Putting-Guru-to-the-Pros Will Give Multiple Sessions At Historic Glencoe Golf Club
GLENCOE, Illinois (June 26, 2006) – Stan Utley’s more well-known students include famous tour pros such as Jay Haas, Peter Jacobsen, Craig Stadler, Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman, Stewart Cink, Darren Clarke, Chad Campbell, Jeff Sluman, Kirk Triplett, Steve Elkington, and Paul McGinley.
But Utley teaches amateurs, too.
The former PGA-Tour-player-turned-short-game-guru will conduct six in-depth, hands-on short-game schools July 6-8 at the GreenToTee Golf Academy located at historic Glencoe Golf Club, 621 Westley Road, in Glencoe. It will be the second of three Utley appearances hosted by GreenToTee this season.
Each six-hour school will be limited to nine students and will include one-on-one instruction by Utley in the four areas of short-game concentration: putting, chipping, pitching and sand shots. Members of GreenToTee’s highly respected coaching staff, who have been specially trained in Utley’s short game philosophy, will be on hand to assist in the clinics.
"We are thrilled to welcome Stan Utley back to the GreenToTee Golf Academy," said Joe Bosco, co-founder of the North Shore’s highly acclaimed golf institute. "The students who participated in his clinics in May thoroughly enjoyed their experience. They found Stan to be a fine instructor who helped them learn how to approach putting and the short-game in a simpler way that improves performance and consistency."
Utley will come to GreenToTee after working with tour pros in advance of the Cialis Western Open July 6-9 at Cog Hill G&CC in Lemont. He also is scheduled to conduct clinics at GreenToTee August 17-19 after helping his pro students prepare for the PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club.
"Hosting Stan Utley’s putting and short-game schools is consistent with GreenToTee’s ongoing commitment to provide our students with the best instruction possible," Bosco said. "Several of the pros Stan has worked with credit him with reviving their golf games and re-igniting their careers. We believe amateurs, too, can benefit immeasurably from attending Stan’s clinics."
Each of Utley’s half-day sessions will begin with participants measuring their putting strokes on one of GreenToTee’s revolutionary SAM Putt Lab machines in order to create a baseline of knowledge about each student’s putting stroke. The SAM Putt Lab uses ultrasonic imaging to measure a myriad of elements in the putting stroke and provide insight on how students can improve their putting.
Students will spend the rest of the session working closely with Utley, learning his short-game philosophies, and working to put those philosophies to work in their own games. GreenToTee coaches have been trained in Utley’s philosophy and will work with students during the sessions. Each session includes a break for lunch or a snack. Each student will receive a complimentary autographed copy of Utley’s new book, The Art of Putting, now available in stores.
Utley, 44, played on the PGA and Nationwide Tours from 1988-2005. During his 16-year career he won $1.1 million in official earnings. Utley won the 1989 Chattanooga Classic on the PGA Tour and posted three Nationwide Tour victories in the mid-’90s. He set a nine-hole PGA Tour record for fewest putts, needing just six putts on the front nine of the Northview G&CC during the 2002 Air Canada Championship.
In recent years, the native Missourian, who now resides in Scottsdale, has been helping fellow pros and amateurs alike improve their putting and chipping. Utley said he is so busy that the GreenToTee sessions are the only times he has available to provide instruction for the rest of the year.
Utley’s reputation took off after he helped Haas with his putting in 2002. The next year, Haas, at the age of 49, won $2.6 million on the PGA Tour, more than double his previous best season total. Peter Jacobsen credited Utley’s short game instruction with helping him win the 1995 Greater Hartford Open. Jacobsen subsequently won the U.S. Senior Open. Utley also worked with Stadler prior to his victory at the 2003 B.C. Open, where he became the first Champions Tour player to win a PGA Tour event.
Utley’s putting philosophy challenges the conventional notion that the putter head must be taken straight back from the target line in order for the putter face to be square at impact through the ball. Instead, Utley teaches that the golfer should take his putter head back slightly inside the target line and return it square-faced to the ball.
"There are many theories in golf and we think golfers interested in trying to improve want to find out anything and everything they can in order to get better," Bosco said. "Stan Utley has brought a lot of new ideas and a lot excitement to how people look at putting and the short game."
To register for the Stan Utley clinics visit www.greentotee.com. For more information, call Joe Bosco at the GreenToTee Golf Academy at 847-405-9800.
Founded in 1989 by Bosco and Peter Donahue, the GreenToTee Golf Academy specializes in developing customized golf skills training programs for individuals who want to improve their games. Not satisfied with providing players with the popular "temporary quick fix" or "one-size-fits-all" golf lessons, GreenToTee instructors work one-on-one with each student to develop a "planned personal program" aimed at producing lasting improvements and measurable results. In addition to helping players identify effective swing models, GreenToTee instructors teach students to manage their games on the course, using on-course playing lessons and an essential element of the teaching process.
Contact:
Barry Cronin
Cronin Communications, Inc.
847-698-1801 (office)
847-867-3032 (mobile)
bcronin@cronincommunications.com
