Stafford, Va. – The 2016 Middle Atlantic PGA Teacher of the Year award recipient is Mike Dickson from Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md. This award is given for excellence in golf instruction along with overall performance as a PGA Professional.
Michael Dickson was born on December 31, 1979 to parents Eric and Carlotta Dickson and has one
brother, Matthew. Michael grew up in northeastern Ohio where there are many great golf courses. His
father put a plastic club in his hand before he could walk. Although Michael played other sports while
growing up, he decided to focus on the game of golf at the age of 13, but it wasn’t until three years later
that he received his first lesson from PGA Professional Dennis Miller, a great player in the northeastern
Ohio area who qualified for the 2012 US Open. He played all four years of high school on the varsity golf
team where he missed the State Championships individually by 2 strokes his senior year.
Michael had originally aspired to become an architect while in high school and had been accepted to the
University of Cincinnati for Architectural Engineering. However, his mother went to the local library and
discovered a college with a specific program to become a PGA Professional. After a campus visit,
Michael made his decision to change his career path and attended Ferris State University’s Professional
Golf Management Program where he graduated in 2002 with his Bachelor’s Degree in Business
Marketing. He earned his PGA membership shortly after his graduation in 2003.
Michael’s first job after graduation as a PGA Professional was as an Assistant at Fiddlesticks Country Club
in Fort Myers, Fl. From there he worked as an Assistant at Grey Oaks Country Club in Naples, Fl. In 2004
he moved to Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md. where he started as an Assistant, but in the
past six years he has advanced to the position as the PGA Head Certified Teaching Professional at
Congressional.
Michael has invested a lot of time and energy into becoming one of the top instructors in the State of
Maryland and in the Middle Atlantic PGA. He runs numerous coaching programs for different skill levels
and ages ranging from junior golfers to scratch golfers, and during the 2015 season, he organized and
ran over 300 group sessions. Michael has studied under some of the best talents in the industry and has
earned certifications in TPI Junior Coach 2 & 3, US Kids Certified Coach, AimPoint Green Reading, Edel
Golf Advisory Staff, Nike Golf 360 Specialist by Gray Institute, BioSwing Dynamics Level 1 and Lynn Blake
Certified as a Master Instructor. Using Homer Kelley’s book The Golfing Machine, Michael focuses on
key alignments that all golfers and golf swings create to provide a simpler and more efficient motion. In
2015, Michael began changing his teaching model by shifting away from individual instruction to more
coaching and group instruction using the Will Robins RGX model.
In 2014 and 2015, Michael was recognized by US Kids Golf as one of the Top 50 Junior Instructors in the
country. In 2015, he was named by Golf Digest as one of America’s Best in State Instructors for the
state of Maryland. He strives to share his knowledge with his students and his fellow PGA Professionals
with the goal to continue growing the game and giving back to a game that has given him so much.
Michael’s teaching philosophy is a mesh of the geometry of the swing along with the biomechanics of
the body. He screens every student with the BioSwing Dynamics screen to learn how they are built.
After completing the screening process, Michael understands how and where the club should move in
the swing along with the student’s body. With every student he focuses on three important keys: the
club face, the club shaft, and the body. Everyone has unique tendencies that require varying levels of
improvement, but there are keys from the all?time great swings of the past and present that everyone
can replicate to better their own motion. It is Michael’s goal to provide that knowledge and opportunity
in every lesson. After working with Lynn Blake, Michael feels as though his eye for the swing has been
magnified to aid him to see the problem quicker which helps spending more of the lesson time fixing the
problem. Everyone wants to improve, but it is difficult to get students to commit to changing unless
they see results quickly and easily. With the help of The Golfing Machine and using his knowledge from
Lynn, Michael feels that he can provide the motivation needed for all golfers of any age or skill level.
Michael and his wife Amber have been married for seven years. They live on Kent Island, Md. to be half
way between each other’s work. Michael and Amber love spending time with their two?year old son
Cole on Kent Island. Michael is still working on Cole’s grip, but cannot wait for him to spend time at the
course with him.
Contact:
Eric Southard
esouthard@pgahq.com
(540) 720-7420 ext. 115
