Behind the Golf Brand Podcast with Paul Liberatore

In this week's episode I interview my good friend Jake Gordon, the Co-Founder & CEO of Noteefy, the fast-growing technology company helping golf operators fill tee time cancelations more easily.

Noteefy (pronounced ‘notify’) has the first automated tee time assistant / waitlist for golfers and golf courses to improve the golfer booking experience, while accelerating course revenue and efficiency. The Noteefy booking assistant (technology is patent pending) enables golfers to input their personalized playing preferences, then get a real time notification when their desired tee time comes available. The golfer then books on the existing POS tee sheet as they normally would and the course keeps 100% of the revenue. Golfers never need to call again, and operators fill every desired tee time.

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Nick Bradley’s journey to success began with a bang in 1994, when at 23 years old, he became the youngest director at the world renowned David Leadbetter Academy. His swift ascent through the academy’s ranks earned him a position as one of Leadbetter’s most trusted instructors, guiding golfers of diverse ages, handicaps, and swing patterns.

Taking a bold leap in 2005, Bradley crossed the Atlantic from his native England to the United States, where he would ultimately establish himself as one of the most renowned and respected instructors on a global scale.

His illustrious client list reads like a who’s who of golfing legends, including Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, and Phil Mickelson. With a coaching resume boasting over 400 professional golfers, such as Justin Rose, Sir Nick Faldo, Captain Paul McGinley, and Seamus Power, Bradley is celebrated for transforming Rose’s career, propelling him from a modest ranking of 125 in the world to an impressive 5th.

Beyond the fairways, Nick Bradley boasts an impressive track record as a two-time best-selling author, serving as a global authority on golf education for esteemed organizations like the Golf Union of Ireland, the PGA of Great Britain, The English Golf Union, and the Russian Golf Federation.

Not limiting his expertise to professionals, Bradley extends his instruction to golfers of all levels and ages, driven by an ardent passion for helping people improve their game. Always willing to share his wealth of knowledge and experience, he stands as an approachable mentor for all who seek his guidance.

A true trailblazer in the realm of golf instruction, Nick Bradley’s innovative methods have nurtured some of the finest golfers in the world. His legacy as a pioneering figure in the field is securely etched, with his techniques set to inspire golfers of all levels for many generations.

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Chris Voshall, Mizuno product engineer and marketing manager

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In this week's episode, I interview my good friend Brian Mogg, the coaching legend who coached YE Yang to victory against Tiger Woods in the 2009 PGA Championship, and one of Golf Digest’s top 100 for ten years in a row.

Brian has taught an incredible 50,000+ lessons, and the results speak for themselves. His students have won ninety tour events. He was named one of Golf Digest’s Top 100 Teachers in America. He’s made Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Teachers list for the past seventeen years. But one of his greatest achievements was helping Bart Bryant go from $200 thousand in earnings to $14 million in his later years.

What’s so unique about Brian’s coaching style is that he has over two decades of inside-the-ropes professional experience, and he still competes at the highest level from time to time, giving him an invaluable 360-degree perspective. His Distance Quadrant has changed the way older golfers dial in their swings and gain distance with age.

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In this episode, Paul talks with his good friend Clay Hood, the CEO and co-founder of Precision Pro Golf where they discuss how the company was formed, the difficulties of being a business owner, and all the cool new tech they have come out with within the past few years.

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In this week's episode, I interview my good friend Eric Cogorno, renowned golf instructor with over 20,000 lessons under his belt and online instructor to over 200,000 players.  With over 100k followers on Instagram and almost 300k on YouTube, Eric is the go-to source for golf instruction. His YouTube videos alone have amassed almost 75 million views. Eric has been featured in Forbes, and pioneered the behind-the-reverse Slice Sequence, the Closed Coil System, Lethal Lag, and many more training programs.  Eric Cogorno’s dad inspired him to become a golfer when he was twelve. He always saw his father go out with his friends for a few rounds on the weekends, and, as most boys do, he wanted to be just like him. So, his dad bought him a junior set of clubs, and he got to work. By the age of eighteen, Eric was attending college at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and working at a local golf course. As fate would have it, one of the professional instructors came in one day and told him how he’d just made $50 from teaching a golf lesson. It wasn’t long after that that Eric decided he wanted to become a professional golf coach himself. Naturally, Eric began his coaching career at the Bethlehem Golf Club, eventually working his way up to assistant pro.
 In 2017, he started his very own online training sessions called Eric Cogorno Golf, where he uploads helpful how-to videos for golfers looking to fix their swings and fine-tune their mechanics. In the meantime, Eric has kept the pedal to the metal, pioneering game-changing online training programs like the

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Nick Jahnke, the Vice President of U.S. Sales at PXG joins Paul on the Behind the Golf Brand Podcast. Parsons Xtreme Golf (PXG) was founded in September of 2013 by well-known businessman, philanthropist and golf nut Bob Parsons. PXG was born out of Parsons’ desire to make the world’s best golf equipment. A shared passion for the greatest game ever played and equitable obsession with club technology led Parsons to partner with two highly respected golf club designers to develop the finest equipment on the planet. Parsons demanded of his designers what most golfers dream about: a sexy set of golf irons that look like blades, launch higher, go farther, feel softer and have a sweet spot the size of Texas. "PXG clubs have to feel like butter and the difference has to be noticeable. With no cost or time constraints, the duo began the long process of researching various alloys, exploring new technologies and identifying the unique properties that would make PXG clubs unlike anything else. More than 200 global patents later, Parsons Xtreme Golf has introduced a full line of golf clubs that are forcing golfers to change the way they think about the game. In response to explosive growth since its inception, PXG has quickly become an international brand, with stores, fitters, retailers and distributors around the world.

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In this week's episode, I interview my good friend Joshua Jacobs, the Founder and CEO of College Golf Experience. Joshua played collegiate golf and club tennis at Emory University and founded TGA Premier Junior Golf in 2003. In 2007, TGA franchised its junior golf concept and was the first junior golf program to add STEM components. In 2010, Joshua was named by Golf Magazine and Sports Illustrated as one of the Top 40 most influential people in golf under 40, and he created the TGA Sports Foundation dedicated to developing youth of all backgrounds through athletics. In 2012, he orchestrated a National Partnership with the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and franchised TGA’s second concept, tennis. In 2013, he was recognized as one of golf’s “Innovators” by Golf Inc. Joshua has served on the World Golf Foundation Advisory Board, USTA’s National School Committee, the PGA’s Golf 2.0’s National Building Blocks Committee, TGA Sports Foundation’s Board of Directors, the Southern California PGA’s Foundation Advisory Committee and the Southern California PGA’s Growth of the Game Committee. He is currently a consultant and a catalyst behind the PGA of America’s Family Cup initiative.

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Justin Moore is a Sponsorship Coach & the founder of Creator Wizard, a school & community that teaches you how to find & negotiate your dream brand deals so that you stop leaving thousands on the table. Along with his wife April, he has been a full-time creator for over 7 years and has personally made over $3M working with brands. He has also run an influencer marketing agency for over 5 years that has helped other creators earn an additional $2M. Justin brings a very unique perspective because not only has he been a creator in the trenches doing sponsorships for years but by running an agency, he has insider knowledge of how big brands choose which influencers to partner with and why they pass on others. Justin's mission is to enable creators big and small to land 1 million paid brand partnerships by 2032.

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Jake Thurm has been named one of the “Best Young Teachers in America” by Golf Digest for three consecutive years. His students will tell you why. Jake’s instruction offers a unique combination of physical and mental guidance, customized for each student and informed by technology and analytics. He never gives the same lesson twice. A fundamental tenet of Jake’s instruction is that no two players swing precisely alike. Because of this, he works to understand the unique biomechanics of each student. Data allows him to assess and not guess. Then, he tailors his teaching to help his students discover their most natural and effective swing. 

The Chicago native draws on his deep knowledge of the game as a former all-conference golfer and protégé of legendary instructor Dr. Jim Suttie, as well as from his background in clinical psychology. The result is an innovative mind-body approach that has earned accolades from PGA Tour winners, including Kevin Streelman, James Hahn, Dudley Hart, and Chip Beck. Jake has worked at over 100 PGA Tour events, including all four major championships, and appears on the Golf Channel as an expert commentator.

Jake is highly regarded in Chicagoland golf circles as Midwest Director for the USA Junior National Golf Team and Nike Junior Golf Camp Director at Fresh Meadow Golf Club in Hillside. He also operates golf schools at Ruffled Feathers Golf Club in Lemont and is on the Master Staff at Club Champion in Willowbrook. Whether working with PGA pros or promising young players, Jake identifies a common trait in all his students. “They are serious players passionate about improving their game,” he says. “When that’s the case, I’m equally passionate about helping them. And I know I can.”

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