Golfers of all skill levels have an ocean of information available to them, and PGA of America Coaches are on the front line of helping them sort through it successfully. The 2025 PGA Teaching & Coaching Summit presented by Rolex, held on Jan. 19–20 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, offered a full menu of tools, strategies and anecdotes for the more than 700 attendees to do just that.
The advice spanned the spectrum from working with tour professionals to encouraging beginners, and covered everything from technical solutions to swing mechanics, to interpersonal skills – and the format even paid homage to some of the most memorable moments in the Summit’s history. Both days, coaches faced off in a featured debate done in the style of head-to-head discussions like the legendary one between Jim Flick and Jimmy Ballard at the 1998 PGA Teaching & Coaching Summit.
The renewed emphasis on point-counterpoint wasn’t lost on the attendees, who said it was valuable to learn about all sides of various technical conversations.
“I like that we’re able to see great coaches teach and hear the philosophies behind what they do — the ‘why,’” said attendee Tom Rezendes, the 2024 Northern California PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year and owner of NorCal Golf Academy in Walnut Creek, California. “Conceptual information is important, but seeing concepts applied within the context of a real lesson, with the opportunity to see the interaction and ask questions, is so valuable.”
Joe Hallett, the 2024 PGA of America Teacher & Coach of the Year, emceed the two-day event, headlining a “who’s who” of golf instruction, fitness and mental training. Tour teacher Chris Como headlined Day 1, and he discussed the cross-functional responsibilities of the modern coach for elite players with 2013 PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year Lou Guzzi. They discussed how coaching tour-level players is just as much prioritization and problem solving as it is nuts-and-bolts swing instruction, including knowing when to say nothing at all.
“I’m not trying to be a guru,” said Como, who works with 2024 PGA Champion Xander Schauffele, Tom Kim and Si-Woo Kim, and formerly coached Tiger Woods and Bryson DeChambeau. “I’m trying to be an educated collaborator to help you set your goals. If we have to pivot to a different hypothesis, that’s OK. This is supposed to be a fun thing we’re in together.”
Attendees also received an update on an intriguing new feature of the PGA Coach program, as PGA of America Master Professionals Dr. Alison Curdt, Warren Bottke and Tim Cusick unveiled the PGA Coach Performance Report that will give instructors a streamlined way to compile and track metrics that reinforce their value to a facility.
In other presentations, 2023 PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year Kevin Weeks showed how 2D technology could be used to make some 3D interpretations, which can lead to more accurate troubleshooting. PGA of America Coaches Joe Plecker, Bernie Najar and Tim Mahoney brought more than 75 years of combined teaching experience to their discussion about the commonalities between good instructors – like comparing best practices and learning styles from other disciplines.
PGA of America Coach Kellie Stenzel led a panel discussion on the business of golf instruction with Athletic Motion Golf founder Shaun Webb, Natalie Sheehan and Brian Jacobs. Webb took attendees through the entire playbook he used to start AMG, which has now expanded into a large indoor teaching facility in Orlando.
Movement expert Dr. Gary Gray of the Gray Institute and PGA of America Coach Rick Murphy demonstrated how they use functional training to help players not just swing better, but have a better quality of life off the course.
“The whole goal of fitness and wellness training is understanding the science of human movement, whether it’s playing golf, walking in the park, playing pickleball or playing with your grandkids,” Gray said. “It’s all about vitality, and the body’s ability to move and enjoy your activity, recover and be able to do it again the next day.”
Covering the mental part of coaching, Andy Matthews explained how to help golfers control their emotional state under pressure by controlling their breathing, and the science behind the idea.
In the first featured debate of the 2025 PGA Teaching & Coaching Summit, putting gurus David Orr and David Edel laid out their individual approaches to putting with moderator and fellow PGA of America Coach and putting expert Todd Sones.
On Day 2, Bill Harmon showed off his gifts as a storyteller with anecdotes about teaching, caddying and being a member of golf’s first family of instruction. He reminisced about how his father, Winged Foot Head Professional (and Masters Champion) Claude Harmon, PGA, helped him learn how to identify a starting point with elite players long before the days of video and launch monitors.
“The first thing you do when you teach a good player, you figure out what they’re doing right,” said Harmon, who is Jay Haas’ longtime teacher. “Be cause if they didn’t do anything right, they wouldn’tbe any good.”
Jackie Burke left a legacy as a player (two major wins), course developer (Champions Golf Club), teacher (Phil Mickelson) and mentor. One of those Burke mentored, 1986 PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year Jim McLean, shared stories of how Burke influenced his teaching in a personal tribute.
On a personal level, PGA of America Coach Henry Stetina interspersed the gripping story of his own journey from substance abuse to career success as a coach with a description of the process to build a thriving community of golfers in a disadvantaged area of New Mexico.
Meanwhile, attracting and keeping new players in all corners of the game from private to public, to indoor simulator was the centerpiece of the discussion between PGA of America Coaches Cathy Harbin and Monique Thoresz and Five Iron Golf Founder Mike Doyle – namely, bringing down barriers like high cost and intimidating rules.
As both a PGA of America Golf Professional and Army Veteran, Jordan LeBlanc has a special connection to the PGA HOPE program. He described his coaching program, and how he works with Veterans and active-duty military personnel.
Mark Sweeney, Lou Stagner and Jeff Leishman are all at the forefront of the data revolution in golf – Sweeney as a teacher and inventor of AimPoint, Stagner as a stat consultant and Leishman as a data-native teacher. They discussed the ways they use and prioritize data with amateur and professional clients.
The most decorated coach at the Summit was most likely one who has never given a golf lesson. Valerie Kondos-Field led the UCLA Bruins gymnastics team to seven national championships, and she shared insightful leadership strategies that transcend sports.
In the second featured debate of the 2025 PGA Teaching & Coaching Summit, PGA of America Coaches Brian Manzella and Jon Tattersall worked with the same student live onstage to each identify the first swing issue they’d tackle in a lesson. Newly named national 2025 PGA of America Teacher & Coach of the Year Jason Baile moderated.
The ability to help an elite player process emotions and focus on the positive was a common thread in the final event of the Summit, a conversation between LPGA Tour star and Solheim Cup Captain Stacy Lewis and her coach, Hallett. Lewis described walking with Hallett to the first tee at the Women’s British Open in 2013. She was so nervous she said she couldn’t feel her hands. Hallett told her to focus on being able to wiggle her thumbs, and Lewis promptly smashed her first tee shot down the middle on the way to winning her second major.
The emphasis on best practices was a key takeaway for PGA of America Coach Jason Guss, a three-time Michigan PGA Teacher & Coach of the Year now based at Naperville Country Club outside Chicago.
“The best part about coming to the Summit is that you get to go into your new year with not just new information, but a way to consider a lot of the things you do and evaluate if there’s a better way,” said Guss. “The Summit goes beyond the presentations to the time you spend with other coaches in between and after. The more we can share with each other, the better.”
