We invite you to join us for the 2024 First Tee – Premier départ Québec Cup!
Since 2022, $250,000 has been raised through our signature charity tournament, the Québec Cup, to support the expansion of our programming.
Participation in our annual tournament helps us provide our facilities with essential equipment, training, and support. Through the generous support of our donors and sponsors, we not only teach our participants the basics of golf, but essential life skills that they will carry with them throughout their lives.
Join us and enjoy a day of celebration on the Blue Course, designed by 2024 Presidents Cup International Team Captain and First Tee – Canada Ambassador Mike Weir!
Date: September 30, 2024
Course: Club Laval-sur-le-Lac | 150 Rue les Peupliers, Laval, QC H7R 1G2
The world just turned its attention to Toronto for the PGA TOUR’s RBC Canadian Open. Meanwhile, First Tee – Canada is also taking a moment to reflect in honor of Canadian National Indigenous History Month.
First Tee – Canada is made up of five chapters: First Tee – British Columbia, First Tee – Premier départ Quebec, First Tee – Atlantic, First Tee – Ontario, and First Tee – Prairies with First Tee – Alberta launching later this year.
Each chapter has unique and dynamic relationships with local Indigenous communities.
First Tee – British Columbia opened its first program location, The Musqueam Golf and Learning Academy, on traditional Musqueam First Nation territory in 2021.
Since then, it has expanded to over 53 program spaces and sold out every session in 2023 thus far. This year, the CPCK Women’s Open will be held at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club, which is also located on Musqueam traditional territory. During tournament week, First Tee – British Columbia will host a youth clinic nearby to the course at Musqueam Golf and Learning Academy.
First Tee – British Columbia hopes to continue to strengthen its relationship and bring safe, affordable golf programming to an even wider audience as it begins its 2023 summer programs.
First Tee – Premier départ Quebec collaborates with the Mohawk community of Kahnawake, the Cree community of Waskaganish, and the First Nation of Mashteuiatsh through golf course, school, and community programming.
The chapter also works closely with the Club 24 Athletics Foundation, an organization that works to support young Indigenous leaders through sport and education.
Last year First Tee – Premier départ Quebec hosted programming for 18 Indigenous participants. The team hopes to more than double that number this year.
Jeremy Proteau, First Tee – Premier départ Quebec Program Manager, credits the success of this partnership to the tight knit community and dedicated volunteers.
In the Kahnawake First Nations reserve, there are seven golf courses,, and the local volunteers are working to introduce golf to children who have previously only had access to lacrosse and hockey.
The courses are working in collaboration with First Tee – Premier départ Quebec to provide certain programming at no cost to participants and with entirely Indigenous coaching staffs.
First Tee – Ontario, First Tee – Prairies, and First Tee – Atlantic are in the beginning stages of building relationships with the Indigenous communities around them but are hoping to launch programming soon, some as soon as this summer.
Canadian National Indigenous History Month is celebrated each year in June to recognize and honor the rich history, heritage, and diversity of Canada’s Indigenous populations.
For more information about First Tee – Canada and its communities click here.
Golf Canada and First Tee announced today a new partnership to launch First Tee – Canada. First Tee’s Board Chairman, PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan, shared the news during a global announcement that Presidents Cup will return to Royal Montreal Golf Club in 2024.
Together, the partnership will bring First Tee’s youth development emphasis to strengthen Golf Canada’s junior golf activities – previously conducted under the Future Links brand – that reach kids in schools and at golf facilities. The innovative First Tee curriculum will focus on empowering young people to build their strength of character through the game of golf. Golf Canada will serve as the national headquarters of First Tee – Canada.
“Partnering with First Tee towards the 2021 launch of First Tee – Canada will provide Canadian youth and especially those in underrepresented groups access to affordable and meaningful character education programs through golf,” said Golf Canada CEO Laurence Applebaum. “Golf Canada and the PGA of Canada have developed a strong foundation for junior golf programming over the past twenty plus years through Future Links. We are excited going forward to partner with the globally recognized First Tee brand and work collaboratively with the Golf Canada Foundation to strengthen our youth development activities.”
“Golf Canada has made a significant impact on the growth of the sport in Canada through their multi-faceted junior golf initiatives and was a natural fit for us to partner with the launch of First Tee – Canada,” said Greg McLaughlin, CEO, First Tee. “Together, we will bring the First Tee youth development program nationwide and build on Golf Canada’s impressive grassroots success with programming that reaches kids via nearly 600 golf facilities and 4,100 participating schools.”
The PGA of Canada will play a leading role in the training of coaches who will serve as mentors to the kids and teens in the program. Coaches will help bring the curriculum to life by introducing youth to fun and active experiences that help them build inner strength, self-confidence, and resilience that can carry to everything they do.
“We are proud that PGA of Canada professionals will play an important role in utilizing golf to teach First Tee core values of honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, respect, confidence, responsibility, perseverance, judgement and courtesy,” said Kevin Thistle, CEO of PGA of Canada. “We look forward to supporting the development of youth and junior golfers through the coaching and mentorship of PGA of Canada professionals in alignment with the National Coaching Certification Program.”
First Tee – Canada will target to launch multiple chapters in 2021 with a growth strategy to establish First Tee chapters in markets across Canada through 2023. The inaugural First Tee – Canada chapter launching in 2021 will be located in Victoria, British Columbia at the Bear Mountain Golf & Tennis Resort Community which is also home to Golf Canada’s National Training Centre. This was made possible by the support of the Matthews and Kusumoto families. Dan Matthews is a global Trustee and a member of the Board of Governors of the First Tee and a member of the Board of Directors of the Golf Canada Foundation. A First Tee chapter in Quebec will also be launched shortly thereafter, continuing the incredible legacy of past Presidents Cups. With support from the Presidents Cup, First Tee has successfully launched global chapters in Australia (2019) and Korea (2015).
Through its deep network of donors and trustees, Golf Canada Foundation will be a critical partner in supporting the launch and advancement of First Tee – Canada through its fundraising and philanthropic efforts. Canada’s Provincial Golf Associations will also play a role in the advancement of First Tee – Canada as chapters begin to form in markets across Canada. In addition, Golf Canada will continue to work with the NGCOA Canada (National Golf Course Owner’s Association) and other key industry stakeholders towards a more inclusive golf experience for Canadian youth.
Since its inception in 1997, First Tee has impacted more than 15 million young people through its character-building programs on golf courses, in schools and at youth-serving locations.
The First Tee network has grown to over 150 chapters and more than 1,200 program locations across the United States as well as six international chapters—Australia, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco and Canada—delivering programs that help young people build character and develop life skills through the game of golf. A First Tee chapter out of Vancouver is operating independently out of Vancouver, and previously out of Montreal, prior to the launch of First Tee – Canada.
