By David Gould, Staff Editor
People whose job it is to follow the golf instruction industry have struggled to keep up with the USGA-run U.S. National Development Program over the three years of its existence. Principal reason for that is the faster-than-expected pace at which the program, led by Managing Director Heather Daly-Donofrio, has advanced. Introduction of the inaugural U.S. National Junior Team—and setup of the state team pilot program—weren’t scheduled to happen in 2024, when in fact they did—meaning that both milestones were reached ahead of schedule.
“We’re working on a five-year plan that was originally an eight-year plan,” explains Daly-Donofrio. She attributes the program’s accelerated progress to the quality of the ideas that formed its architecture and to the eagerness of qualified golf people to contribute to something the nation has long been missing. The National Development Program was originally going to have eight regional teams, but the enthusiasm factor has helped convert that into 50 state teams across the country.
“We thought we’d have all 50 state teams in place by 2033,” she adds, “then that got adjusted to 2031, and now it’s 2029.”
Among those qualified golf people are coaches with talented juniors in their current stable of students and others who have grown up and gone on to success in golf and non-golf fields. “For any PGA or LPGA professional with a teaching specialty who wants to be part of what we’re doing, the state team level is a natural place to start,” says Daly-Donofrio.
At this point some of the positions as a coach or a captain are paid and some are volunteer. “The state teams will all eventually need a full-time or nearly full-time lead coach,” she says. “The committees that oversee each state team all include a PGA Section representative, so that would be a good place to inquire about involvement.”
The offering of monetary grants is part of the search for elite-talent youth golfers—the grant recipients are those who show considerable financial need. Daly-Donofrio looks at the USNDP as having “two parallel tracks,” one being the financial assistance element. “We’re identifying athletes everywhere,” she comments. “More than 30 percent of those in the grant program are members of their state teams, and that percentage would be higher if there were a full 50 state teams, at this point in time.”
As time allows, a coach with interest in the USNDP might want to get familiar with THRIVE, which is described as the program’s “blueprint for supporting the development of American players toward excellence and wellbeing.” The existence of the THRIVE platform is evidence of something any “home coach” would be glad to hear, which is that USNDP “is not in the swing-coach business,” as Daly-Donofrio puts it. “We take a whole-athlete approach, with a focus on sport psychology, team building, relationship building and how to play on the golf course. We know better than anyone how key that home coach is to our USNDP player’s success.”
