Erica Feuerhelm

Please indicate past awards won/recognitions:
GRAA Top 100 Growth of the Game Teaching Professional, Other (Indicate specific awards below in 3-a)

Other awards won:
2025 Tennessee Section Youth Player Development Award, 2025 Middle Tennessee Chapter Youth Player Development Award, 2025 Operation 36 Top 50 Coach, 2025 NGCOA Player Development Award (Facility Award), 2025 PGA Gamechanger Award

Total number of individual lessons given per year:
Male: 0
Female: 250
Junior: 500

Total number of individual clinics given per year:
50

Please indicate any Growth of the Game initiatives your facility/academy has launched over the past year (please give specifics on such programs):
I am putting this into one larger section under question 12 as they overlap and coincide with one another.

Please share any programming you have made to keep your customers & students engaged:
Over the past three years, I have dedicated more than 450 hours of volunteer time to a school-based initiative utilizing SNAG equipment. This impactful program brought multiple day golf education segments to 20 schools, many of which consistently requested that I return. Through this initiative I have introduced the sport to more than 7,500 students during that time period. To ensure this exposure converts into long term participation, I pioneered a field trip program where the school takes a field trip to our facility, providing students with their first authentic golf course experience. Furthermore, I raised over $4,000 in scholarship funds in 2025 to subsidize program costs and equipment for families.

Building directly upon these stewardship efforts I launched a major initiative on April 13th, 2026: the Junior Fundraiser Tournament. Designed to ensure any passionate junior can fully participate regardless of financial means, the event captured community support in its first season. I successfully filled, with the help of my instructional team, a complete field of 18 teams, bringing together 72 participants and raising more than $35,000 in its inaugural year to directly back local families and players.

I also started a new practice program in the fall of 2026 for juniors in our 8 week Operation 36 program that allowed participants to earn points that would go towards awards of practice and play at the end of the 8 weeks. Juniors were asked to keep track of their practices through specific practice sheets and return them to class the next week, teaching them the responsibility of keeping up with important things as a key life skill, while also motivating them to earn awards at the end of the program. These awards include free range time and rounds of golf on the course, which have totaled over $5,000 worth of free practice and play for those that achieved the corresponding benchmarks.

Over the last few years we have seen massive growth. Utilizing Nike summer camps as a key junior golf development initiative, enrollment surged to over 200 participants. Our PGA Junior League program experienced a 68% increase, expanding to 81 participants in 2025 and maintaining near that size into 2026 with 74 Participants. To accommodate this demand, we introduced a new 9U division and an alternate league system to ensure no child was turned away. This growth was matched by competitive success, as evidenced by our 17U All-Star team’s advancement to the regional semi-finals in all of the last three seasons: 2024, 2025, and 2026. I also continuously run 8 week Operation 36 Junior Programs throughout the year and we have seen a 52% increase in participation, totaling 99 students in the spring of 2026 and maintaining that size of 95 in the fall of 2026, up from 45 in 2024.

To further focus and elevate my elite players, I launched a specialized, invite only travel program in the fall of 2025, which evolved from a successful 2022 pilot trip where we took eight families to the FedExCup Playoffs in Memphis. Averaging 10 juniors and their families per outing, we minimize costs through carpooling while I volunteer my time to provide a unique bonding experience centered on the game's history and facility heritage. The program has completed four excursions, traveling to Evansville, Indiana in 2025, and twice to Birmingham, Alabama, with rounds at Bent Brook Golf Club. Most recently we traveled to the Country Club of Birmingham. Both Birmingham itineraries featured an advanced performance component, visiting Thomas Twitty’s Pure Performance center for dedicated golf fitness testing and 3D motion analysis. In addition to this, we took a trip to the PGA Tour’s ISCO Championship in Kentucky, and will finish with a season-ending excursion to Sweetens Cove Golf Club in December.

This last winter between November 2025 and February of 2026, I conducted free Parent Education and General Swing Education Nights alongside my Director of Instruction, Scott Hassee, twice a month in our facility's 1,600 square-foot Learning Center. These 90 minute sessions averaged more than 20 parents per class and were open to anyone wishing to attend, offering comprehensive guidance on critical junior golf development topics such as the ADM model, individual swing instruction advice, tournament planning, and preparing for college golf. On Top of this I provided 8 free instructional classes alongside my instruction team from November 2025 through February 2026 to local middle school and high schools, including several homeschool groups.

In addition to this educational outreach, I spearheaded the installation of the “Young at Golf” forward tee system in 2024, managing everything from distance calibration to the design of a specialized scorecard integrated with the Operation 36 curriculum. We continually utilize this in our regular instruction as well as in our Junior Club Championship.

I founded the Junior Club Championship in 2023, a unique event that blends high level competition with a fall festival theme and style, featuring fun games before and after the rounds for players and their families. To ensure inclusivity across all skill levels, the tournament features multiple divisions, including a SNAG golf division, Operation 36 9-hole divisions, 18-hole open divisions, and championship flight divisions. This event continues to see massive growth, launching with 54 participants in 2023, expanding to 68 in 2024, 93 participants in its third year in 2025, and will finish this October with more than 110 participants in 2026. In order to make this a success, we utilize students and members at the club to build a volunteer team of over 30 adult members annually. In the theme of innovating and growing the value that we add, this year’s 4th Annual Junior Club Championship will be complete with a player’s dinner the night before featuring former collegiate players and relationships with college coaches that have been built by the entire teaching staff over the years.

In addition to this, in the fall of 2025 we launched our Junior Ambassador Program. With the help of my instructional team, we guide young junior instructors (Ages 13-17) to train our youngest players. These junior instructors lead our young juniors, and those who qualify elevate into a structured, three-tiered Junior Ambassador program. Originally launching with just 3 players, this initiative has grown rapidly to feature a total Junior Ambassador team size of more than a dozen players currently serving the community through a mix of paid roles and volunteer service. The overarching goal is to train these players to become strong, independent competitors and leaders among their peers and within the instructional community.

The entry level Junior Apprentice tier includes four juniors who assist with event setup, teardown, and tournament operations to fulfill school volunteer requirements. The second tier consists of six Junior Associates serving as active assistants in clinics and classes. The Junior Ambassador program features four elite leaders who act as camp coaches and bay hosts. Furthermore, these ambassadors are empowered to conduct 30-minute private lessons for kids ages 5–10; since launching in April 2026, they average over 20 lessons each per month, collectively accounting for over 80 monthly sessions.

We also added Summer Weekly Junior Play Nights in 2026, a program that consistently drew 12 to 16 participants every single week. Designed entirely around fun, socialization, etiquette, and basic rules, these on course sessions utilize our college interns and junior ambassadors to facilitate the rounds, allowing the kids to play together under light, structured instruction where the emphasis is placed on making the game enjoyable.

Finally, I recently launched a Junior Membership Program that quickly grew to over 18 juniors in the first month and currently scales past 20 active members. This program is uniquely tiered based on a student’s monthly commitment, tracking their practice volume, play volume, and current skill level. The top tier includes two private lessons, two structured practices, and a nine-hole on course session playing directly with me. The middle tier shifts to one private lesson, two practices, and an on-course playing session facilitated by a Junior Ambassador. The bottom tier provides one private lesson, one practice session with me, and two practices alongside a Junior Ambassador.