Steve Bodosh is one of the 100 top instructors for 20 years in a row by Golf Magazine, and he’s here at PB Dye Golf Course. He certainly is a very busy man these days! As the golf pro at PB Dye, he gives lessons to some of Washington, D.C.’s elite as well as celebrities, but he also enjoys his niche of instructing high-level juniors who are intending to play in college. Busier still, he’s an adjunct professor for the PGA where he teaches younger men and women how to teach the game.
Recalling growing up in southwestern Pennsylvania, Steve tells of a gift he received of a set of junior clubs given to him by his aunt sometime between his third to fifth birthday. No one in his family ever played, but he grew up on a public golf course and thought of it as his playground. And no one could foresee how instrumental that gift would be in directing his future. Those clubs created a passion in him for the game, and using that passion, he went on to succeed in junior golf, then high school and college golf.
Playing as a professional for nearly three years, Steve went to the PGA Tour qualifying school and qualified for three PGA tours, among other accomplishments. He says that at one point, he began to help others with their games, and the word started to spread a bit. As he helped more golfers, it had an impact on his time out on the course. He couldn’t practice as much, so he couldn’t play as much golf. He says he thrived in instructing and found that he enjoyed helping people get better.
“I never intended to do this, but it just morphed into this business, and I liked it,” he says.
Steve tells of his recent years. He had been the teaching pro at Four Streams in Montgomery County prior to PB Dye. He had also been good friends with John LeSage, General Manager of PB Dye since they’d worked together years before. As they reconnected, John introduced him to the Managing Director, Michael Kim. Together, they worked to persuade him to come up to PB Dye and offered to build him his own teaching studio. That helped to convince Steve to make the move. He says he loved that the setting was truly peaceful and beautiful, but the bigger component was the staff at PB Dye.
“It’s different going to a place where I’m a part of a group of people of like-faith, which is very much like iron sharpening iron. There’s a lot more accountability here with Michael and John, plus I get to bring my Golden here in my studio.”
With the start of a new program at PB Dye called Operation 36, he and his wife are teaming up together and have begun working with golfers with no experience. I can tell he is excited as he tells me about the program. The basis of the program is to get people familiar with golf and to start with less distance. All the equipment is provided. The first session is four hours; two are lessons and two are playing nine holes. Operation 36 starts the golfer at 25 yards out, and the golfer will have to score a 36 for 9 holes before being able to advance to 50 yards, and the golfer will keep advancing backward.
“It gets people out on the course and they play 9 holes. They have fun and everyone can do it,” Steve added. “We are introducing golf to people who have never touched a club and they’re really liking it.”
When asked if his philosophy on instructing has changed over the years, Steve says, the only thing that matters is where the club is looking and where the club face is going. Everything else will follow. Sounds like it could be a practical lesson for life! SteveBosdosh.com