Ben Pellicani, the 2019 Tennessee PGA Section Middle Tennessee Chapter Teacher & Coach of the Year, is a PGA Teaching Professional at Westhaven Golf Club in Franklin, Tennessee.

Ben Pellicani on the importance of embracing technology to serve multiple needs:

I have a lot on my plate at the moment: my students here at Westhaven, a high school team I coach, a teaching app I’m a part of, teaching tour pros, and the building of a new indoor teaching area. This is where technology has saved me. A lot of what we do in golf has changed with technology, and coaching is really seeing new opportunities opening up. I have different styles for my teaching business, and different golfers like different styles of learning. Some really want that old school, lesson tee experience and others are OK indoors hitting into a screen so they can focus on motor patterns instead of ball flight. Then you have virtual lessons and online subscriptions and the potential that has to increase your customer base. I’ve taught lessons to people in 20 different states virtually from Tennessee this year.

Ben Pellicani on the business impact of embracing technology to serve multiple needs:

First, I have to learn everything I can about all these technologies, know their limits – and how they can actually help students. In the end, players still have to dig it out of the dirt, but technology can help you get there faster. It took me years as a young player to figure out things like my wedge distances and length of swing, but now I can get junior players and college players there with a much shorter learning curve. Then I also have to be OK with my students reaching out to me and uploading video or texting me at any hour (something my wife and I have accepted. It’s great that I can help from afar, but my phone never turns off.) I personally have a desire to work with the best players, and it used to be that you had to be in Arizona, South Florida or California. Now you don’t have to do that. I can stay here most of the time and hop from a lesson in the simulator or on the range to a virtual check-in with a college player at a tournament or a tour player working at his home club. At the end of the day, technology is a tool. We should all be able to go to the range with one club and a ball and help someone. But we have options that didn’t exist 20 years ago, much less five years ago, and if you want to take on the challenge, you can see your business grow pretty fast.

If you would like to email the author of this Best Practice directly, please email benpellicani@hotmail.com.