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2 Dec 2024 admin

SEASON’S GREETINGS FROM USGTF NATIONAL OFFICE

As we head into December and the holiday season, we hope everyone in the USGTF family finds personal happiness, professional fulfillment and an optimistic outlook for 2025. The USGTF is doing its part to make your experience with our organization stronger, including upgrading our certification program to make your USGTF membership even more respected in the golf industry.

As usual, we also have our wide array of member benefits of which you may take advantage, such as equipment discounts, continuing education opportunities and discounted liability insurance, to name but a few. If there is anything we can do to help you or if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at member_services@usgtf.com or call us at (772) 88-USGTF.

2 Dec 2024 admin

GOLF TEACHING PRO MAGAZINE HITTING YOUR MAILBOX SOON

Golf Teaching Pro magazine, the official member publication of the USGTF and WGTF, has gone to print and will be arriving soon in your mailbox. Articles of great interest to all USGTF members and instructors everywhere are once again featured, including items by such luminaries at Thomas T Wartelle, Jerry Ellstrom and Mike Stevens.

The magazine is an annual publication, and we welcome submissions from our members. If you would like to contribute to next year’s edition, please forward your article to info@usgtf.com for consideration.

2 Dec 2024 admin

SOUTHEAST CHAMPIONSHIP TO KICK OFF REGIONAL ACTION IN 2025

The USGTF Southeast Region Championship will be played in mid-February in central Florida, with the exact date and location to be revealed in the next e-newsletter coming out January 1. For those of you who live up north, it would be a great time to get away for a competitive vacation, as regional events feature low entry fees, great courses and camaraderie with your fellow members. Inquiries about the Southeast Region Championship can be directed to Mark Harman at mark@usgtf.com.

2 Dec 2024 admin

USGTF-KOREA CUP FEATURES FIVE WINNERS

The 10th annual USGTF-Korea Presidential Cup Members golf competition was held this past fall at British Base Country Club in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province. Five champions were crowned: Young-min Ko (general division); Min-ke Park (men’s senior division); Soon-jin Ha (grand senior division and women’s general division); Se-jeong Park (women’s senior division) and Young-guk Song (amateur division).

Amateur players who shot the age- and gender-based scores required for the playing ability test were given a certificate of acceptance to take the practical tests, and all division winners automatically have qualified for the 2025 presidential competition.

Beyond simple ranking competition, this competition has become a place of harmony where participants demonstrate their skills fairly, and both participants and USGTF-Korea executives shared in the camaraderie and friendships. USGTF-Korea will continue to hold competitions to provide various opportunities for members to develop their overall golf skills and other learning opportunities, growth and development in the golf industry.

2 Dec 2024 admin

“PRO” FILE – TOURING PROFESSIONAL MAVERICK McNEALY

Graduates from Stanford University have many options at their disposal, and Maverick McNealy was no exception. Despite being the top-ranked amateur golfer in the world, McNealy contemplated a career in the business world instead of professional golf, as his father Scott was a co-founder of Sun Microsystems. After much back-and-forth, golf won out and McNealy began his professional career in the fall of 2017.

His decision to pursue his love of the game was finally validated when McNealy captured the RMS Classic in late November for his first PGA Tour victory. His birdie on the 72nd hole avoided a four-man playoff, and he is now a PGA Tour winner. It surprises some that McNealy hadn’t won sooner, given his pedigree, but as anyone who has ever played knows, golf is a hard game, especially at the professional level. Now that the door has been knocked down, it’s a sure bet that McNealy will win more in the years to come, with major championship and Ryder Cup possibilities not out of the question.

2 Dec 2024 admin

“PRO” FILE – USGTF MEMBER DAVID SMITH

By David Smith

I was born May 13, 1968, in Chicago, Illinois, where I was raised until the age of 18. I attended St. Rita High School and graduated in 1986. When I was a young kid, I would visit my brother in Los Angeles in the summer. Back then, he did not have cable, so we only had a few channels to watch. I found myself captivated by golf, watching Gary Player, Lee Trevino and, of course, Jack Nicklaus. These guys just looked so cool playing this game and that is what inspired me to take up golf.

At the age of 9, I bought my first putter from Big 5 Sporting Goods, which I still have, and a sleeve of balls and began putting in my brother’s apartment. When vacation was over, I went back home to Chicago and asked I could take up golf lessons. Now, back in those days, there were no golf courses on the south side of Chicago and the other courses were not too keen on Black people playing there, as my parents explained.

There went my golf dreams until I turned 28. I had graduated from the University of Southern California and had taken a position with Hughes Communications. An old co-worker of mine was heading to the range at lunch time, and I asked if I could tag along. He tried his best to show me the swing, but he was just not that good, yet I had so much fun. I was re-inspired again to take up golf. For two years I took lessons and started playing. I was getting to be very good, but then my mobile deejay business took off and I put golf down until I was 38. I picked it back up again and went full-out learning and playing. After a very depressing time at my job, I came to realize that I just did not want to go to work and come home; there had to be something else. I was watching a golf tournament where Tom Watson, at 60-something of age, was still hanging with the young golfers and staying in contention. I saw this and said I want to do something in golf and that is when it hit me: I wanted to teach. I did not want the fame and the glory of the tour players, but I wanted to provide an opportunity to golfers to learn the game. I wanted to show other ethnically diverse people that we can not only play but we can help others come into the game. And this set me on my journey to becoming an instructor.

I was certified in 2017, but I have almost 19 years of experience in golf learning, training and playing. I coached a USGLL golf team to a second-place finish; have volunteered for The First Tee program in Orange County, California; was actively involved in the Los Alamitos High School Girls Golf Booster Club from 2012-2016; managed several golf fundraisers for the Los Alamitos High School girls golf team, and before being certified, I taught several individuals, including my wife, to play this great game.

My next biggest challenge is to try and establish a Division II women’s golf program at California State University-Dominguez Hills in Carson by 2025. This is a cause that is close to my heart and must come to fruition to not only give our young ethnically diverse women a place to play, but a chance to play and compete collegiately in this great game.

2 Dec 2024 admin

USGTF INDUSTRY PARTNER – MIZUNO GOLF

“Nothing feels like a Mizuno” is a marketing slogan for the prominent golf company, but many aficionados swear it’s true. Mizuno, a longtime industry partner of the USGTF, has clubs that fit every skill level, from its famous line of blade irons to the player-friendly JPX line. In recent years, Mizuno has upped its driver game to feature some of the best on the market. And not to be outdone, Mizuno’s wedge line has been refined to be among the game’s best, too.

Not known as a golf ball company, Mizuno has a winning lineup of tour-level balls that are equal to the best in the game, if not better. Wind-tunnel testing assures optimum aerodynamic performance, along with providing the distance and stopping ability the best players demand.

USGTF members may take advantage of Mizuno’s generous personal use discount program by calling the National Office at (772) 88-USGTF or (772) 595-6490.

2 Dec 2024 admin

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT – WILL ALCOCK

By Jim Rondeau

I have been a member of the USGTF for 20 years. Over my 20 years, I have had many students, but none like this young man Will Alcock. He is an excellent listener, learner and student at Sturgis West Charter School in Hyannis, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. I started coaching the golf team there this past year.

Will is a big kid and has been playing a couple of years. He got into The First Tee Program and he and his friends enjoyed it. He had regular shafts in his clubs that played like buggy whips, so we got him some new clubs this past year with stiff shafts. They make a big difference. He’s good enough to play in the fifth position on our team but has had more success playing from the seventh position. In our high school golf here, we take the best six scores aggregate to make up the team score.

The most notable thing he has said to me is how he learned more from me in one day then the entire season last year. I can only attribute this to my experience with the USGTF. In fact, I went through the USGTF certification process twice to learn as much as I could.

Will also has a 3.98 GPA on a 4-point system. He also volunteers with Special Olympics and works part time at his family’s business. He is also my undergraduate assistant helping me email and report our scores to the news outlets. He is also a member of the basketball team and enjoys sailing. His plans after high school are not set in stone, but he’s looking into engineering programs at UMASS-Amherst and Embry Riddle, among others.

2 Dec 2024 admin

EDITORIAL – LOOKING FOR A CAREER AND A NEW LIFE? LOOK NO FURTHER THAN THE USGTF

Looking for a new career and a new life? Look no further than the USGTF. As the ‘leader in the field of golf instruction,” the USGTF has provided thousands of people with the opportunity to teach the game that they love. With a certification that is recognized worldwide and by the entire golf industry, USGTF members enjoy the benefits that many only dream about.

Whether you want to teach part-time or make teaching golf your full-time career, there is no better option than the USGTF. Our rigorous program of classroom theory and practical application on the lesson tee and the golf course gives each candidate the tools necessary to succeed at a high level. Many USGTF members are recognized leaders in their communities and have forged extremely successful careers.

In addition, USGTF members also enjoy numerous other benefits such as personal use discount programs from many industry partners, discounted liability insurance that many facilities require, competitive and marketing opportunities, along with continuing educational opportunities and belonging to a worldwide body of golf teaching professionals as part of the World Golf Teachers Federation.

If you are not yet a member and would like to explore the possibilities, please pick up the phone and call our National Office at (772) 88-USGTF. And unlike most businesses nowadays, where you reach a pre-recorded menu and take forever to get the person or department you need, a real person will answer the phone! There is no better time to start than now, as the end of the golf season is upon us and a new one will be beginning soon.