Core Program Lottery Information

Each season, First Tee hosts a lottery for participants at each program level (click here to learn more about the switch to age-based programs).


Our goal is to make the process fair for all parents/participants at the levels where we have the most program interest. Please read ALL the details below as there will be a couple of steps for parents to follow if your child is selected for a First Tee class.

Core Registrations (2-step system):
Step 1: 

  • Starting on the first day of the lottery and continuing for one week, log in or create a First Tee account by clicking here and add your children to as many class waitlists (lotteries appear as waitlists during the lottery period) as you’d like. 
  • You will not be asked to pay for any classes at that time.
  • You can register at any time over these 7 days, and there will be NO preference given to families who are first to register. Unfortunately, there is no way to order your waitlists/lotteries in order of preference. All entries will be ordered the same, and one will potentially be chosen at random.

Step 2: 

  • For two days following Step 1, the Core Program randomized lottery will be drawn from “waitlist” entries.
  • Families selected for each class will be contacted via email. 
  • Once a child is selected in one lottery, they are automatically removed from all other lotteries and cannot be chosen for more than one class.
  • Lottery families will HAVE LESS THAN 48 HOURS to click the link in their email, log back into the registration system, and either pay or apply for financial aid.  
  • Due to the nature of the registration system, after 48 hours, you will be moved to the bottom of the waitlist. There is NOTHING First Tee staff can do if you miss this window. All unpaid spots will automatically go to the next families in the randomized lottery.  
  • Please CHECK YOUR SPAM on the evening of the lottery to make sure no registration-related emails went there. Emails are sent from [email protected]. You may also want to add that email address to your address book.
  • You can also check if you’ve been selected for a class at any time by logging into your account here and looking at the shopping cart icon in the top right-hand corner. If there is a number other than 0 in your cart, then there is a class(es) in your cart ready to check out.
  • Families not selected in the lottery will be moved to the waitlist and will not receive an email. If a spot opens up for their child, they will then be notified and have 48 hours to complete the registration.

Please note that due to the fully random nature of this new process, siblings may not be selected for the same class or day, or one sibling may be selected while another is not. We will not be able to add any additional spots to classes for siblings.

Any classes with remaining spots after all lottery participants have been processed can register on a first-come, first-served basis.