Allie Tully 1

9/6/16: Today we presented our capstone ideas for the class. I initially came up with an idea of
having my capstone involve the Petit Family Foundation which is located in Plainville, CT. I
would raise money for the family by selling shirts or the small wire forget me knots.

9/8/16: I thought about possibly collecting golf equipment such as golf balls, bags and anything
else that golfers could need to play the sport and donate these goods to The First Tee in
Cromwell instead of my initial idea about the Petit Family Foundation. In addition to collecting
equipment, I was going to donate my time to this organization with helping out in any way I
could through lessons. Soon later after sharing, my capstone teacher, Mrs.Zamorski, gave me
some great feedback that maybe I could do a blend or have a hybrid of my two ideas and create a
golf tournament that would benefit the Petit Family Foundation. I looked for a mentor and
reached out to Sally Sohn through an email explaining capstone as well as asking if she was
interested in being my mentor alongside my project.

9/9/16: I spoke with Mrs. Boutilier again who directed me to another student who is doing a
similar capstone as me. She offered me advice of possibly teaming up with them during this
project since my ideas were quite large to do by myself. I at first was a bit unsure if I wanted to
team up with this individual because I had known based on past experiences we do not
necessarily work well together, however after some thought out thinking and realization about
the connections we had together. I had noticed that both of our connections we had to the golf
world would be able to open up doors for us as well as be able to expose me to other individuals
that I can network with. I agreed to working alongside them and to get the project running.

9/10/16: I changed my organization to which I was going to be benefitting for my capstone.

I now have decided to donate the money raised to the First Tee of Connecticut which is in
Cromwell, CT because I felt that I had a closer connection to this organization. I have
grown up in the golf community and I started at a relatively young age compared to most, so I
would like to share the game with others. Since I changed my capstone organization, many new
ideas began to form in my head. I still kept the idea about the golf tournament, however I then
thought of branching out to collecting gently used clothes and golf equipment to further give
back.
Allie Tully 2

9/12/16: I had gotten in touch with the other student who had the similar idea of running a golf
tournament, and we found a time to meet in Mrs. Boutiliers office for a conference. During this
meeting we had called several individuals such as Mark Moriarty who is the director of the First
Tee of Connecticut. During this phone call we explained what we were planning to do for a
capstone such as the golf tournament that would benefit them. He was delighted to hear that we
wanted to give back to the community through golf which made me even more excited to start on
the new idea. He told us that if we needed anything from the First Tee or help in any way for this
golf tournament, we should speak to him and he would help us as much as possible. After this
phone call, we then called Hartford Golf Club in West Hartford, CT asking for the head
professional there. We were calling the head pro to ask about pricing and for Hartford Golf Club
to be a potential venue for this golf tournament. Unfortunately, the head pro at the club was not
in on that day, so we left a message. Later on that night I had sent an email to the general
manager at my club, Chippanee Country Club in Bristol, CT. I had emailed him also asking
about possibly having the tournament there as well as a possible quote so that we could have an
estimate on pricing and how much to charge people. In addition, I did some research about golf
tournament tips and venues.

9/16/16: This morning I had heard from the other individual helping me with capstone tell me
that the head pro at Hartford Golf Club had said that he would be delighted to host the
tournament, however the total cost for just the food and venue was going to be astronomical.
Earlier that same morning, I had received an email back from the general manager at my club
and he was excited to hear about my capstone. He had mentioned to me that Chippanee would be
delighted to host. In the email he sent to me he attached the pricing per person for the tournament
as well as additional fees that would be included such as service fees, food fees, and additional
costs to support the club as well. After reading about all the estimated prices within this email I
was not quite sure that I was totally thrilled with the pricing per person and the total cost. I was
planning to look for and reach out to other venues as well.

9/20/16: Today I got in touch with Sally Sohn again and explained to my concrete and new and
improved ideas for capstone. She was quite thrilled to hear about this. I had reached out asking
Allie Tully 3

her about advice for planning a golf tournament since I had no prior experience. She was
delighted to give me a few pointers and told me that some of the things to keep in mind for
running a golf tournament were to book a venue right away. She had advised me that I should
know and have a clear target audience, a way to recruit players, how much I was planning
to charge them, tee sponsors and prizes, and which courses I have contacted. I told her I had
reached out to Chippanee Country Club and Hartford Golf Club and that after calculating costs I
had noticed that they seemed to be quite high. I had asked her if she could recommend me a few
courses to get in touch with as well to ask for a possible venue. She had suggested to me to
reach out to Keney Park, Timberlin Golf Course, Fairview Farms, and Stanley Golf course
and ask them if they would be interested to possibly be the site for the golf tournament. I
felt that I had received some great advice after getting in touch with her and shortly after I looked
on their websites for the names of the head pros at each of the clubs. Later on that night, she had
re-gotten in contact with me and told that it is okay to have a low net income on a golf
tournament since most golf tournaments are very expensive to run. She further told me also that
the low net income is also compensated by the volunteering and supporting I was going to be
doing for the First Tee. I took her advice and looked up the head pros at each of the golf courses.
I sent emails to them explaining capstone and my ideas.

10/2/16: Today I got in touch with a student outside of the SMSA student community that I
had heard about through the golf community. He recently had an article written about him
in the Courant for being a home town hero. I had heard that he refurbishes used golf clubs
but I had never heard of much for than that prior. I messaged him explaining my capstone
project in hopes of teaming up with him potentially. During our conversation I learned that he
not only collects gently used golf clubs, but he gets in touch with children who are looking to
play golf through The First Tee of Connecticut. I found out that he customizes clubs for them by
cutting down all the irons and woods he has to fit them exactly. I was very amazed at what he
does because he is my age and this isnt something that you hear of everyday. The customization
process for fitting clubs can be quite costly within itself so I thought it was very unique and very
thoughtful that he was willing to do that for other children. I didnt know how extensive it was
until he mentioned that his organization is called Klubs for Kids. He mentioned that he would be
willing to team up. I explained to him that I was looking into collecting gently used golf clothes
Allie Tully 4

and golf equipment. I talked to him about teaming up and possibly being able to donate a set of
golf clothes with the clubs that he refurbishes for other kids. He agreed to it and I also mentioned
that any clubs that I collected, I would be willing to donate to him to refurbish since he knows
more about the process than I do. He was very thrilled and thanked me for doing that for him. I
explained that I was going to ask around as well to a few of my friends from the golf community
to see if they had any golf clubs that he did not use anymore and would be willing to donate.

10/7/16: Today I took a trip to Chippanee Country Club, which I am a member at. Earlier in the
week I had talked to my boss who is also the head pro there about possibly being able to take a
few buckets of golf balls that were in two large trash-can size buckets. He said absolutely and
that I could take as many balls as I would like to when I asked. I had called up one of my friends/
co workers too and asked if she would be willing to help me sort through and clean all the balls.
We met at the club at 4pm and we went straight to the back of the shed where the balls
were. I previously for about a month and a half had been collecting empty sleeves of golf
balls and had all my coworkers help me save them, so when it came time to begin to go
through the bucket, I would have something to box them in. It made it very easy since by this
time I had collected many sleeves. I began going through the buckets with my friend and we set
up bins that were labeled so we organized them by brand. After that we then took the bucket of
the balls that had the same brand and used the ball washer at to clean off any loose material left
on them like dirt. We did this for every brand we had. After we cleaned off all the balls, together
we dried them off and boxed them up in the sleeves that held three golf balls. If the brand name
on sleeves did not match the golf balls inside; we took tape and wrote on the new name. It
diffidently took us a while to do all this and after working, sorting, and cleaning, we finally
decided to stop around 8:30pm. By this point however we had only went through one of the two
large buckets of balls, and I had used up all the sleeves I had collected. We put all the new
packaged sleeves in a card board box. We have to take another trip back soon and I have been
saving more golf ball sleeves to finish the work. I am very happy with how many golf balls were
in the two buckets and I noticed that a lot of them just needed to really be cleaned. It did take a
while and it will take even longer since I am only half way done, however I am pleased with
all the work that I had accomplished. Many of the golf balls in the buckets were assorted from
Titleist golf balls to Top-Flite golf balls.
Allie Tully 5

10/15/16: Today I asked the assistant pro at my golf-club for some help on my project. I was
looking for a few clubs in hopes of being able to donate them to my friend that is knowledgeable
about cutting them down and customizing them. My assistant pro said sure and offered me to
pick a few clubs. I thought that this was very generous of them since they have already done so
much for me on this project before. I am very appreciative on what they are willing to do for
me. I found that my biggest struggle too with going through the clubs was that it was hard to
pick out ones that I had thought were there for a while and that no one would have come looking
for soon. I thought that the majority of the clubs in the bags were nice as well to have been lost
but I tried to keep my eye out for ones that I could take and not have to worry about someone
asking for it if they had lost it and forgot about it for months. Overall I was pleased because I
was able to retrieve a full set of irons as well as a set of wedges. When I was collecting these
clubs I began to think about potentially asking the individual of Klubs for Kids if I could sit
in and learn how to cut down these clubs to further improve my capstone project.

10/19/16: Today I took a trip to Hawks Landing Golf Club in Southington, CT where I met
with Jessica Baillargeon who is the event planner at the golf club. She responded to my
emails earlier in the week about my ideas on the potential golf banquet. I met with her and
discussed more about my ideas as well as saw the banquet hall on the golf course. It was very
nice and we had reviewed the pricing of the hall as well as several menu options that I could
have chosen from as well. Leading up to this meeting however, I had begun to notice that trying
to plan so many various events was becoming quite difficult. I had to get in touch with the other
student that was doing a similar capstone as me and who was helping me on the golf tournament
and dinner dance. I found that it was very hard at times to reach this individual because I often
would not receive any response back. I did reach out however and invited them to attend the
meeting this day however they had been busy. During the meeting I felt extremely
overwhelmed because it was hard to decide on choices for both people instead of just my
own. I had received some very great insight on the facility however as well as pricing which I
was then able to share.
Allie Tully 6

10/20/16: I went on the internet and looked for a place that sold the silicone wrist bands to be
able to sell and make more money for my capstone. I had come across the site Rapid Wristbands
that seemed to give me the best estimate for the quantity and style I was looking for. Earlier on in
the week, I was brainstorming about colors and what I wanted the bracelet to say. I had a tough
decision because I wanted to pick a color relevant to golf, however I wanted them to look nicely
in hopes that more would sell. I had come up with the saying Swing Fore a Change
because I thought it was very clever and it was a play on words as well.

10/21/17: I talked to my mentor for suggestions on people to contact for sponsors for this golf
tournament. I emailed several companies that were recommended to me by her as well as several
others such as family friends I had reached out to for suggestions earlier on in the week who had
experience in this. I did notice that it was quite hard to find direct people to contact since many
of the emails under contact us were for generic use and it was to a service line there versus a
person.

10/28/16: The bracelets came in and I was very pleased with how they came out. They were blue
and on the following Tuesday I was going to distribute half to the other student and begin selling
them. Earlier in the week I had made flyers in Photoshop and had printed them in color to hang
around the school notifying people prior to receiving them in the mail.

11/1/16: Today was the first day I had begun selling bracelets to other members in the school. I
thought it went pretty well because I had sold 10 in the morning before school to my mother who
bought them for her and her coworkers. I was worried that people would not be as interested in
purchasing them, and of those who did purchase them, they would not want to wear them. I was
unexpectedly surprised at the number of students who came up to me and asked to purchase a
bracelet. I found that it was quite challenging however to stay organized between me and the
other person at first for money wise because I had the main box that kept the money and had
change.

12/8/16: I had a meeting with the capstone advisor today about the major issues I have been
facing in regards to my project. I originally wanted to plan and create a golf tournament
Allie Tully 7

where the proceeds would benefit The First Tee of Connecticut. I found that there were
several issues such as finding sponsors who were willing to donate items for things such as
tee gifts, raffle items, and contest items. In addition, the cost of the venues had made me a bit
uneasy because it was hard to predict how many people would play and if the fee we were going
to charge was going to be enough to cover costs without having to pay even more money. I also
began to feel disappointed because I was working with another individual who was helping me
run this tournament. I asked them to email people that they knew as well since I had contacts that
I did not have as well as assist me through going to meetings with me; however, they did not
come nor email any of the people I asked them to. At this in my project I had felt that everything
I had done for this, I had only done alone, and I began to feel very overwhelmed with everything
that was done. To me personally I felt that I had done everything and that I had not had
accomplished as much as there shouldve been. I also felt that having someone help would split
the work and would make it much easier to plan, however in this case I was doing a majority of
the work and it was only me planning this. By the end of the meeting the solution to the problem
was to go our separate ways and not work collaborate anymore for the golf tournament. I thought
about teaching golf to youth and exposing them to the game since I had been exposed at such a
young age.

1/10/17: Today I had a mental breakdown about my capstone. Our capstone advisor had come to
the classroom to talk about the midpoint of capstone being right around the corner. While she
was giving her speech I was beginning to question if I had done enough on my capstone to
graduate. Because of this I was feeling on edge worrying that I was in jeopardy of not
graduating because I felt like I did not give back to the community in some way at all now.
I had messaged the individual from Klubs for Kids to learn how to shorten golf clubs, but he
informed me that he was leasing a house and his equipment is all packed up in storage and
because of this I had no one else I could find out how to do this from. I felt that I should meet
with her in her office during my lunch that day. I met with her and discussed about my uneasy
feeling about not graduating and she asked me why. I told her that I was very confused on
what exactly I wanted to do with my capstone now and that I did have the ideas of teaching
adolescents and have been trying to get in contact with people I knew to set up this
opportunity. I found it very difficult to try to start something when everyone was not
Allie Tully 8

responding. I began to feeling anxious that if this doesnt come through then I wouldnt know
what else to do. During the meeting, Mrs. Bout told me that I should not be worried about not
graduating at all since I did have things set up before from trying to coordinate the golf
tournament I had originally planned. She told me that her speech today was not to worry those
who have been trying to do things for their capstone that have showed that I have made and
effort and that there was still plenty of time left. After the meeting, I, had felt relieved and
determined to work harder and contact more organizations.

1/12/17: Earlier in the week I had a meeting with my mentor at her house in Cromwell, CT
where I explained that I was going to be teaching and exposing young children to golf instead of
the golf tournament. She told me that it was a great idea and that a golf tournament was a huge
undertaking. I told her that it was difficult to find places that had indoor facilities that I could
teach and or help to teach at for children in the winter. She told me to reach out to the First Tee
since they have an indoor facility, my YMCA, and the Boys & Girls Clubs.

1/16/17: I emailed the head teen director, Nicole Steere, and director of physical education,
Steve Beecher, at the Bristol Boys & Girls Club (BBGC) today explaining capstone and a
little bit about myself. In addition, I reached out to director of youth sports at the YMCA,
Tim Gabbard, to see if I could get in to teach children there since they offer several other
sports. I almost immediately got an email back from Ms. Steere at BBGC who said she would
love to have me there. We set up a meeting for January 25th where we were going to discuss more
about my plans for teaching. I also emailed the head director, Mr. Moriarty about opportunities to
volunteer and he told me about the open house that they had. I had signed up to help at the open
houses and he said he was delighted that I was going to be there.

1/17/17: I received an email back from Mr. Gabbard at the YMCA. He told me to call him at the
listed number below to talk about my project with him further. During the phone call, he asked to
set up a time that I could stop by so he could get a clearer sense of what I was looking to do. He
said to stop by on January 30th and that anytime between 5-9pm was good for him.

1/23/17: I emailed back and forth with the director of The First Tee asking about opportunities
that he had to volunteer since they work on promoting youth golf. He mentioned that it was a
hard time in the year since it was winter and it was very dead. He did offer me with the
Allie Tully 9

opportunity to get involved with their later events and with their open houses that were coming
up soon.

1/25/17: I had a meeting with Ms. Steere who introduced me to the director of operations,
DAndre Esposito, who was super excited for me to come. She gave me a tour of the new
facility and introduced me to Mr. Beecher, whom I had emailed earlier as well. We were talking
about golf and how long I had played and she learned that I had been playing for about 13 years
which she found super impressive. She said I was highly qualified to be teaching here. She
told me to talk to DAndre further about this project since he knew more about golf than I did.
We both sat down and explained number of kids, equipment needed, and a start date. I told him I
was looking for about 10-11 kids between the ages of 6-12, I needed golf balls, soft golf
balls, and clubs. I mentioned that I did have some but they were very long and I had no one to
cut them down. I also told him that I did purchase large foam puzzle pieces that were going to be
used as the mats since mats were a high expense. He asked me if I would be interested in
creating a curriculum as well for them to be able to start in the summer too since they were
looking to start the idea but never found the time or someone to be able to.

1/30/17: I had met with the YMCA and explained that I was looking to hold golf clinics on
Saturday mornings to children between the ages of 6-12 with the numbers being relatively small.
He asked me if I was willing to extend the numbers however, I told him that I was only one
person and that larger numbers would be very difficult for me to give a quality lesson over a
quantity lesson. He had me fill out an application for volunteering since it was as if I was going
to be a hired employee, and said that I would have to wait about a week to hear the results. He
said from then on, we could meet again and talk more about flyers and a date to start.

2/17/17: I had been sending emails back and forth to Mr. Esposito, and we had decided to start
today. I had received an email in the morning around 9 am saying that they had to cancel the
lesson due to a high school in the town needing the gym. I felt sad because all week I was
excited to teach and start my capstone project finally. I had felt accomplished that I had
organized something like this all on my own and that it was much easier than I had thought. We
set up the following Friday as the official start of the lessons.
Allie Tully 10

2/24/17: Today was my first day of teaching at the Bristol Boys & Girls Club. I taught a
group of ten 11-year olds. I began the program by stretching then transitioned into the
questions. I began by asking them how many had played golf before and none of them raised
their hand however they kept saying they played mini golf. I then spoke about the fundamentals
and how a good athletic stance with a bow at the waist is the proper way to stand over the golf
ball. I then talked about and introduced two types of golf grips: the interlocking grip and the
baseball grip. I tried to simplify it as best as I could and related it to other sports too as a way of
helping. I thought it was a bit hard because it is a lot to comprehend and remember. I talked
about rotating with the core behind the ball and finishing through. I used a saying that my golf
coach used to tell me when I was little, waiter, belly button to help them. They had the drop
down net set up too with 2 mats so I had them split into two groups to help them feel comfortable
with contacting the golf ball. I noticed that some of them were very eager to learn where as some
not as much. I tried to encourage everyone, but not everyone wanted to be as patient as I tried to
get them to be. I remember in specific one of the groups wanted help so I assisted them one on
one then switched to the other group soon after. I thought it was so neat when they would ask me
for help and I would make a slight adjustment and they would swing and the ball would make
contact and even go in the air! Their faces would light up and I would be smiling because they
were happy too! I know that through the session I lost a few of them to their other various
activities they were a part of too at the club because they were not as interested, however by the
end there were a small group of 4 boys and they were so happy to learn. They all thanked me at
the end and called me Coach Allie, and one even gave me a hand shake. I felt so special
after that because I am usually in their shoes being taught versus being able to help someone and
seeing them be successful because of my teachings.

2/25/17: I volunteered at the First Tee of CT in Cromwell for their open house event. I
oversaw teaching the putting activities when I got there. I mainly saw younger children
between the ages of 4-10 (closer to 4 than to 10), which was very refreshing and different
compared to the older kids Im used to working with. I loved how they called me Coach Allie
too and how engaged they were. We had activities such as long putting, then putting through a
bridge, and then tic tac toe. I started at the first station (long putting) and taught them how to
stand and hold the putter. At the First Tee, they tell their students to wait when it is not their turn
in an area where there can be no potential risk of harm so they told me about their The First Tee
Allie Tully 11

Way. This was when the child would hold the putter upside down and stand in the circle about 4
ft. behind the person putting. I thought it was so cute to tell them hold you putter the first
tee way and wait your turn and they would listen. I also taught them tic toc to link
sound with a movement so that they would put in a solid stoke and smoothly like a
clock/pendulum. It was adorable when they would come up to hit and I would say
remember tic toc and they would continuously repeat it out load while they were putting.
I also felt so excited and high-fived them when they would make a putt and their faces would
have the biggest smile in the world. It was amazing to see them improve too in the little time I
spent one on one with them and how they would go from barely hitting the ball or putting too far
to consistently putting it in the hole. I also enjoyed being able to talk to parents as well as other
coaches there too and they could see how much better the kids got in that short amount of time
too.

3/3/17: I taught at the BBGC today. Prior to this day (the beginning of the week) I had come up
with a lesson plan on doing various activities such as tic tac toe, chipping into hoops, playing H-
O-R-S-E, and chipping into the ladder. I had emailed my lesson plan to the head director whom I
always get in contact with, DeAndre, to ensure there were soft golf balls there so we could use
the gym floor. However, in his email back to me, he mentioned to me that he was going to be
away on a business trip in Chicago but Ty was going to be there to help me again. I emailed him
my lesson plan in hopes of having him pass along the email to him since I did not have it nor was
it on their website. Unfortunately, I did not receive a confirmation email back from D'Andre so I
emailed the head teen director to see if she could pass along the message however her email was
an automatic replay saying that she was going to be out of the office until March 7th. I began to
feel a little unsure since I had no way of making sure that the soft golf balls were going to be
there. If they were not, then my lesson plan would not have worked since we would not have
been able to use hard golf balls outside of the net which only can take two people at a time.
When I came there in the afternoon to teach I walked in with my mats I had purchased,
however I walked into the gym and saw about 4 times as many kids running around
compared to the weeks prior of only about 11 kids who sat against the wall. I immediately
was thinking- oh my gosh I can't handle this many kids at once, I can barely handle some
of the kids in the group of 11 to patiently wait for me as I would try to help another kid for
a few seconds. Surely enough, I asked one of the adults in the room for Ty and we had talked.
Allie Tully 12

He told me he had forgot about the golf and that there was open gym today for all the kids since
he had arrived late. He asked me what I was going to be doing today and I told him I was
planning to teach chipping. He mentioned D'Andre did leave a bag of soft golf balls for today's
lesson and he asked me about how many kids of the 44 running around I was looking to teach
today. I said about 11 however knowing that some of them come and go since they get picked up
at different times. They lowered the curtain over half the gym which was very nice and I set up
my activities for the children. I wasn't sure how successful some of the activities would be but I
did have a wide variety of them just in case some of them were more excelled at this than others.
A group of about 11 kids came over and at first, they were so interested in the clubs that they
barely listened to me. I told them about 3 times to put the clubs away because it was important to
stretch first. I saw a few of the same faces from the week before but there were a lot of new ones
too. Since I was teaching a completely new skill I didn't have to worry so much about back
tracking for those who missed the week before since they were going to be preforming a
completely different type of swing. During the lesson, I could go to them one on one and show
them how to properly chip. I associated the "whooshing" sound of the bottom of the club
brushing over the top of the mats as the sound you always wanted to hear when preforming this
skill. I told them to make sure that their hands were close together and that their "butt of the grip"
was leaned forward in front of the golf club head making a swing that was below their waist. I
remember seeing a bunch of smaller children than the week before which resulted in the issue of
many of the clubs being too long. They all happened to be the same length and these clubs
were much larger than the clubs they should have been using. As a solution, I had decided
to have them choke up on the club even more but many of them expressed that it felt a bit
uncomfortable at times. In that moment, too I remembered one little boy mentioning that he
couldn't get the golf ball off the ground and in the air a slight bit because the club was too heavy
for him. He wanted to try chipping with a putter instead because it was lighter however I had to
explain that it wouldn't go in the air either. I worked with him for a few brief moments before
shifting on to the next kid and during that time I had helped him get the ball in the air and even
landing in the hoop with some guidance of the swing. I asked him to do it on his own and he
could perform the swing however the main issue was the club was way too big and way too
heavy for a kid his size. As I went around to help each kid with their chips I noticed that just in
those 3-4 min of helping them, I saw a vast improvement and some of them even kept calling me
Allie Tully 13

over to watch them chip it in the hoop. Some of the bigger issues I always notice during my
lessons are that since BBGC runs on multiple children's activities and every child is given the
opportunity to explore I always will see kids leave to their new activity or I will get new kids to
replace them. It's tough and frustrating as a teacher when you have made so much progress but
the child will leave because it's either too hard and that their age they also loose attention very
quickly. Teaching the newer children who walked through the door I noticed was a bit difficult to
re-explain while many of the other kids also asked me to watch them. I noticed teaching 11 kids
in a "revolving door" type of style is difficult because each one you want to give your full
attention too so that they can succeed but it is very difficult as one person. Many of the
children were happy though with the results that they had been seeing and when they got the ball
in the air they felt so happy and it put a smile on my face too. When they could show me that
they could perform the skill on their own, I would give them a high-five and say good job to
reinforce that they were doing so well. I especially loved that towards the end of the lesson that
these two boys were still so interested that they were willing to stay a few more minutes later for
me to help them while we were cleaning up. Ty told me that he could clean up while I was
helping these two boys chip the ball in the hoop. I could help them and one of them was
unable to get it in the hoop without help from me however he was so close every time! I
asked both if they would be back next week for my next lesson: putting, and both ensured
me that they would be.

3/5/17: I assembled two life sized tic tac toe boards out of duct tape for my putting lesson
coming up Friday. I had this idea from talking with other volunteers at The First Tee and they
mentioned that tic tac toe boards are great for chipping and putting. I wanted to keep the kids
engaged and I thought of how many the kids liked the putting games at The First Tee. I felt that
incorporating some of those ideas into the Bristol Boys & Girls Club would be beneficial to them
because it was taking a familiar game and turning it into teaching and applying golf skills. While
making these tic tac toe boards out of duct tape, I found it extremely difficult to lay two pieces
on top of each other so that it was double sided without the sticky part. It looks so simple and
sounds so simple to, but it was one of the hardest things to accomplish. I messed up probably
about 3 times before I finally figured out an easier way of doing it. I found that I had often not
put the two pieces together in a straight line so I would have to fold over edges so that a golf ball
wouldnt stick to them. It took me some time and a lot of patients! I notice that much thought
Allie Tully 14

goes into my lessons plans especially when I want to hand-make something to use for golf and
that maybe next time I should choose an activity that can be put together easier.

3/6/17: I was emailed by the director of The First Tee asking to be a part of the team for the
Connecticut Golf Show. I was immediately in smiles when I first read this email because I
personally have never been and always wanted to go and, I felt that I must be doing such a good
job at The First Tee that they felt that I needed to be given more opportunity. I felt accomplished
in that moment and thought to myself that about few months prior, I was so unsure about
passing capstone and no one was emailing me back and now I have a capstone that is
running! I was super proud of myself and felt that I needed to share the great news. I had come
to realization that maybe I was going to graduate after all and that I could finally stop worrying
that I wasnt making enough of an impact or trying hard enough because it was physical proof
for me to see that I was in fact doing a great job. I diffidently was also surprised too because I
wasnt looking for doors to open for me through this process, but they are.

3/7/16: Not only the day before did I receive an email form the director at The First Tee, but
today I received an email from the Teen Director, Nicole Stere, at the Bristol Boys and Girls
Club! She formally emailed me back after her automatic reply about passing along a message for
March 3rd. She emailed me about volunteering and helping with their event called, dudes
night. The director explained the event as being very fun with lots of food and about 300
people were going to be there. Ms. Stere told me that it would be super cool and great if I
could teach golf to the people that were there. This email diffidently did take me by surprise. I
was even happier than the day before since I was not expecting for another email to be like this-
giving me another opportunity. I was diffidently honored that they suggested this and
immediately thought of me over everyone else who they possibly could have asked. I have never
taught a group of 300 people and sometimes even teaching the small group of 11 kids can be a
handful for me. I think that this second email from someone who had high status in the
organization gave me a sense of security that maybe I was good at teaching golf and I was
making more of an impact than I had thought because they want to see more of me.

3/24/17: Today I helped with the Dudes Night Out event at BBGC. I arrived early to help set up
and I was impressed with every activity that was there. There was everything from an inflatable
obstacle course to learning about sports. I oversaw teaching golf and having the children hit golf
Allie Tully 15

balls of their own. Prior to this day, I was thinking about what activities would be fun and I was
considering doing a putting activity since so many children liked it at The First Tee of CT. I
brought my tic tac toe boards I made as well as some putters I had gotten from savers that were
for children since many of the putters there are adult sized. Before leaving I grabbed one of my
old clubs from when I was younger and a sleeve of tennis balls too just to have in case. When I
was at the event hearing from the teen director that she was looking for me to teach long shots, I
was a bit disappointed and felt unprepared. I had everything to teach putting and the net was up
for learning to hit. I had to adapt quickly and change lessons, however I was so glad I was
prepared for something like this in case. I had the junior driver and tennis balls (3 of them)
which I would use for those children who have never played work on hitting a larger object
first before hitting a golf ball. I used problem solving skills and asked one of the people
there at BBGC for a small donut cone to use as a tee. During the beginning of the event it was
quite slow and not many children came over to the station, but as time progressed there were
about 300+ children and their fathers who came. I found it difficult at times too to help all the
kids when it was there turn in a short amount of time since long lines began to form. I was very
impressed however how many times I did see some of the same kids come back in the line.
Also, I think that some of the fathers were impressed to see me teach their son about the sport
and help them quickly advance. I also saw many people there I knew such as members at my
club or family friends who came out to support this event. At one point one of the fathers who is
a member at my club, said I could possibly teach his five-year-old young son this summer
because he was so impressed with me.

3/25/17: I had an early morning at the Hartford Convention Center in Hartford, CT where I
helped The First Tee of CT at their booth at the Connecticut Golf Show. Upon setting up, the
director of the whole expo explained that the day before there was a crowd of over 2,000
people who attended, which was the biggest crowd they had ever had. I was excited to see
what was in store for the upcoming day. Mr. Moriarty explained that we would have to blow up
this large inflatable that the children would use to hit golf balls inside of. He put me on the duty
to facilitate the children who came to the booth when they were going to hit as well as talk about
the program with them. It was the advertised day as kids day which meant that several young
junior golfers were going to be there. He told me that they had come up with the idea for a small
passport where every child could go to the different booths and preform a task and receive a
Allie Tully 16

stamp until the book was completed. I liked seeing all the young children who attended that day
and I loved seeing all the families that stopped to talk with everyone there about the program.
During my time there, I had met the executive director of The First Tee which I thought was
a huge deal. Immediately off the bat he loved me and how I was always smiling. He said that
at The First Tee it is exactly what they look for. In addition, I got to know him and he told me all
about the organization as well as the history. He said that he was going to be introducing a good
friend of his to us all that supports this organization. I was not expecting him to tell me his good
friend was Tiger Woods caddy. My network of people in the golf industry has grown so much
just alone with The First Tee and they were able to open even more doors for me. As I was
teaching too throughout the day I loved hearing from the parents and the children about their
questions with golf and I liked that I was on the other side of the coin where I was the one
talking about junior golf and the program rather than hearing it from someone. I liked that I was
able to share my experiences and even though I did not come from The First Tee, I have
now adopted some of their core values that they promote. Overall, I think that the day went
very successful and it was an opportunity like no other and by far one of the biggest events I
have ever seen. I was so grateful to be a part of it and The First Tee organization.

3/31/17: I had a putting lesson set up at the Bristol Boys and Girls Club all planned out to teach.
I was going to run the lesson similar to how they are run at The First Tee open houses since many
of the children were really entertained by it. One of my biggest issues when I got there was that
they had open gym again and I was put in their cage. There was not a lot of room to do the
activities I had planned for and I had to adjust. I did go along teaching putting and those them
put to a square, however during the lesson some of the kids seemed more interested in what
was going on around them rather than listening to me. I remember at one point one of the
boys asked me how much longer I was going to be here because hed rather play basketball
instead of learning. In that moment I felt disappointed and questioned if I was a good
teacher or not since he said that. I did assure him though that he should at least try today, and if
he felt that after today he really did not like it, he could choose to opt out for another activity
running at the same time (since its free gym period to do whatever theyre interested in). He did
end up leaving halfway through the activity anyways, but since space was limited and I did not
have the space to do all the activities I had hoped, I changed the lesson to doing two groups of
Allie Tully 17

kids and they hit into the net. I think it was smart to change directions during that point
because it seemed like they enjoyed it more since space was smaller.