Ferris State University Professional Tennis Management student Sarah Stone, the Director
of Instruction at the Chevy Chase Club in Chevy Chase, Maryland her first Golf Magazine
Top 100 Teachers in America honor, joining three PGA Golf Management alumni on that
list.
Sarah Stone, a former captain of Ferris State University’s women’s golf team, has been named one of Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Teachers in America for her work serving students and growing the sport.
Stone, who is the director of Instruction at the Chevy Chase Club in Maryland, came to Ferris from Carleton Airport High School in Monroe County to study Professional Tennis Management, beginning in 1997. She participated in golf for the Bulldogs from 1999-2001, serving as captain her senior season. Stone said joining the Top 100 roster became a professional goal in the middle of the last decade.
“I was focused for some time on becoming a head professional, but while working throughout the years at courses in New York state and Florida, I realized that my passion was to become a great teacher,” Stone said. “This is a biennial award, and I was included in Golf’s Top Teachers to Watch in 2021. It is a huge honor for anyone to receive.”
Keeping her playing skills sharp proved to be as valuable as building her knowledge as an instructor, since Stone was Women’s Player of the Year in the Professional Golf Association’s Metropolitan Section in 2013. That PGA section includes the major courses in New York City and Long Island.
She said her advance to the Top 100 Teachers honor was a function of pursuing excellence through application. She was asked how she had served the industry, helped grow the sport and offer examples of assisting players in significant handicap improvements, or success in competition.
“Because making the Top 100 is through peer review, you must get out to major conferences and other events to promote your efforts, so everyone knows or recognizes you,” she said. “It is a lot of work but totally worth it, and I hope to give others seeking the same path any advantage I can, through their benefit from my experiences.”
Ferris State is the founding higher education institution to have gained affiliation with the United States Professional Tennis Association and the U.S. Professional Golf Association. Stone is proud to have other Bulldogs close by as she builds on a successful career.
“Adam Hemeon is our Director of Golf at the Chevy Chase Club, he earned his PGAGM degree from Ferris in 2000,” Stone said. “Mike Dickson, who is a golf entrepreneur after more than a decade as the head teaching professional at the Congressional Country Club is a close friend and another Bulldog enjoying his first appearance on the Top 100 Teachers list. Ours is a huge award for anyone to receive, we feel that teaching and coaching is a great place to have our careers. I can certainly attest to being so proud of my effort and achievement.”
The PGAGM program confirms that Nick Clearwater, with GolfTec of Englewood, Colo. and Adam Schriber, of LochenHealth Golf Club in Williamsburg, and High Pointe Golf Club in Traverse City are other program alumni who are continuing members of the Top 100 Teachers field.