Sea Island Golf Club
100 Retreat Ave.
St. Simons Island, GA 31522
Tel: (912)638-5119
Introduction
Welcome to Golf Instruction on GolfLink.com. A wonderful vehicle to connect golfers like you and me.
Golf is a game that I fell in love with as a teenager in Athens, GA. I could not get enough of golf and still can't. My greatest early job was working in the summer as the night watering man at the Athens Country Club. This allowed me the unique opportunity to set the cups, and being the son of a member, this gave me quite an advantage for the next day's game. The other great advantage I learned was from hitting balls in the dark and knowing where they were going.
I was very fortunate to play golf in high school and college at the University of Georgia. After graduation, I played about 11/2 years on the PGA Tour. I learned and enjoyed this greatly but soon found out that my greatest calling was to be a Club Professional and teacher. My big break came with the opportunity to work for Claude Harmon at Winged Foot Golf Club. This was much better than any Masters degree (Claude won the Masters in 1948) as I learned more about the golf swing in that one year than you can imagine. My wife and I even baby sat for the Harmon boys on occasion. I went on to be Head Professional at some very fine clubs:
- Echo Lake C.C. in Westfield, NJ for (2) years
- Oak Hill C.C. in Rochester N.Y. for (10) years / We played host
to the 1968 U.S. OPEN won by Lee Trevino.
- Cherokee Town C.C. in Atlanta, GA for (7) years
It was during my time in Atlanta that I began doing a few Golf Digest Golf Schools in 1976. I continued this for a couple of years and I became aware that I loved teaching more than any other part of the Golf Profession. In 1978, Golf Digest wanted me to become a full time part of their teaching staff. Wow, what an opportunity! Having read and studied everything possible about golf to have an opportunity to work side by side with the likes of Bob Toski, Jim Flick, Paul Runyan, Peter Kostis, Davis Love Jr., John Elliot, Chuck Cook, Tom Ness and many other great teachers was beyond belief! And this has continued on to this day. While many of these mentioned have gone on to other business ventures, I am still enjoying teaching with Golf Digest and of course at the finest club I know the Sea Island Golf Club.
Sea Island is a unique experience. I have the pleasure of directing an outstanding teaching program at maybe the best site in the country. We have ten top teachers, a great center, a truly fine range right on the Atlantic Ocean and two great golf courses. Here, I have the challenge of teaching a private membership, as well as resort guests from all over the world. I work with tour professionals and promising juniors while at the same time heading up numerous Golf Digest schools each year. I am very proud of my golfing family. My wife Sherry and I our grown children, son Jay-teaching professional in San Diego. Daughters Sandy LaBauve and her husband Mike also of GolfLink.com and Susie Smith and her husband Eric, the teaching professional at the C.C. of Virginia.
What more could I ask for except to share ideas on this great game of golf with other golfers like you on GolfLink.com.
Let us make the best with what lies ahead.
Sincerely,
Jack Lumpkin