Brian Manzella
Administrator
The Brian Manzella Golf Academy Certified Instructor Program
and our New Manzella Authorzied Instructor Programs
men·tor, noun
• an experienced and trusted advisor
cer·ti·fied, adjective
• officially approved as having met a standard
I’ve been asked by dozens of instructors over the last 8 years, how they can go about becoming a Certified Manzella Academy Instructor. For a variety of reasons, we have never offered a program that just anyone could enter. I have always preferred to personally select the teachers who would receive the “certified” designation. But starting next year, that will all change. We will have a education program that any golf instructor can sign up for, complete, and be Authorized in. And we are very excited about it.
First, a little history.
I started teaching Tom Bartlett in late 1986. He soon became the New Orleans City Junior Champ and then the youngest City Amateur Champ. Tom was undoubtably one of the most impressive ball-strikers as a teenager anyone has ever seen. Michael Finney who was the #9 ranked junior golfer in the USA as a senior in high school, was the star of his Jesuit high school team that Tom Bartlett was an 8th grade member of. Mike had seen Tom play before Mike went off to play at LSU with David Toms, and when he saw the improved version of Tom's game on one of his visits home from college, Mike was ready to start working on his swing with me as well.
From that time forward, the three of us spent hundreds of nights and thousands of hours studying the golf swing, and looking at golf swings at Tom Bartlett’s house. Over the next few years, while working hard on our swings and our understanding of golf mechanics, we learned a lot. Mike and Tom turned pro within a year of each other and soon Mike was one of area’s most sought after teachers while at Beau Chene’ CC. Tom was playing on the mini-tours and trying tour school every year. Before long, Chris Hamburger, another Jesuit High golfer, had started working with me on his game, and soon was hanging around the three of us and soaking up the info at the all-day practice sessions and late night skull sessions.
During this time, I became a student of legendary instructor Ben Doyle. Eventually Tom, then Mike, then Chris all made the trip to Carmel, California, at first separately and then together yearly. We were in touch with Ben at all times and stayed with him at all the PGA Teaching Summits. We all became part of a group of golf teachers known in the business as “Ben’s Boys,” golf teachers and players who worked with Ben and knew his stuff inside and out. By the time Mike, Chris and I were all working in Louisville, Kentucky, it was quite obvious that Tom, Mike and Chris were part of a new group as my evolution as a teacher became more and more obvious—we were The Manzella Instructors.
In the early days of my website which I started in 2003, a young strong golfer from Chicago started to work on his game with me. After just a couple of years, he not only was 10-15 shots a round better, he had gone through all the “Manzella Patterns” as they and he evolved. Seeing and adjusting the golf swing with the “Manzella Matrix” firmed planted in his brain, the pre-Trackman, pre-Scientist version of what I was teaching had become second nature to the Chicago golfer, Jim Kobylinski, and he was finding that he could help his pals games almost as easy as I could. He soon started teach golf with much success for a part-time instructor.
We both knew we had something.
Soon, Damon Lucas, the talented pro from Baltimore, by way of Australia, and Ryan Smither, Mike Finney’s assistant professional and former junior student of both of ours, were added to the group.
We had done it just like Ben had. These were all golfing and teaching students of mine who after some amount of time had become intimately familiar with what the group was teaching and researching, were found to be like minded, and were similarly inspired by the search for golf swing truth. And now, they were part of a fast growing, influential force in the golf instruction business as the website took off.
6 by 2006…..
From left Chris Hamburger, Tom Bartlett, Mike Finney, Brian Manzella, Michael Jacobs, Damon Lucas
By 2007, we had grown to 8 with the addition of fellow long-time Ben Doyle proteges Michael Jacobs and Steve Khatib, and we started to do some corporate events like the one above for Pepsi and Taco Bell. Kevin Shields soon became an important part of the group as our influence in the business increased and the daily interaction between all the guys questioned every move in the swing and polished our message as we moved into the science phase of our golf swing truth pursuit.
A little timeline:
But it is time to allow golf professional from around the world who want to learn from us to have that opportunity. It has become a world where Teaching Accreditation Programs have become every popular and we plan to do the very best at that as well.
We are going to launch a new Manzella Authorized Instructor program very soon.
It will feature teaching the instructors not only how the golf swing works, but how to get it done on the lesson tee and that will include the attendees working on their live teaching in front of the seminar instructors.
It will also have two different "brand names," one Manzella Authorized, one TBA.
More to come on the subject very soon!
and our New Manzella Authorzied Instructor Programs
men·tor, noun
• an experienced and trusted advisor
synonyms: adviser, guide, guru, counselor, consultant
cer·ti·fied, adjective
• officially approved as having met a standard
synonyms: bona fide, authentic, endorse
I’ve been asked by dozens of instructors over the last 8 years, how they can go about becoming a Certified Manzella Academy Instructor. For a variety of reasons, we have never offered a program that just anyone could enter. I have always preferred to personally select the teachers who would receive the “certified” designation. But starting next year, that will all change. We will have a education program that any golf instructor can sign up for, complete, and be Authorized in. And we are very excited about it.
First, a little history.
I started teaching Tom Bartlett in late 1986. He soon became the New Orleans City Junior Champ and then the youngest City Amateur Champ. Tom was undoubtably one of the most impressive ball-strikers as a teenager anyone has ever seen. Michael Finney who was the #9 ranked junior golfer in the USA as a senior in high school, was the star of his Jesuit high school team that Tom Bartlett was an 8th grade member of. Mike had seen Tom play before Mike went off to play at LSU with David Toms, and when he saw the improved version of Tom's game on one of his visits home from college, Mike was ready to start working on his swing with me as well.
From that time forward, the three of us spent hundreds of nights and thousands of hours studying the golf swing, and looking at golf swings at Tom Bartlett’s house. Over the next few years, while working hard on our swings and our understanding of golf mechanics, we learned a lot. Mike and Tom turned pro within a year of each other and soon Mike was one of area’s most sought after teachers while at Beau Chene’ CC. Tom was playing on the mini-tours and trying tour school every year. Before long, Chris Hamburger, another Jesuit High golfer, had started working with me on his game, and soon was hanging around the three of us and soaking up the info at the all-day practice sessions and late night skull sessions.
During this time, I became a student of legendary instructor Ben Doyle. Eventually Tom, then Mike, then Chris all made the trip to Carmel, California, at first separately and then together yearly. We were in touch with Ben at all times and stayed with him at all the PGA Teaching Summits. We all became part of a group of golf teachers known in the business as “Ben’s Boys,” golf teachers and players who worked with Ben and knew his stuff inside and out. By the time Mike, Chris and I were all working in Louisville, Kentucky, it was quite obvious that Tom, Mike and Chris were part of a new group as my evolution as a teacher became more and more obvious—we were The Manzella Instructors.
In the early days of my website which I started in 2003, a young strong golfer from Chicago started to work on his game with me. After just a couple of years, he not only was 10-15 shots a round better, he had gone through all the “Manzella Patterns” as they and he evolved. Seeing and adjusting the golf swing with the “Manzella Matrix” firmed planted in his brain, the pre-Trackman, pre-Scientist version of what I was teaching had become second nature to the Chicago golfer, Jim Kobylinski, and he was finding that he could help his pals games almost as easy as I could. He soon started teach golf with much success for a part-time instructor.
We both knew we had something.
Soon, Damon Lucas, the talented pro from Baltimore, by way of Australia, and Ryan Smither, Mike Finney’s assistant professional and former junior student of both of ours, were added to the group.
We had done it just like Ben had. These were all golfing and teaching students of mine who after some amount of time had become intimately familiar with what the group was teaching and researching, were found to be like minded, and were similarly inspired by the search for golf swing truth. And now, they were part of a fast growing, influential force in the golf instruction business as the website took off.
6 by 2006…..
From left Chris Hamburger, Tom Bartlett, Mike Finney, Brian Manzella, Michael Jacobs, Damon Lucas
By 2007, we had grown to 8 with the addition of fellow long-time Ben Doyle proteges Michael Jacobs and Steve Khatib, and we started to do some corporate events like the one above for Pepsi and Taco Bell. Kevin Shields soon became an important part of the group as our influence in the business increased and the daily interaction between all the guys questioned every move in the swing and polished our message as we moved into the science phase of our golf swing truth pursuit.
A little timeline:
In February of 2006, Yale professor Bob Grober sat me down at the MIT Better Golf Through Technology summit to tell me that there was a "mistake in every paragraph" in the little yellow book that we had based some of what we taught on.
In December of 2007, After Dr. Aaron Zick's seminal presentation at the TGM summit in Florida, and a two hour debate and discussion on all things TGM with the attendees, Michael Jacobs Mike Finney, Steve Khatib, and I walked down the hall back to our rooms. On the way, Michael Jacobs uttered the infamous line, "Boys, either we are going to have to call what we are doing something else, or they are going to have to."
In September of 2009, we added our 10th instructor, Jon Hardesty. Jon strongly encouraged us to start calling every PHD University researcher from every research paper that we had and we could get our hands on. This was the final push toward science that the group needed, a push that started in 2003 with forum member "Mandrin" and a few others over the years on the website to that point.
In September of 2010, Michael Finney calls Dr. Steven Nesbit and invites him to attend our first science symposium.
On October 10. 2o10, we hosted "Anti-Summit I" the first Manzella Golf Science Symposium in Phoenix, Arizona. Dr. Paul Wood, Dr. Aaron Zick, and Dr. Robert Neal were the expert panel.
In November of 2010, We finally officially launched Project 1.68, our scientific pursuit of the golf swing.
In December of 2011, on the 5th &6th, with 6 world-class scientists presenting, we had our second Manzella Golf Science Symposium on Long Island, New York. Dr. Sasho MacKenzie, Dr. Steven Nesbit, Fredrik Tuxen, Dr. Paul Wood, Dr. Aaron Zick, and Dr. Robert Neal
Now that I have certified a nice round number of 20 golf instructors, "The Group," what we all call the group, has made a pretty big dent in golf instruction. We plan to do much, much more in our quest to be the very best at what we do.In December of 2007, After Dr. Aaron Zick's seminal presentation at the TGM summit in Florida, and a two hour debate and discussion on all things TGM with the attendees, Michael Jacobs Mike Finney, Steve Khatib, and I walked down the hall back to our rooms. On the way, Michael Jacobs uttered the infamous line, "Boys, either we are going to have to call what we are doing something else, or they are going to have to."
In September of 2009, we added our 10th instructor, Jon Hardesty. Jon strongly encouraged us to start calling every PHD University researcher from every research paper that we had and we could get our hands on. This was the final push toward science that the group needed, a push that started in 2003 with forum member "Mandrin" and a few others over the years on the website to that point.
In September of 2010, Michael Finney calls Dr. Steven Nesbit and invites him to attend our first science symposium.
On October 10. 2o10, we hosted "Anti-Summit I" the first Manzella Golf Science Symposium in Phoenix, Arizona. Dr. Paul Wood, Dr. Aaron Zick, and Dr. Robert Neal were the expert panel.
In November of 2010, We finally officially launched Project 1.68, our scientific pursuit of the golf swing.
In December of 2011, on the 5th &6th, with 6 world-class scientists presenting, we had our second Manzella Golf Science Symposium on Long Island, New York. Dr. Sasho MacKenzie, Dr. Steven Nesbit, Fredrik Tuxen, Dr. Paul Wood, Dr. Aaron Zick, and Dr. Robert Neal
But it is time to allow golf professional from around the world who want to learn from us to have that opportunity. It has become a world where Teaching Accreditation Programs have become every popular and we plan to do the very best at that as well.
We are going to launch a new Manzella Authorized Instructor program very soon.
It will feature teaching the instructors not only how the golf swing works, but how to get it done on the lesson tee and that will include the attendees working on their live teaching in front of the seminar instructors.
It will also have two different "brand names," one Manzella Authorized, one TBA.
More to come on the subject very soon!
