“I love teaching. I love helping people improve their golf game. And most of all, I enjoy helping people to fall in love with this game,” noted Andrew Headman, PGA. He earned PGA membership in 2021 and is TPI, or Titleist Performance Institute Level 2, certified. “Golf is a lifelong game and helping people play better golf day in and day out makes going to work easy” he pointed out.
Headman recently returned from Boston where he was the Director of Instruction at Essex County Club, which was ranked 78th on “Golf Digest’s” Top 100 Golf Courses in America. He has joined Claire Batista at the Claire Batista Golf Academy located at The Legacy Golf Course in Ottawa Lake, Mich.
“This is an ideal learning experience,” he said. “Golfers have access to the only year round golf academy in the area where they can see their golf ball flight in real time rather than hitting into a screen. Thanks to our technology, clients can also see a real-time analysis of their golf swing, which is extremely helpful,” he added. “One of my goals while teaching is making your swing work for you. Everyone’s body is different. So I pride myself on not fitting everyone into one specific swing. I try to make each person’s swing easier for his or her body’s natural movements.”
Headman emphasized the importance of good balance and the fundamentals, such as grip, stance, and posture, as the basis for a proper golf swing. “Most people are visual learners, so it is important to use video during lessons so they can see what they are doing wrong and how to fix it. Then, after working on their swing, observing the comparison allows them to see their progress,” he pointed out.
Headman said students at the academy can work on every aspect of the game with the short game facility and driving tee at Legacy.
In addition to private lessons, Headman offers men’s golf clinics including a Tuesday, June 10 full swing clinic; June 17, wedges and bunkers; and June 24, baseline putting stroke. He will hold three-day junior golf summer clinics for kids 7 to 14 years of age from 9 to 11 am on June 23-25; July 7-9; and July 23-25. Three six-week clinics begin June 25 through July 30 or a Saturday clinic beginning June 28 through Aug. 2 are for high school students or those who will begin high school.
“One of my passions is junior golf. Being able to create lifelong golfers is one of the biggest accomplishments I can have,” Headman said.
No stranger to Batista and her academy, Headman started taking lessons from her in 2010 at the age of 11. “I grew up playing golf at Highland Meadows and fell in love with the sport at an early age. My friends and I would play all day, every day. I just wanted to improve, and working with Claire helped my game.”
Headman’s hard work paid off as he and his Northview teammates went to the state championships in 2014 and 2015. As another return coincidence, Headman was recently named Northview’s golf coach. Headman’s love of the game took him to Eastern Kentucky University, where he majored in professional golf management.
Throughout his school years, Headman continued to keep in touch with his teacher whom he thought of as his mentor. Because of that relationship, he realized that his passion for the game could be fulfilled through teaching. And thanks to their relationship, in 2020, Batista invited him to work at the golf academy while finishing his internship months for his PGA requirements. Headman also interned at Robert Trent Jones in Gainsville, Virg. and Cape Cod National in Brewster, Mass. During his three years at Essex County Country Club in Manchester By the Sea, Headman spent October through April, the off season, back at Batista Academy. “I may have spent three years away from the golf academy, but it felt like I never left.”
“However, after getting married last year, my wife, Liz, and I decided we wanted to be closer to our families, so we moved back home. Liz is also a PGA member and is an assistant golf pro at the Inverness Club,” he offered.
Batista played collegiate golf from 1982-1986 at Bowling Green State University. She was an assistant pro at Royal Tee Country Club, Cape Coral, Fla, Columbia Hills CC, Columbia Station, Ohio, and Belmont Country Club, Perrysburg. She served as the head women’s golf coach at the University of Toledo from 1994-2002. She opened the Claire Batista Golf Academy in 1997. In 2002, Batista was named one of the top 50 women teaching professionals in the United States, and she was named in the top 100 Ping Club Fitters in 2017.