More than two dozen award-winning PGA of America Coaches gathered at the home of American golf instruction – Pinehurst (North Carolina) Resort & Club – in December for the 10th annual PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year Conference. On the grounds where the Maniac Hill practice grounds brought coaching to this country, attendees from across the country participated in spirited breakout sessions, informative panel discussions and hands-on coaching clinics with national award winners.
The 2025 PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year Conference, part of the PGA Magazine Conference Series, carried a theme of “Position of Impact” to reflect the ways PGA of America Golf Coaches influence the game and their facilities. The invitation-only conference, held Dec. 1–4, gave attendees (pictured) the opportunity to share ideas and talk shop with their peers.
“There’s nothing more invigorating than meeting other coaches who are so passionate about our work and so selfless in sharing our knowledge and experiences with others,” said Monique Thoresz, the PGA of America Director of Instruction at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, New York, and the 2024 Metropolitan PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year. “I’m taking back so many ideas to my club to reflect on over the winter, and I’m sincerely glad for the opportunity for us to collaborate and work together.”
A pre-conference survey showed attendees had an average of 22.5 years of golf instruction experience per coach and collectively worked with more than 13,000 students last year, with their aggregate coaching revenue rising by more than 6 percent over 2024. In all, more than 250 award-winning coaches have attended the PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year Conference over the past decade.
This highly decorated cohort of attendees accounted for more than 50 individual Section PGA Teacher of the Year awards, and included three national PGA of America Teacher & Coach of the Year winners: 2025 honoree Jason Baile, 2019 winner Kevin Kirk and 2013 recipient Lou Guzzi.
Baile kicked off the conference with an informal presentation that included a question-and-answer session. Baile, the PGA of America Director of Instruction at Jupiter Hills Club in Tequesta, Florida, discussed his coaching journey and how his mentors helped him grow throughout his career – and how he now does the same for others.
“You need to build your team as a golf coach – without a team, you’re on an island as a coach,” Baile explained. “Your team can be your GM, your other coaches, maybe other PGA Professionals in town. But you can’t just teach lessons and go home – you have to surround yourself with dreamers and people like yourself to share ideas and get better.”
Attendees also enjoyed a dinner video chat with 2021 PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year Jamie Mulligan, who remotely joined the group for a discussion led by Kevin Kirk. The discussion centered on the many ways coaching can be a driver of culture at a facility, the “performance recipes” coaches can concoct to get the most out of their players.
The 2025 PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year Conference also featured interactive breakout sessions on topics such as a review of 2025 successes, ways to build a coaching team, helping players gain ownership over their golf journeys, and a look at future plans on a professional and personal level.
The conference featured hands-on sessions led by Baile, Kirk and Guzzi on Pinehurst’s hallowed practice grounds. Attendees had the opportunity to ask questions of their peers and demonstrate coaching methods and instruction concepts about areas of the game like putting, bunker play, student assessments and how a student’s fitness impacts the golf swing and how to teach it.
In addition, conference attendees played a lightly competitive scramble on The Cradle, the Gil Hanse-designed nine-hole par-3 course at Pinehurst, as a way to take networking onto the golf course. The highlight of the scramble came when David Jankowski, the 2024 New England PGA Teacher of the Year, made a hole in one on the fifth hole of The Cradle. It was the second career ace for Jankowski, the PGA of America Director of Instruction at Golf Garage VT in Burlington, Vermont, and the 2,566th hole in one on The Cradle since it opened in 2017.
Another highlight of the conference was a series of discussions with the presenting partners of the event. Golf Genius, Foresight Sports, the PGA of America and Pinehurst all spent time interacting with attendees and sharing their expertise on coaching trends and opportunities.
“This conference is special because we get a chance to meet other PGA of America Golf Coaches who we didn’t know before we arrived,” said Rick Murphy, a two-time Carolinas PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year. “Building relationships outside of our everyday networks gives us a chance to see what other people do and how they keep learning, and that lets us learn from the way they do things differently.”
