“PRO” FILE – USGTF MEMBER – SCOTT HART

As a native of Michigan, Scott Hart started playing golf at the age of 8 with his father, who had cut off some old steel-shafted golf clubs to make them the right length for him. He quickly fell in love with the sport and devoted all his spare time to playing as much as possible. During high school, he would bike or drive several miles to play golf before school, then practice with the high school golf team after school. He would then go to work at a local restaurant and get up and do it again each day. He was taught only by his father and the game itself, until he met Jerry Ellstrom.

Hart continued playing golf throughout high school and during his eight years of service in the U.S. Navy as a nuclear engineer, where he captained his team to a base-wide championship. After leaving the Navy, he went into work in the computer field and achieved his bachelor’s degree in computer science. He continued to play golf on many different leagues and courses around the state of Michigan during the six months of the year they have available for golf.

In 2013 he married his wife Bobbie and they both enjoy golfing at every opportunity. In northern Michigan, they would put their golf clubs away every November and not see them again until mid-March or April unless they went on a golf trip someplace warm. His love for golf was too much to only play six months of the year, so he and his wife began searching for other options. In 2018 they researched all available simulator technology and determined that X-Golf met their needs and was a franchised model business. In 2019 Hart and his wife decided to try to change the mentality of weather-dependent golf, found a location and opened the X-Golf Traverse City. This has provided them, as well as local and not-so-local residents, a place to play during the winter months.

In 2022, after losing their resident golf instructor to an outdoor location, Hart set about his journey to become a golf instructor so that the lesson business they had worked so hard to cultivate at X-Golf Traverse City could continue to be successful. By this time, he achieved his Callaway club fitting certification, but did not feel that he was able to provide proper golf instruction. Hart checked out several golf instruction options and ultimately chose to contact the USGTF, earning his Associate membership.

In 2023, almost one year after obtaining his Associate title, and determined to succeed, he attended class in Las Vegas under the mentorship of Master Golf Teaching Professional Bill Rice, a master orator and consummate gentlemen of the game, and passed the playing ability test to become a Certified Golf Teaching Professional.

Since obtaining his teaching certificate, Hart has been providing lessons on a regular basis, providing club-fitting services and enjoy each of his students and customers and the challenges they each face together. He provides single lessons and group lessons but prefers the one-on-one interaction over the group lessons. He feels each person has their own swing, and group lessons don’t always apply to the individual.

Golf instruction has been challenging as well as rewarding, and Hart has fulfilled his lifelong dream of owning a golf business as well as improving the game for others with his instruction provided by the USGTF. He provides over 250 lessons per year while maintaining his full-time job as a senior systems engineer at the local hospital. When the time is right, he will retire and “just golf” indoors and outdoors.