Donna Helms - School of Golf

Donna Helms

Donna describes her job this way: “There are professional golfers and golf professionals. Professional golfers are the ones who play, and golf professionals are the ones who teach others to play.” She teaches people of all different ages and skill levels and says, “I have two students who are three years old, and my oldest student was a lady who was 83 when she won the Super Senior National Championship.” Donna wants to make the distinction that she is not certified by the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association). She is one of only 1,000 or so women golf professionals who are members of the PGA (Donna says she chose the PGA rather than the LPGA because she was impressed with its continuing-education program.) When one realizes that the PGA is the largest sports organization in the world, with more than 26,000 members, Donna’s accomplishment is pretty remarkable.

Performs three clinics a week to market her services-“I do ladies’ clinics, men’s clinics, and junior clinics.” Sells four-lesson packages to clients/students, but often people will continue taking lessons after the fourth one ends. “I compare it to taking piano lessons. You’re not going to play a song after four piano lessons. The same with golf. You’re not going to shoot par after four lessons, but you will have the concept of what a good swing looks and feels like.” Assesses her student at the first lesson. “It’s sort of a test every time I have a new student because you have to see what their limitations and strengths are.” Videotapes her student to look for problems in form, and so on. “I break their swing down and show them where they are. By comparing their swing to the top players, they catch on to the fundamentals much quicker.” Teaches golf fundamentals. “I show them if they can maintain certain angles in their arms and shoulders and their wrists, then they can play.” “I usually start around 10:00 a.m.. and the range closes at 7:00 p.m., and it’s kind of nonstop in season; I book a lesson every 30 minutes.” Golf season goes from May until early October, and in the off-season, Donna works as a nutritional consultant.

Donna says she enjoys “the satisfaction of knowing that I’m molding golf swings and creating really satisfied students.” Donna likes the relationships that she builds with her students. “You get personally involved with these people. They like to talk to you. They like to tell you things.” “I like being around people with diverse lifestyles. There are so many neat people out there.”

 

The long hours in season keep Donna from spending time with her daughter. “It is seasonal. You have to scramble around and figure out how to make a living the other four or five months.” “I can’t have any down time. I have to be just as happy and glad to see my 6 o’clock [p.m. appointment] as I was to see my 10 o’clock. You’ve got to give them all you’ve got because they’re paying you.”

Donna thinks that it’s important to decide whether you want to teach or play. If you want to play, she says to start early. “Even then [in college] I knew that I couldn’t be competitive with those younger girls. They hit the ball too far. I was a good amateur player, but I’ve never played professionally. You have to know that it’s what you want to do. You need to understand what golf is, what teaching is.” In order to be a member of the PGA, you have to take a Player Ability Test (PAT) and attend required classes. For the PAT, women have to play from the same tees as men. “Now, playing from the back tees like the men, women were given five more shots per round, but you had to shoot a target score.”

 

Donna says, “Just stay focused and have some kind of goal. Write it down. Even if you’re 16 or 60, you’re going to forget. You’re going to be diverted by life. Everybody is blindsided once in a while, but just get up and stay the course; know what you want and go after it.”

Good Listener, compassionate, empathetic (“When your student hurts, you hurt”), nurturing, firm but gentle, technical (but don’t go overboard), and a “love of people and life.”

Spending time with her daughter and family, reading and relaxing in the sauna.