The launch of PGA.Coach has been a wonderful tool for all PGA Professionals. The implementation of the American Development Model (ADM) in our game is a profound step in the advancement of golf and promoting its growth. While we as the PGA Professional are the experts in the field of teaching and coaching, we also have many resources available to share the benefits of golf and promote some of the requisite skills to get young people started down the path of being active golfers. Perhaps the best resource outside of the PGA Professional in growing the game at the youth level is the Physical Education teacher. Cortland is a huge physical education institution, developing future physical educators in traditional and non-traditional settings. I developed a two-credit Physical Education class, taught for the first time this spring, that leverages many of the tenets of the ADM and is presented to future physical education teachers to equip them with the tools to provide an effective introduction to golf. Making the game a significant part of Physical Education curriculums can serve as a means of growing our game exponentially. In speaking with many P.E. teachers, the matter of implementing golf into their curriculums seems daunting. With the development of PGA.Coach and the application of the ADM to golf, teaching golf within the context of K-12 Physical Education curriculums is more feasible than ever. These physical educators have a captive audience and also a sound understanding of the importance of developing physical literacy as a platform for advancement in any athletic endeavor. Readying our future educators, as we are at Cortland, means the concept of golf in schools does not necessarily have to be facilitated exclusively by the PGA Professional when fostering opportunities for collaboration between local classrooms and PGA Professionals as a means of growing our game.

Presenting the ADM activities within a golf context in a traditional PE space gets the wheels turning and acts as a catalyst to greater interest on the kids’ part and increased participation in local green grass programming. Golf should be about fun, and even the educational aspect of the game should be a positive, fulfilling experience. Trained physical education teachers have the tools to provide this curriculum, and through classes like the one I’m presenting at Cortland, they will better understand the benefits of a collaborative effort with a local PGA Professional. Empowering future educators to introduce our game, and deliver young people to our facilities can truly be valuable to expanding our reach as PGA Professionals. Many PGA coaches are starting kids as young as three and four years of age. Attracting young athletes to your course for classes that may have little to no true golf content, is one way to light that fire and help foster a love for being at the course and eventually an appreciation and desire to further one’s skills in the game of golf itself. Working with their PE teachers could render positive results and growing participation at a younger age.

If you would like to email the author of this best practice directly, please email michael.discenza@cortland.edu.