Golf helps kids instill drive to succeed

sfgate.com, June 24, 2009
Visitacion Valley Middle School is building a driving range. When it's finished this fall, along with a chipping area and a putting green, it will be the first of its kind in the country - a golf facility in an urban schoolyard.

The amenities, along with clubs and other related equipment, will be offered free to kids and their families in the Visitacion Valley and Bayview neighborhoods. The construction is the next stage in a program that started in the community four years ago, teaching children how to play golf, and teaching them some important life skills along the way.

"Golf gives these kids access to a decent life that they otherwise would not have," said Frank "Sandy" Tatum, chairman of the San Francisco chapter of the First Tee, an outreach program that's building the golf facilities at Visitacion Valley.

"It's a slow-paced game and it seems like not that much happens. You mostly don't see young people playing golf. Usually it's a lot of rich, elderly people," said 12-year-old Kevin Kirksey.

Golf has taught him to be patient, he said, and to focus on the problem at hand. "I used to get mad at math every single day," Kevin said. "I'm getting better, though." Read more...