Monique Thoresz

Please indicate past awards won/recognitions:
PGA Section Teacher of the Year, GRAA Growth of the Game Teaching Professional, Golf Magazine Top 100, Golf Digest Best in State

Other awards won (if provided):
US Kids Master Coach, Metropolitan Section Player Development Award

Total number of individual lessons given per year:
Male: 350
Female: 350
Junior: 650

Total number of individual clinics given per year:
100

Please indicate any Growth of the Game initiatives your facility/academy has launched over the past year (please give specifics on such programs):
Growth of the Game Initiatives: Operational Innovation, Regional Mentorship, & Activating the 90%

The GRAA mission calls on golf professionals to harness our practice facilities to increase club revenue, elevate industry careers, and grow the game. At Quaker Ridge, our programming is built on this mandate: converting dormant members into passionate players, maximizing non-traditional practice infrastructure through cutting-edge technology, and leading the professional community across the Metropolitan Section.

1. Regional Leadership & Career Elevation: "The Coaching Combine" (Teaching & Operations)
True industry growth requires elevating the professionals who deliver instruction. In 2026, I founded and lead The Coaching Combine, a regional peer-to-peer mastermind and mentorship network for Metropolitan Section PGA Professionals hosted at Quaker Ridge.
Elevating Assistant Professionals: Monthly assemblies bring together Head Professionals, Directors of Instruction, and emerging Assistant Professionals to share modern motor-learning research, force-plate kinetics, and instruction-business modeling.
Live Diagnostic Sessions: Sessions feature live student evaluations where coaches collaborate on biomechanical force-plate diagnostics (Smart2Move Dual 3D Force Plates), kinematic sequencing via dynamic rope tools, and constraint-led coaching techniques.
Professional Career Enhancement: By mentoring younger teachers in program design, technology integration, and student retention, the Combine fulfills the GRAA mission of elevating coaching careers to strengthen the overall golf economy.

2. Practice Area Optimization & Diagnostic Engineering: "Built Different" (Practice, Fitting/Demo, & Operations)
Quaker Ridge operates without a traditional driving range. In alignment with the GRAA Practice, Fitting/Demo, and Operations pillars, I re-engineered our physical grounds to build a high-density, multi-functional instruction and fitting footprint that generates revenue and expands member access:
Reclaiming the "Nursery": Repurposed an underutilized turf nursery into a dedicated short-game, wedge-matrix, and junior academy zone, allowing concurrent group clinics without impacting daily course play.
Capacity Expansion: Collaborated with our Golf Course Superintendent to construct an additional dedicated instruction putting green within the Nursery, doubling clinic throughput.
Strategic Master Planning with Gil Hanse: At the urging of the professional staff, the Quaker Ridge Board engaged our golf course architect, Gil Hanse, to design a 5-hole short course and dedicated practice facility in keeping with our championship layout, fundamentally expanding member practice infrastructure for decades to come.
Indoor Performance Center & Fitting Studio: Maximized our 6-bay TrackMan 4 studio and 12’x21’ PuttView green (featuring a hydraulic moving floor for dynamic slope training). Beyond winter simulator leagues, this tech infrastructure powers our custom club-fitting program, converting empirical delivery data (club path, attack angle, dynamic loft) into equipment sales and off-season revenue that eliminates seasonal dips.

3. Player Development: Converting the Dormant 90% (Player Development & Engagement)
At a private facility, the traditional 10% of golf-obsessed members will always play; our true mission is activating the other 90%—the spouses, young children, and casual members who feel intimidated by traditional range culture:
Mini-PGA Junior League (Ages 5–7): An early-entry, low-pressure team pipeline. By introducing scramble formats from 50 yards and in, we capture youth before competing sports take over, instilling lifelong affinity and driving family clubhouse participation.
Beginner Women’s Cohorts & "Practice Club": Established Sunday afternoon beginner clinics backed by active group-messaging networks to foster peer support. To eliminate the fear of solo practice, I created Practice Club—providing guided, low-stakes practice cards that empower novice women to practice together independently, directly increasing member rounds played.

4. High-Performance Retention: The Committed Athlete Program (CAP) (Teaching)
Retention requires protecting our top youth assets. The Committed Athlete Program (CAP) provides a comprehensive training infrastructure for college-bound junior golfers:
Comprehensive Architecture: Integrates 3D ground kinetics (Smart2Move), Mach 3 Speed Training protocols, yardage book strategy, mental performance training, and in-competition observation.
Measurable Output: 100% of CAP athletes reduced their scoring averages this season, climbing Junior Golf Scoreboard rankings and proving that world-class junior development can thrive within a private club setting without a standard driving range.

Please share any programming you have made to keep your customers & students engaged:
Engagement Architecture: Lifetime Retention, Social Experience, & National Advocacy

Sustainable growth hinges on customer engagement—merging elite technical improvement with a welcoming social culture that drives round volume, golf shop merchandise, and food and beverage activity.

1. National Governance & Thought Leadership (Teaching & Operations)
With over 25 years in the golf industry, an increasingly important part of my career is invested in these pillars. The importance of giving back to the game and mentoring and developing younger professionals to continue to advance the game and provide expert service to our members has led me to become more active in contributing to national player development frameworks:
PGA of America National Governance: Currently serving a 4-year term on the National PGA Coach Programs Committee, helping guide the national agenda for player development, coach education standards, and the adoption of modern digital coaching tools.
Met Section Education Committee: Active leader shaping regional continuing education offerings for the 800+ PGA members in our section.
National & Regional Presentations: Featured educator delivering player acquisition, swing-construction, and biomechanical training blueprints across major industry platforms:
PGA National Teaching & Coaching Summit: "Attracting Beginner Golfers with Intention"
PGA Show Demo Day & Speaker Lineup (2026)
Troon Northeast T&C Summit: "Business Development for PGA Professionals"
Five Iron National T&C Summit: "How I Build Golf Swings" & "The Human Algorithm"
Golf Garage VT Chapter, New England PGA Section: "Using Tools to Fast Track Student Results"
Florida Gulf Coast University PGM: "Using Mach 3 Tools to Build Motor Skills"

2. Tiered Engagement & Experiential Programming (Engagement & Player Development)
To keep Quaker Ridge’s active 10% improving while integrating the 90% into the club's golf culture, I developed structured, high-touch programs:
"Score Better" On-Course Clinics: Targeted at players aiming to break 100 and 90. Held directly on the golf course, these sessions teach course management, green-reading, and tactical mindset, eliminating range-to-course transfer friction.
Immersive 3-Hour Short Game Schools: Comprehensive half-day deep dives across chipping, pitching, and bunker play utilizing specialized biofeedback tools (Visio, Eyeline, and RotexMotion mobility protocols) that deliver immediate scoring reductions.
Year-Round Youth Progression: Bridged seasonal drop-off by running a 20-session Fall PGA Junior League and an indoor Winter TrackMan Simulator League, keeping junior families engaged at the club 12 months a year.
Guest Masterclasses: Hosted 2026 PGA National Teacher of the Year Bernie Najar for an exclusive member clinic at Quaker Ridge. Past featured guest instructors include Rick Sessinghaus and James Leitz, providing our membership with direct access to top diagnostic minds in the game.

3. Scalable Digital Ecosystem & Strategic Vision (Operations)
Proprietary Mobile Drill Library: Curated video repository of customized motor-learning drills and launch-monitor baseline targets sent directly to students' devices, providing clear practice structures between lessons and driving autonomous practice hours.
Junior Golf 2035 Master Plan: Partnered with club administration to establish a transparent player development roadmap from Mini-PGA Junior League to collegiate recruitment, solidifying long-term family retention at Quaker Ridge.

By aligning elite technical coaching, operational spatial design, and section-wide professional mentorship, our instruction department serves as a consistent driver of member retention, club culture, and sustained revenue.

I am incredibly proud of the comprehensive strides we have made in developing this instructional program and its direct benefit to the Quaker Ridge membership. When golfers play better, they come back more often and support the club more; therefore, our unwavering focus is on delivering a world-class instructional experience that keeps our membership engaged, improving, and committed to Quaker Ridge.

Thank you for your consideration of my application.