Been a Busy Month of May

It’s the time of the year when I get the famous comment. “Being in the golf business must be great. You must get to play a lot of golf?”

Well, the answer is ‘Nope’.

We go from one issue of our magazine right into the next and from one monthly eNewsletter right into another and in between try hard to keep our website current, relevant, and interesting – that’s a 24/7 job. And somewhere in there I try to get in a round of golf.  There are a few perks however, and one was the opportunity to play St. George’s on Tuesday June 1, compliments of the RCGA (oops, Golf Canada) as part of a media lead-up to this year’s Canadian Open.

And on Thursday of the same week I am also planning on getting out to play Otter Creek, a relatively new course just south of Woodstock with good friend and golf creative expert Dave Cowx of London. No, not a typical week, but should be fun. I hope many of you were able to pick up the spring magazine at one of your local golf courses.  Fortunately, and unfortunately, they don’t last long – and that’s good seeing as we keep hearing that the print industry interest is waning.

I am also very pleased to see that response to our new interactive PROSpectives section where readers get to ask questions of our panel of 12 Teaching Professionals has proved popular. We will continue to share questions and answers with all of our readers both in print and online as the season progresses.

And speaking of golf instructors, one of the more interesting things I squeezed into the month of May was a 30 minute discussion with the Golf Channel’s teaching guru, Michael Breed. Breed was in Toronto as part of a Titleist golf ball ‘presser’ held at Eagle’s Nest Golf Club where he and Canadian teaching professional Henry Brunton put on a clinic for area golf professionals. Following the clinic I was able to chat with Breed about his gig at The Golf Channel.

Breed is a member of the PGA of America and is a teaching professional at golf course in New York. He told me that he had an invitation back in 1999 to be a guest instructor on the Golf Channel’s Academy Live show, a show that featured various PGA pro’s from across the United States each week. The show eventually came to an end and, as Breed says, “I was approached to work with the Golf Channel to produce a new show to be called The Michael Breed Show. I was honoured that they selected me for this role. I guess I must have impressed them back in 1999.”

Now in its second year, the show is now broadcast in 85 different countries world-wide and has a viewing audience that has surpassed the Channel’s expectations. Breed has a very engaging personality and has been able to generate significant interaction with golfers of all ages and abilities and from every corner of the world.

Breed likes to refer to himself as a ‘new Breed of golf instruction’ by taking the initiative to get his name out in front of golfers wherever he is.

“I have had my own radio show and have written for area newspapers in the past to try and interact as best I can with golfers and their desire to improve,” he states. “This is a great opportunity for golf professionals all over if they have the initiative.”

Breed is already looking at the latest technologies, IPads, Facebook, Twitter, and others to try and stay ahead of the avid golfer’s demand for instant feedback.

Breed flies from New York to Orlando, every Sunday, 44 weeks of the year to do his show. “We spend all day Monday getting ready for the 1-hour show, which is live each Monday night at 9PM. I then fly back to New York on Tuesday morning. It’s a hectic schedule but I have good support from my home course and I love every minute of the experience.”

Breed says that the content of each show is driven primarily by the questions that come in from viewers. “Golfers always have something new to ask about and we are never without answers. And back home at my own course while I am teaching our own members, I never stop preparing.”

Although Breed comes across on TV as an overly energetic guy who seems to be continuously wired, he is quite the opposite when you have the chance to sit with him and listen to his life as a golf instructor. Check him out, Mondays at 9PM on The Golf Channel.

Now it’s June and our Summer Magazine is top of mind. Golf is on the back burner, again!

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• Where There is Smoke
• On with the Show
• Nike Adds to the Premium VR Family
• VR Pro for the Fairway