By Vinnie Manginelli, PGA
Coaching is the backbone of what we do as PGA of America Golf Professionals. Sure, the dozens of other hats we wear daily help provide a holistic golf experience for our members and public golfers, but teaching is what allows them to play better, play more and have more fun doing it.
Celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, Royal Oak Golf Center is a three-time Golf Range Association of America (GRAA) Top 50 Stand-Alone Facility located in the Michigan PGA Section. Glenn Pulice has served as the PGA of America General Manager for 13 years and earned Michigan PGA Section Golf Professional of the Year honors this year after garnering the Section’s Distinguished Service Award in 2020, the Professional Development Award in 2021 and Assistant Professional of the Year recognition 30 years ago.
“We have revamped group lessons for many years to reflect demand and need,” Pulice says. “Our long-time golf instructor, Matt Berger, and I have always discussed the concept of ‘What’s Next?’ Once a golfer is in our player development ecosystem, how do we retain him or her?”
Berger and Pulice have created player development programs to keep golfers learning at Royal Oak Golf Center for the long term, bringing their friends and creating a vibrant learning environment that is low-pressure and fun.
The staple programs that they’ve offered for many years include:
- 101 Adult Group
- 201 Adult Group
- Spring and Fall After-School Juniors
- Junior Group Clinics Every Saturday in the Summer
Coach Matt Berger
With the influx of new golfers that Royal Oak Golf Center saw during and after the pandemic, Berger and Pulice took a look at their programming offerings and couldn’t necessarily answer the big question – What’s Next? So they brainstormed and came up with follow-up specialty clinics that are either geared towards specific demographics like beginners or women, or offer specialized topics like putting, chipping, driver, etc.
“We are now creating indoor junior training programs in our Trackman studio for our PGA Jr. League players, as well as juniors who take private instruction,” Pulice boasts. “The goal is to continue training in a fun and competitive learning environment.”
Another big winner in their programming is called Perfect Practice, which is a supervised full swing practice session that meets 4-5 times per month. Limited to eight students per instructor, each golfer tells Coach Matt one thing they’d like to work on at each session, and that’s their individual focus for the hour. These are ideal for students already in weekly programs who desire additional touchpoints to ensure their practice regimen is on point and helps them achieve their goals.
“The genius of our enhanced programming is that the new classes are designed to keep Matt’s many private and group adult students in his coaching programs…his ecosystem, if you will,” says Pulice. “Matt teaches about 200 group classes per year, which leaves very little room for private instruction with his existing clients, never mind the many new golfers we continue to see coming in to learn the game. This programming not only benefits the student by giving them a next step in the game improvement process, but also generates additional coaching revenue for Matt. It also helps us introduce the game to more people, leading to more visits to the range and dollars spent outside of our programs.”
Pulice says Berger is a master of managing his time for the benefit of the student, as well as his business. He adds that his existing students are getting a much better bang for their buck by signing up for these new groups instead of private lessons. In addition, many first-time private lesson students are opting for these classes instead of investing in private lesson packages.
The Royal Oak Golf Center range is comprised of 102 matted hitting stations, 45 of which are covered, heated and equipped with Power Tee automated teeing system technology. According to Pulice, upwards of 11 million golf balls are hit at his facility annually.
Their indoor Trackman studio is used for lessons only and is utilized year-round to accommodate their clients’ voracious desire for instruction.
For more information about Royal Oak Golf Center in Royal Oak, Michigan, log on to their website today!
