UGA Sport Instruction Lab Helps Golf Magazine Rank America's Top 100 Instructors

Who are the top 100 golf instructors in the country? To find the answer to that question you can pick up the current issue of Golf Magazine or just ask two UGA College of Education researchers — Paul Schempp and Bryan McCullick.

For the fourth time since 1999, Schempp has led a team of UGA researchers in helping analyze and select Golf Magazine's latest list of America's Top 100 Golf Instructors featured in its February issue.

Schempp, a professor of physical education and director of UGA's Sport Instruction Research Laboratory, and his research team developed a detailed questionnaire and analyzed the results returned by more than 600 contenders. The answers to these questionnaires, along with additional research into each candidate's professional reputation and abilities in teaching-related categories were used to narrow the nominees to the final 100.

“Every year the list of nominees grows longer and longer. This has really become a premier award in the industry,” says McCullick, an associate professor in physical education, who along with Schempp and several doctoral students worked on the project for more than a year.

Of the 100 instructors selected, 90 were men and 10 women. The group included instructors from 29 states and Canada and their students ranged from everyday golfers to PGA and LPGA tour professionals.

“One thing we do know about these experts is that they can, and will, teach anyone anywhere,” says McCullick.

Another interesting trend appears that this group has more advanced certifications, than those in years past. The experts on this list appear to constantly attend seminars, watch other instructors, read and network.

“These experts crave professional development,” says McCullick. “They have an almost insatiable desire to know more about pedagogy, golf, people, the human body, psychology and anything else that will help them to be better teachers.”

This year, the dominant orientation toward teaching was that the instructors took responsibility for their students' learning, and rather than blame the students, these instructors viewed it as a deficiency in their teaching.

In March, Schempp and McCullick will meet many of the golf instructors they helped select at the Top 100 Teachers Retreat in Pinehurst, N.C. During this three-day summit, the instructors will share ideas, strengthen communication skills, explore cutting-edge learning concepts and learn how to market and grow their business.

UGA's Sport Instruction Research Lab is recognized as the only university lab in the country that studies how sports are taught. Its partnership with Golf Magazine developed simply from mutual interest.

“We were beginning a series of studies on ‘expertise in sport instruction,' and it is often difficult to identify research subjects for this topic. After seeing the magazine's first list of instructors, I called Lorin Anderson (instruction editor at the magazine) to congratulate him on his efforts, and to ask about additional details on how the list was constructed,” says Schempp. “To make a long story short, the next time the magazine went through the process of identifying the Top 100, they called and asked us to be a part of the process. We've been doing it ever since. It has really helped with our research, and the magazine tells us that the list has made them the number one publication in golf.”

2005-06 Top 100 Instructors List:
http://cgi.pathfinder.com/cgi-bin/golfonline/instruction/teachers/2005/bin/top100.cgi

How they're selected:
http://www.golfonline.com/golfonline/instruction/teachers/article/0,17742,1016347,00.html  

Wednesday, February 2, 2005
WRITER: Nicole Richardson, 706/542-5889, nrichard@uga.edu
CONTACT: Paul Schempp, 706/542-4462, pschempp@coe.uga.edu