Featured Article on the PGA Program - Methodist University

Koonce has been the internship director for 14 years.“I have been involved with the placement of more than 2,500 golf managementstudents at facilities across the country,” Koonce said. “While working on a dailybasis with head golf professionals and directors of golf operations, I continue to beimpressed with the national reputation our program, and the University, has withinthe golfing community. Also, the number of graduates now working at some ofthe country’s most distinguished country clubs and resorts speaks volumes for theremarkable success attributed to Jerry Hogge and his staff.”As the program enters its next phase, Hogge is still looking forward to the futureof the golf industry and the PGM Program. Though he thinks that there will besome facilities closing in the wake of the 1990s building boom, there will always be astrong demand for PGM graduates. At the same time, those graduates will be usingmore technology and working with a game that is broadening its focus to be a funphysical activity for the entire family.“The game of golf is always going to be healthy, but the business sometimes getssick,” Hogge said. “I think the industry is being driven more and more by technology,and that requires us to bring that same technology to students we are teaching today.Just about all of the golf professionals have iPhones, iPads, or that type of technology,at their fingertips. They’re using it to communicate with students, and there are appson their phone to help teach the game of golf. We also see the technology changingin golf clubs.”MU’s students are learning to use that technology, with software like PowerChalk,a web-based sports motion video program that can be used to analyze the mechanicsof a golf swing as part of a lesson or for self-improvement. When the ongoing projectto completely enclose the open-bay teaching facility is finished this fall, students willalso have access to Foresight technology that will tell the launch angle and speed ofhit golf balls. Hogge says he’s been eyeing the TrackMan radar technology, as well,that would track and analyze golf balls in flight. That doesn’t mean virtual golf proswill be replacing the real thing any time soon, however.“You still have to train teachers and students to have a good eye for what’s rightand wrong in a golf swing.”The program has also embraced the PGA’s new educational program, withstudents now taking three teaching classes before graduating, rather than theold requirement of just one. The additional class time allows students to focuson different learning styles and emphasizes the different instruction methods forbeginning, intermediate and advanced players.The PGA has also initiated a new program called Golf 2.0 to increase the amountof players and get new people into the game. For Hogge, the core philosophy of Golf2.0, that golf must change to be more user-friendly in today’s fast-paced, distractionfilledworld, means emphasizing the health benefits of golf and finding ways toappeal to a wider range of players.“We have plenty of people every year starting to play golf,” Hogge said. “But alarge amount of people exit because it’s a difficult game.”Some of the things that are happening as part of Golf 2.0 are the creation of LittleLeague-like golf teams, more use of short games with the entire family, and theinternational expansion of golf as a game for everyone.Brandi Schroeder, Robin Mason,Megan Bickford, Kelsie Carraleroand Alex Michielini54Engage. Enrich. Empower.