Horsham Golf Pro Named PGA Teacher of Year

The PGA director of instruction for a Horsham-based golf club has become the first Philadelphia PGA professional to be named 2013 PGA Teacher of the Year. 

Lou Guzzi, owner and PGA director of instruction of the Lou Guzzi Golf Academy at Talamore Country Club, will be honored on Jan. 22 in conjunction with the 61st PGA Merchandise Show in the Chapin Theater of the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla.

Guzzi, 51, of Glenside, was born in Philadelphia and is one of GOLF Magazine’s “Top 100 Teachers in America." 

He began his love for golf as a youth, designing a makeshift course near his family home. Guzzi dug a hole in the ground and used a “wiffle” ball and clubs purchased at a yard sale. 

At age 12, Guzzi and his late father went to a driving range, where Guzzi showed promise in the game by hitting a ball into a target to win a free bucket of balls. 

His first experience on a golf course came at 17, when he and his future wife had a date to play 18 holes at Twining Valley Golf Club in Dresher.

“I had seen golf courses, but that was the first time I actually got to walk on one and enjoy it,” Guzzi said in a press release. “My girlfriend, now my wife (Laurie), never played golf after that day but has walked many courses with me, taking photos ... We have been together since that first round.”

Guzzi turned professional in 1991, but had been giving golf lessons as an amateur long before entering the golf industry. Guzzi and the owner of Talamore developed–from the back of a paper napkin–a state-of-the-art year-round teaching facility on the practice range. 

Guzzi’s extensive student base features more than 30 men and women PGA professionals from throughout greater Philadelphia, some of the highest-ranked junior tournament players in Pennsylvania, and many adult players who have become club champions. 

But, Guzzi’s top student, he said, will always be his late father, Lou Guzzi Sr., who learned the game from his son at age 50 and played golf with passion for the next 22 years until he died of cancer.

“How many can tell you that they taught the game of golf to their father?” asked Guzzi. “It was his love of the game and his ability to withstand so much pain from his illness that remains an inspiration to me."

In 1979, he captured his golf swing on 8mm film, rushed to a store to get it processed, and then returned home and studied his golf swing on a screen. As technology improved, so did Guzzi’s video knowledge. He later purchased an HD sports camera, and now produces instruction tip videos weekly, presenting them on “Save Strokes by Saturday,” for GOLF.com.

“Today, people send me video instantaneously from their phone,” said Guzzi. “The concept of seeing yourself through video remains an invaluable teaching tool. It is the marriage between what the student feels and taking a look at the video to see what is actually real.”

Prior to arriving at Talamore Country Club, Guzzi served as Flourtown Country Club head professional from 1991 to 2000, and as PGA director of instruction from 2001-06 at Experienced Golf Center in Fort Washington. He is the director of instruction for Golf Talk Live Radio Show and Inside Golf TV Show on Comcast Sports Net.