Golf coach Tyrone Spaulding said he wants to improve people’s skills, and to help young golfers learn the “fundamentals” of the sport.

“The key to being a successful golfer on any level is to learn the basic fundamentals of the game, starting with the clubs and history of the game, then the basic skills to perform the entire game, then applying these skills to the entire game, golf hole to golf hole,” he said.

Spaulding, 60, of McDonough is the founder of Golfing for Success, which teaches golfing skills for children and adults. He said the program helps participants to gain a “total understanding of the golf game.”

“We not only teach swing concepts, we teach cognitive concepts of golf, as to what the body does in the swing and the management of the golf round,” said Spaulding. “Most people teach the skills, but they don’t apply them to the golf course. We play with our participants so that we can apply the skills.”

Spaulding worked as a physical-education teacher, basketball and golf coach in DeKalb County before retiring in 2012. He launched Golfing for Success in 2013, after seeing minorities who did not have an opportunity to learn golf skills.

Approximately 20 young people and 30 adults have completed Golfing for Success since its inception. The program, said Spaulding, has helped to promote several student-athletes – from Dutchtown and Union Grove high schools, as well as Martin Luther King Jr. High School in DeKalb County – to receive golf scholarships.

He said his program helps players to cultivate “a different mindset about life” beyond the sport itself.

“Golf creates a mental discipline that carries over into a personal discipline about life,” said Spaulding.

Brandon Brown, 22, of Locust Grove began golf lessons with Spaulding in the summer of 2016 while attending Brewton-Parker College. Brown was on the school’s golf team for 2 1/2 years before transferring to Clayton State University in 2019.

The program, he said, helped him to be recognized for his golfing abilities.

“All the times we had practice, and the times we stayed out, led to me getting the award for the most improved golfer in my second year of college,” said Brown, who transferred to Clayton State University in 2019.

Brown said Golfing for Success has helped him interact with new people, both in the sport and apart from it.

“It teaches you communication skills and how to react in certain situations, and helps you meet a lot of different people who can take you to different places, no matter if it’s in the golfing industry or not.”

Nicole Baker of Hampton started lessons in Golfing for Success about seven years ago. Baker, a business owner, said she was new to the sport and wanted to “fine-tune” her skills.

“I went from a scoring average of probably 100 or more to, now, about 80 or 82,” said Baker, 49. “I went from a 25 handicap to about a 9 handicap.”

Baker said the program has had a positive impact on other aspects of her life as well.

“Golf is like life,” said Baker. “It gives you the ability to gauge your ups and your downs, and get to a level of consistency,” said Baker.

“[The program] not only teaches you life skills, but also the lessons learned in the process.”

Charles Downey, 76, of McDonough is a retired administrative assistant for the Board of Commissioners in Fulton County.

He began taking lessons in October, after seeing Spaulding coaching someone at the Cotton Fields Golf Club in McDonough.

With four lessons to go in the program, Downey said Golfing for Success is more comprehensive than others he has completed in the past. Downey said Spaulding “goes the extra mile” to bring out the best in his golfers.

“I’ve had instruction in the past from three other instructors, which gave me just a small portion of the golf game – three or four days of lessons, which is not enough,” said Downey. “This program is 15 lessons.”

Golfing For Success, over the next three years, will graduate four golfers who have entered the recruitment process for college. Spaulding said some of his high-schoolers are developing their golfing skills in hopes of securing scholarships as well.

He plans to build on the program’s success in the years to come.

“The program is looking to move to a facility where we can train more kids to have the opportunity to learn the game, because learning the game does not have to be done on the golf course,” said Spaulding. “This facility will pro-vide all training for learning the game of golf.”

For more information, e-mail tyronespaulding@gmail.com or visit www.GolfingForSuccess.org.