McGetrick Golf Academy
Consolidates at Broken Tee

MGA also looking into stand-alone facility in Douglas County

By Gary Baines
Colorado Golf Journal, Wednesday, December 10, 2008

       The McGetrick Golf Academy, one of the most prominent golf schools in the country, is headed south -- literally, not figuratively.

       After five years of operating at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in northeast Denver, MGA will leave the host course of the HealthOne Colorado Open Championships at the end of the year, when its lease ends. It will consolidate its business at the newly redesigned course at Broken Tee Englewood, formerly home of Englewood Golf Course.

      MGA, rated one of the top 20 golf schools in the nation by Golf magazine, opened a 2,200-square-foot facility at Broken Tee in May, a couple of months before the course reopened at the site.

       Brian Thomson, president of MGA, indicated the move was made because it brings the business closer to its customer base. Thomson cited a survey MGA conducted over the summer which revealed that 85 percent of MGA’s clients live south of I-70 and west of I-25.

     “Green Valley Ranch is a great course, but what can you do if you can’t get people up there?” Thomson said last week. “When we left Meridian (in Englewood in 2003) and went north, there was a percentage of people who weren’t going to drive up, even if Jack Nicklaus was up there. It’s been a struggle. The central location (at Broken Tee) is great for our clients and we‘re getting a lot more foot traffic. A lot of people say, ‘This is 10 minutes from my house.’”

     Thomson said GMA attracted about 600 kids for its junior program in 2008.           

        The McGetrick Golf Academy was started at Meridian Golf Club in the early 1990s by Mike McGetrick, and after a decade MGA moved to Green Valley Ranch in 2003. McGetrick, ranked No. 17 on Golf Digest’s 2008 list of America’s Greatest Teachers,  said he no longer has anything to do with the day-to-day operations at MGA, but it still leases his name. McGetrick  now serves as the managing partner at Parker’s Colorado Golf Club, which he co-founded.

      Besides leaving Green Valley Ranch, the McGetrick Golf Academy has more plans in the works, given its client demographics. Thomson said MGA is looking to build a stand-alone facility in Douglas County by 2010. Plans include a double-deck driving range, with microchips in every practice ball so that each can be tracked by computer and customers can receive a printout of their ball dispersion.

      “There will also be an academy there, but it’ll be more of an entertainment center than just a ball-beating driving range,” Thomson said. “We’re really fired up about the prospects.”

     Meanwhile, Green Valley Ranch officials are in the midst of bringing in a couple of partners -- one focusing on instruction and the other on club fitting -- that will take over the facility that has been used by the McGetrick Golf Academy. Among other things, GVR president Kevin Laura wants those partners to work with the kids that use Green Valley Ranch’s First Tee short course and new learning center.

      “Our target is to be the best fitting and instructional academy in the state,” Laura said.  “We already have the best facility in the state for that. … We’re looking for partners rather than just tenants. We want to keep our campus mentality with a close partnership.”