Sun City Center, Florida - Ben Sutton Golf School, the nation’s longest-running golf instruction destination based just south of Tampa, has announced that its return student rate topped the 25 percent mark for Fiscal Year 2003/04. The authorities have also stated that its 50-acre campus was unaffected by the state's recent onslaught of hurricanes and tropical disturbances.

"We were fortunate here in the Tampa area to receive little to no damage," says Dean Hedstrom, the school's director of instruction. "Many of our long-time students are privy to the fact that we emerged unscathed and made the trip down again."

The return student rate is up six percent over FY 02/03 levels and nearly 10 percent since 2001. Ben Sutton Golf School has one of the highest return student rates of any golf school in the U.S., with some students who've attended for 20-plus consecutive years.

Founded in 1969 by Ben Sutton, the school is celebrating its 35th Anniversary and its 30th year in the same location 20 miles south of Tampa. In recognition of the milestone, Ben Sutton Golf School has launched two new, targeted instruction programs - "For Women Only" and the "Players School."

Both programs are available in three and five-day formats. The "For Women Only" Program provides a comfortable, non-intimidating learning environment for beginners and slightly more experienced women golfers for overall game improvement.

The "Players School" Program is for students with handicaps of 20-and-under who want instruction at the state-of-the-art practice facility in the morning and intensified on-course playing lessons with their instructor in the afternoon. Unlike run-of-the-mill golf schools that limit pupils to the practice range, the "Players School" Program promotes a theory-to-practice concept by emulating actual playing conditions and situations.

About Ben Sutton Golf School

Ben Sutton Golf School was founded in 1969 to provide students of all ages and abilities with the highest quality teaching professionals, equipment, and facilities in order to reach their full potential. Recognized as the only true-destination golf school in America, tens of thousands of golfers from all reaches of the U.S. and around the world - including heads of states, royalty and dignitaries; professional athletes; Tour players; movie, music and TV stars; politicians; corporate executives and entrepreneurs - have learned under the school's real conditions.

Ben Sutton is the only golf school in the world where "instruction is the focus of the entire facility" - not on the fringe of it. Male and female students of all ages and abilities "learn golf where they play golf" at the school's own 50-acre, nine-hole, configure-as-you-like-it golf course set up for optimal learning. Support instruction areas include a Short Game Center, 12,000-square-foot putting and chipping green and V-1 Digital swing analysis studios and Callaway Golf Custom Fitting Center. Students learn in actual playing conditions and situations, hitting real shots, from real tees, fairways, rough and bunkers, over and around water to real greens.

State-of-the-art technology is incorporated into one-on-one learning sessions, which emphasize course management, situational thinking, swing analysis and strategy (working within golfers' different physical specifications), and training. All instructors are PGA and LPGA accredited, priding themselves in mastering not only golf's subject matter but clearly communicating it to students in ways that are easy to understand and remember.

Three-, five- and seven-day sessions (36, 23 and 14 hours of instruction, respectively) boast an impressive 5-to-1 student-to-instructor ratio, are conducted all year long and start at $750 with lodging, meals and ground transportation included.