President’s Message
As the front cover suggests, 2014 marks the USGTF’s 25th anniversary!
One of the things that I’m most proud of is having taken the golf teaching profession and making it a separate entity unto itself. This certainly needed to be done, because the golf teaching profession was too important to the game to have been ignored. Of course, the other thing I am proud of is having provided over 30,000 people worldwide the opportunity to teach the game. This fact was never more evident than at the recent World Golf Teachers Cup near Shanghai, China. To witness the passion for playing and teaching golf among so many of the participants was the most enjoyable part of the event for me. In fact, allow me to briefly share with you a three-month schedule of mine last fall.
I played in the USGTF Southeast Region event at World Woods Golf Club in Brooksville, on the west coast of Florida. These regional events around the country are designed for all of you to participate in and meet other members in your neck of the woods. I then flew to Detroit to meet with two USGTF members regarding an Internet opportunity for our organization. Soon after that, Australian GTF president Gary Cooney and I were invited by YongHo Kim, USGTF-Korea CEO, to play in the annual USGTF-Korea Golf Teachers Cup. A full field of 144 participants was present, and the event was sponsored by Yamaha Golf and Srixon Golf. Korea, by the way, has over 10,000 members in its golf teaching federation.
After the event, YongHo and his family took Gary and me to a beautiful, but very remote, mountain town in the southern part of the country to visit with a Buddhist priest. Of course, when people ask me what we spoke about for two days, the meaning of life was certainly a hot topic!
Home for only a few days, and then it was off to Cologne, Germany, to play in the annual European Golf Teachers Cup. This event was hosted by Uli Paetzel, president of the WGTF of Germany. Uli is a great ambassador for golf in the countries of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. He is also part owner of Burg Konradsheim Golf Club, a popular facility just outside of Cologne, where the event was held. Back to Florida to play in the annual USGTF-sponsored United States Match Play Championship®. The event was won this year by Florida resident Scott Newton in an exciting finish with Landon Bompensa, also a Florida resident.
Next, up to Memphis for our 18th annual national event, the United States Golf Teachers Cup, held at Tunica National. Canadians seem to be dominating this event with the overall title going to Grant Gulych from St. Thomas, Ontario, succeeding another Canadian champion, 2012
winner Bill Hardwick. Home again for only two days, and off to China for the biennial World Golf Teachers Cup hosted by Steve Mak, USGTF-China president, and vice president Toby Tse. This event, along with the USGTF-China Cup, had nearly 200 participants and can best be described as spectacular. Both the opening and closing banquet dinners were similar to Las Vegas shows.
Back to Florida for only a few days again, and then off to Orlando and the Legends Golf Club to participate in a two-day event put on by the Space Coast Tour, a new winter tour, scheduled at many of Orlando’s top facilities. Whew! Just as well I have an understanding wife…and dog!
Information on all of these activities can be found in more detail in this edition of Golf Teaching Pro magazine. Over the years, we have been fortunate to have some great writers who happen to be in the trenches teaching the game day in and day out. As many of you know, this publication, along with our monthly e-mails, are designed as ongoing education and to keep all of you informed with the very latest information and news on teaching the game. Additionally, now that we have our own coaches division, the World Golf Coaches Alliance, you will find great educational material for those who are helping competitive golfers.
After all of these years, when it comes to teaching golf, the very first sentence in our instruction manual to all teaching professionals throughout the world still holds true: “Golf is a game and it should be fun…the teaching professional who can let their personalities come out, get their students to laugh a bit and enjoy themselves are worth their weight in gold.” Every WGTF member has the ability to touch so many lives in a positive way. Thank you for sharing your passion and for all that you do in this regard. We have set a very high standard for teaching the game. The next 25 years are going to be even more exciting!
