David Leadbetter (born 27 June 1952) is a golf instructor, originally from Worthing in Sussex, England.

Career

Leadbetter began his career on the European and

Southern African Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and the physical geography definition b ...

tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

, but had little success as a player. Having an interest in the techniques, mechanics and psychology of the sport, he soon moved into instruction and came to wide notice in the 1980s when he rebuilt the swing of

Nick Faldo Sir Nicholas Alexander Faldo (born 18 July 1957) is an English retired professional golfer and television commentator. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, he was renowned for his dedication to the game, and was ranked No. ...

, who then went on to win six major championships. Leadbetter now runs an international chain of golf academies headquartered at the ChampionsGate Golf Club in Davenport, Florida, U.S. which has 36 holes designed by

Greg Norman Gregory John Norman (born 10 February 1955) is an Australian former professional golfer who spent 331 weeks as List of World Number One male golfers, world number one in the 1980s and 1990s. He won 88 professional tournaments, including 20 PGA ...

. There are also branches elsewhere in North America and in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Since launching the first Leadbetter Golf Academy over 30 years ago, David has coached players to 26 Major Championship titles and over 150 individual worldwide tournament victories. Seven of those players have even held first place in the Official World Golf Ranking. Leadbetter himself concentrates on teaching tour professionals and on instructing other coaches in his methods, who then teach his ideas at his academies. Apart from Faldo his students include

Nick Price Nicholas Raymond Leige Price (born 28 January 1957) is a Zimbabwean former professional golfer who has won three major championships in his career: the PGA Championship twice (in 1992 and 1994) and The Open Championship in 1994. In the mid-1 ...

, Charles Howell III,

Michelle Wie Michelle Sung Wie West (; born October 11, 1989) is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. At age 10, she became the youngest player to qualify for a USGA amateur championship. Wie also became the youngest winner of the ...

Lydia Ko Dame Lydia Ko (born 24 April 1997) is a New Zealand professional golfer, member of the LPGA Hall of Fame, and the reigning Olympic champion. She first reached number one in the Women's World Golf Rankings on 2 February 2015 at of age, makin ...

and Byeong Hun An. Pros who formerly worked with Leadbetter included:

(1984–1998),

(1997), and Ernie Els (1990–2008). He was ranked second to Butch Harmon on the 2005-2006 edition of ''

Golf Digest ''Golf Digest'' is a monthly golf magazine published by Warner Bros. Discovery through its TNT Sports unit. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's competitive golf. The magazine started by John F. ...

's'' list of the "50 Greatest Teachers" in the United States. Throughout his career, Leadbetter has also written eight books about golf swings. He has also overseen the development of various golf training media, products and services, including the SwingSetter, SwingSetter Pro and a number of A Swing approved training aids released with the book. His books have sold two million copies making him one of the best-selling golf instruction authors in the world.

Trained champions

The following golfers whom Leadbetter coached went on to win the following tournaments: * Kathy Baker - 1985 U.S. Women’s Open *

Ian Baker-Finch Ian Michael Baker-Finch (born 24 October 1960) is an Australian golfer and sports commentator best known for winning The Open Championship in 1991. Early life Baker-Finch was born in Nambour, Queensland, Australia. He grew up in the same Queens ...

- 1991 Open Championship * Ernie Els - 1994, 1997 U.S. Open, 2002, 2012 Open Championship *

- 1989, 1990, 1996 Masters, 1987, 1990, 1992 Open Championship * Trevor Immelman - 2008 Masters *

Danielle Kang Danielle Grace Kang (born October 20, 1992) is an American professional golfer currently playing on the LPGA Tour. As an amateur, she won the U.S. Women's Amateur twice, in 2010 and 2011. She won the 2017 KPMG Women's PGA Championship, an LPGA ...

- 2017 Women’s PGA Championship *

- 2015 Evian Championship, 2016 ANA Inspiration Championship, 2015, 2016 Best Female Golfer, 2014 LPGA Rookie of the Year, 2015 LPGA Player of the Year *

Se Ri Pak Pak Se-ri or Se-ri Pak (, ; born 28 September 1977) is a South Korean former professional golfer who played on the LPGA Tour from 1998 to 2016. She was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2007. Career Born in Taejon, she attended i ...

- 1998 U.S. Women’s Open, 1998 LPGA Rookie of the Year, 2007 World Golf Hall of Fame * Suzann Pettersen - 2006 Women's PGA Championship, 2013 Evian Championship *

- 1992, 1994 PGA Championships, 1994 Open Championship, 1993, 1994 PGA Tour Player of the Year, 2003 World Golf Hall of Fame *

- 2014 U.S. Women’s Open * Josh Dockum - General Manager/Director of Golf/Head Golf Professional/Whole Staff - Pin Oak Links - Manchester, IA

Criticism of Tiger Woods

In February 1997, it was reported that Leadbetter criticized famous American golfer

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins, PGA Tour wins, ranks second in List of men's major championships winning golfers, men's m ...

, saying "Right now, Tiger is a one-dimensional player who swings full on practically every shot.....Another thing that will prevent Tiger from winning a major is pressure. There’s a big difference between winning at Las Vegas and winning at Augusta… He has to pay his dues

- - Tiger went on to win the Masters 2 months later by twelve strokes. More than two decades later, in December 2017, he questioned the hunger of the top male pros due to the money involved in golf now and also the media frenzy that follows Tiger Woods everywhere.

Video games

Leadbetter appeared in the 1992 video game '' MicroProse Golf, David Leadbetter's Greens'', a

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

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of ''MicroProse Golf''. He also appeared in the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

-exclusive ''My Personal Golf Trainer'', released in the fall of 2010. ''Trainer'' is distinguished from other golf games on the platform by requiring the use of the Wii MotionPlus, while also supporting the Wii Balance Board, taking complete advantage of the Wii's motion controls and accessories to provide authentic golf training.

Personal life

Leadbetter and his wife, Kelly (an

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly ...

professional), their sons Andy and James and their daughter Hally, live in Sarasota,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. He is also an endorser/spokesman for SAP, Callaway,

Rolex Rolex () is a Swiss watch brand and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by German businessman Hans Wilsdorf and his eventual brother-in-law Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex ...

, and Golf Pride grips.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leadbetter, David American golf instructors British golf instructors English male golfers American golf writers 1952 births Living people Sportspeople from Worthing People from Sarasota, Florida