By Vinnie Manginelli, PGA
Joe Ingoglia got hooked on golf when he was just eight years old. Having a father who was a New York City firefighter, Ingoglia didn’t necessarily have all the resources to excel in a sport such as golf. However, there was a town pool where he and his brothers would spend most of their summers. At this town pool, there was also an 18-hole golf course and a nine-hole executive course. So to split up those hot summer days, they would go to the driving range to hit some golf balls.
“One day, I headed over without my brothers, because I needed more,” Ingoglia recalls. “I found my eight-year-old self spending two hours a day, then four hours a day and shortly thereafter, 10 hours a day, meeting other young golfers on the executive course.”
Several weeks into his new passion, Ingoglia was hitting golf balls and playing the executive course at Smithtown Landing Country Club, when he was approached by the Head Golf Professional, Michael Hebron.
“I did not know this then,” Ingoglia recalls, “nor did my parents have any idea, but Mr. Hebron was considered one of the largest names in golf instruction at the time. It happened to be my ninth birthday and Mr. Hebron gave me my first golf lesson, free of charge!”
Ingoglia’s love for golf reached another level. He went from smacking the golf ball like every baseball, hockey and lacrosse kid out there, to actually understanding how to hold the golf club. He developed “feel” that enabled him to start educating himself on what a closed, square and open clubface at impact looks like. At just nine years old, Ingoglia practically lived at Smithtown Landing. He got to know all of the assistant professionals as well as high school and collegiate golfers. He was obsessed with all of it.
As Hebron started working with Ingoglia on his golf swing, he realized that Joe’s parents couldn’t keep up financially and he was gracious enough to allow the young golfer to clean the driving range each night, which would give him free access to the golf course to practice. This triggered a substantial curiosity into golf as a business at a very young age.
“By the time I started high school, I was a seasoned veteran in competitive golf,” Ingoglia says. “In fact, it was during my junior high years that Michael formed an interclub team for eight junior golfers at Smithtown Landing. We were the only public golf course in the league among 11 of Long Island’s most prestigious north shore golf courses. Not only was I seeing an entirely different level of golf courses that I never knew existed, but I was also meeting many different club professionals, and I loved the idea of this being a career choice.”
As competitive golf increased and the thought of playing in college became more of a reality, Ingoglia was stuck between entering a PGM University (like all of Hebron’s interns over the years) or playing competitive golf. After many weeks of discussing with Hebron, they agreed that Ingoglia should stay the course in improving his game by playing high-level golf in college. After considering his options, Ingoglia headed down to Laurinburg, North Carolina to join the men’s golf team at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian College, a nationally ranked Division II team that played in the Peach Belt Conference, one of the more competitive conferences in all divisions at the time. The location of the school also enabled Ingoglia to keep studying under Michael Hebron, as he taught several weeks a year at Pine Needles, near Pinehurst.
After a successful two years at St. Andrews, Ingoglia decided to finish out his studies at nearby Dowling College on Long Island. He’d be closer to home and would start interning for Hebron at Smithtown Landing.
When considering other influences over the years, Ingoglia cites Eden Foster, a GOLF Magazine top 100 Coach, at Calusa Pines Golf Club in Naples, Florida. Although his time with Michael Hebron prepared him to coach at any facility, working at a high-end private club offered different lessons in a different atmosphere. Foster taught him how to structure lessons differently and how to market and conduct golf schools for all skill levels.
Other mentors include John Webster, owner and operator of the John Webster Golf Academy at The Breakers Resort in Palm Beach, Florida, who was instrumental in his development as a coach. Webster showed him how to create a teaching business and a healthy learning atmosphere.
“Weekly Monday staff meetings served as an incredible space to learn from other coaches and share ideas,” Ingoglia recalls. “Each meeting would include two coaches presenting a ‘swing theory’ topic.”
At Fresh Meadows Country Club, Matt Dobyns, a stand-out player who has played in several major championships and PGA Tour events, gave Ingoglia the tools, confidence and knowledge to teach a tour-level player, which requires an entirely different set of skills.
“It was there that Matt gave me the tools and mentorship I needed to be an even better coach, and he challenged me to be the most knowledgeable coach,” says Ingoglia. “I remember Matt telling me I need to integrate technology into my lessons and know the data inside and out. This was a different approach for me as I strictly taught with 2d video, old school ball flight laws and feels. As a top coach and player, Matt gave me insight on what the best players in the world prefer, and that’s fact-based instruction. He challenged me to fully comprehend the Trackman data from a teaching and club fitting approach. He encouraged me to take a deep dive into pressure mapping and ground force reaction using force plates and ultimately encouraged me to lean on experts in the fitness and research worlds and learn how to read 4D graphs. This essentially became a Ph.D in modernizing my coaching and leveling up who my coaching was aimed towards. As I reflect on this, I believe Matt’s encouragement is exactly what my business is built on today.”
The last major influence mentioned is PGA Tour coach, top researcher and Hudson National Golf Club Director of Instruction, Terry Rowles.
“I met Terry at the Mike Adams Bio Dynamics school in Orlando,” Ingoglia remembers. “We started talking about our experiences studying under legendary coach, Mac O’Grady. From this lunch conversation, I was drawn in and realized there was so much more I wanted and needed to know. Since then, Terry and I have spent many hours together, and each time I understand the human body movement and club movement more and more. Essentially, Terry took me from a cookie-cutter type of golf coach and taught me to measure, not guess. Properly assess each golfer. This helped me expedite the learning curve for my players.”
Today, Ingoglia, a 2024 Golf Range Association of America (GRAA) Top 100 Growth of the Game Teaching Professional, owns and operates Ingoglia Golf, a year-round private instructional business that includes a 1,100 sq. ft. state-of-the-art teaching studio that includes much of the best technology in golf science. In addition to the studio, he has a 1 1/2-acre fully synthetic short game facility that includes two sand bunkers, two 2,000 sq. ft. putting greens and multiple tee areas and fairways to practice any scenario from 95 yards and in.
Ingoglia started his business at the start of the pandemic. Due to the uncertainty in the world, and especially in-person golf instruction, he wanted to create a studio where he could conduct online lessons and create digital content. Slowly, as restrictions were lifted, he implemented in-person golf lessons and couldn’t believe the demand.
“When the golf club I was working at lifted the in-person restrictions, they called me back to teach again,” Ingoglia says. “However, I decided to take the gamble and resign from my position as PGA of America Director of Instruction and give everything I had to my business. I would add another form of technology every few months, starting with two cameras, a Trackman and a few TV monitors. Now, I have eight camera views, 12 4D cameras, Trackman technology, Dual Force plates and a world-class short game facility, all in five years’ time. In addition, I have had the great privilege of coaching two past U.S. Presidents, 27 professional athletes, two current PGA Tour players, one current LPGA Tour player, eight Fortune 500 CEOs and a ton of crazy golf enthusiasts who are chasing improvement.
When he opened his private studio, Ingoglia never sought a specific type of clientele, regardless of their net worth, skill level or country club membership status. He just wanted to offer elite golf instruction that all golfers from Long Island were raised on. He has created a relaxed, low-key environment where golfers can train in their workout gear, enjoy fun music and create a bond that produces results.
For more information on Ingoglia Golf, log on to its website today!
