Kevin Britt, PGA,PGA of America Director of Instruction,Carolina Country Club,Spartanburg, South Carolina
In many coaching operations, the private lesson is the main event and everything else fills the gaps. Kevin Britt runs things the other way around.
Britt, the PGA of America Director of Instruction at Carolina Country Club in Spartanburg, South Carolina, books his group programming first and fits individual lessons in around it.
“We prioritize our group stuff way more,” says Britt, the 2021 Carolinas PGA of America Player Development Award winner. “It’s a chance for any player to get exposure to instruction in a format and frequency that works best for them, their level of commitment and their budget.”
At a private club with approximately 225 members in a small-to-midsize market, Britt is also permitted to teach the public. The logic is partly financial and partly a matter of reach. Groups let him put his hands on far more players at once. But the deeper conviction is that plenty of golfers actually learn better in a crowd.
That’s especially true, he’s found, of the players least likely to book a private lesson.
“There are a lot of ladies who come to us for group lessons who would never come to us for private lessons,” Britt says, whether because of cost or because the group simply feels less exposed. “They’re with some other folks who are similar, or with friends, so they feel a little better about that.”
The backbone of the schedule is Golf Genius’ Op36. Britt runs 10-week junior programs each spring and fall – two hours a week, plus a playing component – and an eight-week women’s version on the same calendar. Britt also offers summer camps, a winter indoor session for ladies, PGA Jr. League and one-off member clinics. At the top of the range are his performance golf schools: two-day, six-person intensives that pack 18-20 hours of instruction into a weekend and draw players from around the country. He’s scheduled to run 11 of them this year.
Britt builds his group programming on a ladder of price points. The performance schools are the premium tier, while other bi-weekly and one-off clinics range from $500 per “semester” to $25 for a single session.
“If you’ve got somebody who doesn’t want to put that much into it but wants to try it out, this is a great way,” says Britt, as eight clinics can cost what a single private lesson would. “It gives people an entry point wherever they want to be.”
Getting them to come back is a matter of presentation and results. Britt is adamant that a group session can’t look thrown together.
“We make sure we’re set up, everything’s ready to roll when people arrive,” he says. “They feel like we’ve put the time and energy into it, and they feel special when they get there. It doesn’t look like something put together at the last minute, like I’ve seen in some other programs.”
Britt also rejects the idea that players have to get worse before they get better.
“I’ve never really seen that with our students,” he says. “Our intent is to give players quick, visible results and we deliver that.”
Britt’s popular junior programs mix intensive instruction with fun theming. Every week has a “special,” like an NFL day when kids wear their favorite jerseys, a college football week, an Arnold Palmer day built around tea and lemonade and a short history lesson on Arnie, an Orange Whip training day and a Halloween costume round in the fall.
“If students aren’t enjoying themselves along with getting better, you’re going to struggle to keep their interest,” says Britt, who was two-time major winner Dustin Johnson’s youth coach.
A big part of the energy Britt’s programming brings is the personal dynamic. His daughter Bella, who played college golf at the College of Charleston, is a full-time instructor alongside him.
“She has instant credibility because she’s a good golfer,” he says, and splitting segments between a man and a woman keeps a room from tuning out.
“You’re watching a friendly, positive interaction. That translates across the whole group, and everyone immediately feels more comfortable.”
It’s a big reason Britt has one major nice-to-have issue: waiting lists. The popular programs sell out quickly.
“It’s also a way to make sure we’re taking care of our members,” he says. “Group programs are a way to make sure somebody can get on the schedule no matter what our individual lesson books look like.”
