TULSA, Okla. -- PGA Director of Instruction Rick Martino of the PGA Learning Center in Port St. Lucie, Fla., and 2006 PGA Teacher of the Year Bill Forrest of Cave Creek, Ariz., will appear in featured analyst roles on TNT Network and the PGA Pipeline channel on PGA.COM, during the 89th PGA Championship, Aug. 6-12, at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.
Martino, a PGA Master Professional and the 1997 PGA Teacher of the Year, will be a featured analyst on www.pga.com, in the PGA.com Pipeline. The author of The PGA Manual of Golf (2002, Warner Books), Martino also will appear Monday, Aug. 6, providing golf instruction from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m., at the Play Golf America Day at LaFortune Park Golf Course in Tulsa.
Forrest, the PGA Director of Instruction at Troon Country Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., will be featured in instructional tips each day of the Championship, and will be on the practice range for Saturday morning third-round coverage with TNT’s Jim Huber, providing insight on the season’s final major.
A closer look at two premier PGA of America instructors:
RICK MARTINO
The PGA of America’s Director of Instruction since 1998, and based at the PGA Learning Center in Port St. Lucie, Fla., Rick Martino has been listed among Golf Digest’s 50 Greatest Teachers and GOLF Magazine’s Top 100 Teachers. A resident of PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, Martino graduated from the University of Maryland in 1970, and was elected to PGA membership in 1975. He was elected a PGA Master Professional in 1987. He served as director of instruction at Oakmont (Pa.) Golf Club from 1988-98. He is a regular contributor to many national golf publications, a regular presenter at the World Scientific Golf Congress, and since 1998 has serves as television analyst for TNT Network at the PGA Championship. Martino is serving his fourth term as chair of the PGA Teaching & Coaching Summit, the world’s largest forum of golf instructors. He is the author of the revised PGA Manual of Golf (2002, Warner Books), and is a frequent guest on The Golf Channel’s Academy Live, and is an instructor to tour professionals Fred Funk, Tammie Green, Tina Fisher, Carol Mann; along with guiding 1988 PGA Golf Professional of the Year Bob Ford.
BILL FORREST
A PGA Master Professional and the PGA director of instruction at Troon Country Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., Bill Forrest is the second member of the Southwest PGA Section to be named PGA Teacher of the Year – preceded by Jim Flick in 1988. A native of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Forrest moved to the United States at age 16. He began his professional career in the Canadian PGA from 1977-82, before taking a teaching position from 1983-87 at the Bonita Bay Club in Bonita Springs, Fla. After a brief stint at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., in 1987, Forrest was recruited later that year to the TPC of Scottsdale, Ariz., where he became director of instruction. Forrest spent 14 years at the club, developing an impressive list of students featuring Tour professionals, accomplished amateurs and celebrity athletes from a variety of sports. In 2004, Forrest moved across town to Troon Country Club.
Elected to PGA membership in 1992, Forrest is a four-time Southwest PGA Teacher of the Year (1992, ’95, ’96, and 2004). He was one of the first groups of PGA Professionals to be Specialty Certified in Teaching in 1997, and remains a member of the Master Professional faculty.
Forrest’s other honors include being named to GOLF Magazine’s “Top 100 Teachers,” and Golf Digest’s “Best Teachers in Your State.” His list of past and present students include the PGA Tour’s Steve Jones, Per-Ulrik Johanssen, the LPGA’s Grace Park, Champions Tour veterans Tom Purtzer and Tom Weiskopf; 60 collegiate golfers at various levels to such celebrity athletes as soccer’s Mia Hamm, NBA star Charles Barkley, baseball’s Nomar Garciaparra; and tennis great Jimmy Connors.
Tickets to the 89th PGA Championship are still available by calling 1-800-PGA-GOLF (732-4653) or by visiting the Championship’s official Web site, www.pga2007.com.
Tickets and general information regarding the 2007 PGA Championship may be found on line at www.pga2007.com, or by calling 1-800-PGA-GOLF.
