Testimonials

“After playing the game for many years I came to Derek looking to find more distance with my drives. After one lesson he had me hitting the ball 30 yards farther off the tee! I recommend his teaching to anyone looking for more enjoyment in the game”

“Derek can improve your golf game at all levels of play.  Derek does not rebuild your game but builds and fine tunes what you already do well.  His encouragement for you to do your best is tenacious.  Derek does teach but his ability to allow you to learn is his best asset.  He requires feedback from his students even when you hit a good shot.  For example:  How many golfers hit a shot “PURE, Right On-The-Numbers” and reflected, “WOW, that felt good, what did I do right?”  Derek will tell you and compliment your effort!  His knowledge of the golf swing and fixes to your bad swings is beyond reproach.  Your golf goals are his goals for you.  I look forward to continuing my training with Derek!”

“I reached out to Derek over social media in late January about my chipping “yips”.  I’m a 2 handicap who struggled with “yips” for almost 6 years. I never gave up but tried every other instruction/ methodology of other popular short game instructors. You name it I tried it. Derek provided me incredible instruction and motivation to fix my problem. Derek worked hard with me, offering insightful drills and video analysis and encouragement throughout my process of improving my short game. Tight lies used to terrify me. Now I’m so confident about getting over a tight lie and making solid contact. More importantly Derek taught me how to self assess- now when I have iffy contact on a chip I know why I made the mistake and therefore can improve on the next shot. Problem with the “yips” is that you don’t know what is going wrong so you don’t know how to fix it. Derek I cannot thank you enough I almost walked away from the game completely. I look forward to keeping in contact with you and working with you in the future.”

“Derek is a superb instructor who quickly captured my individual problems and provided the tailored instruction I needed to rapidly improve my game. He was the key to dropping my handicap seven strokes in less than a year. Results say it best!”

“I’ve been playing this game for 54 years and Derek is truly unique.  He has a genuine concern and empathy for for every golfer who comes to him for help, and not just in a formal lesson. If you ask him a question he’ll give you whatever time it takes to completely answer it to your satisfaction.”

“I have worked with Derek on a number of occasions. Most were in person and some were over videos of my swing I sent him to look at. His knowledge of the game and how to analyze/fix the swing are second to none. I send Derek videos of my swing when I am on the road and he can walk me through the fixes on the phone. He is a very personable guy and works well with everyone, no matter what level of golf you play. I have seen marked improvements in my game since working with Derek and am confident that you will too.”

“Right from my first lesson with Derek, I started making immediate improvements in my game. His style of instruction just makes so much sense to me. In only a handful of lessons with him so far, I’ve consistently knocked off 10 strokes per round, and am playing the best golf of my life. I can hardly wait to get back to Tucson and resume my lessons. Thank you Derek for making the game so much fun!”

“Derek has been coaching my 14 year old son Reece for almost a year now and it’s been awesome! Derek has dramatically improved Reece’s swing through video analysis and on course lessons. Derek has worked with Reece on every part of his game, and the results have been impressive. Reece qualified for the Veritas World Juniors Tournament this summer and finished 8th, thanks to Derek’s coaching. Derek is very positive and motivated individual, and we’ll continue to work with him for years to come!”

“Derek has recently helped me with my golf swing.  I’ve enjoyed our rounds of golf together and getting to know him.  He has an encouraging teaching style, making the technical aspects of the swing both understandable and doable.  Through video and patient explanation, he has helped me better understand what makes my golf swing work.  He is able to teach all skill levels and will be able to improve your game too!”

“After a 20 year absence (handicap 18) from the game and two major elbow surgeries, I decided my retirement would not be complete without golf. However, my first rounds were 135+ with an initial handicap of 44. I knew I had to improve to truly enjoy the game. My quest for improvement led me to Derek Deminsky. I have been working with him on a weekly basis for about 6 months and am now carding 105-115 consistently. Breaking 100 is no longer a dream! Derek’s teaching style is a mixture of high expectations, humor, and strong reinforcement. He has never asked me to do something I could not accomplish. The videotaping portion of the instruction is instrumental to my improvement. Derek’s process built each piece of my game on previous success and mastery. To say I am now having fun is truly an understatement!”

“I attended the Golf Academy of Arizona. I had no coaching up to that point, and my game was terrible. I attended the school because of my love for the sport and thought if pushed in the right direction, I could be a pretty decent player one day. But my game started out rough. On my 24^th birthday, I played a tournament and shot an embarrassing 103. I was incredibly discouraged, and that night when I went home, I thought I had made a terrible mistake coming to golf school. 103 wasn’t such a terrible score for me, but everyone else in my group was so much better, and I wanted to be a competitor.

So I signed up for lessons with the PGA Staff Professionals provided by the school and went to work on my game. After about 3-4 months of countless, frustrated hours on the range and 5 different philosophies from 5 different teachers, I was back to the beginning-shooting in the low hundreds. Luckily, soon after that, I met the man. Derek Deminsky.

 Derek’s style of teaching and positive enthusiasm was just what my game was waiting for. We soon became friends, and after playing a couple of rounds of golf together, he took me under his wing for the rest of our time there. (I think he did it initially just because my swing made him so sad.)

We worked on my game together at the driving range all the time. He gave me very few, but very effective drills to practice (from driver down to my putter) and we took the range progress out to the course every single week. He didn’t just teach me how to hit the ball better, but how to play the game smarter, accept the bad with the good, and score better than I ever had...and this all happened very quickly. The nicest part was, he didn’t have to do any of this. He constantly took time away from elevating his own game to help the people struggling around him.

6-8 months into working with only Derek (I had stopped taking lessons from the instructors by this point) I took all the knowledge he gave me and shot an even par 72 during a tournament at school, my lowest score ever. A difference of 31 strokes.

That first time shooting par gave me a completely unfamiliar and amazing feeling.

Derek and I continued to work on my game and I continued to shoot in the mid 70s throughout the rest of school. I made it to the semifinals in my flight for match play, actually WON another tournament, and graduated with a 3 handicap. I started as at least a 30 handicap with no end in sight.

Derek is one of the few students I still keep in touch with from the Academy. I’ve called him for support before a P.A.T., a local tournament, or if my game progress simply starts to plateau. Just a phone conversation is helpful because he knows the game so well. I appreciate everything he’s done for not only myself, but everyone around him. He actually makes golf a better game. That’s one of my favorite things about him-his eagerness to share information with other players. I’ve known many good golfers but very few who actually want everyone around them to play their greatest. Personally, I think he’s just grooming all the competition he can. He’s a very competitive person, and golfers around him are lucky because he’s found a way to channel that competitive drive into something very positive that we can all benefit from.

Who knows? Maybe he can take 31 strokes off your game too…

Thanks for all the birdies, Derek”

“I am almost finished with my 10 lesson golf training with Derek and my handicap has already gone from a 18 to a 14! I’ve taken a
few lessons before, but nowhere near as good as Derek teaches. I’m 73 and still feel I can learn a lot more.”

“I just finished a winter golf training with Derek. I am 78 years old and have been playing golf for 65 years. I have been a single digit handicapper as late as 2009. I began losing my “edge” and jumped up to a 14.  In the winter of 2011, I started my lessons with Derek, in what would be the most productive golf training of my golf life. I have had previous sessions with Golftec, attended Harvey Penick Academy in TX and other assorted golf training with various pros at different times and places. I can honestly say my experience with Derek eclipsed ALL previous experiences. I can’t say enough about how impressed I am with Derek’s methods and my results. Derek has extended the quality of my golf life for several more years.”

“I really enjoy working with Derek. His knowledge base in golf is well beyond his years. He can teach very effectively with video, and because he is a good player, he can talk about playing with feel and creating shots. He is very easy to work with and effective with ALL levels of players. Your golf game will improve if you work with Derek.”

“I took my beginner golf lessons with a local pro in spring, 2009.  After those lessons, even though I was playing frequently, my game didn’t improve much.  In 2011, I took an intensive lesson package with another pro and still was unable to improve much.  I regularly scored between 110 and 120 with no consistency from shot to shot or club to club.  In the spring of 2012 when, out of frustration with the game, I was about to put the clubs away for good, I had three lessons with Derek.  He immediately spotted problems with my swing and offered easy to understand corrections.  After a lot of practice at the driving range, my shots became straighter and more consistent with better distance.  By the end of the summer, I had broken 100 more than a dozen times.  Thanks to Derek’s instruction, I’m enjoying the game much more and now look forward to my next round!”