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Teaching Pros
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Mike Bender, PGA Teaching Professional
Mike Bender is a two time North Florida PGA Teacher of the Year, and is ranked by Golf
Magazine as one of the Top 100 Instructors and Golf Digest as one of the top 50 Instructors
in America. Mike was born and raised in Waterloo, Iowa. He attended the University of
Stanislaus in Turlock, California where he had a distinguished college career winning the
NCAA Division III National Championship individually in 1979 & 1980. While at Stanislaus he
was a three time All American and in 1979 he was named Athlete of the Year. After leaving
college in 1980 Mike turned professional and began his playing career In 1987 he set the
course record at PGA West in Palm Springs during the PGA Tour Qualifying School, which helped
earn him his Tour Card. After playing the PGA Tour for three years Mike turned his talents
toward teaching. With his experience as a player and reputation of having a world class
swing, which he developed while competing professionally, the transition was natural.
Some of Mike's accomplishments include:
• 3 Time NCAA All American
• 2 Time NCAA DIV.III Nat'l champion
• Played The Asian Tour 1981
• 1983 Iowa & South Dakota Open Champion
• 1987-1989 Played The PGA Tour
• 1955 North Florida PGA Player of The Year
• 1998 North Florida PGA Match Play Champion
• 1996 & 1998 North Florida PGA Teacher of The Year
• 2000,1998,& 1996 Appeared on the Golf Channel
• 2001,1998,1996, & 1994 East Central Chapter Teacher of the Year
• Inventor of several training aids which are currently on the market
• Numerous Nationally Published Instruction Articles
His instructional education was influenced while working on his swing with many noted
instructors: Mac O' Grady, David Leadbetter and Mike Adams. Since devoting his time to
instructing, Mike has taught players from the PGA(Zach Johnson), LPGA (Joo-Mi Kim, Seon-Hwa
Lee, Bo Bae Song), Juniors (Lion Kim, Ji-Ho Moon), Senior PGA, and European Tours, as well
as amateurs of all abilities.
Ty Krieger, Head Instructor
Ty Krieger, Head Golf Instructor, started taking lessons with Mike in 1997 while he was competed
on a variety of tours including the Canadian, Hooters, Tear Drop and NGA. He also holds course
records in Minnesota and Pennsylvania.
In 2003, Ty began teaching with Mike at the Academy. Like Mike, Ty's own game and teaching style had
been heavily influenced by Mac O'Grady and added to his many years of working on his own game with Mike,
he was able to seamlessly blend his teaching style to what Mike was already offering.
Today Ty works with all skill levels including players on the PGA, LPGA and Futures Tours along with many
of the nationally-ranked juniors that train at the Mike Bender Golf Academy.
Scott A.Tarbert, Assistant Instructor / PGA Apprentice
Mr. Tarbert has come from Black Bear Golf Club, top ten golf courses in Central Florida,
where he was Head Golf Professional for five years, Mr. Tarbert has performed all The duties
of a Golf Professional from golf instruction to tournament operations. He has also had the
opportunity to observe and participate in many PGA Tours and interacted with Tour Players
in how they prepare and compete for a tournament. In his professional career, Mr. Tarbert
actively participates in PGA Section events and local Mini Tour events all around Central
Florida.
Travis Owens, Assistant Instructor / PGA Apprentice
Mr. Owens has been trained at an early age as a gifted junior and has competed locally in Central
Florida for the last eight years. He has worked at other well known clubs such as Black Bear
Golf Club, Wekrva Golf Club, and Pebble Creek. During his time at Black Bear, Mr. Owens has
trained with several PGA Tour players such as Chris Dimarco, Patrick Sheehan, and Tim
Petrovit. He is currently the Head Pro of Golf at Sarabande Country Club.
Scott Shepard, MSPT/CSCS
Mr. Shepard is a Licensed Physical Therapist and Certified Strength and Conditioning
Specialist (CSCS) that has worked with golfers' of all levels on rehabilitation, fitness,
conditioning, and performance programs over the past 5 years. He has been involved with
directly training nationally ranked Junior golfers'. Nationwide Tour Players, PGA Players,
and LPGA players including 2005 Futures Tour Winner and current LPGA rookie Seon Hwa Lee.
Mr. Shepard specializes in developing fitness programs for golfers to improve flexibility,
strength, and stability in golf specific musculature.
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