Nick Nelson’s workdays might involve modeling a great golf swing, mentoring youngsters or taking students to Pebble Beach, where some enjoy their first-ever glimpse of the ocean.
As CEO of First Tee – Monterey County, he oversees a youth development organization that promotes life skills, healthy habits and core values—things like honesty, integrity, confidence, respect and perseverance—through the game of golf.
For more than 20 years, Nelson has watched the program change lives.
“It’s about seeing the smiles on the kids’ faces, and watching the light bulbs go on when you introduce them to something that they hadn’t experienced before,” he says.
The national First Tee organization was established in 1997, when the PGA, LPGA and other partners teamed up to make golf more accessible and affordable for children. Today, First Tee – Monterey County is one of more than 150 local chapters teaching both golf lessons and character development. Each chapter taps into curriculum, training, grants and opportunities outlined at the national level, while administering programs tailored to local audiences.
Local First Tee development was driven by the late John Zoller and the late Ollie Nutt, two fixtures of the Monterey Peninsula golf community. The Monterey Peninsula Foundation provided initial funding for the fledgling organization in the early 2000s, when Nelson signed on as the program’s leader. Since 2004, the nonprofit has managed and offered many of its programs at the Twin Creeks Golf Course in Salinas. First Tee currently partners with several school districts, primarily in Salinas and southern Monterey County, to bring age-based daytime, after-school and summer camp activities to approximately 11,500 students a year.
Golf is a conduit, Nelson explains. It’s how instructors reach children with lessons on goal setting, communication and sportsmanship.
“In the classroom, the teacher stands there and tells. And only a small percentage of kids learn through hearing. The First Tee is more about experiences and learning by doing,” he says.
Sydney Burlison of Salinas was already golfing competitively when she joined the First Tee’s early classes. Years later, the program’s core values still impact her personally and professionally.
“The First Tee helped shape my life off the golf course almost more than it did on the golf course,” she says. “The way the program uses golf to organically instill those values and interpersonal skills was much more helpful to me than simply reading about them or learning them in a classroom.”
Burlison, who won the First Tee Open (now the PURE Insurance Championship) as a junior, returned to Twin Creeks as a guest speaker and instructor while studying at Stanford University. She maintains lasting relationships with friends and mentors from the Monterey County chapter. She also joined the local First Tee board in 2020 and was named to the organization’s national board of governors in 2024.
In her leadership capacity, Burlison has been especially pleased to see data that links First Tee participation with improved classroom performance and lower absenteeism among Monterey County students.
“As we continue to responsibly expand our reach across south county and the peninsula, I’m excited to see how many more lives we can impact,” she says.
As an example of that impact, Nelson recalls one Salinas youngster who got connected with First Tee opportunities while in elementary school. As he continued through the program, the student’s golf game, grades and overall behavior improved. When he was attending Salinas High School, he was selected to represent the local chapter at a national First Tee trustee event in Pebble Beach. He was seated with President George W. Bush, who spoke at the event and chatted with the student.
Nelson drove the young man back to Salinas after the gathering.
“He turned to me on the way home and said, ‘Nick, I remember you telling me, when I was 7 or 8 years old, that golf would open up doors for me. I didn’t get it then, but I get it now,'” Nelson remembers.
First Tee alum and local board member John Louie also appreciates how the program opens doors. As a teenager, he took part in entrepreneurial challenges and toured a dentist office, law firm, large farming operation, beverage distribution center and other workplaces through First Tee career exploration activities.
“When you’re a kid, you don’t really think about having a career someday. But those were very, very eye-opening experiences,” Louie says.
First Tee introduced him to golf, of course, which he played in high school and college. He embraced core values and skills that influenced his path through school and into adulthood. Program activities also underscored the importance of community.
“It’s this whole circular concept that I learned at the First Tee. It was, ‘Hey, look, you’re receiving things as a young person. Eventually, there will be a great opportunity to give back, as well,'” Louie says. “It’s about the next generation. If we want our community to be strong in the future, we have to invest in the next generation right now.”
For more information about First Tee – Monterey County, visit www.firstteemontereycounty.org.