By Vinnie Manginelli, PGA
Blake Sharamitaro started playing golf when he was 12 years old, tagging along with his uncle and brother, who were already casual golfers.
“As soon as I started playing, I wanted to keep getting better,” Sharamitaro, the PGA of America Director of Golf at Family Golf & Learning Center in St. Louis, Missouri, explains. “I began playing in local junior golf tournaments shortly after taking up the game and have been hooked on golf ever since.”
Sharamitaro caddied at a few local clubs in St. Louis during middle school and high school, and caddied in Denver while attending Regis University, where he played golf for four years.
Sharamitaro had no plans of working in the golf industry, but with the economy as it was when he graduated from college in 2008, finding a job within his intended field was difficult.
“A teammate of mine from the golf team gave me the opportunity to live with him in Oregon and work at the club where he was the assistant professional at that time,” Sharamitaro explains. “This is when I got my start in the business.”
Sharamitaro loved Portland, but found the excessive rain too much at times, so he moved back to Denver later that fall and got a job as an assistant golf professional at Riverdale Golf Club in Brighton, Colorado, where he worked through the PGA’s Professional Golf Management Program. Sharamitaro was elected to PGA membership in 2010.
“At the time, I was interviewed by someone at the PGA for having completed the PGM program faster than anyone had before. Maybe that record still stands?” Sharamitaro wonders. “Steve Bruening was our PGA of America General Manager at Riverdale. He was a great mentor and played a big role in my development as an assistant pro and instructor. Steve taught me the importance of teaching off of ball flight and how to adapt my instruction to different body types.”
After three years at Riverdale, Sharamitaro assumed the First Assistant role at Lake Arbor Golf Course in Arvada, Colorado. Six years later, he went back to Riverdale to pursue coaching and teaching full-time and spent his last three years in Colorado as the PGA of America Director of Instruction at Riverdale.
“I had always taught a lot, in addition to my assistant professional duties, but I decided to focus on teaching full-time,” he says. “Riverdale was a great place to do that with the two courses and vast practice areas. I could create any programs and teach as many students as I could handle.”
Today, as the PGA of America Director of Golf at Family Golf and Learning Center in St. Louis, Sharamitaro and his colleagues strive to be the premier facility to learn, practice and enjoy the game of golf.
“We have a nine-hole Par 3 course, double-decker driving range with heaters and fans to keep golfers comfortable, indoor Trackman simulators, an indoor putting and a practice room called the Scoring Lab,” Sharamitaro explains. “We have a fitness center upstairs where our golf-specific fitness trainers and chiropractor operate their businesses. As far as teaching technology is concerned, we use Trackman inside and outside. I also use the CoachNow app with my students for videos and the Operation 36 framework for most of our group programs.”
Owned and operated by award-winning PGA of America Golf Professional Adam Betz, Family Golf and Learning Center has one of the biggest PGA Jr. League programs in the country. With Sharamitaro in charge of growing this vital PGA initiative, he has enjoyed watching it flourish from just a couple of teams to the 11th-largest program in the country.
“We have the perfect course to introduce juniors to the game, and we have a great time coaching the young golfers,” Sharamitaro tells us. “I also coach the Competitive Jr. Program, which is a program designed for kids who play in tournaments and want to take their game to the highest competitive level. Now in the 3rd year of that program, we have had great success in helping players make their college teams, actually sporting a 100 percent success rate. This is one of the most rewarding parts of any program that I do.”
Sharamitaro, who by the way was the 2023 Gateway PGA Section Teacher of the Year and won the Section’s Player Development and Youth Player Development awards in that same year, hosts programs for all types of golfers, regardless of age or skill level. From beginning juniors to advanced kids looking to play in college, they have a program for all, and have even expanded their adult programs, as well. The facility has eight instructors who teach more than 6,000 lessons per year.
When asked what trends he sees manifesting in the game, Sharamitaro cites the growth of off-course golfers. He says they have plenty of golfers at Family Golf who use their facility, but don’t play on traditional golf courses.
In addition, he says that simulator golf has grown tremendously over the last few years. As a result, they host indoor leagues and tournaments in the winter, and Sharamitaro says that everyone “has a blast” playing in them.
Finally, Sharamitaro, a 2024 GRAA Top 100 Growth of the Game Teaching Professional, highlights the increase in golfers taking care of their bodies and becoming more fit to play better golf. Family Golf’s on-site chiropractor, Dr. Zach Cutler, has penned several articles for our sister publication Golf Fitness Monthly, the monthly digital publication of the Golf Fitness Association of America.
“Dr. Cutler does a great job of making the process convenient for everyone who visits our facility,” he says. “He and his staff of trainers help a lot of our students and customers get their bodies healthier so they can play better golf and enjoy the game more. I don’t see this trend slowing down, as more strength and flexibility, and less pain are not only good for our games, but for all aspects of life.”
