Hickory Hills Country Club has the top golf instructor in Missouri, according to Golf Digest’s November issue. Rick Neal was named the state’s No. 1 golf teacher based on peer voting. As the director of golf for the private east Springfield club, Neal stays busy off the greens, too, managing the club’s pro shop, which rings in $275,000 in merchandising revenue per year. And Neal sacrifices for his teaching passion; he’s fortunate to play twice a month.
Word on the Street “I was at a wedding here in town, and one of our members came up to us and said, ‘Congratulations.’ I said, ‘Congratulations on what?’ He said, ‘On being rated the No. 1 teacher in the state of Missouri by Golf Digest.’ I had the magazine on my desk and had not gone through it yet.”
PGA Accolades “Being a PGA member, there are 41 sections in the U.S. I was in the South Central section, which covers Oklahoma and Arkansas, and I got Teacher of the Year in 2000, when I was in Oklahoma. Last year, in the Midwest section, which covers Missouri and part of Kansas, I got Teacher of the Year. But the (Golf Digest award) ranks right at the top.”
Club Life “In February, I will have been here at Hickory Hills 11 years. I got in the business in 1978, and I’d say I got really involved teaching in the last 15 years. (However), my title entails a lot more than teaching. I’m sitting here working on budgets for next year. I’m a teacher, merchandiser and tournament coordinator. I love it when I tell people I’m a golf professional at Hickory Hills. They say, ‘Your golf game has got to be great. You play golf all the time, don’t you?’ It’s really the last thing on the list, even though I still love to play.”
Growing Up in Golf “My father started me playing golf when I was 6 years old. As a youngster, I started taking lessons from a gentleman named Ernie Vossler. I’m from Ada, Okla., and Ernie Vossler is from Oklahoma City at a course called Quail Creek. My father and best friend’s father would alternate taking (my friend and I) up to Mr. Vossler at Quail Creek, where I started taking lessons when I was around 10 years old. I took lessons for four or five years, and then I went to work for him in 1980. Mr. Vossler was a co-founder of Landmark Golf Co., which had golf courses all over the United States, and I went to work for him out in California. Ernie was a very good teacher, and that’s from whom I really learned how to play and how to teach.”
Teaching Tour “The key is you have to be patient. You have to be very positive … and you have to have a good eye. You have to know what you’re looking at, what you’re looking for and how to fix it. Patience is probably the biggest thing. I probably give 300 lessons annually, during our season May–September. A 12- to 14-hour day is not uncommon in the summer. I love teaching – whether it’s a 4-year-old person or I have a young man who is on the PGA Tour and we get together three to five times a year. Hunter Hass is whom I teach. Matter of fact, I’m getting ready to head out to Palm Springs, Calif., as he’s coming back from Hawaii. I started working with Hunter when he was 15 years old. He had a great year last year and finished 89th on the money list, winning just more than $1 million.” [[In-content Ad]]
A food truck that launched last year rebranded and moved to Metro Eats; automotive repair business Mitchem Tire Co. expanded its Christian County presence; and O’Reilly Build LLC was acquired.
