Sarah Stone

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

Other awards won:
MAPGA Central Chapter Teacher of the Year -2025

Total number of individual lessons given per year:
Male: 800
Female: 750
Junior: 132

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):
We did a Ladies 9-hole clinic offered once a week for an hour. We had over 100 ladies attend these weekly clinics. They were so popular we added fall clinics called – Level Up Your Game. We have seen them fully subscribed with a waiting list since we marketed them. We also did a Tee to Green program where new lady golfers who were starting transition from the driving range to the golf course could come and learn more specific information about the game. We had classes once a week that were free of charge for 90 mins. 45 mins were spent in a classroom setting and the second part was on the golf course covering rules and situations. We had over 120 different women take this class. We had ladies who have not played 9 holes to women who are actively playing in the 18 holers. This was a great way to introduce the staff members to our membership and for our assistants to work on their presentation skills.
Another new clinic for us was the Women's FUNdamental's. This was targeted to any lady who plays golf and wants to learn in a fun environment. I offered it on Wednesday evenings at 5pm and limited it to 8 ladies per session. I chose a topic the day before and emailed them where to meet me and with what clubs. This was a very popular session in the spring, so we continued it into the fall as well.
We also started a Mini Mulligans junior clinic for 4–6-year-olds to get a fun introduction to the game. We offered (2) 30 min sessions on the weekends and saw a large engagement of kids.

Please share any programming you have made to keep your customers & students engaged:
Besides finding ways to introduce the game to our memberships – adults and juniors, we are always trying to keep our avid golfers engaged as well. I offered group specific programming – for both of our ladies' groups, our men's senior group and regular men's play. By targeting these associations, I was able to co-host each of these with the assistant professional in charge of said group. This was a successful way to fill clinic programming with our team. Some of the programs offered were – Flighted Wedges, Bunker Busters, Short Game Secrets and Lies, Rip it from the Rough. These are just a few examples of how creative I can get with how to market group programming. Most were offered on the weekends or later evenings to capture more golfers. I did also offer a 4-day golf immersion workshop for a group of 8 ladies. This was fun to teach and gave them a "crash course" in golf. After the four days, they all felt more comfortable using our golf facility and playing 9 holes. We also offer in the spring a "Professional Bag Evaluation" for our members to get their equipment evaluated – the assistants run and trackman combine for each member while assessing their clubs' loft and lie angles, grip wear and overall gapping. This was a tremendous success and helped our assistant's build their own lesson books.