Teaching

By Vinnie Manginelli, PGA

Peter Egazarian is the PGA of America Director of Instruction at Farmington Country Club in Charlotteville, Virginia, with previous roles in the game of golf ranging from New England to Florida. He is a two-time PGA Section Player Development Award winner and a GRAA Elite Growth of the Game Teaching Professional. Egazarian is the subject of this month’s Five Questions feature.

Egazarian: I started playing golf at age five when I was introduced to the game by my grandfather. I still have the cut-down Spalding 9 iron in my home office, romantically rusted over, with a hack taken out of the head where the lawn mower had clearly hit it many years ago. I grew up in suburban central Connecticut in a town called Berlin, which was a bedroom community for Hartford and New Haven. There, I was a three-sport athlete in high school (Football, Wrestling and Golf), ultimately leading to my induction into my high school hall of fame for wrestling many years later.

Golf Range Magazine: Did you play golf in high school or college? When did you know you wanted to be a PGA of America Golf Professional?

Egazarian: I played golf for four years of high school, but did not make the golf team while attending Methodist College (now university) in Fayetteville, North Carolina. I shot three over par for the first three rounds of tryouts and did not make the cut for the second three rounds. The team went on to win the national championship that year by an impressive margin.

I was fortunate to know at the age of 17 that I wanted to be a PGA of America Golf Professional when I chose to attend Methodist in the spring of 1998 on my first visit to the campus. I turned professional at 19 years old while still attending Methodist to start teaching junior golf and have not looked back. I never played a golf tournament as an amateur – I went from junior golf straight to professional. 25 years later, I am fortunate to still do for a living what that kid chose way back when.

Golf Range Magazine: What’s trending in the programming and instruction at your facility? 

Egazarian: There has been an overall transformation at Farmington Country Club from a traditional instruction model with clinics and private lessons to a golf performance model. Golf Performance is one of the three areas that has been trending. The other two are Junior Golf and Toptracer Utilization.

In the past three years junior golf participation at Farmington has grown 632 percent. In fact, a junior program that used to offer three junior clinics per week led by an assistant professional has transformed into The Farmington Development Pathway, a age and skill paced progression of programs with clear measurable benchmarks for progress led by Lead Junior Coach Dominic Reed.

In addition, Farmington installed Toptracer technology in August of 2023 in the four member hitting stations of our golf performance center. Since that time, 1.1 million shots have been tracked and Farmington won Toptracer’s “Rulers of Engagement” Award in 2024 and 2025 as the top private club in North America for member engagement.

Finally, but most importantly, is our golf performance programs. These programs begin with an initial evaluation, which is done by two other clubs in the country. The evaluation begins with a detailed reading of the heart rate with medical technology, which examines 300 data parameters per millisecond. Then we progress to finding areas of neuromuscular dysfunction with the NX Pro by NeuX, and then finish with a TPI movement screening. After analyzing this data, we have the capacity to prescribe the best mix of golf lessons, golf fitness and Neux Neurokinetic sessions. In the first season of this program, 26 of the potential 30 spots were filled.

Golf Range Magazine: What is your favorite part of the game of golf? The business of golf?

Egazarian: My favorite part of the game of golf is the people you meet. During my time in the golf business, I have been very fortunate to spend time with and learn from some of the most accomplished people in the world. The ability to learn from such accomplished individuals has proven to be the most beneficial aspect of being in golf. The most interesting thing I have learned is that every other major sport looks toward golf for the implementation of technology and learning paradigms. I have crossed over into MLB, MiLB and NCAA for hitting utilizing 3D Biomechanical and ground force data in baseball. Additionally, I have had a crossover into hockey in Neuro Kinetics and shooting protocols with a TrackMan 4. My role in the sports science community has become as equally notable as my accomplishments in golf.