The year 2020 will go down as one of the most unusual, if not the unusual, we will see in our lifetimes. The COVID-19 coronavirus wreaked havoc worldwide, with many countries going into lockdown mode and doing their best to keep people apart. Life in the United States was no exception as governors everywhere mandated business closures, including golf course facilities, in many states. However, a strange and unexpected thing happened: Most courses that were open saw a dramatic upsurge in rounds played and revenue generated, as people were seeking a safe outdoor activity. Golf fit that bill perfectly, and many golfers who had fallen away from the game returned. With the great news that highly effective vaccines are being approved, we should return to normal sometime by the middle to late part of the year, according…

The USGTF has launched a new feature on USGTF.com for its members. Now, all active members’ certification may be verified with a simple search of the name. All active members’ photo and certification level will be displayed for verification. This new feature is one more way that the USGTF is striving to help USGTF professionals with their careers. Along with the newly released Job Positing listings on www.USGTF.com, the USGTF continues to be committed to supporting our members and offering relevant benefits.

Southeast – A doubleheader of events, the 2021 USGTF Southeast Region Championship and the U.S. Professional Hickory Championship, will be held February 20-22, 2021, in Tampa, Florida. (Note: You can play in one or both events.) First up is the S.E. Region Championship at Bay Palms Golf Complex at MacDill Air Force Base. This two-round event will be played Saturday and Sunday, February 20-21. The entry fee is $200 for this 12:00 noon starting time event. A prize fund of $1,000 is assured with 12 players. The U.S. Professional Hickory Championship will be held on Monday, February 22, at Temple Terrace Golf & Country Club, also in Tampa. The purse for this championship is $5,000, and the entry fee is $100. Hickory golf clubs and balls are provided to players who are in need. The entry deadline for both…

A record 20 WGTF member nations contributed content to the current Winter 2021 edition of Golf Teaching Pro magazine. At the risk of leaving some out, it would be too long to list all the nations here, but it suffices to say that many countries are wanting to truly unite as one under the WGTF umbrella and grow the USGTF and WGTF brands. It is important to have this type of cooperation and coordination among the member nations for not only the health of the USGTF, but also each individual federation and its members.

An incredible finish by South Korea’s A Lim Kim resulted in her winning the very first major championship in which she played, the recently completed U.S. Women’s Open at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas. She birdied the final three holes on an extremely difficult track to edge world number one Jin Young Ko from South Korea and Amy Olson from the United States. Olson was playing the final round with a heavy heart as her father-in-law passed away unexpectedly after the third round of play. Japan’s Hinako Shibuno was the third-round leader, but she wasn’t satisfied with her performance up to that point as she spent a couple of hours on the practice range after the third round. She had reason to suspect her game was off-track as she…

Hollywood, California is where many stars in the entertainment business are made, but Holywood, Northern Ireland, can also lay claim to producing its own star. Rory McIlroy has been a fixture on the international scene since 2007 when he made a splash at The Open as an amateur. Turning pro in September of that year, he scored two top-four finishes in European Tour events to earn his card. Slated for stardom since he was a youngster, McIlroy has failed to disappoint. By the end of 2008 he moved into the top 50 on the Official Golf World Ranking, and in 2009 he won the Dubai Desert Classic for his first win. By this time, he was well known to golf fans everywhere, and great things were expected. In the 2011…

It seems like forever that a typical lesson consisted of a driving range, teaching pro and a student hitting golf balls. The pro would watch the student hit balls, dispense some advice, sometimes using training aids, and then send them on their way. While this type of lesson still exists, top teachers everywhere are turning to the technology of launch monitors, such as TrackMan, FlightScope and GC Quad. Formerly used mainly as clubfitting tools, these launch monitors are now becoming commonplace. What are the advantages vs. the disadvantages between teaching a traditional lesson and teaching a “modern” lesson? Modern Virtual Lesson, Advantages – Launch monitors offer the advantage of measuring, plain and simple. The teacher can know whether the clubhead path was left of, right of, or right down the target line at…