Virginia Golfer Sep / Oct 2020 | Page 34

Instruction POWER Robert Trent Jones Golf Club’s Mike McGetrick left a career in nuclear engineering and became a top golf teaching professional // by LEONARD SHAPIRO MIKE MCGETRICK, the new director of golf instruction at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, began his post-collegiate career working as a newly minted engineer at a nuclear power plant. It was a rather unique first step on his path to becoming one of the game’s elite teachers, a man equally comfortable working with rank amateurs or top professionals on the PGA and LPGA tours. A native of the Tri-Cities area in the state of Washington, McGetrick wasn’t PAUL PIERCE 32 V IRGINIA G OLFER | S EPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 vsga.org