Teaching and Coaching Summit at Quarry Oaks

PGA Master Professional Chris Thomson Sharing Wisdom and Insight on Powerful Player Development Programs
PGA Master Professional Chris Thomson Sharing Wisdom and Insight on Powerful Player Development Programs

The Nebraska Section of the PGA held a Teaching and Coaching Summit on October 15th at Quarry Oaks. The Section invited PGA Golf Management students and we had several students in attendance. The day-long summit was very informative and was well received by everyone in attendance. The line-up of speakers were:

James Sieckman, PGA and Director of Instruction at Shadow Ridge Golf Academy. Author and 2018 PGA National Teacher of the Year, taught how to improve your short-game as well as how to become a better instructor on the short-game. James is very well known for his expertise in the short game and has a long list of Professional players that he has coached. James shared his approach and philosophy and showed a bunch of “before and after” videos. The videos were a great learning tool for the audience. They were able to show the application of his teaching and coaching, what he focused on and why, and the impact of the changes.

Chris Thomson, PGA and Director of Golf at Wilderness Ridge shared his approach to player development programs. Chris has been a leader in developing and implementing Player Development programs. He shared how Wilderness Ridge has continually increased their player development program offerings and how student progress from program to program as they increase in skill and age. He also shared how to make the programming a win-win-win for the student, teacher/coach and the facility.

David Quinn, Head coach for the New York Rangers in the NHL. He was not able to be present but thanks to technology was able to have an interactive session with David on how he approaches teaching and coaching in the NHL. He spoke about his path to his current position and the milestones along the way. He also shared the challenges of coaching and how he approaches dealing with challenges.

Jonathon Milke, PGA and Director of Instruction at Oak Hills Country club. Discussed the background, importance and implementation of Long Term Athletic Development (LTAD). Jonathon shared his approach at Oak Hills for developing young players, first as athletes and then as golfers.

Special thank you to PGA Head Professional Joe Sutter at Quarry Oaks for hosting the Fall Teaching and Coaching Summit!

More details at: https://grassland.unl.edu/pga-golf-management