SUNY Delhi Students Teach Local Grade-Schoolers How to Play Golf

DELHI, NY (11/16/2013)(readMedia)-- SUNY Delhi Business and Professional Golf Management (PGM) majors are teaching over 3,000 kindergartners through 12th graders in Delaware County the lifetime sport of golf through the college's Golf in Schools program.

Delhi students will provide two days of golf instruction to each area school under the direction of PGM Program Director Tom Philion. "The program allows SUNY Delhi PGM students the opportunity to apply the swing instructional knowledge they've acquired in a teaching setting," said Philion. "It also gives students the chance to communicate the concepts they've learned to new golfers."

Stamford Junior Golf, Inc. is assisting Delhi's "Golf in Schools" program. Jon Barber, vice-president of Stamford Golf, Inc. and Treasurer Jim Adair presented a $500 donation to the SUNY Delhi Professional Golf Management Club to assist with golf instruction to area schools. "It's a win-win arrangement that furthers our goal of promoting the game of golf in our area, gives SUNY Delhi students the opportunity to hone their teaching skills, and allows local school districts to offer a lifetime sport as part of their physical education curriculum," said Barber. In addition, Stamford Junior Golf supplies the program with golf equipment, including clubs, indoor golf balls, floor mats, chipping nets and putting greens.

Aaron Scofield, a junior from Schoharie, is assisting grade-schoolers through the initiative. "Participating in the Golf in Schools program has helped me become a better instructor, and has allowed me to better understand the main principles in teaching golf to a student of any age."

In addition to Delhi's Golf in Schools program, Business and Professional Golf Management majors conduct junior golf camps at the college golf course and provide golf instruction to the public in the swing analysis lab.

SUNY Delhi's Business and Professional Golf Management program offers a well-integrated curriculum that includes golf-specific courses such as golf club design and repair, rules of golf, tournament operations, three levels of teaching golf, and golf shop operations. The program also requires four different internships at approved national or international internship sites.

For more information about Delhi's Golf in Schools program or the Business and Professional Golf Management major, contact Tom Philion at 607-746-4678 or visit online at www.delhi.edu.