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Connoisseurs can taste to their liking
Northwest presents plenty of different styles in golf school offerings to tempt even the finickiest appetite
By Paul Ramsdell, PNGA Media
When trying to choose the proper golf school in the
Northwest, one way to look at it is to pretend you're looking
at a 20-page menu at a five-star restaurant.
Everything has the potential to be fabulous to someone,
you've just got to make sure it's what you want to enjoy.
A sampling of what's offered in the Northwest also is a sampling of what could tickle different palates.
It can be the best fare from the Northwest and around
the country together as Jeff Coston brings in top instructors
from elsewhere to join him at the Jeff Coston Golf Academy
at Semiahmoo. Or it can be the full-meal deal, everything you
can handle in more than eight hours a day of total emerging instruction at the
Jim Waldron Balance Point Schools in Portland. And if that isn't enough total
emerging for you, the Brent Morrison Golf Academy at Pheasant Glen in Qualicum
Beach, B.C., is ready to take a teenager for 10 months at a time
to teach them golf and enroll them in the local school district.
It's important to know exactly what you're looking for,
and that's a key element to the Desert Canyon Golf Academy in
Orondo, Wash.
"They pretty much choose how in depth they want to go,"
Jason Sears, the director of instruction at Desert Canyon, said
of his Golf Academy clientele.
A typical school, which can be one to three days, starts with
a one-on-one conversation with Sears or someone on his staff.
"We try to gather all the information," Sears said. "That way
we can try to take that to the golf school and make it totally
customized for their golf game."
The questions will cover how many rounds the person plays,
average score, equipment used, type of courses they play, etc.
"'Why don't we sit down for a half-hour and we'll go
through some things,'" Sears said of his opening lines. "That
way we have a face-to-face interview with that person. They can
kind of get comfortable with myself or the instructor and kind
of build a little rapport with each other, and just go through
and see what is wanted out of this golf school."
Jim Waldron does the same type of thing with his Balance
Point Golf School at Quail Valley Golf Club in Banks, Ore., but
he does it to make sure the student is ready for what's ahead.
If they're looking for a golf vacation disguised as a golf school,
Waldron will notice.
"I also screen every new student, and if I suspect that it's
that kind of person, I will do private lessons, but I won't
let them in the golf school because they wouldn't enjoy it,"
Waldron said. "It's for people who really, really are fascinated
by the golf swing, and really want to learn to hit the ball well,
and that could be a complete beginner."
The Balance Point schools can be either three or four days,
and it can be a hard three or four days.
"We're real intense, no frills. It's very much like going to
boot camp for the golf swing, and it's really intense learning,"
Waldron said of the total emerging concept.
"It's based on the idea if you get a student in almost a boot
camp type of environment, where's it's all day, eight or more
hours a day, and just saturate the person with information, with
the information being designed to go primarily to their subconscious, not their conscious mind, they can make very rapid
breakthroughs in learning and performance."
Waldron says it pays off for most students.
"The net result is on Sunday night is they have a completely
different understanding of the model golf swing," he said.
Waldron added to get full benefit, there's a practice program that lasts a year with daily drills that can be done at home.
For most at the Brent Morrison Golf Academy, the Academy is home.
"We take in kids from all over the world. They come here
for 10 months and we put them in the local school system,"
Morrison said. "So that's a program that's really unique to the
western part of North America."
Morrison said it's designed for students looking to obtain
college scholarships and possibly a professional career.
"It's not boot camp, but it's not a golf holiday either,"
Morrison said. "You're taking a teenager and virtually committing six days of their week to golf,
so you've got to be pretty passionate
about it."
The students are exposed to physical training, yoga, a dietitian and a
sports psychologist.
The Academy also provides more
traditional two- and five-day schools
in the summer for adults or families.
"We have full-time teachers and
people who are dedicated to that
(teaching)," Morrison said.
At the Jeff Coston Golf Academy,
there generally are at least two people
dedicated to their own golf school.
Coston brings in some of the nation's
top instructors to conduct schools at
Semiahmoo during times their own
schools are taking a break.
"I have myself and another established instructor that has his own golf
academy, that teaches tour players, so
basically you're getting two people
who have their own school," he said.
Coston has a client list of numerous PGA Tour players, as does Brian
Mogg, Mike Bender and Mike Adams,
who will each come in at different
times to teach alongside Coston.
"We're just trying to build champions, and help people enjoy the
game," Coston said.
Pick the right week for one of the
schools, and you can fit right in.
"I have time set apart for scratch
players, tournament players," he said.
"I have time set apart for husbands
and wives. I have time set apart just
for the average guy."
Another key element for Coston
in bringing in other top instructors is
that he continually is learning about
the game and teaching the game.
"It's a way for me to further my
education," he said. "We evaluate
each other constantly."
At the Gallagher's Canyon Golf
Academy, the best thing to evaluate
might be the price.
"Our pricing, and what we offer
and what we charge compared to
those other schools, is one of our biggest drawing cards," said Jon Kadin,
director of instruction at Gallagher's
Canyon in Kelowna, B.C.
And with the low price you also
get realistic expectations. Three to
four hours of instruction a day for
two days is not enough to produce
someone to challenge Tiger Woods
or Annika Sorenstam.
"We are very honest with them,
with realistic expectations," he said.
"Our school is unique in the sense
that we work with what the student
has, so if you do come to our school
you're not going to be leaving with
a completely different golf swing. If
you come in the middle of summer,
we're going to work with what you've
got, it's not going to be a complete
overall. If that's what you're looking
for, then at the beginning of the season would be more beneficial."
At the Big Sky Golf School, a wide
range of programs exists for the wide
range of clientele in that area of
British Columbia.
"We live in kind of an interesting
area," said Scott Ainscough, head
golf professional at Big Sky, "because
we see everything from the super
wealthy to the local farm kids of
Pemberton, so we have programs
that start as little as $49 for four half-
hour sessions for the kids."
Ainscough draws the local youngsters by first having an instructor go
to their schools in April and give free
lessons in the gymnasium. After that,
Ainscough estimates about one in five
of the students is signing up for some
sort of instruction at the course during the summer.
"We've been in business for 11
years and we just put this in in the last
couple of years and it's taken off like
crazy," said Ainscough.
"I'm totally pumped about it."
And Ainscough has a commendable approach to it all.
"I just think golf should be affordable for everybody, and so should
instruction."
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