Golf Digest Best in State

[iacas]

Last year at about this time, I was added to Golf Digest's Best Young Teachers in America list:

(I'll turn 40 in March, so that will put an end to my eligibility on that list). That was cool, and I was honored.

This year, while I was returning from the Newport Cup, the lists for Best in State were released. Dave Wedzik and I are in a somewhat odd situation: we're in the Western New York section of the PGA. We've spoken at PGA Education seminars for WNY, NEOH, SOH, and other PGA sections, but none within PA. Votes for Best in State are compiled by asking other instructors in your state to select and rank their peers. Our peers in NY and Ohio have never had the option to choose us (nor, for example, can I vote for John Graham, among others who deserve more acclaim than they've gotten to date - he too is on the Best in State list).

Anyway, I missed all the Tweets and Facebook posts about people showing off their "Best in State" status. I forget how I first found out, but at any rate, both @david_wedzik and I are on the list; he's 4th (and a two-time PGA Section Teacher of the Year), I'm 6th. First is Top 50 John Dunigan, a guy I'm happy to call a friend, and a 5SK® Certified instructor.  I'm even, somehow, ranked ahead of Eric Johnson, formerly of Oakmont.

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/best-teachers-state-ranking

That's all pretty nice, and like the Best Young Teachers award, I'm honored.

And… that's about all I have to say about that.

Thanks.

P.S. I think Dave and I are the only two instructors in Western PA. I haven't checked a few of the locations yet, but I'm pretty sure most are at Nemacolin or east, and most are around Philadelphia.

P.P.S. Oh, here's the list of PA instructors on the list:

[billchao]

Awesome, congrats to both @iacas and @david_wedzik!

[Wanzo]

Keep helping people and the recognition takes care of itself. Congrats and nice work. 

[iacas]

6 minutes ago, Wanzo said:

Keep helping people and the recognition takes care of itself. Congrats and nice work. 

Kinda. As always there are a lot of factors, politics, etc.

[Wanzo]

15 minutes ago, iacas said:

Kinda. As always there are a lot of factors, politics, etc.

Understood.  Seems like you have the right approach to these lists. 

[iacas]

11 minutes ago, Wanzo said:

Understood.  Seems like you have the right approach to these lists. 

They're nice, and they're improving in quality.

[dennyjones]

Congratulations!

[jamo]

Congrats!

[nevets88]

Oy, I saw this list last week, should have given you the heads up, assumed you knew about it already. Anyways, if that's the case next year, will let you know, congrats!

[iacas]

1 hour ago, nevets88 said:

Oy, I saw this list last week, should have given you the heads up, assumed you knew about it already. Anyways, if that's the case next year, will let you know, congrats!

This is the list for next year. 2017-18.

I love how the lists for two-year periods (Best Young Teachers was 2016-17) come out in late October of the first year.

[Buckeyebowman]

I guess the voters assumed that you knew what you were talking about! Congrats.

[Denny Bang Bang]

Yea, I saw you both on the list when I opened the November issue yesterday... Congrats to both of you!

[klineka]

I was reading the most recent issue of Golf Digest magazine and they listed the top instructors by state. When I looked at Pennsylvania, not really any surprise but Dave Wedzik and @iacas were listed as the number 4 and number 6 golf instructors in the state, respectively. Congrats guys! I think I'll have to make the trip up to Erie this winter or early spring and check out the facility and get a lesson

 

[klineka]

Thanks for moving my post into this already existing topic! I didnt realize there was one already started. Thanks and congrats again!

[coachjimsc]

You might even be higher on the list if they knew you were the winning captain in the Newport Cup. 

Congrats to you and Dave!

[Hacker James]

Yes, I noticed this in the November Issue. i was a little surprized that none of my favorite instructors are on the list, but were discussed at length in the article(s).  Seems like Hank Haney, David Leadbedder, Bob Toski, and others still appear, but the newer young guns bring much more to the game. It is my understanding that the ratings were from other instructors/peer group.  Ratings from students would be more telling, but also not so relevant as the opinions would be so widely varied from so many with different degrees of actual understanding.

In any event, congrats to all who were mentioned.

[Phil McGleno]

23 minutes ago, Hacker James said:

Yes, I noticed this in the November Issue. i was a little surprized that none of my favorite instructors are on the list, but were discussed at length in the article(s).  Seems like Hank Haney, David Leadbedder, Bob Toski, and others still appear, but the newer young guns bring much more to the game. It is my understanding that the ratings were from other instructors/peer group.  Ratings from students would be more telling, but also not so relevant as the opinions would be so widely varied from so many with different degrees of actual understanding.

In any event, congrats to all who were mentioned.

Congrats yes to @iacas and @david_wedzik.

Disagree-Though-That students would be the better choice. Most do not take lessons. Those that do mostly do not practice and only take lessons from one or two people and almost always right in their very small area.-Might work in Rhode Island, not in many other states.

You only vote for other people in your state right @iacas?

[iacas]

11 minutes ago, Phil McGleno said:

You only vote for other people in your state right @iacas?

Yeah, and I'm not sure who votes, either. I got a vote after being added to the Best Young Teachers list. Dave hasn't gotten a ballot, though I think he will now. I don't think you get to vote for yourself. But anyway, that's not a huge list of people voting. I'd think they'd want more than 200 or so, you know?

The PA voting is weird. Most everyone seems to be from the Philly area. We know Dunigan and Dynda pretty well. They took 5SK classes. I know of a few others. Mostly we deal with people in NY and OH, though, so it was tough in that sense to crack the list.

Also sucks (and now I'm remembering I already typed this stuff…) that we can't vote for people in NY or OH that we know and think deserve higher spots.