Joe McNeil

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:
Top 50 US Kids (3x), Top 50 US Kids Master Coach

Total number of individual lessons given per year:
Male: 450
Female: 175
Junior: 1250

Total number of individual clinics given per year:
500

Please indicate any Growth of the Game initiatives your facility/academy has launched over the past year (please give specifics on such programs):
6-Week Adult Beginner Clinic

We started a 6-Week Adult Beginner Clinic designed to give new golfers a simple and comfortable way to learn the game. We cover putting, chipping and pitching, bunker play and the full swing throughout the program. In the final week, we put everyone into teams and play a scramble so they can take what they have learned and actually experience playing the game in a fun, low-pressure environment. The goal is to make golf less intimidating, help people have fun and give them the confidence to continue playing after the clinic.

Free 20-Minute Club Fitting & Equipment Evaluation

We also started offering a free 20-minute club fitting and equipment evaluation. We wanted golfers to be able to find out if their current equipment actually fits them without having to pay for a full fitting or feel pressured into buying new clubs. Our Head Club Fitter has already completed around 300 of these free evaluations. Sometimes the answer is new equipment, but many times it is simply helping someone understand what they already have and whether it is helping or hurting their game.

Please share any programming you have made to keep your customers & students engaged:
We follow the US Kids Player Pathway for all of our junior groups, which gives our kids a clear path to improve and keeps them engaged as they progress through the program. We have also created custom Trackman Combines that allow our students to compete, track their progress and have some fun while practicing.

We started monthly team leagues as another way to keep people engaged and competing without making it intimidating for newer players. One of the coolest things has been seeing how many husbands and wives have started playing in these together. The team format takes some of the pressure off and has helped us get golfers competing who probably would not have signed up for a traditional individual league.

I also started a podcast because apparently pretty much everyone has one nowadays! While it isn't traditional golf programming, it has become a great talking point around the Academy and another way for us to connect with our customers and community. We talk about golf, the Academy, our family, leadership and whatever else comes up. It has even brought some new people through the doors, which has been a pretty cool and unexpected benefit.