Farmington, PA – The accolades continue to pile up for Michael LaBella, director of instruction at The Nemacolin Golf Academy, the state-of-the-art instructional facility at Nemacolin, Pennsylvania’s premier luxury golf resort destination. LaBella has been named to Golf Digest’s Best Young Teachers list for the third straight time. The bi-annual list identifies the rising stars of teachers under 40 years of age.
“Michael LaBella is truly one of the brightest minds in golf instruction and a very influential figure in the teaching business, so it’s no surprise to see him on Golf Digest’s Best Young Teacher list for the third consecutive time,” said Nemacolin’s Director of Golf Operations Chris Anderson. “Expect to see more great achievements and accolades for this tireless swing coach and golf instruction innovator.”
LaBella, who is 35, was also honored as Tri-State PGA Section Teacher and Coach of the Year for 2024. While the honors are piling up lately, LaBella says it is anything but old hat.
“It’s always nice to see people vote you in,” says LaBella, who himself actually nominated two teachers who made the same Golf Digest list for the first time. A point of emphasis for LaBella, and perhaps many of the teachers on the list, is that he never sits still. He says he is always trying to learn new techniques, technology, and more about his students or potential students.
It’s not just about going to seminars, says LaBella, but also about connecting with his peers, seeing what other successful instructors are doing to help their players, whether they are scratch or better, mid- to high-handicappers, or even beginners.
“I feel like I’m always trying to learn something new, whether it’s the mental game (LaBella has been employing a biofeedback device called the FocusCalm EEG headband with some of his students), which seems to be the most recent thing I’ve been trying to dive into, or whether it’s new technology that’s come and how to best utilize that technology,” says LaBella, whose mentors include his junior instructor Brian Jacobs and the legendary Craig Harmon.
As the head of instruction at Nemacolin, which features two terrific Pete Dye designed courses – Mystic Rock (former home a PGA Tour event) and Shepherd’s Rock – LaBella reaches a nice volume of golfers, whether they are staying at the resort or visit for a lesson.
At The Nemacolin Golf Academy, he has a staff of excellent instructors, plus some of the best tools in the business, including Trackman launch monitors and simulators, Foresight Sports’ GCQuadTM launch monitor, and Swing Catalyst’s Balance and Dual Force Plates.
Working with the Force Plates has been a real revelation as of late for LaBella.
“I feel that everything we do from the ground up really affects the swing,” says LaBella, who graduated from Penn State and joined the iconic Pennsylvania golf resort in 2020. “I can apply pressure at different points of the feet, which can change how you are going to pivot and how the club is going to move. So, everyone has a little different pivot style, and we know how that pivot style is going to work, we can then use how their legs work to then generate more speed or get a little bit more consistent club movement.”
Another point of emphasis lately for LaBella has been his effort to reach out to golfers through social media. While he does not advocate that golfers should teach themselves solely through YouTube videos or Instagram, LaBella uses these platforms as a tool to draw golfers into what he’s doing. It’s about creating awareness and interest. And it has been a challenge, given how busy he and his staff have been this season.
“I’ve picked up about a dozen students this year just from social media alone, which is fantastic,” LaBella said. “I have talked to other coaches, and they say that they get students every once in a while. But for some reason, I’ve picked up about a dozen students from Instagram. I’m thinking to myself that I haven’t posted that much this year, but I guess the stuff I posted was that effective.”
Indeed, putting together videos can be time consuming. LaBella purchased a camera to record his videos, which obviously takes time. Then he has to download the videos, edit them, and maybe put music with them. He and an intern recorded between 15-20 videos over the past two weeks and spent an entire Sunday night editing them.
LaBella’s YouTube channel is at https://www.youtube.com/@MLaBGolf, and he can be found at Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/mlab_golf/.
For more information on The Nemacolin Golf Academy at https://www.nemacolin.com/golf/golf-academy/.
