| Jimmy Headrick, PGA
Director of Junior Golf Instruction
The Lakewood Golf Club Junior Golf Program under the direction Gulf States PGA Hall of Fame member Jimmy Headrick has been recognized nationwide for growing junior golf. Headrick is the most decorated promoter of junior golf in the history of the Gulf States PGA.
* 2008 PGA of America National Junior Golf Leader, from a membership of 28,000
* 2008 New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame Award for his promotion of junior golf
* 2010 U.S. Kids Golf Top 50 Best Instructors in the United States
* 2011 Louisiana Golf Association Distinguished Service Award for his work with junior golf
* 2011 One of four PGA Members selected to teach at the Inaugural PGA Ryder Cup Junior Golf Academy
His commitment to junior golf is year round with classes held weekly all year, individual instruction and summer camps. He is committed to teaching sound fundamentals, having fun and playing golf. Lakewood in 2011 opened "The Short Course at Lakewood" dedicated to family and junior golf.
While he is proud to introduce junior golfers to the game of a lifetime, many of his junior golfers are regular winners in their age groups and have gone on to play college golf. Along with his instruction, participants learn the history of the game, etiquette, golf safety and the rules of golf. In 2011 the overall boy and girl sportsmanship award recipients from the New Orleans Junior Golf Tour came from this program.
Lakewood is the epicenter of junior golf in the region hosting local, regional and national junior golf tournaments.
Junior Golf Coaching and Teaching Philosophy of Jimmy Headrick, PGA
My teaching/coaching philosophy is one of building self confidence in the children. I am certainly not coaching with my ego and they know I am proud of them for being there learning to play. We talk a lot about golf being a journey and setting goals and dreams. I teach them that golf is not a game of being perfect but doing your best, this is important for the parents to understand. They know I am there for them through the good and tough times.
I teach sound fundamentals and this begins with the little ones. A child in our program will learn the proper grip, stance, alignment and pre-shot routine. We spend a lot of time with the short game using drills and competition to keep it fun and exciting. We teach the importance of the pivot and learning to swing with using the core, getting the loose wrist out of the swing and how to hit down on the ball, learning in time how to lean the club at impact. When you are teaching sound fundamentals to your teaching staff this puts us all on the same message, you have to have this, no exception. A key ingredient to the teaching process is getting the children on the golf course. They learn on the course the rules, the etiquette, safety, how to score and most importantly they know they are a golfer.
My club fitting philosophy is a constant ongoing process. While I am with them year round I know there will be growth spurts. I watch every child and I can visually see when the clubs are too long or too short. Too short is what I see by far the most. I have donated clubs that I will put a child in and I will discuss with the parents the importance of properly fitted clubs. I will do personal fitting with the help of the U.S. Kids Golf measuring guidelines. This is important because the parents get to see this firsthand.
A key part of my coaching philosophy is preparing children to advance their golf game to a level where they want to compete. I certainly do not measure the success of our program that everyone has to compete, when it is fun they want to and this is good for golf. We have children in our program who are winning their age groups and going on to college golf. We have our advanced juniors giving back their time as instructors. Our program at Lakewood develops golfers and builds character with fun being the underlying theme.
Individual instruction – I offer individual instruction Monday thru Friday. This is designed for the junior golfer who wants to advance their game to the next level. This popular one on one instruction offers a great learning experience.
We encourage the parents/grandparents to be involved with the growth of their child’s golf development. We have created a family team atmosphere and we are seeing young people becoming golfer’s for life and having fun along the way.
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