first time, they get out there where it opens up and they go, ‘Wow, I didn’t know it would be this big!’ ”

The First Tee, now in its 20th year, is the golf industry’s initiative to introduce youngsters not only to the game itself but to its character. Its curriculum features nine “core values” that include integrity, respect and sportsmanship, along with nine “healthy habits” to promote physical, emotional and social well-being.

Some 170 local chapters exist nationwide, plus locales in Canada, Japan and New Zealand. Officials estimate more than 10 million kids have been introduced to the game.

The Lowcountry chapter, granted its charter little more than a year ago, now boasts 167 kids in its Life Skills classes. Though the facility has been open since May, it got its formal kickoff two weeks ago when the Week of Champions came for a one-day camp.

“Most of the golf professionals that have been here say this is an awesome teaching facility,” said chapter director Mike Davis. “There aren’t many places like this around. When was the last time somebody built a junior golf facility? They don’t really have a lot of that.”

It’s an idea that has kicked around Hilton Head Island for years. Even as the island grew in renown with such layouts as Harbour Town, Palmetto Dunes, Long Cove, Wexford Plantation and others, it lacked an alternative to the high-end destinations where people could simply learn the game.

“It would be a good amenity for the island and the families that came here,” Johnston said.

Where to put it, though, became a huge hurdle. Ferree recalled that Fazio — whose Lowcountry portfolio includes Moss Creek, Belfair and Dataw Island — roughed out a plan in the mid-1980s near the current Boys & Girls Club site.

“It was going to be a little nine-hole course,” Ferree recalled. “It was (going to be) on both sides of the road; there had to be a tunnel under the road. But it never got anywhere.”

Johnston, at different times, scouted sites near Victoria Square, near Palmetto Dunes and Honey Horn in addition to the current site. After a while, he started to wonder if such a facility would ever come to fruition.

“Land here has become a lot more scarce and a lot more expensive,” he said. “The First Tee is not a money-maker. If you break even, you’re happy.”

It was Likins’ fortunate finding that turned out to be the catalyst. Shortly after taking over at the Boys & Girls Club site, she stumbled upon some old drawings while cleaning out old files.

“It just intrigued me,” said Likins, who comes from a family of golf enthusiasts. “My boys obviously didn’t go to The First Tee because we didn’t have one, but we’d heard about it.”

She mentioned the discovery to Steve Wilmot, the RBC Heritage’s longtime tournament director, who explained the long history of trying to get such a facility built on the island. As Likins did more research, she learned one way to open a First Tee chapter was in association with an entity like the YMCA. Or the Boys & Girls Clubs.

The critical piece, of course, was land — which fell into place when a 10-acre parcel adjacent to the Boys & Girls Club fell into foreclosure. At the club’s urging, the Town of Hilton Head Island bought the parcel and leases it to the club for $1 a year.

Within a year, more than $1.5 million had been raised to build the facility. And Johnston finally got to put one of those blueprints into action.

“Everything has its time,” said Gerrold Walker, chairman of The First Tee of the Lowcountry’s board.

“We just happened to get people who had influence and the ability to get things done. We didn’t have any money, no land. And now maybe 18 months later, we’ve got kids playing on it. It has been amazing.”

This story was originally published June 21, 2016 at 8:00 PM with the headline "The First Tee’s long, winding path finally finds Lowcountry home."