Former Anamosa High School golf champions team up to encourage next generation of players

Their favorite game helped Sean Smith and Brian Neville become lifelong friends. Now they’re business partners looking to give others the same opportunity.

“Golf has really kept us all connected,” Smith said one recent morning. “Everybody moved to different places after college, but golf has kept us together.”

Members of Anamosa High School’s squad that took the state high school golf championship in 1999, Smith and Neville opted for different careers, but golf remained a constant. Smith, 44, earned a master’s degree in special education at Coe College in Cedar Rapids. Neville, 43, pursued a business career after graduating from St. Ambrose University in Davenport.

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“Our fathers got us involved early, and we’re so thankful we got that opportunity because golf has opened up so many doors for us,” Smith said. “Golf became a pretty big deal for both of us.”

Neville coached high school and youth golfers. Smith golfed in college and competed as an amateur while teaching — most recently a 12-year tenure with the Linn-Mar school district. Through it all, they pondered a question.

“How do we combine our love and passion (for) golf to create opportunities for kids to have that opportunity to play the greatest game?” Smith said.

“It’s just trying to get a way to get more kids on the course,” Neville said. “Is it money? What’s the reason we don’t see kids like Sean and I out there when we’re 14?”

The answer was to team up again. Smith and Neville launched Encourage Golf last February with a focus on affordable, inclusive instruction. Neville continues to manage commercial properties and his industrial-supply business, while Smith quit his teaching job to be a full-time instructor.

“We’re fully inclusive here,” Smith said. “Golf is for everybody. We’ve got a couple students with some vision impairments, we’ve got some students who wear hearing aids, we’ve got some students on the (autism) spectrum. As a former special educator, I want to make sure this facility is built for everyone, because golf is a sport that anybody can play.”

The pair took over part of a warehouse for Neville’s business in Anamosa, outfitting it with putting greens, chipping tees and a simulator equipped with video cameras to monitor a student’s form at the tee.

“So many kids come here that are visual learners,” Smith said. “It puts them in charge of their swing. If they can recognize it there and make a small adjustment, hopefully they can have some success.”

“They can see what they need,” Neville said. “Out on a natural golf course they’re chasing the ball around and wearing themselves out. We reload in a second here and hit one again.”

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Students enroll for 75-minute clinics, starting at $70 for two lessons. The hourly rates are lower for more sessions.

“Some kids come multiple times a week, some might come once a week, some might come once biweekly,” Smith said. “We’re flexible with that. We understand this is a busy time.”

The focus is on students as young as 4 years old, but Smith has tutored an 89-year-old, too. First-time golfers often enroll to prepare for workplace golf outings.

“They don’t look forward to that, so we’re taking away some of that anxiousness, giving them some skills, even some golf sayings to take some of that stress off,” Smith said. “Brian’s had some bigger corporations reach out to him about bringing Encourage Golf to those corporate events and maybe taking away some of that (anxiety).”

The dead of winter has proven to be Encourage Golf’s busy season. Sessions will shift to nearby courses this spring. Those course operators want to encourage young golfers, too.

“That’s our mission this summer,” Smith said. “We’ve got (golf) courses reaching out to us saying, ‘We love what you’re doing. We don’t have a program. Is there any way you can support a program?’ That’s the direction we’re going to go in this summer.”

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