It’s easy to spot the giants. They wear trademark hats, appear in TV commercials and can be seen on the practice ranges of golf’s major championships. They have academies around the world, and people pay good money to hear them speak or read their theories on how to swing the club. What’s not as easy to identify are the teachers who hope to one day take their place. That was the genesis of our first group of up-and-coming golf instructors. We recognized the 20 best under 40 in 2008. Since then, every two years, we’ve searched for more young talent to grow our roster of teaching’s next generation. The applications are submitted from all corners of the United States, and we’re confident our latest list is the most impressive ever—114 strong. These are Golf Digest’s Best Young Teachers in America.
RELATED: Tips from the Best Young Teachers
To consider as many potential honorees as possible, we started by taking nominations from respected sources: tour players, previously recognized teachers and instructors on our state and national rankings. Then we sent applications to the nominees to determine who had the acumen to make the cut. We looked at accomplishments, who they’ve learned from, what they’ve done to continue their education, and how they handle the day-to-day challenges of trying to improve amateur golfers. We even asked many of them to supply a great tip to demonstrate their ability to simplify the complexity of learning golf. You’ll read some of their advice on the following pages. Be prepared to be impressed. We were.
