To learn more about how PGA of America Golf Professionals areusing instruction to make an impact at their facilities, PGA Magazine talked with coaches who are taking a variety of approaches to help players improve while building their respective businesses.
PGA of America Director of Instruction,Oakwood Country Club,Kansas City, Missouri2024 Midwest PGA Section Teacher & Coach of the Year
As Kansas City’s oldest private golf club, Oakwood Country Club has a storied history. By 2019, however, it appeared its best days might be behind it. Membership had dwindled to 75 members, and a new owner bought the property in hopes of restoring some of its past glory.
As the 2026 season looms at Oakwood, a massive turnaround has taken place, and golf instruction is a big part of the story. The club is back to a full membership of 270, and $50 million in upgrades include an indoor/outdoor golf academy, Trackman Range and practice areas for short game and uneven lies – all tools that Oakwood PGA of America Director of Instruction Maureen Farrell makes use of to strengthen the club’s culture.
“Oakwood is a really special place, and it’s been a really cool thing to be able to come into the club and help build it into what it’s become,” says Farrell, who came to the club in 2022. “I think the sky’s the limit for where it’s going to go in the future.”
As Oakwood’s Director of Instruction, Farrell helped design and build the club’s performance center, which includes a Titleist regional fitting center. To make use of the expansive facility, and raise the club’s profile with other professionals, Farrell has also started hosting award-winning PGA of America Professionals for guest coaching clinics at Oakwood.
Over the past two years, Farrell and Oakwood have welcomed 2025 PGA of America Teacher & Coach of the Year Jason Baile, 2024 PGA of America Teacher & Coach of the Year Joe Hallett and Section award winners like Jennifer Hudson and Jon Tattersall for events that include instruction and socializing with club members. The events have been well-received by members, who enjoy meeting and learning from in structors with a national profile. They also serve to illustrate her value to Oakwood’s ownership while helping her continue her own ongoing education.
“As coaches, we always have to be aware who our audience is, and that we are making sure that our members, owners, boards and employers can see the value we add through coaching,” says Farrell, the 2024 Midwest PGA Section Teacher & Coach of the Year. “Bringing in guest instructors is a great way to do that. No. 1, it shows that I have relationships with well-known coaches from around the country, and that I’m not territorial – I’m happy to have someone else come in and coach our members and show some different perspectives.
“It’s also a way for me to help other PGA of America Coaches thrive and earn money and grow their networks. I think everybody wins. The membership and my owner see that I’m trying to help people play better golf, the visiting coaches get to make some money and network with my members, and I get to learn directly from watching them work with our members at Oakwood.”
When Baile visited Oakwood last year, Farrell took the opportunity to share his expertise with more than the club’s members. She also arranged for Baile to present an education seminar for 16 Midwest PGA Section Professionals while he was in Kansas City, with the event filling to capacity in less than a week.
Farrell’s parents were both educators and coaches, and she’s carried on the family tradition in her career. She’s also become co-chair of the Midwest PGA Section’s Education Committee and is working to implement new programs to help other professionals at their facilities. She has also helped Tom Watson with his Watson Links mentoring program for junior golfers.
“From a coaching standpoint, the thing I value most in my career is the relationships with my peers that have become family and friends through education and lifelong learning,” Farrell says. “I’ve always been a Curious George, and I haven’t been afraid to put myself in uncomfortable situations in the name of learning. Being open-minded and taking risks, and trusting my gut, has worked out for me. There’s no doubt that the most important part of this business for coaches is relationship building, and any success I have is because of the relationships I’ve built and maintained over my career.”
PGA of America Dean of Instruction,The Golf Practice,Highland Park, Illinois2024 Illinois PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year
Chris Oehlerking’s golf journey has seen him grow from a promising junior and collegiate player to full-time PGA of America Coach, and he relishes the impact coaching is able to make on others as they find their place in the game.
Oehlerking is an owner and PGA of America Dean of Instruction at The Golf Practice, an indoor learning and performance center with two locations in the greater Chicago area. Along with the facility’s founder, Peter Donahue, and his fellow owner and Director of Operations Alex Prior – both PGA of America Golf Professionals – Oehlerking has helped The Golf Practice grow to become a thriving year-round business that focuses on the swing, mind and body.
“We now have close to 30,000 square feet of indoor training space and we’re up to 10 full-time coaches, four full-time admin employees and 90 part-time employees throughout the season,” says Oehlerking, the 2024 Illinois PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year. “I’ve been lucky to find myself with people like Peter and Alex who share a passion for the game and helping people, and doing things for the right reasons, and it’s gotten us to this place.”
Oehlerking originally pursued golf operations as a career path before discovering that coaching was his true calling. After meeting Donahue, the pair eventually launched The Golf Practice, which focuses on junior players from game introduction through high school and college prep. Golf coaching, fitness and mental skills are all taught in the programming, which doesn’t only make an impact on competitive players.
“We’ve got programs for kids who enjoy golf and want to get better – golf is a part of their life, but it’s not their No. 1 commitment,” Oehlerking says. “But we also have pathways for kids who want to see how good they can get, who want to play at the collegiate or professional level and want to train 12 months a year.”
For competitive players, The Golf Practice blends off-season indoor training with outdoor and on-course instruction at partner courses during Chicago summers. A partnership with TrueSpec brings clubfitting into the equation, making The Golf Practice an important hub for juniors as they grow in the game.
“Our goal is to make sure our students are getting exposed to the very best coaching and guidance they can get, from the swing to their equipment, to training and learning how to control their minds during competition,” Oehlerking says. “It’s very robust for a junior at any point in their golf journey, and they and their parents know that we have the experts and the partnerships that will help them reach their goals, whatever they may be.”
That said, Oehlerking and his staff get great enjoyment from the impact they can make on the trajectory of talented junior players. That’s especially true when the two locations of The Golf Practice are bustling with juniors during cold Chicago winters.
“If a junior golfer is interested in training during the off-season months, that shows a level of commitment and interest, and those are the types of people our staff loves to work with,” Oehlerking says. “That’s where I get the most satisfaction as a coach, having students that are all in, that allow you to analyze and look at their whole game: how they practice, what’s holding them back, how they manage their emotions from a strategic standpoint.
“If I was teaching at a private club or a public facility, I’d have to have more programs for dabblers. But the junior golfers we attract – and their parents – see the value and the impact of year-round immersive coaching.”
With dedicated coaching facilities like The Golf Practice becoming more commonplace around the country, Oehlerking advises his fellow PGA of America Coaches with similar interest in teaching competitive players to find like-minded individuals with expertise in building their own performance centers.
“There are so many great jobs in golf, and I’m glad that I stayed true to my interests in coaching competitive juniors,” Oehlerking says. “If you’re really interested in a certain area of golf instruction, or building out facilities, put your passion where it’s going to be fulfilled and where you don’t mind putting in the work because you’re doing something you love.
“Sometimes I still get into the broader mode of, ‘Look what these people are doing,’ and my business partners do a good job of keeping me focused on our goals and getting to where we want to take The Golf Practice instead of chasing what other people have built.”
PGA of America Director of Instruction,Quaker Ridge Golf Club,Scarsdale, New York2024 Metropolitan PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year
Golf is a game of making adjustments on the fly, and the same often goes for golf coaching. Such is the case for Monique Thoresz, the PGA of America Director of Instruction at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, New York. When she came to Quaker Ridge four seasons ago, she brought with her a robust schedule of group instruction and clinics to share with the club’s membership. But she soon discovered, as she says, “Our members are not as clinic-y as some other places I’ve worked.”
After stints at Metropolitan PGA Section clubs like Westchester, Sunningdale and The Apawamis Club, Thoresz has adapted her approach to maximize her impact at Quaker Ridge.
“It’s always a challenge to figure out the heartbeat of a club and what the members are all about,” says Thoresz, the 2024 Metropolitan PGA Section Teacher & Coach of the Year. “Quaker Ridge is culturally built a bit more about individual instruction, which is fine. But I’m still a believer in group instruction and trying to mix it up a little bit each year to see if the culture is changing a bit.”
One example of Thoresz’ creativity in bringing group instruction with a twist to her members is the creation of bespoke small group sessions. She encourages members to find a group – friends, players of similar abilities or compatible schedules – and choose a topic, and then let Thoresz create a unique small group lesson format for them.
“It seems like part of the resistance to group instruction was taking lessons with people the members didn’t know as well, and being worried about being embarrassed in front of other members,” Thoresz says. “So I’m trying to package it in a way that there will be comfort in having chosen the other members of the group. Grab a few friends and we’ll make our own clinic – maybe it’s all about getting out of bunkers, or greenside strategy.
“It’s really about getting them comfortable with the culture of learning, and trusting me to make it work. I just want to offer them instruction in the way they want to receive the information.”
Thoresz’ inquisitive nature stems in part from her first career as a lawyer and her first mentor in golf. After six years of practicing law, she decided to take a shot at the golf business and found herself working for 2012 PGA of America Teacher & Coach of the Year Michael Breed at Sunningdale, who preached the importance of continuing to learn about golf and coaching every day.
She also found her coaching approach bolstered by the book “Teach Like a Champion” by Doug Lemov, which was written for schoolteachers but resonated with Thoresz. She says the book gave her solid suggestions for building a culture around education.
“The book talks about giving kids something to absorb and build toward, the way schoolteachers might talk about going to college as a future goal,” Thoresz says. “So I started talking about playing collegiate golf with my juniors. ‘Hey Johnny, you’re hitting it well. Are you thinking about playing college golf? Chloe, that was a great putt, you could be a college golfer.’
“Now, these kids were 8 and 9 years old, and they weren’t anywhere near good enough to play college golf. But it didn’t matter. What mattered was creating a bunch of dreamers with a goal, and the culture became putting in an effort so maybe they could get good enough to play in college. It created a much more consistent effort over time for both the kids and the parents instead of just showing up to golf lessons.”
Thoresz brings that same approach to creating culture – and dreams – to Quaker Ridge. She credits PGA of America Head Professional Mario Guerra for supporting her efforts at the club, such as her Committed Athlete Program, a seven-month subscription-based coaching model for competitive juniors that includes organized practices and scheduling advise for tournament play.
Thoresz also is working to include competitiveness as part of the culture for Quaker Ridge golfers who are unlikely to ever play in a tournament. She created a “Monopoly Money” skins game that allowed women members to play against each other with make-believe money so nothing was at stake.
“There are a lot of really great players at the club, and there’s a bit of an attitude that if you’re not competing for the club championship, you’re not really playing golf,” she says. “I just wanted to inject a little competition into the game so they could see that’s fun if it’s done the right way, and the players really liked it. You don’t have to be great to compete.”
Whether her students play for fake money or real trophies, Thoresz has hit about something authentic: Coaches have a big impact on a club’s culture.
“It takes time to change a culture, or to create one,” Thoresz says. “But culture is a real thing, and it can take time to germinate. But I’ve done this long enough to know that if you don’t create a culture, one will be created for you. And I want our culture to be golf is cool, and with a little coaching you don’t have to be great to compete and enjoy yourself.”
PGA of America Teaching Professional,Turning Stone Resort Casino,Verona, New York2024 Central New York PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year
In the summer, Turning Stone Resort Casino features five golf courses for area residents and visitors to enjoy the temperate central New York weather. Winter, however, is not so kind for playing golf outdoors. The facility has long featured its Sportsplex golf dome during the off-season, a 110-yard-long dome with 36 hitting bays in a double-decker configuration.
That’s where 2024 Central New York PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year Ryan McGinnis teaches through the winter, and where he was able to take advantage of a significant upgrade last year. Turning Stone added Trackman Range to the Sportsplex, with the bottom 18 teeing areas featuring built-in video screens for shot data and simulator play, and the upper 18 offering the same experience on phones or tables for customers.
“It’s been huge over the last year to offer Trackman Range since it gives our players the chance to keep playing golf in a more realistic way through the winter months,” McGinnis says. “More importantly to me as a teacher, I can use that technology to better my students by using real-time accurate data, and to help them be more motivated in their practice sessions.”
McGinnis embraced the new technology, using the built-in games for skill building and adding target practice and distance tests to keep practice sessions lively. The result was a 20 percent increase in teaching revenue for McGinnis last year, and a roster of happy students who made significant progress over the winter.
“Winter is so great for making swing changes and tightening patterns, and Trackman Range has really made that easier,” McGinnis says. “The most important thing in a dome setting is letting people know how far each shot really went. Instead of hitting a shot and having it hit the back of the dome at 100 yards, now the technology can show how far it really would have travelled, which lets them confirm what we’re working on. Having that technology at my hands has been a game-changer for me as an instructor.”
Turning Stone also has coaching areas at its Atunyote and Shenendoah courses, where McGinnis teaches in the summer months. He has a portable Trackman unit he uses for outdoor lessons to make sure the information flow remains constant, with the luxury of heading back inside the Sportsplex if the weather isn’t cooperating. To McGinnis, it’s all part of making the most of the tools he has to work with.
“At most facilities, you have a few different places you can teach lessons on or off the course,” McGinnis says. “I’m fortunate at Turning Stone to have the dome, plus two great outdoor ranges, plus courses we can use – plus our fitness area and racquet sports area. We can work on a lot of different types of motion, then try to move that to the golf course. Using the whole resort lets me come up with coaching plans that can appeal to just about any type of golfer.”
McGinnis does teach some resort golfers, but 90 percent of his business is with local residents. Turning Stone is on Onieda Indian Nation land, and McGinnis leads programming to get the area’s juniors into the game – and they love the gamification Turning Stone’s technology makes possible.
“I’ll set up a closest to the pin or long drive contest for my juniors on Trackman Range, and it really keeps them engaged,” McGinnis says. “It gives them a little competition, which is what I think everyone needs with their practice. It’s great to have technology that not just makes the experience better for the student, but makes me a better and more productive coach at the same time.” —Don Jozwiak
