OB Sports named Bob Byman as the director of instruction for The Legacy Golf Club located in Henderson, Nev. Byman brings a lifetime’s worth of instruction and competitive experience to the club, as he assumes all golf instruction operations including individual and group lessons, golf clinics, multi-day golf schools and more.
“We’re excited to have a guy of Byman’s stature at The Legacy,” says Phil Green, President of OB Sports Golf Management. “It’s a big plus to have someone who can draw on experience gained playing golf on a professional level to help the average golfer enjoy the game.”
Byman is adept at teaching all levels of students including beginners, PGA Tour professionals, men, women, children and left-/right-handed players through a wide range of lesson formats such as individual, group and golf school/clinic-type instruction. He is also skilled at conducting golf instruction exhibitions to large audiences. By matching instructional methodologies and priorities to each client’s physical and mental attributes and/or their limitations, Byman is able to optimize each individual’s results.
Byman joins The Legacy after a stint at the famed Jim McLean Golf School in Miami from late 2006 to early 2007. Other teaching career stops include: director of instruction / head instructor, Whitewater Country Club, Fayetteville, Ga. (1997-03); guest instructor, Long Island, N.Y. (1994-95); director of instruction / head instructor, Heathrow Country Club, Heathrow, Fla. (1988-97); featured instructor, Club de Barbaroux, Brignoles, France (1988); featured instructor, Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic (1987-90); featured instructor, Oakridge Driving Range, Raleigh, N.C. (1986-89); and Instructor, Northridge Country Club, Raleigh, N.C. (1985).
Over the years, Byman has amassed a long list of teaching achievements. He has successfully taught more than 40,000 lessons over a 22-year period; he as appeared on The Golf Channel’s Academy Live twice; and he has developed winning golfers at every level including junior club, men’s club, women’s club, junior state amateur, state amateur, U.S. amateur and PGA Tour champions.
“The successful golf swing and golf game does not happen by accident,” Byman says. “The most accomplished golfers just execute the requisite skills and fundamentals more efficiently, and better, than the average golfer. Fortunately, success leaves clues. Through my extensive competitive and teaching experience, I have developed a blueprint based on these clues that ensures improvement. With my blueprint, I can coach anyone along the path of least resistance from the current state of their game to wherever they want to be, regardless of their skill level.”
From the time he was first introduced to golf by his father, at the age of eight, he started competing in the Mid Hudson Junior Golf Program in upstate New York where he won his first tournament. At 16, he won his first of three consecutive Colorado State Amateur Championships. At 17, he won the USGA Junior Championship and qualified for the U.S. Open beating Nicklaus’ record for the youngest ever to qualify by three months. In 1972 he won an amazing 80 percent of the tournaments he entered.
At the 1972 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, Byman played with Arnold Palmer and Julius Boros in a practice round; after which, Palmer strongly encouraged him to attend Wake Forest University. With the prestigious Buddy Worsham Scholarship in his back pocket and under the tutelage of the legendary coach Jesse Haddock, his team won two NCAA team titles. That team, made up of notable professional golfers such as Curtis Strange, Jay Haas and David Thore, is still considered by many to be the best college golf team in history.
Byman turned pro in 1976, and a year later won three national opens in Sweden, Holland and New Zealand. He qualified for the PGA Tour in 1978 and won in his 13th event the following year at the Bay Hill Classic. He finished 7th in that year’s British Open, and from 1977 to 1979 he was ranked in the top 25 in the world. He won two more national opens in 1978 and 1982 and continued competing full time on the PGA Tour through 1985. Byman competed sporadically on the world Tours until 2003, but beginning in 1987 he started teaching for a living. By the early 1990s, he was a very accomplished instructor and coach and has continued to refine and improve his skills.
For more information about Bob Byman, call 702-862-0708.