Dan Bubany, PGA,PGA of America Golf Instructor,Rolling Hills Golf Course,Tucson, Arizona
Dan Bubany spent a decade in television news before becoming a golf coach. He has more than the two Emmys he earned to show for it on the practice tee.
He knows how to cut.
“When I first started teaching, I was just as guilty as anybody. It was, ‘How much information can I dump on a student who is sitting in front of me for maybe 45 minutes to an hour?’” says Bubany, who is based at Rolling Hills Golf Course in Tucson, Arizona. “Now I try to leave my players with only two or three takeaways, something they can implement the next time out so they can actually play better golf.”
Bubany left broadcasting 10 years ago to enter the golf business, and moved from the shop to the lesson tee in 2020 after being elected to PGA of America Membership in late 2018. He now specializes in what he specifically refers to as coaching and player improvement – not lessons.
“Teaching is very much transactional. Players give you their money in exchange for your time and your knowledge,” he says. “Coaching is relational. It’s a process.”
Players entering one of his programs get a phone call and a discovery form before a club hits turf. The first question he gets is almost always what he charges. His answer is a question back: How good do you want to get?
The other newsroom habit he kept is writing. Bubany still writes playing lesson recaps and session notes for his players to review, and he collects phrases short enough to survive without him in the room. Take your time and use the line, he tells them, which covers marking the ball, aiming it where they want it to roll and not rushing. “Almost like mnemonic devices,” he says. “Because most of the time I won’t be there.”
Bubany says being observant, a people person and adept at technology are all golf-independent skills that are powerful tools for any instructor who wants to connect with students.
“Just think about how many people are coming to the practice tee today,” says Bubany. “YouTube is both the best and worst thing to happen to current players. The problem is that nobody is really sure what applies to them. They get confused and they get worse. They end up seeking professional help, which is where we come in as PGA Professionals.”
But unlike social media golf instruction, Bubany actually puts his money where his mouth is. He and a new student build out a coaching plan for a specific amount of instruction to reach a specific goal at a certain price. If the student doesn’t reach the goal, Bubany coaches them for free until they do.
“If you can relate to somebody and speak their language, you’re going to gain their trust more quickly,” says Bubany. “And when somebody is open and trusting, it’s incredible how quickly they can improve with the right plan and the right encouragement.
“That’s easily my favorite part of the job.”
