How we got started!
It was the spring of 2009, with no clients, no teaching location and no money, but the desire to teach the game of golf that I set out to accomplish just that. Initially, founded in the sunshine state of Florida I quickly moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado in the spring of 2010. Recruited by legendary PGA Master Professional and Colorado Hall of Fame Member, Gene Miranda, I brought my experience, enthusiasm for the game and love to help others to Eisenhower Golf Club located on the United States Air Force Academy.
With nothing more than a set of golf clubs, a fancy video camera, a tennis racket and a few pool noodles, I was on my own. After partnering with Eisenhower Golf Club, I soon met PGA Member and General Manager of Eisenhower Golf Club, Chris Bowles. Chris and I became good friends and within weeks we had organized a base-wide photo shoot featuring our golf course and instructional services, partnered with Cleveland Golf to offer our members a wedge clinic and became the #1 destination for women in Colorado Springs to take group instruction. 2010 turned out to be great year and a great stepping-stone for the many years that were about to come.
2011 started out with a week long trip in January to Orlando, Florida to the PGA Merchandise Show where all of us golf guys get together to talk clubs, clothes, golf and life!! In order to keep learning and growing, I also spent some time training with the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) regarding Junior Golf. Every time I work with them, I learn so much more! I also ran into a long time friend, Tony Morgan, co-founder of the K-VEST. K-VEST has been around a few years now, and uses 3 small sensors that are placed on your body to help improve a player’s golf swing. If people thought high-speed cameras are amazing, seeing a golf swing in 3-D and being able to learn via biofeedback is so much better. The next month, I purchased the K-VEST to help educate my clients better. The best thing about training with the K-VEST is how easy it is to communicate a solid swing. During the summer of 2011, I hired our first personal assistant to handle phone calls, emails and of course Facebook! I also formed a partnership with an indoor teaching location in Colorado Springs. This was a great partnership that provided a teaching location when the weather was less than favorable. This agreement lasted approximately 2 years and ultimately faded in 2013. In the fall of 2011, I got selected to be the spokesperson for the US Air Force Single Airman Program, so we had a video crew out at Eisenhower for a couple days filming golf tips. It was super fun! A few weeks later, PGA Magazine hosted a mentor/mentee event where some of the most influential PGA Professionals met in Cancun, Mexico to discuss the golf industry. It turned out to be a great event, where many eyes were opened, particularly that of the older generation to those in their late 20’s. This trip ended as Hurricane Rina made landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula on the 3rd night, which turned out to be an adventure.
2012 started off by receiving an Honorable Mention as a Top 50 kids golf instructor by the US Kids Golf Foundation for calendar year 2011. This was a nice surprise, as I had never received such an award. Later that spring, US Kids Golf rolled out a club certification program to help educate teaching professionals about their golf clubs and how to properly fit kids! Going into the program, I already knew they had the best clubs for kids, however I had no idea the difference between US Kids Golf and other manufacturers. Afterwards, I learned these clubs are truly designed 100% for a junior golfer and come with an impressive warranty and trade up program. If you think about it, ask yourself this…how many shoes or pants will you buy your child between the age 5 and 15 because they simply outgrow things? If you say 2 to 3, then choose a golf manufacturer other than US Kids Golf. If you say it’s closer to 10, then choose US Kids Golf, because that’s how many different sizes your child truly needs as he or she grows from 3 feet tall to over 5 feet tall.
2013 started off great with over 8 teaching days outside in the month of January!! This was the second year in a row that we offered a junior program 12 months out of the year, so I was pretty excited! In June, I had my second student compete in the PGA Junior Series Event at Eisenhower Golf Club. Although he didn’t do as well as we liked, we probably learned more in those 3 days than some people learn in 3 years! Also in June, I helped Coach Koury, head golf coach of the US Air Force Men’s Golf Team conduct his Falcon Golf Camp, which is a weeklong national golf school at the Academy. This being my fourth year, I was starting to see some repeat faces. This year was exceptionally exciting, because I had a student come up to from Miami, Florida who I helped last year on his full-swing and say what an improvement it made on his high school golf season and his individual swing coach in Florida was very pleased with his swing when he came back. I guess that’s an example of why teachers teach. To help build more experiences like that one, we formalized an agreement from 2 years ago to teach at Great Moves Physical Therapy 24/7. Additionally, we can now more comfortably recommend the services of their team [Jacki, Karen and Ty just to name a few] to aid in building a more repeatable golf swing through physical fitness!
Hope this gives you a little glimpse of how we got started, who we are and how we have grown during the years.
Jonathan Dron, Owner