Mike Bender Makes Big Leap on Golf Digest’s New List of America’s 50 Greatest Teachers

Lake Mary, FL, October 10, 2011 The golf industry’s most exclusive list of top teaching talent has been issued today by Golf Digest Magazine as it unveils its biennial list of America’s 50 Greatest Teachers for 2011-12 in its November issue. Among those named to the new list is Mike Bender, owner of the Mike Bender Golf Academy headquartered at Magnolia Plantation Golf Club in Lake Mary, FL.

Bender has been on the Golf Digest list since its inception in 2000 and has steadily climbed from No. 37 to his new ranking at No. 4. His jump from No. 9 on the list two years ago to No. 4 is the largest leap ever within the Top 10 Teachers.

“This is a very special honor because it means your peers respect your work as a teacher,” said Bender. “I’ve been a competitor and teacher for four decades and I can say that being considered among the top five teachers by the industry means as much to me as anything else I’ve accomplished in the game. I love to teach and I love helping golfers get better. I’m very excited about where the academy is headed and the extremely positive results we’ve seen with our students over the years.”

As Bender has achieved worldwide recognition as a teacher who gets students to make significant improvement in their games, golf’s top players have sought out his advice. Zach Johnson, 2007 Masters Champion and six-time winner on the PGA Tour, has trained with Mike since Johnson was launching his professional career on the mini-tours more than a decade ago. LPGA four-time tournament winner Seon Hwa Lee also has worked with Mike for many years. More recently, PGA Tour veterans, including Jonathan Byrd, Robert Damron and two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen, have put their faith in Mike. All told, Bender has helped more than two-dozen PGA, Champions and LPGA Tour professionals with their games.

Many of these professionals have a high comfort level with Mike because they know he has been in their shoes. Bender was a three-time NCAA All-American (1978-1980) and two-time NCAA Division III individual champion (1979-1980) before spending three seasons on the PGA Tour from 1987-89. He began teaching after leaving the Tour and has been teaching in Lake Mary since 1991. Bender’s new Mike Bender Elite Golf Academy offers competitive juniors a world-class, full-time training program while they attend Lake Mary Preparatory School.

Bender is also well known for his creation of the MEGSA Perfect Practice Equipment, a revolutionary training station that is used by thousands of amateurs and top professionals.

Since the first survey in 2000, Golf Digest has used peer voting on the state and national level to build the Best Teacher lists. This year’s list was selected by more than 1,000 teachers from all 50 states who filled out an online ballot. There are more than 30,000 golf professionals in the United States who were eligible for consideration.

Golf Digest is the most widely read golf publication in the world with nearly six million readers each month. The entire list is available at: Golf Digest 50 Greatest Teachers

For more information on the Mike Bender Golf Academy’s programs visit www.mikebender.com or call 407-321-0444.