We’re celebrating a new GRAA award category in 2026! Club fitting has not only become a valued service for golfers of all skill levels, but a lucrative business for private fitters and golf courses alike.
Johnathan Wong started in golf at the age of 10, when his grandfather Earle got him a set of clubs at a yard sale, a rare find for someone seeking a left-handed junior set. Wong grew up playing golf in Southern Vermont and Western Massachusetts.
“I would say Northfield Golf Club — a nine-hole facility — is where I really started playing,” he says, “but eventually Brattleboro Country Club in Vermont became the place I cut my teeth. This is where I started playing 18-hole rounds with players much better than me, which really helped me grow as a player.”
Wong began working at Brattleboro Country Club while in high school, cleaning carts and picking the range. He’d go on to attend West Virginia University and continued working at the club throughout college, gradually moving up through the ranks.
After graduating, Wong worked as an elementary school support teacher — ironically at the same school he once attended — primarily working with kindergarteners and focusing on general education and behavioral support.
“The skills I developed as an educator gave me a strong foundation as a golf instructor,” he explains. “During those four years, I continued working at Brattleboro Country Club during the summers.”
Eric Sandstrum, the PGA of America Head Golf Professional at the time, encouraged Johnathan to pursue the PGA’s Professional Golf Management (PGM) Program after recognizing how much he enjoyed being at the club. Sandstrum believed Wong’s education background would serve him well as a golf professional.
In 2015, Wong moved to Charlotte, North Carolina to pursue his career in golf.
“I was fortunate to earn a position at the Ballantyne Resort and Golf Academy,” Wong recalls. “This experience truly shaped me as an instructor. Working alongside a team of more than 10 PGA of America Golf Professionals showed me the many different approaches to teaching the game. I owe a great deal of credit to the late Dana Rader for the opportunity at the academy. She taught me valuable lessons about structure and organization. Bruce Wilkins, PGA of America Director of Instruction, and Stan Roach, Master Club Fitter, were also tremendous mentors who saw my potential and helped me grow.”
Wong spent three years working from sunup to sundown at the resort before moving to Cowan’s Ford Golf Club in Stanley, North Carolina. Cowan’s provided an excellent opportunity for Wong to return to the private club environment, where he could build lasting relationships and experience a club community again. It was during his time there that he completed the PGA’s PGM Program under the mentorship of Lance Reid, PGA.
In early 2021, Wong was contacted by PGA members Jeff Nichols and Mark Wood at Carmel Country Club in Charlotte and offered a full-time club fitter and instructor role. He’s called CCC home for the past five years.
“Carmel Country Club has been the best job I could ever ask for,” Wong boasts. “The club is fantastic with a huge and very active membership. As the facility’s club fitting professional, I am fitting members roughly 90 percent of the time I am on property. I also teach a handful of students and help run a growing ladies program as well.”
Wong says they use Trackman for ball and club data and other tools for instruction as well.
“We have Smart2Move pressure plates to help us with ground forces and have also just started a partnership with Sportsbox AI to help us understand biomechanics and motion,” he adds.
Looking ahead at trends in club fitting that he sees, “I think you will see more traditional lofts returning in irons. Every manufacturer has figured out how to make the ball go far and fast. I am hopeful you will see more products that cater to controlling spin and stopping power going forward. We’re already seeing high launch models in a lot of the player improvement irons.
“I am also very interested in the low torque/zero torque putter trend. You are seeing so many good players who may have struggled with their putting find success with the setup that you get with those putter styles,” he concludes.