Matt Starr

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:
SOPGA Golf Professional of the Year 2023, South West District Women’s Golf Coach of the Year 2023, SOPGA Patriot Award 2022, SOPGA Youth Golf Leader 2022, SOPGA Player Development Award 2019, SOPGA Youth Golf Leader 2017, SOPGA Player Development Award 2016, SOPGA Player Development Award 2011, SOPGA Junior Golf Leader 2009

Total number of individual lessons given per year:
Male: 110
Female: 90
Junior: 225

Total number of individual clinics given per year:
342

Please indicate any Growth of the Game initiatives your facility/academy has launched over the past year (please give specifics on such programs):
Over the last year we have grown programming with local women’s and minority groups. We’ve run several programs for Cincinnati Links ladies, Cincinnati Black Golfers and the African American Men’s group for Procter and Gamble. These programs have worked very well with a variety of skill levels from brand new golfers to those with more experience. I’ve structured these programs to be instructional sessions on a variety of topics followed by a four hole scramble on our mid-length golf course. We typically add a game to the on course event associated with our instruction topic such as deducting a stroke from your total for every one putt green as a team or adding a shot to your total for every three putt green as a team. These have been great programs to introduce our facility to many golfers.

Please share any programming you have made to keep your customers & students engaged:
Our Beginning Golf II class continues to be popular. After our five week Beginning Golf I class we offer Beginning Golf II which takes our students out on the course for four or five holes a night for four weeks. We typically go out with only about an hour of daylight so there is no pressure of people pushing, it’s a nice unintimidating environment for golfers to learn and feel comfortable taking the skills they have learned on the golf course.