First Tee of the Triad is no more.
Not that the organization doesn’t exist, but it is now called First Tee – Central Carolina.
President of First Tee – Central Carolina Mike Barber a former Greensboro city councilmember and former chair of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, said the name change went into effect in November, but that he had been working on it for about a year.
According to its website, First Tee is an organization that provides “a way to bring golf to kids and teens that otherwise would not be exposed to the game or its positive values.” It aims to teach core values and life skills as part of basic golf instruction.
About the name change, Barber said, “Triad is not a good name. Triad around the world means Asian organized crime.”
He added, “We would attend national networking meetings and no one would have a clue where we were from.”
By contrast, Barber said that everybody knew where the Carolinas were. And he said, “Carolina has very positive image. For example, the Brits love the Carolinas.”
Barber said, “When we have a wonderful name like Carolina, shouldn’t we be jumping at the chance to use it.”
Barber said that this area was in desperate need of rebranding and he hoped that other organizations that had triad in their name would follow the lead of First Tee – Central Carolina and start using Central Carolina instead of the triad.
It’s not just that people are confused at the national and international level, a lot of people in North Carolina have no idea where the Triad is, and after you explain it, they often say, “Oh, the Triangle.”
To have a world famous Research Triangle and a not so famous Triad in the same state is confusing.
There is also the question of what exactly is the Triad. It is named for Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point, but how many counties are actually in the triad.
Well that depends on who you ask?
The Piedmont Triad Regional Council of Governments includes Guilford, Forsyth, Yadkin, Surry, Stokes, Rockingham, Caswell, Alamance, Randolph, Montgomery, Davidson and Davie counties.
So officially right now the Triad is a 12 county region in central North Carolina.
