While attending school at East Carolina University and Greensboro College, Baile started his journey in the golf business working on the outside staff at area clubs and weighing the pros and cons of golf vs. basketball.
“I needed to figure out what to do, and golf and basketball coaching looked a lot alike in some ways: The hours were going to be long, the money was going to be bad in the beginning, and I was going to have to move around a lot,” Baile says. “It seemed like golf professionals got fired a lot less than basketball coaches, so I decided I’d go the golf route, and I got lucky with some really great mentors who guided me along the path.”
Baile credits renowned PGA of America Golf Professionals like Jon Tattersall and Phil Owenby as early influences that brought him along at facilities like Country Club of Landfall in North Carolina and Virginia’s Kinloch Golf Club, and during a stint as head professional at his home course, Jacksonville Country Club. Baile was elected to PGA of America Membership in 1999, and his biggest break came when he joined the staff at Georgia’s Sea Island Resort.
“When I got the opportunity to go to Sea Island, that’s where I was really able to focus on coaching and learn from some of the best,” Baile says. “(2010 PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year) Todd Anderson, Gale Peterson, Mike Shannon and, of course, (1995 PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year) Jack Lumpkin … I mean, I felt like I was taking batting practice with the New York Yankees every day when I stepped onto the range.”
Sea Island’s legendary staff embraced Baile, and in turn he set about adding to his coaching arsenal with golf fitness knowledge. He became an early proponent of TPI through Dr. Greg Rose and PGA of America Member Dave Phillips, and credits them and golf performance expert Lance Gill with giving him the tools to help golfers of all skill levels.
“I feel like adding an understanding of how the body moves to my toolbox was a turning point in my career,” Baile says. “It was part of my maturation as a coach. I was always pretty good with how the club moved, but TPI and what people like Dave and Greg, and (2018 PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year) James Seickmann and (2020 PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year) Mark Blackburn taught me helped me identify some things I couldn’t do earlier in my career.”
Armed with his experiences from Sea Island, Baile returned to the Carolinas PGA Section at Belfair in South Carolina, where he won the Section’s 2018 Teacher & Coach of the Year honors and built a thriving coaching business. During that time, he started working with a number of tour professionals, navigating the world of splitting time between lessons with club members and some of the game’s best players.
The desire to work with both club players and tour professionals spurred Baile’s move to Jupiter Hills, where he found the time and resources to build a coaching team that included fitness professionals in an area close to where many tour players live year-round. He was named 2022 South Florida PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year, and immediately made an impact on the culture at Jupiter Hills.
“My move to Jupiter Hills was a catalyst in the bigger things that have happened in my career because they let me dream, then allowed me to build my dream,” Baile says. “We’ve created an unbelievable culture, and they let me empower my staff to dream as a team and give us the leeway to explore how good we can make the experience for our members.
“Most of our members have done big things in their careers, so they understand that letting us do the same thing creates the motivation to do big things for them.”
Those big things at Jupiter Hills include bringing in Gill from TPI to help blend golf performance with instruction, and experts like longtime PGA TOUR player and putting guru Brad Faxon to work with members. Meanwhile, Baile works with his coaching staff on building their skills, while also taking time to travel to tour events and work with students like 2009 U.S. Open Champion Lucas Glover, Bud Cauley, Peter Uihlein, Hayden Buckley and Ryan Gerrard.
And, like anyone with a lifelong fascination with coaching, Baile continues to seek out new ideas and perspectives. He listens to podcasts and reads in his spare time to spark inspiration, and enjoys networking with other PGA of America Coaches in his travels and at events. Now his goal is to keep learning and coaching, all while making time for his wife, Mollie, and his three daughters.
“Winning PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year is a dream, but I’m just going to keep working hard and immersing myself in learning and getting better, and helping other PGA of America Coaches get better,” Baile says.
“I’m fortunate to have been successful in this business, but I’m never going to relax or think I’m done with exploring. That’s what got me here in the first place, and I don’t want to sleep on that. And I’m still trying to figure out how to coach smarter, not harder, and that’s been a huge motivating factor over the past few years.”
From coaching one-man football teams in an east North Carolina backyard to becoming 2025 PGA of America Teacher & Coach of the Year, Jason Baile is still looking for ways to make players – and himself – better every day.
