Caroline Ellington

Pebble Beach Update!

Pebble Beach was in a word, amazing. My family and I had the best time of our lives and we owe it all to The First Tee. I will remember that week I spent in California for the rest of my life. During my trip, I met some of golf's legends including Tom Kite, Tom Watson, Gary Player, Craig Stadler, Mark O'Meara, and many more. I still cannot get over the fact that I was fortunate enough to be selected for this awesome experience. How many people get to play Pebble Beach three times for free in the space of six days alongside some of golf's greatest????! Not many. I was paired with Bruce Fleisher for the week and once we met, we hit it off right away. Although we didn't entirely dominate the leader board, we played well enough to make the cut and play Pebble again on Sunday. During the course of the week, Bruce and I came to know each other on a personal level and formed a wonderful relationship. One morning, we even went out to a delicious pancake breakfast before our round. We have stayed in touch since then and I actually met him and his wife, Wendy the other night for dinner since the Champion's Tour is in town for the SAS.

It is so hard to pick a favorite moment from this incredible experience but I have to say the highlight of my trip was when I had the privilege of speaking at the Legends and Leaders Dinner. I was chosen to be one of nine speakers to talk about one core value that the First Tee is based upon. Just for reference, Jeff Sluman spoke before me and Bill Murray spoke after me. Only two juniors were selected to speak; I spoke on confidence. In my speech, I told the audience about how I self-nominated for the Park Scholarship at NC State and ended up being awarded with one. I also spoke about how it is important to have the confidence to realize you can succeed on the golf course and in all other aspects of your life. Having the honor of giving this speech was special because it enabled me to distinguish myself from other contestants. After Legends and Leaders, pros such as Jay Haas, Jeff Sluman, Jerry Pate and Tom Purtzer came up to me to commend me for doing such a good job on my speech and I was able to form personal relationships with them.

All in all, I cannot thank the First Tee of the Triangle enough. I would never have had this experience without the encouragement and mentoring of my coaches; T.D. Luten, Tom Tyndall, and Paul Pfeuffer. This once-in-a-lifetime experience is due, in a huge part, to them. They have made a massive impact on my life and the lives of many others and they deserve far more credit than they receive.


Pre-Pebble Bio and Remarks by Caroline Ellington...

Caroline Elizabeth Ellington graduated from New Bern High School as Salutatorian of her class. She was an active member of the Lady Bears golf team, Interact Club, Teenage Republicans, and president of Science Olympiad and National Honor Society.

Caroline has been awarded a full merit-based Park Scholarship to attend North Carolina State University where she plans to major in textile engineering and product development. She will also be playing on the NC State woman's golf team.

Caroline has also been selected to play at Pebble Beach in the Wal-Mart “First Tee Open” Aug 31st thru September 6th.

Impact The First Tee has had on my life:

The First Tee has impacted my life in a variety of positive ways and provided me with opportunities beyond what I could have ever imagined to be possible. I will continue to use The First Tee 9 core values, such as Honesty, Integrity, Perseverance, and Sportsmanship, along with life lessons learned to deal with all the challenges that college, golf, and life set before me.

Pebble Beach Bound:

Caroline Ellington is one of 78 junior golfers who will be competing in the Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach September 3-6. Twenty-two girls and 56 boys will each be paired with a member of the Champions Tour and two amateurs as they play Pebble Beach and Del Monte golf courses.

As a member of The First Tee of the Triangle for three years, Caroline was recommended by her First Tee coaches and her chapter executive director. She successfully qualified for the Wal-Mart/First Tee Open at Pebble Beach event at a national girls’ selection process in Rye, New Hampshire in July and is the only girl from North Carolina to be selected to participate.  In addition to playing in the tournament, Caroline will be speaking on Confidence at the special Legends and Leaders dinner.        

This fall she enrolled at NC State University through a Park Scholarship and is a member of the NC State Lady Wolf Pack woman’s golf team. 

Tyler “J.T.” Thomas

Pebble Beach Update!

This year at pebble beach was an absolutely amazing experience. I really have no idea where to begin. Upon arrival we received our gifts which included a Taylormade duffle bag, with 3 Adidas shirt in them along with a 50 dollar visa gift card, 50% 2 pairs of Ecco shoes online and at the Legends and Leaders dinner our pros handed us 250 dollar gift cards to Pebble Beach! This year I was selected to play in the Coca Cola challenge, which only 6 or 7 other juniors got to participate in. I played with PGA professionals Scott Simpson, Hale Irwin, Jeff Sluman, Craig Stadler, and Fuzzy Zoeller. All my friends came out and watched and supported me and it was great. David Marr interviewed one of my best buddies Gavin Parker walking down 18 fairway because I absolutely killed one and Gavin yelled out my name, which I thought was pretty funny. I got to meet some new pros that I didn’t get the privilege of meeting last year which was cool too.

I was paired with Scott Simpson this year which was really cool. Scott was an extremely nice and down to earth guy. We really enjoyed each other’s company on and off the golf course. Not to mention he’s a heck of a player. I also got the outstanding privilege of playing with the one and only Bill Murray. He was a goofball; he would talk to me as I was hitting my putt or say something during my swing. He was hilarious. He also had a mellow side too which not many people really get to see. My amateurs for Pebble were Tom Schowe and Mark Hennenberger from Wal-Mart, 2 extremely successful men in the business world. Not very many people get that opportunity of networking with those 2 guys. They really enjoyed playing with me, not to mention the fact that I made a nice 25 footer for birdie on 18 to make the cut by 1 for their amateur team ha, ha, they loved that. Tom jumped up in the air when that ball hit the back of the cup. Those experiences I will have for a lifetime and I cannot thank Wal-Mart, my local first tee chapter and my coaches, Coach Tom, Coach Paul, and TD enough for helping me grow and giving me a chance to succeed. 


Pre Pebble Bio and Remarks by J.T. Thomas...

Impact First Tee has had on my life: To put it plain and simple, The First Tee is my life. The First Tee has opened so many doors for me that I would have not otherwise had. I’ve had the opportunity to meet and grow to know amazing people like Coaches Tom Tyndall, T.D. Luten, and Paul Pffeufer.

Coach and Program Director of The First Tee of the Triangle, Tom Tyndall, is the man who got me started in The First Tee. He invited me out one day to a driving range in Knightdale, where we spent time on the range together hitting shots. He spoke to me and my mom about life, golf, and The First Tee. I really owe a big thanks to him.

Coach and Executive Director of The First Tee of the Triangle, T.D. Luten, who not only helped me to become a pretty decent golfer, because he’s not too shabby himself (I have beaten him the last 2 times make sure he knows that ha, ha, ha!), but he's given me heart-to-heart talks about how I should deal with things at home, school, and everyday life.

Amazing volunteer Coach for my Eagle class, Paul Pffeufer, who I've known since I started with The First Tee, has always given me wonderful words of encouragement, while making me feel like I’m the best kid on the planet.  

Basically, without The First Tee, I wouldn’t have received a scholarship to Guilford College nor had the opportunity to experience the Wal-Mart/First Tee Open at Pebble Beach for the first time, let alone a second time. But more importantly than all that, I wouldn’t be the young man I have become today. 

Experience at Pebble last year:  I have no clue where to start about my trip to Pebble as the experience was so unique and unlike anything I’ve had the opportunity to take part in before in my life. I played the prestigious Pebble Beach Golf Club, while getting to see all my friends who I had met at leadership academies or the Wal-Mart "First Tee Open" at Pebble Beach selection process as well as getting to play with legends of the game such as the "Boss of the Moss" Lauren Roberts or Jim Thorpe. Man, can he kill the ball! It really couldn’t have been any better for me.

When we first arrived on the grounds at Pebble we were to register and get all of our gifts. We received 3 sweet Adidas golf shirts, Pebble Beach limited edition Ecco shoes, a Musty hand carved wooden putter with our names engraved on the bottom, and a Taylormade duffle bag! I couldn’t believe all the things we received, I was extremely thankful at this point because I had no idea what to expect. Getting the chance to play Pebble and Del Monte was great, I learned so much from the pros and amateurs that I played with. I played with Loren Roberts in my practice round with one of my really good friends Clifton Jordan, and on the back nine he just put on a putting clinic making 4 or 5 birdies in a row! Believe me, Clifton and I were sure getting some great tips out of the "boss of the moss." The amateurs I played with at Pebble were 2 extraordinarily successful men. One of them was the owner of Prolink, and the other was the CEO of Administaff! These two gentlemen helped me to understand how to be successful in the business world. I really could go on and on about my experience at Pebble Beach because it was such an amazing trip.

College, Golf, and Life: I am currently enrolled at Guilford College in Greensboro as the recipient of a full scholarship. Guilford just received 95 green pts from the Princeton Review and is one of the top colleges in the nation.  Our team is going to be extremely solid this year and I believe we can make a legitimate run at an NCAA National Championship. A few days ago the top 4 of us went out and played and shot 5 under as a team with scores of 69, 69, 71 & 74. If we can continue to post scores like that, we surely have a ton of potential.

Though college life is a bit of an adjustment, The First Tee has definitely taught me how to adapt to any situation. As a result, I’m enjoying college life very much right now secure in the fact that I have the tools I need to be a successful student, golfer and human being.