By Vinnie Manginelli, PGA
When we talk about bringing new golfers to the range and educating players with years of experience, as well as those new ones who represent the future of the game, the Golf Range Association of America (GRAA) has an extensive list of Growth of the Game Teaching Professional award winners. These impressive coaches and teaching professionals, located from coast to coast, are implementing player development programming that is shaping the way golfers learn, improve and enjoy the game. One of those coaches is a PGA of America National Award Winner – John Hughes, the 2013 PGA Professional Development Award winner.
Hughes was introduced to the game of golf when he was just seven years old, when his father brought home a lost and found golf club from Bethpage State Park. John’s dad was not a golfer at the time, but their neighbor took him to play Bethpage and gave him the club to take home.
“The club stayed in the garage or our shed for years,” Hughes recalls, “and when we moved to North Carolina, my brother and I used it to hit golf balls we found under the power lines behind our house. One of our new neighbors, a golfer, once told me I couldn’t play soccer my whole life and needed to learn golf instead. He taught me how to hit a chip shot that day.”
Hughes’ neighbor would prove correct, as John gave up soccer for golf in college. He explains, “Early one morning, three guys were walking down the hallway of my dorm and woke me up. I gave them a piece of my mind and asked why anyone would want to play golf so early on a Saturday morning. One of the guys leaned over to me and said, ‘Because you can drink beer at the golf course that early in the morning.’ I asked if they could wait 10 minutes for me to shower and join them. They did, and I haven’t looked back since.”
Hughes began his career in golf in 1986, working at a privately owned golf retail store in Raleigh, North Carolina, giving free golf lessons with the purchase of a set of clubs. He was a good player by that time but didn’t know enough about golf to engage in detailed conversations with customers. Grip and alignment were the two lessons he could provide with confidence.
In 1994, after playing a lot and providing instruction to some good friends and fellow golfers, Hughes decided to pursue membership in the PGA of America after realizing that playing for a living was not in the cards.
He got a job in Edisto Beach, South Carolina, where he worked under Victor Grubb Jr. and entered the PGA’s Golf Professional Training Program (GPTP). From there, he held various positions, including assistant golf professional, head golf professional and even general manager. He decided in late 1998 that coaching was his passion and accepted his first full-time coaching position in Myrtle Beach.
“After a year there, I was invited to join the teaching staff at Sea Pines Golf Academy and the International Junior Golf Academy,” Hughes explains. “Skip Malek provided the next big break that enabled me to grow as a golf instructor there. I spent three great years there with my junior golfers, compiling over 50 tournament wins and four times that many top 10 finishes.”
In 2004, Hughes began teaching at a fledgling golf school, specializing in 1-on-1 instruction and serving as its National Director of Instruction. In that role, Hughes helped the company grow from a $250,000 a year business to grossing over $5 million a year ten years later. During that time, they acquired the operational rights to operate Golf Digest Schools. Hughes oversaw the entire operation of more than 13 luxury resort locations and supervised more than 55 independent contract instructors, while coaching their clientele in Orlando.
With a plethora of experience, knowledge and credibility on his resume, Hughes has operated his own coaching brand since 2013. John Hughes Golf is based in Orlando and specializes in that personal, individual coaching that Hughes perfected over the previous decade. At the same time, he is answering the call and expanding his business to include small and medium-sized group golf schools.
“I’m very proud to be based at Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate, where I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to grow my business,” he says. “In fact, within the past 12 months, I’ve added a few independent contract instructors to my brand who will assist me in growing my 1-on-1 and 2-on-1 vacation golf school programs. In addition to assisting with private coaching overflow demand, numerous group golf school programs are now on the schedule. They’ll also play a part in helping the facility with coaching programs they deliver to hotel guests and local clientele.”
Hughes enjoys assisting the facility with developing its guest programming and mentoring their pro shop staff.
“Being able to mentor the up-and-coming PGA of America Golf Professionals with their coaching skills is one of the most rewarding parts of my day,” he says. “I’m training them to deliver the programs we’re designing, as well as nurturing their skills to become great coaches themselves.”
Some of the programs already planned and scheduled include monthly junior, ladies and special population group programs. Some of these programs are intended for hotel guests, while others are being designed to tear down the perceived barriers that the local community has when it comes to being part of the resort programming. These programs offer unique opportunities for the local community to engage and participate in fun golf instruction programs tailored to their needs.
Also in planning is PGA HOPE programming to start in the fall of 2025. Hughes says that 2026 will see the beginning of a PGA Jr. League team at the facility, as well as a monthly program designed to assist golfers with neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease.
“We plan to utilize our long-standing technology partners, including FlightScope, Arccos, OnForm, Smart2Move and SportsBox to provide each client with the ability to benchmark their progress,” Hughes adds.
Also, looking ahead, Hughes will continue to build on his use of the Golf Live app to deliver virtual coaching programs to clients across the globe. He currently has a stable of more than 25 clients via this technology. He expects to launch a new coaching vertical this fall, offering virtual coaching and video instruction course subscription services.
Hughes also predicts that non-traditional golf opportunities will be the main entry point for new golfers. He is currently planning new programming at Eagles Edge, their Toptracer Range and dining experience located on the property at Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate.
“Combining the Toptracer Coach product with virtual coaching via the Golf Live App will open new opportunities for me and my staff, as well as the facility’s professional staff, to positively impact the lives of golfers everywhere,” he concludes.
For more information about John Hughes Golf, log on to his website today!
