MBGA Students Playing Well

Vicki Hurst earned her first professional victory on the Future's Tour shattering the tour's all-time 54-hole scoring mark by two shots with her 18-under-par effort in McAllen, TX on rounds of 67-67-64.
    On the PGA Tour Australian Mark Hensby – who began working with Mike a few weeks ago – posted his first Top 25 finish of the year with a tie for 4th at the EDS Byron Nelson Classic in Las Colinas, TX.
    On the LPGA Tour Seon Hwa Lee continued her fine play finishing tied for 6th at the Stanford International Pro-Am in Aventura, FL. Congratuations to all three on their outstanding results.

MEGSA Key in Multiple Major Wins

The Mike Bender designed MEGSA Perfect Practice Equipment has been used by only a few touring professionals, but the results have been nothing short of extraordinary. The first two major championships of 2007 were won by pros who use the MEGSA equipment on a regular regimen.
    Morgan Pressel, who trains with Martin Hall on his MEGSA unit in West Palm Beach, FL, won the LPGA's Nabisco Championship. Just one week later Zach Johnson, who has used MEGSA equipment since it was in prototype form, won the Masters.
    MEGSA Perfect Practice Equipment is changing the way the game's top pros are training their swings and you can train with MEGSA too. For more information, go to the MEGSA Equipment page.

Zach and Mike in Golfweek

The April 5th edition of Golfweek magazine has a great Perspective column by Rex Hoggard about The Evolution of a Masters Champion. The piece is about long-time Mike Bender student Zach Johnson and quotes Mike extensively. You can read the entire text here.
    Everyone at the Mike Bender Golf Academy was excited to see Zach on the 2008 Masters leaderboard for much of the week in Augusta and we're all looking forward to another great season from the 2007 Masters champion.

Anderson named Teacher of the Year

The Mike Bender Golf Academy's newest instructor, Cheryl Anderson returned to her former home base in Metropolitan New York on April 15th to receive the Metropolitan PGA's Teacher of the Year award. Former winners of this award in the Met include Harry Cooper, Jim McLean, Darrell Kestner and many other well-known instructors.
    In 2006, Cheryl also was named the LPGA's National Teacher of the Year.
    "I would never have won any teaching awards without Mike's (Bender) coaching me as both a player and teacher over the past 10 years," says Anderson. "I am very grateful for the amazing opportunity I've had to have spent so much time learning from him."

Anderson's student in Golf Digest

Cheryl Anderson has one of her junior students featured in the May issue of Golf Digest. Eleven-year-old Nicole Morales has been Cheryl's student since she was nine and now she is one of the top young juniors in New York.
    Nicole is featured in the article called Focus on Your Faults. The article explains how Nicole and Cheryl used Shot by Shot statistical analysis to improve her main weakness on the greens. Contact Cheryl at the academy to learn how statistical analysis could dramatically improve your scores. To read the article, click here.
 

New Custom-fit Putters at MBGA

The word "Couture" stands for custom clothing that is made to fit perfectly to each individual person.  Although a slightly changed spelling, "Coutour" putters stand for exactly the same thing; putters made perfectly to fit each individual player.
    The truth is that over 80 percent of golfers have never been fit to their putter. As a result, players compromise their set-up to adapt and make compensations during their stroke, ultimately resulting in inconsistent and often poor putting.
    Once you learn to set-up properly, a putter should be made to fit this correct set-up position. A customized Coutour Putter, fit with the Tri-Fit Method coupled with solid set-up fundamentals will allow you to develop a reliable, while also natural, putting stroke. Coutour custom fittings are now available at the Mike Bender Golf Academy. Call the Academy at 407-321-0444 to make an appointment.

Lee Earns World Title

Seon Hwa Lee captured the 2007 Women's World Match Play Championship in July for her second  LPGA Tour win. In 2006, Lee was the LPGA's Rookie of the Year and won her first tournament at the ShopRite Classic in Atlantic City, NJ.
    A year earlier she was the leading money winner on the Duramed Future's Tour, which earned her playing privileges on the LPGA Tour. The 21-year-old has been working on her game with Bender for more than three years and has quickly become one of the top women players in the world.

Hurst Wins Futures Tour Q-School

Bender Named Among Top 10 Teachers

Golf Digest has released its rankings of America's 50 Greatest Teachers for 2007-2008 and, for the first time, Mike Bender has moved into the top 10. The list is voted on by 1,000 golf instructors and is the most exclusive list of the game's top teaching talent. Bender moved from No. 21 to No. 10 in this latest version.

Bender and Krieger write cover story

The July 2007 GOLF Magazine cover story called "Make More Birdies" featured Master's Champion Zach Johnson in the photos with the article by Mike Bender and Ty Krieger from the Mike Bender Golf Academy. The story was put together two weeks after Zach's Master victory and included tips on wedge play, approach shots and putting. As you may recall Johnson birdied 11 of 16 par 5s at Augusta this year without going for any of the greens in two. It was one of the greatest displays of wedge play and putting in a long time. Mike is one of GOLF Magazine's Top 100 Teachers in America.

The Face Behind the Voice

The Mike Bender Golf Academy is pleased to be able to offer some of the finest personal service of any golf academy. Besides our newly expanded headquarters building at Timacuan, we have Jamie Johns handling calls and emails Tuesday through Friday each week during normal business hours. If you call with questions about our instruction programs, need help finding a nearby hotel room or simply want to sign up for a clubfitting session or a clinic, Jamie will be happy to answer your questions and get you set up for any of our services.

The MBGA Philosophy

"We strive to give each student an understandable and executable plan to make their swing as efficient as possible. By matching the golfer's physical abilities to accepted principles of motion, our students develop a repeatable swing that will hold up under pressure and last a lifetime." -Mike Bender