Special Awards Feature
“Make Something That Is Complicated Seem Easy,” Says Nick Clearwater, On The Art Of Teaching
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he Teacher of the Year Award bestows special recognition on a Colorado PGA Professional for excellence in golf instruction, along with overall performance. Congratulations Nick Clearwater, PGA, Vice President of Instruction at GOLFTEC, for being this year’s award recipient! Clearwater grew up in Illinois and didn’t play golf until his family moved to Michigan just before high school. He realized pretty quickly that he played well and was not only interested in playing golf but also in pursuing it as a career. Clearwater played on the high school golf team and continued to play in college when he attended Ferris State University in Michigan for the PGA Golf Management Program. During the PGA Program, Clearwater had internships at Hilton Head, in Vail and Arizona. After graduation, he moved to the East Coast where he spent time as the Head Golf Professional and/or Head Teaching Professional in Connecticut and New York.
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After a short time in Florida as an independent contractor, Clearwater returned to Illinois in 2012 and found a position with GOLFTEC before moving to the company’s headquarters in 2015. Currently, he has the responsibility to oversee the training and lesson quality for over 800 coaches. It is here that he creates and trains a systematic approach toward golf instruction, which has enabled GOLFTEC coaches to view a golf swing and golf instruction similarly. To mention some of Clearwater’s accomplishments, he was named a Top-50 coach in America by Golf Digest in 2019, he appears regularly on the GOLF Channel Morning Drive and has over 300 pieces of content that annually air on the Golf Channel. He also speaks nationally and internationally at Teaching and Coaching Summits, Section Events, PGM Universities and Golf Biomechanics Seminars. What does it mean to you to receive the Teacher of the Year Award?
The SUMMIT
