GOLFTEC Honored at Denver Business Journal Awards Banquet

GOLFTEC Awarded DBJ Trailblazer Award. Representing GOLFTEC (from left to right): Nick Clearwater, Vice President of Instruction; Joe Assell, CEO and Co-Founder; Alexis Assell; Matthew Assell; Chris Kuebrich, SVP Marketing; Sakal Heng, General Counsel

GOLFTEC continues to ride the momentum from a strong 2021 into this year, as we recently received the 2022 Denver Business Journal Trailblazer Award.

Each year the Denver Business Journal recognizes local businesses and presents awards in a variety of categories. The Trailblazer Award is presented to a Denver-region company based on financial performance, historical achievements, and contributions to the industry and local economy.

GOLFTEC prides itself on being a local Denver-area business with 75 employees at their corporate headquarters located in Centennial. These HQ employees provide support to the 220+ Training Centers and more than 900 Coaches that make GOLFTEC a worldwide company.

Over the last 26 years, GOLFTEC has become the leader in golf instruction and club fitting with more than 200 Training Centers nationwide that employ nearly 1,000 Team members. The entire GOLFTEC Team helped contribute to the company’s best year on record in 2021.

  • Over 175,000 Students chose GOLFTEC to help them with their game with an average improvement of 7 strokes
  • 31 Coaches were named to the Golf Digest Best Teachers in Every State list
  • Eight GOLFTEC Coaches won PGA Section Awards
  • 12 new GOLFTEC Training Centers were opened
  • Over 1.5 million lessons were given, compared to 1 million in 2020
  • Over $2 million in charitable giving through GOLFTEC Cares
Joe Assell accepting the DBJ Trailblazer Award during the awards banquet

“It is such an honor to be named the Trailblazer Award winner. We love being a part of the Denver community, and it means so much since our company started here, our corporate headquarters is here, and we are proud to support local charities here. Our company has experienced tremendous growth and this award is a product of how hard our entire team has worked to get to this point.”

Joe Assell, GOLFTEC CEO

Read the full Q&A between Denver Business Journal and GOLFTEC below.

DBJ: A year ago, where did you expect your company to be this spring? Where are you today?

GOLFTEC: Like so many other organizations around the world, at this time last year we were facing numerous challenges; but GOLFTEC and the golf industry proved to be incredibly resilient during 2021 and we successfully turned those challenges into the most successful year in the history of our company. We stayed true to our mission of helping people play better golf and our incredible team of almost 1,000 GOLFTEC Coaches set records in nearly every area of our business; over 1.5 million golf lessons given,12 new GOLFTEC locations opened, and over $2 million in charitable giving. But most importantly, we celebrated the incredible success of our Coaches and Students; over 100 GOLFTEC Coaches were recognized for their excellence as a golf professional and we helped over 175,000 Students play better golf.

DBJ: What changes has your business implemented in the past two years?

GOLFTEC: Over the past two years, the golf industry and our company experienced a massive boom in interest and activity. During this period of accelerated growth, we were thrilled to hire 250 new team members to our GOLFTEC family. Additionally, we had hundreds of coaches celebrate major milestones and accomplishments as instructors. With all that growth and success, combined with challenges that limited travel and required remote work, one of our biggest accomplishments in 2021 was what our team did to develop new and innovative ways to onboard new team members, maintain our standards of excellence for coach training, and ensure that our company culture was stronger than ever.

DBJ: How permanent will those changes be? Why?

GOLFTEC: Many of these changes we implemented in the past year will become a permanent part of our organization. We will continue to provide the best golf coach training in the world and make that accessible online and in-person. That said, we are excited that this year we will be able to offer a level of in-person training that we haven’t had the opportunity to provide in the past two years.

DBJ: How do you measure growth for your business?

GOLFTEC: As we look to the future, we’re incredibly excited about the growth trajectory of our company and the ways we’ll continue to evolve and deliver a golf improvement experience. One of our key growth areas will be expanding our retail footprint and opening GOLFTEC Training Centers in new locations and new markets. Currently, we have over 220 GOLFTEC locations spanning over 70 cities and six countries. In 2023, we’re looking to open nearly 30 new locations in both domestic and international markets. Additionally, GOLFTEC will look to diversify our business and create opportunities for people to engage with us in numerous ways; whether that be in-person, on-course, or at-home. We see a great opportunity to deliver an improvement experience that expands beyond the four walls of a GOLFTEC Training Center and provides golfers with world-class instruction wherever they need it. In the end, our goal is to build the world’s most connected community of passionate golfers who share a common goal of better golf.

Biggest accomplishment of the past year: One of GOLFTEC’s biggest accomplishments in 2021 was the launch of OptiMotion, a proprietary motion measurement system that wirelessly captures over 4,000 data points in every swing. This allows GOLFTEC Students to make swings and receive video analysis without the requirement of a harness or sensor. The launch of our revolutionary OptiMotion technology was instrumental in GOLFTEC being named one the Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Sports by Fast Company. Another key accomplishment came from GOLFTEC coaches, the true engine behind everything we do at GOLFTEC. Nearly 40 GOLFTEC coaches were recognized by the golf industry for their accomplishments as a golf instructor, mentor or leader. Thirty-one GOLFTEC Coaches were named to the Golf Digest “Best in State” list. Eight GOLFTEC Coaches won PGA of America Section Awards. Last but not least, we’re incredibly proud of the success we’re having with GOLFTEC Cares, our charitable program that’s working hard to impact our communities and to make the game of golf more accessible. In 2021, we generated over $2 million in charitable giving that benefited incredible organizations like PGA Reach, Youth on Course, Black Girls Golf and many others.

Big goal for 2022: For 2022, our goal is to reset the bar for what it means to be the world leader in golf improvement. In 2021, we helped over 175,000 people around the world improve their game and saw a seven-stroke improvement on average among those individuals. In 2022, our goal is to expand our reach and help nearly a quarter million golfers play the best golf of their life. For every person that comes to us for help, our aim is to connect them with a coach that will guide them on their path to play the best, most consistent, most rewarding golf of their entire lives.

How do you define success, and how has your team displayed it? For us, success is measured in satisfied students who are shooting lower scores, seeing their handicaps drop, and finding answers in their journey to better golf. It’s also measured in the engagement and career development of our team of nearly 1,000 golf professionals around the world. If our coaches are fulfilled, empowered and trained to deliver a world-class improvement experience, we’re squarely on the path to success.

Are you hiring? Yes. As a fast growing company with plans to keep improving our product and brand, we’re always looking to add talented people to our team. In 2022, we’ll hire nearly 300 individuals to support our footprint of over 220 GOLFTEC locations around the world. If you are a current or aspiring golf professional who loves to help people play better golf, we are the perfect fit for you. And if you’re someone looking to drive innovation and join a dynamic, high-energy team at our global headquarters in Denver, we’d love to chat with you about the numerous opportunities that we have. We expect to add anywhere from 10 to 20 people to our GOLFTEC HQ Team in 2022.

How has your company’s culture evolved since its founding? The culture and values of our company have been instrumental in helping guide us to where we are today. While we’ve seen minor evolutions in the 27 year history of our company, our core values have always been rooted in team, improvement, integrity and fun and our company mission to help people play better golf. Much of our success is attributed to the fact that we’ve never lost sight of our north star and we have focused all our energy to create an environment that helps golfers find more joy, consistency and fun on the golf course.


LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here