“PRO” FILE – USGTF MEMBER ADRIAN BERNAL

By Adrian Bernal

It was in the spring of 2008, after playing golf steadily for 10 years, when I was approached by the owners of Targhee Village Golf Course (TVGC) in Alta, Wyoming. They were looking for an additional golf teaching professional as they had seen my progress and how I naturally had the tendency to coach others.

Prior to this in 1992, I was a competitive basketball player with hopes of making it into the NBA, having tryouts with several teams, but ultimately was unsuccessful. Regardless, I was drawn to coaching. I enjoyed coaching high school track, baseball, basketball and other disciplines, but never thought about golf because I did not play until I was 30 years old. Being a well-known athlete in the area, it was a given that I would eventually step into golf instruction once I became good enough and knowledgeable enough to do so.

After looking into the PGM program with the PGA, I was introduced to a USGTF golf teaching professional, Dennis Saylor, who has recently passed, and who was the golf teaching professional for TVGC that season. He was an Associate Member instructor, and he showed me the USGTF program.

Obviously, this fit my desired goals: to be a golf teaching professional. I wanted to be out with the people on the range and watch the joy on their faces as they progressed in their play; that was my passion. Therefore, I attended a certification course in Las Vegas, Nevada, under the instruction of Danny Lopez.

From 2008 to 2018, I was honored with having the title as the Head Golf Teaching Professional with TVGC under the USGTF banner. Throughout my tenure at TVGC, I held clinics for couples, seniors, and children, including giving individual lessons on the range as well as lessons on the course. After my summer clinic, I held a tournament for the children, which they always looked forward to with a BBQ at the end to celebrate.

In 2019, I moved to Maryland, and for the 2019-20 seasons I was the instructor for The Greens at Hamilton Run, a small, nine-hole municipal course in Hagerstown, Maryland, where I held clinics, gave playing lessons, and individual lessons. Since 2021, I have been a private instructor in Southern Florida in the Ft. Lauderdale area offering lessons for all ages and groups through AB Golf School. My continued desires are to obtain a certification in sport psychology (golf) with the USGTF, which is up my ally being a counselor and already doing it to some degree, as well as becoming a Master Golf Teaching Professional by the end of next year.