What Arnold Billingsley likes best about promoting golf is seeing people smile.
“I like to help people, and their smiles are priceless! I just want to make people’s lives better,” he says, with a smile in his own voice. He is a golfer and a gentleman.
Arnie, as he is called, began playing golf at age 10, and by 14 he was hooked. He turned professional in 1960, setting records and touring.
“I had set a goal to play golf professionally and make a career of it,” he recalls.
Although things turned out differently than he had hoped, he has enjoyed a great career as a PGA life member with nearly 50 years as a head professional director of golf and general manager of golf resorts, private country clubs and public golf facilities.
In fact, he is a past owner of the reputable Palm Springs Golf Club and has taught an estimated 10,000 students throughout his career. He also helped create and manage PGA tour events and served as vice president of sales for two golf companies and was the sales director for two others. He worked as Western Regional Manager for Slazenger Golf Company, and was an officer of the Sierra Nevada PGA, and later, education director of the Northern California PGA.
Arnie came to St. George four years ago and has never looked back. He loves being “Where the golfing is phenomenal.”
The Golf Institute of America offers golf lessons at five courses in the greater St. George area, from certified PGA professionals—directed by Arnie himself. Over 65% of his students are seniors potentially eligible to receive no-cost golf lessons from “Alive & Well” and Medicare Advantage programs offered through Aetna and Select Health.
Make an investment in your health by contacting Arnie at 916.412.8606 or golfinstituteofamerica.com.
