Brian Manzella
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New Orleans resident Brian Manzella chosen a top 100 golf instructor
Published: Thursday, February 10, 2011, 7:15 AM
By Doug Tatum, The Times-Picayune
When Brian Manzella began teaching golf at the City Park driving range in 1983, he told his father that he wanted to be the No. 1 instructor in the world.
The New Orleans resident took a step toward that goal when he was selected one of North America’s Top 100 Teachers by Golf Magazine.
“You don’t get to the top of the mountain if you don’t get on that list,” said Manzella, 49, who bases his Brian Manzella Golf Academy at English Turn Golf & Country Club.
The Top 100 Teachers will be featured in the April issue of the magazine and includes high-profile instructors Hank Haney, Jim Flick, Peter Kostis, David Leadbetter, Jim McLean and Dave Pelz.
Chuck Winstead, LSU’s men’s golf coach who is based at the University Club in Baton Rouge, is the only other Louisiana instructor on the list. He has been on it since 2005. Carl Rabito, who is based in Illinois but has an academy at the City Park driving range, also made the list.
Nine new teachers made Top 100 this year, and the group gathered at the PGA Teaching and Coaching Summit in Orlando, Fla., last month. Manzella said the recognition is crucial for a teacher who has been based in relatively small markets — New Orleans and Louisville, Ky. — for most of his career.
“I think it helps me more than the next guy,” he said. “You’re mainstream.”
Michael Finney, a former LSU golfer who is the head professional at Owl Creek Country Club outside of Louisville and is under the Manzella Golf Academy umbrella of instructors, said his friend has been a top instructor for years, but the rise of the Internet allowed him to gain national recognition.
Manzella created brianmanzella.com in 2003, and it has become a one-stop shop for anyone interested in improving their golf game. Manzella said his site, which has links to his instructional videos, now gets more than 4.5 million hits a month and is popular with other teachers.
“It put him over the edge with other pros,” Finney said.
The website now generates more than 80 percent of Manzella’s business. His Golf Academy has 11 teachers in seven states, and his goal is to have 14 instructors by the end of the year.
“Most name teachers and big golf schools teach a method,” Manzella said. “What I learned from my early days of teaching at City Park is that everybody is different, and everybody has to make a different type of swing based on their body type. We’re going to custom-fit a golf swing for you.”
That custom-fitting runs $150 an hour for his lessons at English Turn and the other 10 states he will be teaching in this year.
Finney said Manzella is great at diagnosing problems quickly.
“He’s really good at finding the root cause of what’s making you not hit the ball solidly,” he said.
Manzella has worked off and on with ex-LSU standout David Toms, a 12-time winner on the PGA Tour. They hadn’t worked together in five years when Manzella gave Toms a lesson during the 2003 HP Classic of New Orleans. The next week Toms won the Wachovia Championship.
“He lapped the field,” Manzella said.
Manzella said he might try to work with more PGA Tour players this year as his academy continues to grow and he gets closer to that mountaintop.
“Everything that ever happened along the way that seemed to be a setback ... helped me,” Manzella said. “... New Orleans was a great place to get to this point.”
New Orleans resident Brian Manzella chosen a top 100 golf instructor
Published: Thursday, February 10, 2011, 7:15 AM
By Doug Tatum, The Times-Picayune
When Brian Manzella began teaching golf at the City Park driving range in 1983, he told his father that he wanted to be the No. 1 instructor in the world.
The New Orleans resident took a step toward that goal when he was selected one of North America’s Top 100 Teachers by Golf Magazine.
“You don’t get to the top of the mountain if you don’t get on that list,” said Manzella, 49, who bases his Brian Manzella Golf Academy at English Turn Golf & Country Club.
The Top 100 Teachers will be featured in the April issue of the magazine and includes high-profile instructors Hank Haney, Jim Flick, Peter Kostis, David Leadbetter, Jim McLean and Dave Pelz.
Chuck Winstead, LSU’s men’s golf coach who is based at the University Club in Baton Rouge, is the only other Louisiana instructor on the list. He has been on it since 2005. Carl Rabito, who is based in Illinois but has an academy at the City Park driving range, also made the list.
Nine new teachers made Top 100 this year, and the group gathered at the PGA Teaching and Coaching Summit in Orlando, Fla., last month. Manzella said the recognition is crucial for a teacher who has been based in relatively small markets — New Orleans and Louisville, Ky. — for most of his career.
“I think it helps me more than the next guy,” he said. “You’re mainstream.”
Michael Finney, a former LSU golfer who is the head professional at Owl Creek Country Club outside of Louisville and is under the Manzella Golf Academy umbrella of instructors, said his friend has been a top instructor for years, but the rise of the Internet allowed him to gain national recognition.
Manzella created brianmanzella.com in 2003, and it has become a one-stop shop for anyone interested in improving their golf game. Manzella said his site, which has links to his instructional videos, now gets more than 4.5 million hits a month and is popular with other teachers.
“It put him over the edge with other pros,” Finney said.
The website now generates more than 80 percent of Manzella’s business. His Golf Academy has 11 teachers in seven states, and his goal is to have 14 instructors by the end of the year.
“Most name teachers and big golf schools teach a method,” Manzella said. “What I learned from my early days of teaching at City Park is that everybody is different, and everybody has to make a different type of swing based on their body type. We’re going to custom-fit a golf swing for you.”
That custom-fitting runs $150 an hour for his lessons at English Turn and the other 10 states he will be teaching in this year.
Finney said Manzella is great at diagnosing problems quickly.
“He’s really good at finding the root cause of what’s making you not hit the ball solidly,” he said.
Manzella has worked off and on with ex-LSU standout David Toms, a 12-time winner on the PGA Tour. They hadn’t worked together in five years when Manzella gave Toms a lesson during the 2003 HP Classic of New Orleans. The next week Toms won the Wachovia Championship.
“He lapped the field,” Manzella said.
Manzella said he might try to work with more PGA Tour players this year as his academy continues to grow and he gets closer to that mountaintop.
“Everything that ever happened along the way that seemed to be a setback ... helped me,” Manzella said. “... New Orleans was a great place to get to this point.”
