First Tee-Mexico continues to grow under Agustin Piza

When Agustin Piza was a kid growing up in Tijuana, Mexico, golf was just one of the many sports he learned to play.

“It never really caught my attention,” Piza says. “I preferred to play football, basketball, tennis -- whatever I could sweat and bump into somebody and get all muddy from the experience and everything. So, I was just being a kid out there.

“Golf never did it for me at that time. After he graduated from college with a degree in architecture and a desire to work in the sports arena, though, Piza decided it was time to give the game another try. He grabbed his old clubs and started to practice only to find his swing had deserted him.

“Then I was mature enough … to now stop and listen to the birds, listen to nature, enjoy the experience,” Piza says. “And of course, by then, since I lost my swing, I was like, holy moly, this is difficult.

“I'm like, whoa, wow. I thought this was easy. … Wait a minute. So, it taught me all these lessons in one afternoon, and I just got hooked.”

Piza has gone on to become a highly respected golf course architect with a masters from the University of Edinburgh and more than 70 projects on three different continents on his resume. He counts himself lucky to have worked with Jack Nicklaus and Tom Fazio, to name a few.

The decision to give back to the industry he loves was an easy one. First, Piza designed short course in Lima, Peru that serves 100 kids who might not otherwise have the chance to play the game. And seven years ago, he created Primer Swing to introduce youngsters to golf.

Carlos Ortiz and Abraham Ancer, who each picked up their first PGA TOUR wins last year, and Esteban Toledo, the first Mexican to win on PGA TOUR Champions, were on hand to help launch the program. Among those on Primer Swing’s board of directors was Benjamin Salinas, a billionaire businessman who is the vice president of the board of Grupo Salinas and was instrumental in bringing PGA TOUR golf to Mexico.

“And Mr. Benjamin Salinas spoke to me and said, ‘Hey, Agustin what do you think if we do it the other way around? What do you think if Primer Swing evolves to the First Tee of Mexico?’” Piza recalls. “Let's do this together.”

With Grupo Salinas as the primary sponsor, Salinas as the chairman and Piza as the director, First Tee — Mexico was launched in November 2017. It’s one of six international chapters in the First Tee network which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

Less than four years after launching First Tee — Mexico, some 300 kids participate at the 10 chapters, including the newest, Lomas de Coyococ, at Club Lomas de Coyococ, Morelos, announced earlier this week. Diamante Cabo San Lucas is also a new chapter.

“There is a saying, and a very famous saying that if everybody played golf, the world would be a better place, and I truly believe that,” Piza says. “It gives us all these tools and skills to understand life, to live it in an 18-hole round. …

“So, all of these lessons can translate into better human beings, better citizens of Mexico, better citizens of the world. And that is the objective.”

Ortiz, who grew up playing with his parents and grandfather and a close-knit circle of friends, loves seeing how First Tee — Mexico is exposing the game to a wider audience of kids.

“It's great, especially in a country like Mexico, having golf accessible to everybody -- all kinds of people, not depending on having a private club or if your parents come from money or not,” he says. “I think what they've done starting and taking it on, the Salinas family, it's great to grow the sport because having these kids involving in sports and actually in a sport like golf, it's huge.

“Even though they end up becoming professionals or not, it's always going to have an impact in, in their life.”

One of the chapters is in Puerto Vallarta where the Mexico Open presented by Vidanta is being played this week. About 25 First Tee members were on hand to meet and take selfies with some of the PGA TOUR’s top players on Tuesday and attend a clinic presented by Ancer.

“These children appreciate everything,” Piza says. “It's arguably one of my favorite days of the year.”

First Tee — Mexico offers a character building program created around core values and empowering youth to build inner strength, self-confidence, and resilience that they can carry to everything that they do.. But First Tee — Mexico has added a key pillar – empathy.

“We thought that one was a very important pillar to have,” Piza says. “We think empathy is what's lacking in this world nowadays.”

In addition to the character building and teaching the kids how to play golf, First Tee — Mexico has a program built around the skills it takes to maintain a golf course -- how to mow a green, how to rake a bunker, how to edge the bunkers, … and ultimately how to operate a golf course.

“So, we're teaching them not only the core values, not only the game, but also a set of skills so that they can, when they finish the program, they would hopefully push themselves and become part of this industry,” Piza says. “And with our context, somebody can give them a job or a part-time job, and they could hopefully pay for their studies and continue with their lives.

“That's what we want to achieve. That's what we're shooting for. We're shooting for a chapter in every state of Mexico so that every corner of Mexico can have this opportunity of learning this fabulous game of life that has all of these and offers all of these indirect and direct advantages -- sustainable advantages, the economic and the ecologic, and in the social aspect.”