Rick Murphy

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

Other awards won:
Name of Award: Carolinas PGA Hall of Fame Inductee, Carolinas PGA, 2020 – Horton Smith Award Carolinas PGA, 2016 – Two Time Carolinas PGA Teacher of the Year, Carolinas PGA, 2009/2001 – Carolinas PGA Golf Professional of the Year, Carolinas PGA, 2008 – 5 Time Carolinas PGA Junior Golf Leader Award, Carolinas PGA – PGA of Americas National Junior Golf Leader Award, PGA of America, 1988 – Golf Digest National Youth Player Development Award 1988 – GRAA Top 100 Teacher – 2021, 2022, 2023 – Golf Fitness Association of America (GFAA) Top 10 Golf Fitness Facility in US, 2021- 2022 – 2023 – Spalding Golf National Teacher of the Year, 1990 – 2 Time PGA of America National Free Lesson Month Award Winner, 2011, 2012 (7,575 students for a live 10 minute lesson)

Total number of individual lessons given per year:
Male: 1200
Female: 100
Junior: 200

Total number of individual clinics given per year:
60

Please indicate any Growth of the Game initiatives your facility/academy has launched over the past year (please give specifics on such programs):
Rick Murphy Golf Teacher & Coaching Programming – 3D MAPS / 3D Functional Movement For
PGA Professionals and Directors of Instruction

In addition to working daily with my students at my facility, I created a popular program three years ago. The program is designed to help clubs, and their Directors of Instruction enhance their club participation and teaching and coaching activity. Also, another benefit is what the Director of Instruction and their teaching and/or fitness staff will learn about 3D Functional Movement and how to incorporate this into their sessions with students and customers.

I collaborated with my personal and longtime fitness professional Lori Gordon. Her business, Lori Gordon 360 is located in Greensboro, NC. Lori is a sports physiologist and a GIFT alumnus from the Gray Institute (Gray Institute for Functional Transformation).

We are invited to visit clubs and provide a two or three-day workshop, where Lori and I take their club members, golf professional staff/teaching staff and fitness professionals through our special programming. It is transformational for the participants and inspirational for the golf and fitness staff. We help them make the connection between fitness and golf. Hence, driving better communication and revenue to their personal income and ultimately the club’s income as a result. It’s been a home run for the clubs!

Briefly, on day one morning, we work with the professional teaching and/or fitness teams to help them understand 3D MAPS and 3D functional movement in a golf-authentic way. In the afternoon of day one, we will work with the students/members sharing this information and training them. This is all done in the club’s fitness facility or in the clubhouse. Day two morning is a review, and the afternoon is working on the range or on the course incorporating what they have learned the previous day. Day three is capturing their swings on GEARS in 3D an assessing.

This program can be easily tweaked to fit the needs of the club and professional teams. For example, I can add AimPoint Green Reading Instruction to some of the programming.

This is a list of a few that have engaged this year.
Mountain Air CC – Burnsville, NC (two visits in 2024 & 3 visits in 2023)
Lake Toxaway CC – Lake Toxaway, NC
Farmington CC – Charlottesville, VA

GEARS 3D Motion Capture
– Currently the leader in 3D Motion Capture with markers that make it accurate within .02mm. It continues to improve as does other technology. This has been a great addition to my teaching technology over the past 3 years.

2024 – 3D Functional Movement Coach & 3D Functional Golf Coach Certified

Although golf fitness has become a much talked about aspect of coaching and instruction, many PGA Professionals still aren’t working with students to overcome the deficiencies and limitations discovered on the lesson tee.

In 2023, I was asked by the Gray Institute to assist as an advisory board member in developing an educational product and practical use app for teachers to use in assessing their student’s mobility, stability and endurance.

The two resulting products were discussed at the 2024 PGA Show Demo Day and became available in the spring of 2024 to PGA Members and Assocaites. They are, 3D Functional Movement Coach & 3D Functional Golf Coach Certifications. It is a valuable product that teachers and coaches can use in assessments and logical prescriptions for student exercises to enhance their performance.

Body Reading –

As another tool in my toolbox for teaching and coaching I have incorporated “Body Reading”. I will do this with every student I work with for the very first time and periodically do this with existing students.

Simply stated, it is the art and science of looking at a student’s body from a 360-degree view. It’s a visual assessment and a look at the anatomy trains. Looking at the alignment of their body and body segments when they are standing upright. This gives great insight into what their golf swing will look like even before I see a student swing for the first time. It has given me the ability to start working with my students in what I call the “first place of opportunity”. In almost every case I can help a student get immediate results and have them understand why they have perhaps struggled in the past with their motion.

Jacobs 3D – Implementation / Integration into my Teaching & Coaching

Over the past 8 years, I have taken a deep dive into the biomechanics of the golf swing, studied the body and club as a system and ground reaction forces. I am one of 42 Certified Ambassadors around the world. This is by invitation only and comes with an immersion into the world of biomechanics and more discoveries of the swing and movement.

For the club, it has been learning and applying in my teaching a factual foundation and understanding of torques and forces in the golf swing.

Learning more about torques and forces has given me valuable insight into a student’s swing and has allowed me to identify immediately a pathway for improvement in ball striking.

For the body (alpha man), my study of how the body is aligned and how it sequentially moves to apply the forces and torques to the club at the right time during the swing. First, it is the alignment of joints and body segments in a bio-mechanically efficient and effective way that allows for each student to move in “their way” to achieve “their” most effective and repeatable swing.

Anatomy Trains

This is another area that I have researched and studied. It has allowed me to work with my students on their flexibility, mobility and stability in helping them make improvements in their motion. Simply…when you stretch, we all believed we were feeling the muscle stretch, but it is more likely that we are feeling the fascia that is wrapped around the muscle stretch. As we age the fascia becomes less hydrated and it is important to keep it hydrated (not necessarily H2O as hydration). Movement! I express this emphatically to my students. Its measurable!

This is the study of the myofascial meridians in the body. Simply, it is the fascia the gives shape to your muscles and therefore to your body. It’s like cellophane that wraps every muscle in our body and bones. This fascia tissue has recently (5-10 years) come to the forefront of how we look at the body and how it moves. Each muscle in the body is connected and it is the fascia that connects them. Is our body one muscle or is it 600 muscles in cellophane bags connected.

Thomas W. Myers and his book have opened my eyes to more truths of motion and how to assist my students with their motion.

Please share any programming you have made to keep your customers & students engaged:
While I have much promotion to keep my students engaged and I stay solidly booked with students and professionals from all over the Southeastern US, I would like to share something I’ve created this year to help teachers and coaches in their developing career or even their existing career!

Murphy Hallett Golf Foundation
– Est. 2024 –

Eligibility and Application

This is the beginning of one of the most exciting chapters in my career. I’ve always made myself available to assist PGA Members and Associates in their teaching and coaching and for that matter, in any way possible. It has been one of my passions throughout my career.

With this in mind, the Murphy – Hallett Golf Foundation has become a reality.

Some history: I shared my idea to help teachers with my friend, Joe Hallett, PGA Tennessee Section Member and 2024 National PGA Teacher of the Year, he decided to come onboard.

Together, we established this unique foundation funded by Murphy & Hallett. The Murphy – Hallett Golf Foundation is a 501 3C foundation. The primary objective will be to help and provide assistance to PGA Members and Associates that have chosen to pursue a pathway of teaching and coaching. The foundation will provide significant financial support, equipment, training aids and new technology used in teaching. In addition, the MH Foundation will also provide incredible education in the form of webinars and live coaching events. The Foundation selection process will begin in January of 2025. The timeline for submission of applications will be announced in December 2024,

Initially, in year one, The Murphy Hallett Golf Foundation will provide grants to PGA Associates and PGA Members within the Carolinas, Tennessee and Middle Atlantic Sections. The ultimate goal is to eventually provide these grants to qualifying PGA teachers and coaches around the country in all 41 sections.

Briefly, PGA Members and Associates will need to meet some of the following criteria and will be encouraged to apply for the Murphy/Hallet Golf foundation initiative:

– Section members in A8 classification, associates, and PGM University students from NC State,
Campbell, Methodist, Coastal Carolina, and Clemson and possibly more as the foundation grows.
– Aspires to join a program that will provide mentoring, networking, and personal/professional
growth in teaching and coaching
– Is committed to actively participating in regularly scheduled virtual meetings and completing
related assignments
– Is committed to participating in the Murphy Hallett golf foundation program for one year 2025-2026
– Is committed to making a presentation at a Section teaching and coaching summit upon
completion of the program as an inspiration to others.

Exciting times ahead for those that choose to participate. I’m excited how this will positively impact lives of PGA Members and their students.