Ben Freundt

Please indicate past awards won/recognitions:
N/A

Other awards won:

Total number of individual lessons given per year:
Male: 440
Female: 220
Junior: 75

Total number of individual clinics given per year:
45

Please indicate any Growth of the Game initiatives your facility/academy has launched over the past year (please give specifics on such programs):
Led by our Director of Instruction, Jason Baile, we launched a small program this past Spring called "how to lower your score without changing your golf swing." The idea was to provide our membership with a free, low commitment program that consisted of two, hour long sessions. The sessions were in a class room setting with 15-20 participants each class. Topics in the the session included playing the appropriate tees for your game, course management tactics, importance of short game and putting practice, realistic expectations, and ideas on how to practice more effectively. In a effort to help people test out some of their learning in a practice setting, they were encouraged to participate in our of our annual program offerings called Practice Club (more below).

Please share any programming you have made to keep your customers & students engaged:
Since our club primarily has a seasonal membership, we schedule the majority of our programming during our busiest season (October through May). We offer a weekly Ladies' clinic on Mondays, as well as a Men's Clinic on Tuesdays. There is no limit to participation and it is a team instruction effort including myself, Jason Baile (DOI), and Morgan Bowen (PGA Teaching Professional). The clinics are much cheaper than hourly lesson rates (only $40/class), require no long term commitment, and provide a friendly and welcoming group setting to discuss and practice varying topics each week. Another program we introduced 3 years ago is called Practice Club. Offered bi-weekly during season, this class is on Wednesday afternoons for roughly 90 mins. Again, this program is low cost ($60/class) and requires no long term commitment from the student. We have 3 coaches stationed in 3 different areas: one on the range for full swing, one on the short game area for chipping, pitching, and bunker work, and the third coach located on the putting green. Practice Club was created to encourage non-lesson takers (lesson takers still welcome of course) to come spend some time with their coaching staff and learn to practice more effectively while making it fun. The idea as the student is to float around these 3 stations at your leisure, and bring a specific question to the coach at that station, so they can help you achieve your practice goals. We also lighten the mood by playing music from our speaker system on the range as well. This program has been a big hit with the membership and has become a stable program offering each season since its inception.