Golf Academy of America’s new Myrtle Beach campus more high-tech, modern

As president of the Golf Academy of America in addition to being the Myrtle Beach campus director, Jim Hart regularly travels to the academy’s other four locations.

So he knew firsthand that the Myrtle Beach campus building had fallen behind the others in modernness and usefulness.

That isn’t the case anymore, thanks to a recent move from the two-year college’s location on Waccamaw Blvd. to a 25,000-square-foot building on Mr. Joe White Ave., just east of Seaboard Ave. The new location opened Jan. 26.

“We went from being the least attractive to the most attractive,” Hart said. “When the landscaping is all finished and the grass turns green, I think this is going to be a beautiful campus here.

“We’re very excited. It’s a first class facility. The technology is really second to none. We’ve got just about anything and everything for the serious golfer to improve his game. Everything is brand new and beautiful.”

The building is a former phone company warehouse that has been vacant for several years. The interior has been completely rebuilt and renovated to serve the needs of the academy students and faculty.

Golf Academy of America has a 16-month program offering an associate's degree in Golf Complex Operations and Management. The academy has about 30 employees, though the total fluctuates with the number of adjunct professors being used each semester.

The school peaked with its maximum of 400 students about five years ago – when it extended morning and night class hours to accommodate the number of students – and had about 325 during the busier fall semester in 2014. The school has about 200 students now and Hart expects to have another 325 or so this fall.

Hart said most of the academy’s students are from the Northeast and Midwest, and it has a lot of veterans beginning second careers.

“We feel [the new location] will be real helpful when we show prospective students and their parents or guests the property,” Hart said. “We think it will enhance our student population.”

A 7,000-square-foot indoor practice facility is the highlight of the new location.

It includes a practice putting and chipping green and five hitting bays featuring the latest technological innovations used in instruction.

Two hitting bays house aboutGolf simulators that can be used for both insightful instruction and simulating rounds at some of the most famous courses in the world. “All the guys love to come in here between classes and play Pebble Beach,” said enrollment services director Matthew McCarty. “It’s great for the camaraderie, it’s great for competition, it’s great for them to help each other out.”

The aboutGolf simulator is used by instructor Michael Breed on his Golf Channel show The Golf Fix and has simulation and instruction modes. The instruction mode provides swing information with swing speed, launch angle, ball speed, etc., and registers the progression of weight transfer as well as foot balance at address and during the swing.

Two hitting bays contain the comprehensive V1 swing video analysis software, and another bay has Trackman technology, which records 26 different aspects of ball flight and the hitting zone and retails for up to $25,000.

The school utilizes K-Vest 3D swing analysis that involves a vest equipped with sensors that make a 3D avatar of a student’s swing that can be viewed from all angles. A SAM (Science and Motion) PuttLab training system gives a 28-point report on a putting stroke.

The indoor practice facility also includes a break room with a refrigerator, microwave and vending machines.

The building has eight classrooms, including two separated by a dividing wall that can be moved to create a room for larger events, two computer labs with 30 desktop computers each and a library with several more computers.

A club repair lab has nine work stations with the newest club-building and repair technology, and the instruction includes old-school new-school digital club repair.

An open office area with cubicles contains five enrollment specialists who help book students for both the Myrtle Beach and Orlando, Fla., campuses, and McCarty assists students with housing, part-time jobs and general needs while also giving prospective students campus tours.

About 100 of the school’s few hundred parking areas are covered by an awning that leads to an entrance. “There are a lot of nice things about this property,” Hart said.

The school has 11,000 graduates nationwide and its other locations are in Dallas, Orlando, Phoenix and San Diego. The Myrtle Beach campus was founded in 1998.

The school has trimesters with graduations each December, April and August, and director of career services Alan Rosensteel assists with job placement. He said 81 percent of the August 2014 graduates found employment and he’s still trying to place many December grads. There is usually a spike in hiring in March as golf courses in colder areas prepare to open for the summer.

Rosensteel said the objective is to have at least 50 percent placed before their graduation.

Bridgestone Golf visited the campus in early December, seeking to hire 15 academy grads in equipment sales, TaylorMade-adidas is looking for managers and employees for its factory outlet store scheduled to open in April at Tanger Outlet in North Myrtle Beach – and will be looking for more if its factory outlet expansion happens as planned – and Billy Casper Golf also recently visited the campus looking for employees.

Academy students play tournaments every Monday against similarly-handicapped classmates, and there are currently seven tournaments on seven different golf courses each week. Fourth-semester students run the events as part of the academy’s tournament operation curriculum.

Tuesday is an open play day and up to 30 courses are used per semester. Campus instruction is overseen by PGA of America Masters Professional Brad Kirkman, who is the Golf Academy of America’s national director of golf instruction.

For the first time, the Myrtle Beach campus has formed an intramural club team that will begin competing regionally this year. The league is governed by the National Collegiate Club Golf Association headquartered in Boston and will include squads from Coastal Carolina, Clemson and South Carolina.

This story was originally published February 16, 2015 at 7:57 PM with the headline "Golf Academy of America’s new Myrtle Beach campus more high-tech, modern."