By Vinnie Manginelli, PGA
Scott Shapin is a two-time Golf Range Association of America (GRAA) Top 100 Growth of the Game Teaching Professional. He was the 2011 Southwest PGA Section Assistant Golf Professional of the Year, earning the same honor in the Middle Atlantic PGA Section in 2017.
“A friend in elementary school introduced me to the game when I was 10 years old,” Shapin tells us. “We started out playing the executive nine-hole course at Needwood in Derwood, Maryland. Once I started playing, both my parents took up the game.”
Shapin says that once he fell in love with the game of golf, every high school job he had involved the game in some way. He caddied at Woodmont Country Club and worked outside operations at Redgate Golf Course.
“When I was 13 years old, I started taking lessons with Bob Dolan, PGA at Columbia Country Club,” Shapin recalls. “Later, he gave me a job working outside operations for him at the club. When I was 15 years old, I learned about the PGA’s Professional Golf Management Program at Penn State University and knew that’s where I wanted to go to school.”
In fact, Penn State was the only school that Shapin applied to. He worked for Dolan at Columbia Country Club in high school, college and in his first role as a golf professional.
Today, Shapin is the PGA of America Director of Instruction at Pine Lake Country Club in Orchard Lake, Michigan. He offers a vast menu of game improvement opportunities for his members including, private lessons, group instruction, specialty clinics, custom club fitting, yardage assessments, short game evaluations, junior golf programming and on-course engagement.
“Our summer junior program had 150 participants this year. It runs for six weeks and concludes with the Junior Club Championship,” he explains.
Program participants are classified by the number of holes they play – Little Linkers (ages 5-7) One hole, 3-Holers (ages 8-10), 5-Holers (ages 11-12), 9- and 18-Holers (ages 13 and up). Shapin allows juniors to play up based on their scores.
“Every Tuesday, juniors attend two 15-minute clinics (4-1 student-to-teacher ratio),” he says. “One clinic takes place on the putting green, with the other on the range. After the clinic, they go on the course to play.”
His Drive, Chip and Putt Series emphasizes the importance of these three aspects of the game in a competitive setting. Each clinic has a teaching component and a competition component. The final clinic is a mock competition.
Rounding out his junior golf programming, Shapin offers elite junior coaching that was created for junior golfers who want to play competitive golf. The weekly, 90-minute sessions average six students per group and focus on all aspects of the game.
For his adult students and members, Shapin offers putting clinics that focus on the three putting skills – speed, face control and green reading. Each student receives a brochure with the class material, as well as practice methods and games.
His wedge clinics focus on controlling distance with your wedges, and each student builds their own wedge matrix to keep in their bag.
Chipping clinics focus on the fundamentals of chipping, including club selection and distance control. Each student receives a brochure with the class material that reinforces the information shared during the one-hour interactive session.
“One of my biggest requests this year was for last-minute lessons before the Women’s Evening League,” he says. “I used this to create the ‘Help, I Have to Play Golf Today! Clinic.’ This clinic allowed me to accommodate more students and was an opportunity for them to get a few minutes of help before their round each week. This was very well received by the ladies and will be continued going forward.”
Women’s Welcome to Golf is Shapin’s take on Get Golf Ready. Open to golf and social members, each of the four clinics has an instructional component and a golf knowledge component. They include a facility tour, coaching on how to drive a golf cart and an on-course rules discussion
In addition, the popular 3-Hole Women’s League is designed for new players and runs for four weeks. Each week starts with a 30-minute clinic on a specific topic. Players then play three holes followed by dinner.
“The ladies have so much fun with this program that it has grown from 15 players in 2023 to 30 this year, and some continue to play in the league even though their skill level has progressed beyond it,” Shapin boasts of his successful coaching program.
With such a vast array of options available to his members, Shapin and his students have a lot to be proud of.
Looking ahead, Shapin says that women’s golf and travel continue to be huge trends at his club. “Our women’s golf program is huge,” he explains. “We have everything from beginner programming to 9-hole, 18-hole and evening leagues, with the evening league maxing out at over 100 ladies. I provide programming for all levels of players, which gives everyone a pathway to grow as golfers.”
Shapin says Pine Lake Country Club was under renovation from June 2023 to July 2024, during which time he leaned heavily into travel. They took club trips to Ireland, Treetops, Casa de Campo, Arcadia Bluffs, Streamsong, Harbor Shores and Pinehurst. He says the members love these trips and they’ll continue in 2025 with excursions to Scotland, Grand Traverse Resort and Manistee National Golf and Resort.
