Derek Hooper
Royal Oaks Country Club, Houston
2910 Royal Oaks Club Drive
2910 Royal Oaks Club Drive, Houston, Texas 77082, US
dhooper@royaloakscc.com
Please indicate past awards won/recognitions:
GRAA Top 100 Growth of the Game Teaching Professional, Golf Digest Best in State
Other awards won:
2021 STPGA Eastern Chapter Teacher of the Year, 2019 STPGA Player Development Award
Total number of individual lessons given per year:
Male: 500
Female: 200
Junior: 200
Total number of individual clinics given per year:
230
Please indicate any Growth of the Game initiatives your facility/academy has launched over the past year (please give specifics on such programs):
We deliver 3 semesters per year of Operation 36 – an 8 week winter semester, 8 week spring semester and a 10 week fall semester. Each semester consists of about 120 students across 20 weekly classes. We also deliver on course matches every two weeks during the semester for about 45 players. At a private Club this keeps the team very busy.
Please share any programming you have made to keep your customers & students engaged:
Every new student begins their program with a 9 hole on course assessment. This allows me to see the students entire game, from tee to green as well as their course management strategies and how they play from a variety of lies and stances. It also gives us an opportunity to discuss their game, goals and the time they have available to commit to the process. At the coinclusi0n of the round we discuss where they are now compared to where they would like to go and the plan they need to get there. I write up that plan and email it to the student within 24 hours.
During the players program they are required to either ruse an online shot tracking app (usually Shot by Shot) or to keep their stats on scorecards which they bring to each lesson. This allows us to be certain we continue to work on the areas of their game that require the most attention, and that the work we are doing is moving their key statistics in the desired direction.
For students in the Operation 36 program, we utilize the app extensively to guide players through the weekly skill objectives and on course scoring objective.
