Barrett named Teacher of the Year
CRANBERRY TWP — Cranberry Highlands' head golf pro was recently recognized for following his passion.
Jody Barrett has been honored as the Teacher of the Year by the Tri-State PGA.
“This is like a bucket list item to me,” Barrett said. “I've been doing this (teaching golf) for a long time.”
Barrett received the award Oct. 30 at the Tri-State PGA Fall Membership meeting at Montour Heights Country Club. It is one of 11 awards given out annually by the regional PGA group. Winners are voted on by past presidents, officers and the board of directors of Tri-State PGA, said David Wright, executive director of Tri-State PGA.
Tri-State PGA covers Western Pennsylvania, the Deep Creek portion of Maryland and all of West Virginia. The PGA consists of 41 sections across the country.
“Jody's commitment and the time he puts in at Cranberry Highlands, I know it's not a traditional 40-hour-a-week job. Sometimes it's 50 or 60 hours a week,” Wright said. “The dedication that he shows each and every day of growing the game of golf rose to the top of the teaching professionals of the area.”
Barrett started golfing late in his life compared to today's standards, he said. He started playing when he was 16-years-old, while growing up in rural Clearfield County, and found he had a gift for the game.
“By the end of my second year, I shot a 67 for 18 holes and set a course record at the course I was at,” he said. “Which I have no explanation for because I sucked at baseball and other games. For whatever reason, I got really good at this game.”
He was drawn to the game because of the challenge it provides and the competition that is inherent in golf.
“If you look at the game of golf, there's only one person to blame. It's yourself,” he said. “It's the challenge of it.”
In 1986, when Barrett was 24, he sold everything he owned to take a job at the TPC at Sawgrass, a championship golf course in Ponte Vedra, Beach, Fla., that is home to the PGA Tour headquarters.
“When I went there, I had all these aspirations to be a tour player,” Barrett said. “But I realized I was a big fish in a small pond up here. Down there it was a big pond.”
He soon realized he had a passion for teaching. So he worked to become a PGA Golf Professional starting in 1987.
Through his career in golf, starting from when he was 16, Barrett worked for and was influenced by good teachers and mentors, he said. So he sees his teaching as his way to pay it forward.
He started working at Cranberry Highlands in 2008.
In addition to his work at the golf course, he's also the coach for the Seneca Valley JV girls golf team. Two years ago, the program had seven girls go out for the team, Barrett said. This year they had 28, with 19 girls on the JV team.
Although he enjoys teaching all levels of golf, his favorite is beginners because they can be molded and taught more easily, and they encouraged more easily.
“It's never the same,” he said. “People have different issues. I'm more of a coach. There's a lot of psychology in this business.
“It's easy to get down on yourself when it comes to golf. People have to realize it's not a perfect game. You're not going to have a perfect shot all the time … I try to make it fun.”
