First Green is the name of the program designed to help solve two problems facing golf in the USA, at least in part: Firstly, the labour shortage in greenkeeping. Secondly, the often incorrect external perception of golf courses by non-golfers. Since 1997, the GCSAA has been running a program that brings school science lessons onto the golf course. What appears to be a simple exercise at first glance is actually quite challenging in practice.
“The first thought of teachers who don’t play golf themselves is often: I can’t do this,” says GCSAA CEO Rhett Evans, recalling the early days. Questions of financial support, for example for the buses needed to get to the golf club, also arise, as do critical issues such as safety or the use of chemicals on the golf courses. “There are definitely people who think it’s not safe to walk on a golf course because it’s full of chemicals.”
Change of opinion on the golf course
Evans also has a personal anecdote to share on this point: When he chaperoned one of the early First Green outings and was not recognisable as GCSAA CEO, the kids’ parents unabashedly shared their concerns. I heard things like, “I’m out here to take notes and then complain to the principal, our kids shouldn’t be out here.” But when the children did their first water tests on the golf course and found the water cleaner than the tap water, the parents fell silent. “Then they noticed the butterflies, the bees and the rabbits. And they changed their minds pretty quickly.” Since then, Evans has been clear: “The hardest thing is getting people onto the golf course in the first place.”
School subjects are taught on the golf course as part of the First Green program. The water test, for example, teaches chemistry. Biology units are possible on the meadows, the biotopes or at the beehives. A school class was a guest at Pinehurst Golf Resort two weeks before the last U.S. Open. During the planting of regional grasses, their importance for biodiversity was discussed. The kids then collected data on the putting green. Eleven days before the major tournament, green speed, consistency and firmness were measured. The grass’s moisture content was also determined. And finally, as part of an art project, the children were able to put their ideas of a rebuilt golf hole on paper.
GCSAA STEAM lessons have now taken place in even the most remote corners of the world. In 2024, Muhammad Ali, Course Superintendent at William Land Golf Course in Sacramento, California, took 15 students to Karachi Golf Club to conduct lessons at five stations on the course.
The program is financed by the GCSAA Foundation, whose launch in 1997 was made possible by donations in the millions. The entire program is set up in a “train the trainers” style. The GCSAA trains the superintendents and explains to them in the form of lectures or training material how best to conduct a STEAM day. According to Evans, demand from greenkeepers is high. “Superintendents are often underestimated,” explains Evans. “Most people think they just cut grass. “The program puts them in a whole new light and they are looked at differently.” The GCSAA CEO believes that this is why the program has been so well received.
In 2025, 98 field trips with 6,676 students have already taken place. Since 2018, the GCSAA Foundation has organised 401 field trips with 24,675 students in as many as 47 different states, in Canada and in other countries.
One challenge remains: In order to actually convey the attractiveness of the greenkeeper job to the right age group, the STEAM excursions make sense, especially for those young people who are in their last year of high school. There, however, lessons are always split up into individual lessons and classes. This makes it much more difficult to organise the trips because several teachers are involved.
“We have to focus on the final year because that’s when students are thinking about what they’re going to do after they leave school,” Evan is sure. “If we can catch them at that point and give them a first-class experience, our chances of getting them onto the golf course for a job increase.”
It doesn’t matter whether the lessons take place in an inexpensive public facility or an expensive private club. The same applies to the schools: Sometimes children come from a public school in the city centre, sometimes children come from a Catholic private school in the countryside.
The message remains the same at every location and for every target group: The golf course as a workplace is attractive because it means so much more than just mowing grass. The fact that it is also a golf course in a natural environment makes the offer even better.
