By Vinnie Manginelli, PGA
For PGA of America Golf Professional Steven Soule, his start in golf came from his father who was an assistant coach at Washington State University. Soule was just four years old when he started playing the game and recalls taking a trip with the Cougars golf team to a tournament. Seeing that high level of collegiate play inspired him to hone his own skills.
Soule graduated from Cal State Long Beach in 1989, a Theater Arts major, and also earned a degree from The Institute of Golf Management at the College of the Desert in Palm Desert, California.
“I had just graduated from CSULB and decided to attend The College of the Desert, Golf Management Program,” he recalls. “While I was enrolled in this program, I was invited to apply for a forecaddie position at Bighorn Golf Club. After my first season at Bighorn, I was promoted to assistant professional. We ran the Skins Game in 1992!”
In 1993, Soule was offered a teaching position with the Hank Haney Golf Instruction staff in Southern California. “This is where I found my love for teaching golf,” he says. “My relationships with PGA Members L.D. and Andrew Cude, Shawn Humphries and Hank Haney began, and to this day I owe much of my career success to Bighorn Golf Club and the Hank Haney Golf staff.
Soule says his life changed when he accepted a role at Carmel (CA) Valley Ranch. He moved up to head golf professional and director of instruction and attained PGA Membership in 1997.
His progression in the industry continued when he took a job at Monterey Pines Golf Course as the PGA of America Director of Instruction and Head Golf Professional while teaching concurrently at the Pebble Beach Golf Academy, where he worked and taught with Laird Small, PGA and Dan Pasquerello, PGA, Co-Directors of the academy. Small is a GRAA Elite Growth of the Game Teaching Professional.
Soule moved back to Southern California to accept a PGA of America Director of Instruction position with the NIKE Golf Learning Centers and was also PGA of America Director of Instruction at Cypress Golf Club. A new facility named Black Gold Golf Club (a multi-year GRAA Top 50 Public Facility) was opening as a high-end daily fee course in Orange County. “I took the DOI position in 2002 and created ‘The Soule Golf Academy’ where I resided for 12 years,” he explains.
Winning the 2010 Southern California PGA Section Teacher of the Year award really aided in solidifying his student roster for the long term. In 2014, Steven opened the Soule Golf Studio in Huntington Beach, California, a 1,300 sq. ft. studio that has been his home for the past 10 years. He says opening this studio has been the greatest decision he’s made in his career to this point. “I am my own boss, and all I do is teach what I love with the greatest tools in our industry,” he boasts.
Soule uses HackMotion Wrist Sensors to help students understand how the left hand works in the full swing from top to bottom. As an indoor teacher, he also implements various WhyGolf products, saying that plane sticks and speed sticks are essential in creating more power.
He adds video with AI and says Onform Video is great and allows him to have ongoing chats and video analysis with his students. He implemented aboutGolf as his indoor simulator a decade ago and says it’s the best out there in his opinion.
“These tools have created many success stories from my PGA Tour players, D1 collegiate players and high school golfers,” he admits.
Looking ahead, Soule says speed, speed and more speed will continue to be the name of the game.
