Oct. 30, 2015
THE FLATS – Jeff Pierce, a veteran professional golf instructor dating back to his college years, has been named assistant coach in Georgia Tech’s golf program, head coach Bruce Heppler announced Friday.
Pierce, 28, comes to Tech after serving this past summer as the director of instruction at Elk River Golf Club in Banner Elk, N.C., and a three-year tenure as the senior instructor at Butch Harmon Floridian, an elite golf learning center based at The Floridian Resort in Palm City, Fla. Pierce has delivered golf instruction to players at all levels, creating and administrating programs in both individual and group situations. He has expertise in the latest instruction technology as well as club fitting and performance.
“Team development is more important than it used to be. We met Jeff and liked his approach to what he was doing,” said Heppler. “He’s worked with (former Tech All-American) Anders Albertson the last few months and got a thumbs-up from him. Jeff’s skill set will be very beneficial to where we are right now. It’s a little different dynamic. I’m excited to have someone who has done that full time, can evaluate players in the recruiting process and has connections with teachers all over the country who work with young people.”
He replaces former associate head golf coach Brennan Webb, who accepted the position of head golf coach at Middle Tennessee State in August.
Pierce’s list of pupils at Butch Harmon Floridian has included winners in the PGA Tour, the Web.com Tour, the European Tour and the LPGA Tour. He has traveled 12-15 weeks a year to work directly with players such as former Florida State All-American Brooks Koepka, who finished 24th in the 2015 FedEx Cup standings and won the Waste Management Phoenix Open, and former Louisville All-American Derek Fathauer, who won the 2014 Web.com Tour championship and has played in 57 PGA Tour and 77 Web.com Tour events.
“I’m intrigued and excited to be at Georgia Tech, and I think my skill set can help develop our guys here,” said Pierce. “I’ve been instructing players at the highest level for a long time, and part of that is developing players. I’ve been doing the job with guys that have been fresh out of college or late in college. To me it’s not that big a leap. Most of the work we’ve done in Florida the last couple of years it to try and develop guys to play on tour. In the college environment, I can have a deeper relationship with our players as we work with them to develop their games.”
Prior to working at Butch Harmon Floridian, Pierce was an assistant golf professional at The Virginian Golf Club in Bristol, Va. (March 2011-Oct. 2012), and begin his career as an assistant golf professional at Elizabethtown (Ky.) Country Club from 2006-09 while a student-athlete at Morehead State University.
A native of Glasgow, Ky., Pierce earned All-Ohio Valley Conference honors in golf at Morehead State in the 2008-09 academic year. He earned OVC academic honors (3.5-plus GPA) and made the MSU Dean’s List all four years at Morehead State, where he studied industrial engineering technology. He played professionally for a year before diving into instruction full-time.
ABOUT GEORGIA TECH GOLF
Georgia Tech’s golf team is in its 21st year under head coach Bruce Heppler. The Yellow Jackets have won 16 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, made 28 appearances in the NCAA Championship and been the national runner-up four times. Connect with Georgia Tech Golf on social media by liking their Facebook page, or following on Twitter (@GT_Golf). For more information on Tech golf, visit Ramblinwreck.com.
