First Tee of Pittsburgh product flourishes away from course
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Colm Parrish is not your everyday First Tee of Pittsburgh product.
He was invited to the Players Championship several weeks ago for a Price Waterhouse Coopers executive forum, has been a finalist for The First Tee national participant of the year, was asked to attend Coca Cola’s America Future Scholarship event at the PGA Tour championship, was part of a leadership academy in San Diego, has been interviewed on the Golf Channel and gave a speech at a life skills summit in Dallas right after former President GeorgeW. Bush.
“He opened for me,” Parrish said, laughing.
Parrish, 19, is a Squirrel Hill resident who learned to play golf when he was 9 at the First Tee of Pittsburgh, located at the Bob O’Connor Golf Course in Schenley Park. He graduated from Central Catholic High School and is a freshman at Penn State, majoring in bio medical engineering and economics.
For a teenager who has traveled around the country, representing the First Tee in leadership and life skills summits, he admits he is nonetheless overwhelmed by the sheer size of the University Park, Pa. campus and some of his classrooms.
“It’s growing on me,” Parrish said. “I went to a small school my whole life. The most kids I ever had in class was 30. I had a lecture [at Penn State] with 530 kids.”
Parrish was among four First Tee alumni from around the country to be selected for the PwC Executive Forum at the Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., last month. At the tournament, they participate in a leadership training program, mingle with corporate executives and, yes, even getto watch some golf.
That’s what he got to do at the America Future Scholarship event in Atlanta, held during the tour championship at East Lake Golf Club. His biggest thrill came when he got a text from one of the other First Tee participants that he was sitting across from Rory McIlroy in the dining area. McIlroy is Parrish’s favorite player.
“I just sprinted up from the range and we were 10 feet away from Rory eating lunch, which was awesome,” Parrish said. “That was really fun for me.”
Maybe even more so than meeting President Bush, who is honorary chairman of The First Tee program.
“I got to give a speech in front of 100 people and I followed him,” Parrish said. “That’s pretty cool.”
Marc Field, executive director of The First Tee of Pittsburgh, said his chapter is very aggressive nominating its participants as candidates for the program’s national events. He said Parrish, who works at the pro shop at “The Bob” and helps with clinics, is a prime example of what the First Tee program is about.
“It’s great to hire our kids and alumni to work here,” Field said. “It’s great for the little kids to see that here’s a kid who stuck with it, got all these national opportunities, improved his golf game, is working and making money and has a job. All these good outcomes occur if you kind of follow the program and stay with the plan. We can tell kids but it’s much more real when they see someone like Colm. That’s the proof of it.”
Parrish does not play on the golf team at Penn State, As a 6-handicap, he admits he is not good enough to play at that level. “They are really, really good,” he said. Plus, he said he wouldn’t want to commit the time necessary to play at a Division I level. He is content to play on a club golf team at the school and be involved in other activities such as the Bio Medical Engineering Society, Relay for Life team and the Penn State Coffee Club.
That’s all a result of the First Tee of Pittsburgh, he said.
“Obviously, we have the life skills and core values — honesty and integrity — but beyond that it’s the goal-setting, the planning, conflict management skills,” Parrish said. “And the broad theme is the relationships I’ve made with everybody. I have friends from up here that I got to know from The First Tee, they’re some of my best friends now. And I have friends from all across the country from this program. I’ve had a lot of really great experiences.”