Best first step towards becoming a teaching pro?

[sitrick2]

So I find myself currently in an interesting situation, in that this past march I was laid off from my retail store manager job (turns out, when you manage a Blockbuster Video location, you have a very good chance of your store closing! Who knew?).

I'm choosing to look at this as an opportunity to make some pretty drastic changes in my life, and one of those changes is chasing this pipe dream I have of becoming a teaching pro. Now I need to make some pretty drastic improvements in my game to pass a performance test, which I'm working on (it's either a blessing or a curse that I paid for my Muni season pass just before finding out the store was closing), but I have some questions about the rest of the process if anyone can help.

I guess the most pressing question I have is wondering if there is any job I can pursue that will get me started on this path that I can perform adequately well without being a scratch handicap quite yet? I've got 6 years of retail experience, 3 of which were in management, so customer service and sales are something I would consider myself expert-level in, at least in a retail environment like a pro-shop. But in everything I've found through googling it seems like the most often recommended first stepping stone towards becoming a PGA member is getting hired as an assistant club pro, which I don't think I'm particularly qualified for at the moment.

Anything anyone could offer to help point me in the right direction would be helpful.

[iacas]

I can answer the question about jobs right now.

You can be a cart boy or something at a local golf course. You can work in the pro shop (maybe) or be a server or waiter or cook or something too.

Ideally you'd have facility use to practice more.

[phillyk]

Well I'm pretty sure that the program requires experience working at a golf course, so that's the first thing.  Also, there's a big difference in working outside as a starter, cart boy, or ranger, versus inside, clerks.  I work pretty much everything outside, and I can't stand being inside all day as a clerk.  Outside, you experience golf more I feel like, because you can constantly see the course and how people play.  I'd suggest definitely going for an outside staff position first, and if you want to get to the assistant manager, do it in 1 or 2 years.  i also find being the assistant at some courses can be very time consuming, and the ones I know don't get a chance to play much golf.  So, starting lower than that would be good if you want to practice a lot.