For the 57th time since 1929, historic Riviera Country Club hosts the biggest stars on the PGA TOUR for the 2019 Genesis Open.

GOLFTEC CEO Joe Assell on Perseverance, Mentors and Building a Successful Golf Business

GOLFTEC was founded in 1995, but my first foray into the industry stretches back to childhood.

When I was 12 years old, a wonderful man named Leon McNair gave me a job helping in the pro shop at Fox Bend Golf Course in Oswego, Illinois. McNair was the club’s PGA Professional and beyond being my boss, he was my coach and mentor. Even though I was captivated by golf from an early age, I could never have guessed how profoundly the game would shape my life and career.

This business is filled with some of the smartest, kindest, most hard-working people I’ve ever met. It’s no surprise that most of us found our way into the industry because of our love for the game. However, simply loving golf isn’t enough to be successful here. My advice to any entrepreneur looking to parlay their passion into a career is they need a high level of grit and perseverance, along with good mentors to help guide and make introductions. Along my journey I’ve been helped by countless others, like McNair, who saw potential in what I was trying to accomplish and gave me a chance to prove how impactful GOLFTEC could be.

The origins of our company are humble. As with most things, GOLFTEC began as a simple concept. I was interning at Cherry Hills Country Club as part of the Mississippi State PGM Program and began hearing about early experiments using computers (a relatively new luxury) to help analyze a golfer’s swing. The technology was extremely rudimentary by today’s standards, but cutting-edge for the pre-internet 90s.

Myself and soon-to-be co-founders, Clayton Cole and Mike Clinton, recognized there was an opportunity to do something unique with this burgeoning approach and took a leap by opening the first GOLFTEC, originally known as Driving Obsession, in Denver. Another followed shortly after in Chicago and I allowed myself to daydream about someday opening as many as 10 GOLFTEC locations across the Midwest. Today, we operate more than 200 centers worldwide, teach more than one million lessons annually, are the largest employer of PGA Professionals and recently became the leader in premium club-fitting.

Many junior golfers are very good at ball-striking, but not able to score as well as they should. It’s what they do before hitting the ball that can make the difference. The recommendations below are vital components to being able to achieve lower scores.

On Course Pre-Shot Thoughts

Know your strengths – Be honest with yourself. What are the percentages of making the shot you are about to attempt? What is your normal ball flight? Where is your average miss? Is this part of the game you are most confident with or not? Is this shot in your “wheelhouse”?

Aggressive vs. Safe - Knowing when to attack or retreat is a big difference between professionals and amateurs. You can be safe aggressive as well, but a good player knows the difference.

Know the conditions – What is the golf course like that day? What is the wind doing? How will the conditions affect your shot? Are the greens hard to hold? Are the Fairways wet?

Know and use your routine – Under pressure this routine will become more important. Rely on this routine to increase the chance of a good shot. Take your time! The pressure that comes with competitive golf usually makes player go faster and get sloppy.

Know your alignment – Probably the most important part of your set-up. Bad alignment causes more bad shots than any other pre-shot factor.

In the opening round of the 2019 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Scott Langley and Brain Gay both carded 7-under 64’s at the Monterey Peninsula, tying them atop the leaderboard and one stroke clear of the field heading into Friday.

The 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open is in the books, and perennial contender and two-time runner up Rickie Fowler finally found his way to the winner’s circle at TPC Scottsdale. And with his gutsy performance today, Rickie Fowler becomes The People’s Champion. This is Fowler’s fifth win on the PGA TOUR and his first since the 2017 Honda Classic.

Fowler took a four-shot lead into Sunday’s final round but faced early adversity with a double bogey on the par-4 fifth followed by a triple bogey on the par-4 11th as a result of a rare and bizarre ruling. After chipping into the water on his third short, Fowler placed his ball on a severe slope, and due to the damp conditions from persistent rain showers, the ball once again rolled into the water. Once Fowler placed the ball, it was considered in play, and he was assessed a penalty stroke. He carded a seven on the 11th hole then bogeyed the 12th before finding two birdies on 15 and 17 to take a two-shot lead into the 18th. Fowler made par on the finishing hole to win by two strokes, shooting 17-under 267 for the tournament.