All members in good standing of the World Golf Teachers Federation are provided a digital card that can be accessed at the WGTF website. Simply log on to www.WGTF.com and from the menu at the top right of the home screen, select Member Search. Enter the first or last name of the WGTF member, click on the member’s profile, and a digital card will appear. The WGTF is the umbrella organization of all golf teaching federations worldwide.

Registration for the 26th annual United States Golf Teachers Cup, to be held Monday and Tuesday, October 24-25 at Plantation Preserve Golf Club in Plantation, Florida (just west of Fort Lauderdale), is now open. The entry fee of $525.00 includes two tournament rounds of golf, range balls before and after play, a closing banquet and awards ceremony, and prize money. Please contact USGTF headquarters to register at 772-888-7483.

By: WGTF Member, Arthur van den Dool Golf in Germany has always been a popular pastime, not in the least because international stars such as Bernhard Langer and Martin Kaymer, who both won major championships, originate from Germany. On the heels of this international exposure and success, the game of golf in Germany has shown steady progress over the years. However, things are changing. When we look at the numbers, the total number of active golfers in the last decade has seen substantial growth. Where in 2012 approximately 635.000 golfers were active on the many beautiful German courses, that number has risen to 673.000 in 2021. As far as gender is concerned, roughly 57% are male, 35% female and 8% junior players, with these figures not differentiating much from other…

Northeast: The 2022 Northeast Region Championship will be held Thursday, June 16, at Mountain View Golf Course in Ewing, New Jersey. The entry fee is $185. For more information and to enter, please contact region director Bob Corbo at simductivegolf@gmail.com. Central: The 2022 Central Region Championship will be held at the City of Mason Golf Center in Mason, Ohio, July 31- August 1. This course hosted the PGA Tour Champions Kroger Classic for almost 20 years; a fair and challenging course from all tees. The champion will have to play two solid rounds to be crowned here! The entry fee of $220 includes 18 holes and cart each day, range balls, skins game and prize fund. Tee times will start at 12:10 p.m. each day. The course is approximately 20…

It seems hard to believe that as talented and successful he has been that Justin Thomas only had one major championship victory entering 2022, that being the 2017 PGA Championship. That changed this past May when he once again captured the Wannamaker Trophy at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, outlasting Will Zalatoris in a three-hole playoff. Thomas now has 15 wins on the PGA Tour since 2015. Originally best known for being Jordan Spieth’s friend, Thomas has since forged an identity all his own. At 29 years old, the University of Alabama product has been a mainstay at the top of the professional game for a number of years. As a kid, Thomas always wore long pants because that’s what the pros did, and he always wanted to…

Lawrence Sykkmon is a USGTF Master Golf Teaching Professional and Titleist Performance Institute certified with over 20 years of experience, teaching both children and adults of all skill levels. He teaches at St. Marlo Country Club in Duluth, Georgia. Sykkmon started playing golf at the age of 19, and being a physical trainer at the time, he had some clients who wanted him to help them with their golf games. It wasn’t until he was in his 30s that he started teaching more seriously, and shortly thereafter he earned his USGTF credentials to have more credibility in the industry. He considered the PGA route but did not want to focus on other duties besides golf, so he found the USGTF to be a perfect fit. He has two YouTube channels;…

Mitchell Kalka, 18, has a bright future in golf, but equally impressive is the quality of person he is. According to his coach, USGTF professional Bruce Sims, Kalka “is just an all-around good kid. He’s a hard worker, he listens and is amenable to change.” Kalka started working with Sims at age 9 at Sims’ junior academy. He has played all four years on the varsity at Liberty High School in Frisco, Texas, and is the top-ranked AJGA player locally. He is signed to play college golf at the #1-ranked NJCAA Division 1 junior college golf team in the nation, Midland College in Midland, Texas. His dream is to graduate from junior college and then play for Texas Tech in two years. Kalka has also won numerous junior tournaments, and…

OnCore Golf, an industry partner of the USGTF, sponsors Tour professional Erik Compton, who called OnCore’s Vero X1 ball the best he’s ever played. As OnCore’s webiste said, OnCore golf balls are “engineered to outperform them all.” In addition to the Vero X1, there is the Elixr, Elixr 2022, and the Avant 55. There is an OnCore golf ball for every player. For more information on OnCore, please visit www.OnCoreGolf.com. For USGTF member pricing, please contact USGTF Membership Services at member_services@usgtf.com.

By: USGTF Technical Committee Launch monitors seem to be everywhere, from PGA Tour driving ranges to lesson tees. Video has also been a mainstay of instruction for almost four decades, and combined with launch monitors, it seems almost no stone is unturned in diagnosing a student’s problem. Yet, there are still old-school teachers who do not use any technology at all, instead relying on their eyes and experience to guide their instruction. And that brings us to the question, how much technology should be incorporated into the modern lesson? The obvious answer is as much as necessary in order to see and measure progress. The benefits of a launch monitor such as the GC Quad or TrackMan enable the teacher to tangibly measure any progress. For example, if a student…