God, Golf, Life Skills, Coaching and First Tee of Pittsburgh by Coach Bill Thompson

Coach Bill is a part-time Level 2 Lead Coach at 3 Lakes Golf Course in Penn Hills for First Tee of Pittsburgh.  When he’s not teaching golf to kids, he is involved at his church as an ordained Reverend and is very passionate about his beliefs. As an Ordained Reverend and a servant of my Lord Jesus Christ, I am called by God to teach the good news of the Gospel. In that, I have found myself blessed to have the opportunity to become one the Frist Tee of Pittsburgh’s second level lead coach for the Pittsburgh Chapter.  We are taught in the scripture Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he or she should go, and when he or she is old, he or she will not depart from it.”   The Lord has called me to live life by the fruit of the Spirit, which is a set of Nine Core values of God. Galatians 5:22-23 says “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, against such things there is no law. This mandate given by the Word of God is to live by, with love being above all. The First Tee organization has a set of Nine Core values, which are life skills. They are honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, respect, confidence, responsibly, perseverance, courtesy, and judgment.  These nine-core values of the Frist Tee are essential to becoming Good Golfers and Better People. So here is the connection to God and the game of Golf. The acronym of G.O.L.F; is God, On, Life, Fundamental. As a coach our motivation has to be out of love and out of love there is always a great outcome. Fruit of the Spirit (Our Motivation)                                                   Nine Core Value (The Out Come) Where there is Love there is——————————————————–Honesty Where there is Joy there is———————————————————-Integrity Where there is Peace there is——————————————————Sportsmanship Where is Longsuffering there is—————————————————-Respect Where there is Kindness there is————————————————–Confidence Where there is Goodness there is ————————————————Responsibility Where there is Faith there is——————————————————-Perseverance Where there is Gentleness there is———————————————–Courtesy Where there is Self-Control there is ———————————————Judgment We, as coaches, mentors, volunteers, administrators, and what-ever your belief may be, our motivation has to come out of love first. When we approach our participants with Love, they will become Good Golfers Better People. Submitted by Coach Bill Thompson, Lead Coach at 3 Lakes Golf Course in Penn Hills