Putting Guru Will Work with the Pros at Medinah in Advance of the PGA Then Come to Glencoe to Help the Amateurs
GLENCOE, Illinois (August 3, 2006) – Stan Utley will start the week of August 13 at Medinah Country Club helping the pros get their putting and short games ready for the 88th PGA Championship.
But as soon as the season’s final major commences, Utley will head north to help the amateurs.
Utley, who has a large following among Tour pros, will make his third visit of the summer to the GreenToTee Golf Academy at the Glencoe Golf Club, 621 Westley Road, in Glencoe, where he will host a series of clinics Aug. 17-19.
"We are extremely excited to have Stan Utley back at the GreenToTee Golf Academy," said GreenToTee co-founder Joe Bosco. "To be able to have an instructor of Stan’s talent and experience here at GreenToTee is a thrill for the students who attend one of his half-day clinics. It’s also a thrill for us as teachers because we not only assist Stan with his clinics, we continually learn more about his philosophies and how to help students implement them."
Utley’s more well-known students on the regular U.S. PGA Tour include U.S. Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman, Stewart Cink, Darren Clarke, Chad Campbell, Jeff Sluman, Kirk Triplett, Steve Elkington, Paul McGinley. His over-50 Champions Tour students include Jay Haas, Peter Jacobsen, and Craig Stadler.
Each half-day session will be limited to nine students and will include one-on-one instruction with 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.
"The purpose of these clinics is to help students learn how to approach putting and the short-game in a simpler way that improves performance and consistency," Bosco said. "Students who experienced the clinics earlier in the summer thoroughly enjoyed them."
Each participant has the option of utilizing GreenToTee’s revolutionary SAM Putt Lab machine to measure their putting strokes. 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 session working closely with Utley, learning his short-game philosophies, and working to put those philosophies to work in their own games. 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 as an essential element of the teaching process.
Contact:
Barry Cronin
Cronin Communications, Inc.
847-698-1801 (office)
847-867-3032 (mobile)
