United States Golf Teachers Federation

1 Dec 2023 admin

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT – TALEAH WASHINGTON

By Chrisopher Warner

As teaching professionals, we find ourselves associating and working with students from all walks of life, possessing numerous skill levels, and the opportunity to bring great joy to others through the wonderful sport of a lifetime.

In 2017, I was blessed with the opportunity to work with a gifted and aspiring student named Taleah Washington. The connection was quite unusual, however, in that I live in Houston, Texas, and Taleah’s parents live in South Grand Prairie, Texas, about 250 miles apart. As it was, Taleah was a freshman in high school, involved in five different sports simultaneously. At a point in time, the coaches met with her and advised her that she couldn’t possibly show up to practice every day with each activity, so she would need to choose one sport and give the rest of them up. With no hesitation however, she advised them that she wanted to be on the golf team. Here was a young black girl desiring to play on the golf team despite the fact she had never even attempted to try the sport. This did surprise the coaches, but as a headstrong and determined young lady, she had her mind made up. It was soon discovered that her parents were friends with Brittany Lang and Michelle Wie West of the LPGA Tour. Ironically, at the end of a tournament in the past, I had given Michelle a golf teaching business card with my personal information on it, asking if she would send a signed photo to hang on my wall.

I never received the picture, but Michele still had my card, which she shared with Taleah’s parents, and they were advised to give me a call. Her advice was taken and after about a 45-minute phone conversation, an agreement was made for me to work with Taleah. From the beginning, there were two recognizable aspects that excelled her very rapidly. One was her absolute focus on what she was learning, and the other was her great attitude. She was patient and willing to absorb any information I provided to her. Her determination to succeed was unquestionable, and she gave it all that she had with a true spirit of learning. Every afternoon after school, she would go to the range and hit balls as well as play until it was too dark to see.

Beyond the typical teaching of striking the ball and obtaining consistency, I taught her how to work the ball and endure adversity in awkward and unusual situations. This built her confidence and ability to properly navigate any course, no matter the conditions. As a result of her diverse capabilities and navigational skills, she was very successful in winning numerous tournaments and setting records. In May 2018, she was invited to participate in the Colonial Junior Invitational. To add to that, she worked at the Ben Hogan Learning Center with The First Tee program and was selected to participate in a PGA Tour Champions event representing the state of Texas alongside Rod Pampling at Pebble Beach in 2021.

Taleah has since gone on to enjoy a full golf scholarship at Prairie View A&M University, where she is majoring in business administration and marketing. All of this is a result of her sheer determination, sacrifice, and ability to decide what she wants in life and not allowing anything to discourage her. I couldn’t be prouder.

“PRO” FILE – USGTF MEMBER “PRO” FILE – USGTF MEMBER TONY MCMULLIN

Tony McMullin of Cincinnati, Ohio, is not your typical Master Golf Teaching Professional. His story of how hard he worked to become one would certainly tell you that. His golf career began in 2000. He was 37 years old and had recently been forced away from his first love, baseball, by an injury. But being competitive of nature, he began to look for the next chapter he could compete in. He found it in golf.

He came home one day and informed his wife that he wanted to “get into golf.” Her response was, “Well, that’s an expensive sport. You better find a way to pay for it.” Little did they both know that golf would become more than just the “thing we got into,” as McMullin now says. Realizing that he needed a place to practice and play, McMullin found a part-time gig at a local course working the pro shop desk and washing carts. In return, he made a little cash and got to play and practice for free.

McMullin worked as a truck driver at the time. His schedule was to go into work at the trucking company at 3:00 a.m. and work until 2:00 p.m. Then, he would go to the course where he worked until 9:00 p.m., three days a week. On his off days at the course, he would practice until dark, then go home and do it all again the next day.

It all paid off. Within a year, he won his flight of a local club championship. Later that year he landed a full-time job as the assistant golf professional of that same course, and his golf career was off and running.

McMullin continued to play competitively and began to teach the game of golf in 2001. He had found his passion in golf instruction. As his career continued to rise, he went from assistant golf professional to head golf professional at Harmon Golf Club in Lebanon, Ohio. It was there in 2015 he founded SmartGolf Academy. McMullin’s golf instruction and passion now had started to grow into a business. In 2018 he decided to leave the “golf course business” and go into professional golf instruction full time with his academy.

Since then, McMullin and his SmartGolf Academy have continued to grow. He joined the ranks of the USGTF in 2020, becoming a Master Golf Teaching Professional with the organization in 2021. He became the Central Region director that same year and is now a WGTF Top 50 Instructor. McMullin has taught junior golf beginners and taken them to the levels of Ohio district and state qualifiers, as well as instructing would-be college golfers.

He has taught a number of adult players who now play competitively on local and regional amateur tours, using FlightScope launch monitor technology along with video training. All the while, as McMullin says, “I am continuing to learn about the game, the swing, and how to speak people’s learning language to accelerate their performance.”

These days, you can find McMullin teaching at his golf academy at the Southwest Golf Ranch in Lebanon. He also has a full-service website and online academy, as well as a newly established YouTube channel, SmartGolf Academy’s “Golf Unplugged.” You can find out more about McMullin and the SmartGolf Academy at SmartGolfAcademy.org.

THE 9TH USGTF-KOREA PRESIDENTIAL GOLF TOURNAMENT WAS HELD SUCCESSFULLY

The 9th USGTF-Korea Chairman’s Cup Member Golf Tournament was held on Monday, November 13 at Club D Songnisan Golf Course in Boeun-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do. The competition was held for those who passed regional qualifiers as full members of the USGTF-Korea and amateur players recommended by full members of the league, and was divided into five professional divisions: Men’s General, Men’s Senior, Grand Senior and Women’s General, Women’s Senior, and Amateur.

Young-min Ko won the Men’s General section; Man-wook Heo won the Men’s Senior section; Yong-tae Lee won the Grand Senior and Women’s General section; Eun-joo Kim won the Women’s Senior section, and Choi Won-il won the Amateur section. Pro Tae-hyun Kwon took second place in the Men’s General section while pro Seong-min Yoo took third. Pro Won-gil Lee took second place in the Men’s Elderly section and pro Pan-ho Lim took third place.

Professional Joo-bong Sung took second place in the Grand Senior and Women’s General division, and professional Soo-jin Ha took third place. In the Women’s Elderly category, professional Gun-hwi Won came in second and professional Eul-soon Yoon came in third.

Hee-tae Lee took second place in the amateur division, and Kyung-man Kim took third place. In addition, Ki-won Jung was awarded the Model Player Award, and the winner was awarded a prize, a trophy and a certificate.

Rather than a fierce ranking competition among participants, the competition has become a place where all participants, including their partners, and game executives share their warm feelings with a smile as the participants demonstrate their golf skills.

December 2023