The smallest steps often leave the biggest imprint, so Dustin Smith keeps an eye on the present and another on the future. As program director for The First Tee of the Coachella Valley, he knows that the chapter is one of several keys to growing the game and helping juniors grow as individuals.
“I’m a First Tee lifer. I’ll be with this organization the rest of my life,” said Smith, who is also director of U.S. Kids Golf in the Coachella Valley. “What the organization provides is helping these kids become what they want to be, or maybe what they don’t even know what they want to be yet. The gift, for me, is seeing these kids become better people.”
When Smith arrived in the desert in 2009 after three years spent at The First Tee’s Northern Nevada locale, the CV chapter had about 15 classes and 150 student-members. Today, those numbers are 33 classes and nearly 700 student-members. And the organization isn’t alone in its growth, with the regional U.S. Kids Golf tour also experiencing a spurt.
“I saw our kids a lot of times not having that competitive outlet,” Smith said of his reason for starting the Valley’s junior tour. “So our higher-echelon kids moving up The First Tee program didn’t have those backyard tournaments they could go play. Now, it’s insane. Back in ’11 I was scraping to get 30 kids to an event. My event last week, we had 76 kids. It’s growing leaps and bounds and is very cool to see.”
Smith is equally proud that, by his count, an estimated 80 percent of CV high school golfers came through The First Tee and/or U.S. Kids programs at some stage. Among those is 2014 Palm Desert High School graduate Caroline Ordian, who came to The First Tee in 2009. Now in her sophomore season at Redlands University, Ordian’s first year with the Bulldogs produced Division-III All-American and Division-III Freshman of the Year honors.
“I had no idea where The First Tee would take me,” Ordian said. “I first picked up a golf club when I was 7 years old, but I never really had a goal in mind, never thought about high school or college golf until I got to The First Tee.”
Smith continues to work with Ordian, who credits him with instilling in her a positive attitude.
“My mental game has always been my weakness” Ordian said, adding that Smith reminds her that, “You need to have fun, you need to smile, you need to turn your attitude around and just enjoy yourself.”
The tenets of fun and education have always been important to Smith, who holds a degree in education from the University of Nevada, Reno. His attitude also fits in well with The First Tee’s Nine Core Values of confidence, responsibility, respect, honesty, judgment, perseverance, sportsmanship, integrity and courtesy.
“It’s a game, and games are supposed to be fun. That’s what I tell my students,” he said. “Sure, pars and birdies make it a lot more fun, but, in the same sense, it’s all about finding that fun. … I tell my students that there’s always something good, something fun to look at with the game. Maybe your putting is crappy one day, but you wedge game is awesome – so have fun with your wedge game. Go enjoy that today!”
Still, growing the game has hurdles, which Smith acknowledges.
“For me, the biggest challenge … is the retention of the older kids, the 14- to 17-year–olds who leave the program,” he said. “The thing that irks me, as a coach and mentor and the program director, is all these opportunities which become available for the kids 14 and above (which they might not take advantage of). So, putting in that extra time and committing to us means we’re committed to them. …. It’s consistently challenging throughout the networks, finding that hook for the 14-and-over kids, trying to keep them here once high school hits.”
Ordian agrees that retention is a subject worth focusing on.
“I met a lot of kids in the program when I was 12 or 13 and then, the next year, they’re not there anymore,” she recalled. “So Dustin’s challenge, I think, is getting kids to stick with the game, stick with The First Tee. With a lot of kids, if they don’t get something the first or second time, they give up on it.”
Smith adds that, while most of his students are there because they want to be, some arrive because of parental visions of grandeur for their children.
“It’s maybe about 20-percent parent-driven at The First Tee, where a parent is signing their kid up because they want their son or daughter to be a golfer,” he said. “And you can tell who that kid is pretty instantly in the classroom. So, as coaches, we take that on as a challenge, when you find that kid who is forced to come here, we need to take that on as a challenge and make sure the flip is switched to see that smile, see them having fun. Sometimes that doesn’t work, but sometimes it does, and the kid will be more appreciative of the extra effort, so they’ll give us that extra effort too.”
For Smith, it’s another example of his glass-half-full personality.
“The joy for me in teaching junior players is just the simplicity of it, hearing that simple answer coming back from them when I ask a question,” he said. “When I’m teaching these kids, I feel like I’m their age. I go back to that joy of being a kid in that situation.”
