Former Thunder Bay Golfer TeachEs Juniors: Core Golf Academy
by Scott A. Sumner
www.golfingnews.ca
Dustin Wilson is a Canadian Teaching Professional at the Core Golf Academy in Milton, Ontario near Oakville. The Core Golf Academy specializes in teaching junior golfing and being mentors from age 5 until the students get a scholarship. It is a kind of a grass roots
training facility dedicated for junior golf. There is also the Canadian Junior Academy in Orlando, Florida which opened about 6 years ago. Active there is Sean Foley, the PGA Tour instructor. All of their training approachs are the same as Foley uses for PGA players like Sean O’Hair, Hunter Mayhem and Stephen Ames.
“ The idea is to create a 12 month training program for Canadian Junior Golfers because we are falling behind the Americans, They get 12 months training because of their weather. It is all Canadian students in our program and they seem to enjoy it. Every kid that graduates our winter program tends to lead to a scholarship. It is an elite training centre for juniors. We will train them all summer and take then down in the winter to Orlando if they want. It gives them a
better opportunity to succeed on an international basis.” said Dustin Wilson.
Dustin Wilson was born and raised in Thunder Bay and played all sports including triple A hockey, all star baseball and golf as a second or third sport. Dustin had a bad injury playing hockey and didn’t really know what he wanted to do but came across this professional golf management program in Barrie, a good 3 year business program. “ It opened up the doors for me tremendously. I turned pro at 19 and was one of the youngest professionals in Canada,
doing the playing test and making it by 5 stokes. The last few years I worked for Club Link at courses like Glen Abbey. and learned a lot about golf and networking. Because the game of golf is based on honour and is a very gentlemans sport I learned a lot about being professional and working hard at my job. This allowed me to get in with the Core Golf Academy. Our instructors go down in the winter to the Orlando facility. We are a team and all have the same philosophies. It is PGA Tour proven, " said Wilson.
“ The reason I came back to Thunder Bay is I know the community is built on sports. It is a tight community that allows you to know many people. I thought junior golf was weak here. There is junior golf in Thunder Bay but it needed to be more like a golf academy. It is about offering direction to kids when they are 11 to 13 to give them an opportunity to see if it what they would like to make golf a career. My job is to make local kids aware of the opportunities. I feel it is my responsibility after being one of the first kids to move away from here and take these golf programs.” said Wilson.
At the beginning of this year Dustin Wilson had the opportunity to bring the kids that qualified for the Ontario Juniors to come down to his facility, Core Golf, to do some training. * Kids came down from Thunder Bay that trained with me. It was an eye opener for them to see how serious the game is in the Toronto area.The parents helped with the costs and they raised money on their own. (The program was $850.00. ) I have come back recently in the fall and now have about 12 to 15 kids I am teaching at more of an elite level and it will only grow, “ said Wilson. “ My goal is to give back to the community. The kids in Thunder Bay aren’t always aware of the extra training they might need. We will train them 6 or 7 hours a day for 6 months
including mental, nutrition, physical and playing golf. They can go to a high level high school there as well.” The cost of the full program is about $30,00 to 40,000 per year if they go to Orlando. TwoThunder Bay juniors are attending this year.
“ My goal is to commit to juniors and offer my services and work with them. We have started the Ben Kern Junior Golf Foundation at Core Golf,. He was a Canadian golfer teaching professional at the National Golf Club and died of cancer at a young age. All of our instructors mentored under him. Eventually we will be able to sponsor some kids with the costs. We want to raise awareness across Canada about this.” said Dustin Wilson.
