Interview With Martin Chuck - Owner Tour Striker Training Products and Golf Academy

Below is an interview with Martin Chuck Owner and Director Tour Striker Training Products and Golf Academy. He grew up under the tutelage of the great Canadian player, George Knudson. Martin attended New Mexico State University on a golf scholarship and turned professional in 1992. After a few years playing the mini-tours in Canada and the US, he became the Director of Golf at Indian Ridge Country Club in Palm Desert, California. His club career took him to Reno, Nevada and then Bend, Oregon. After the successful launch of the Tour Striker Training Product line, he resigned from club management roles and now coach and teach full time. His winter location is at The Raven - Phoenix and spends summers at the Sunriver Resort in Central Oregon.

The following are a few traditional and non traditional golf centric questions that I love to ask influential people in the golf industry.

When did you start golfing and who introduced you do the game?
I started playing golf around the age of seven. My father "disappeared" on Saturdays and I wanted to know where he went! It wasn't long before he was dragging me along and I fell in love with the game immediately. I had a 9-hole course a short distance from my home in Toronto and I was able to play a lot of golf at a young age. At the age of nine, I took my first lesson with George Knudson and also met Moe Norman. I look back now and realize how lucky I was to be around such great strikers.

What is your current home course?
I coach/teach at The Raven Golf Club in Phoenix, AZ. My business partner is at the Academy is top teacher, Jeff Ritter.

To date, what is your proudest golf accomplishment?
I would have to say it is the development of the Tour Striker Training Club. To date, we have sold 80,000 units in all corners of the globe. I've received thousands of e-mails from people who have been helped by practicing with the club. I'm very pleased to know that something I designed has made such a big "impact" on the game of golf.

What is your biggest golf pet peeve on or off the course?
Too many to list! New courses are way too hard now. In the "old days" a course could be prepared for great players, but todays new courses are just plain HARD right out of the gate. Besides that, smokers, please put your butts in the trash. The course isn't a trash can.

What is your favorite club in your bag and why?
I love hitting short iron shots. I feel like I can knock down the pin.

What is your favorite golf destination?
There are a ton of them...I went on a trip to Scotland and loved it. I enjoy working the ball; trajectory, shape, etc, and in the winds of Scotland, you need to be creative and I enjoy that a lot.

What course is on your bucket list that you have not played yet?
Augusta!

If you woke up tomorrow and could play one course you played before, where would you play?
The National Golf Club of Canada. I grew up working and playing there and it is truly magnificent.

If you could change one aspect, rule or thing about golf, what would it be and why?
The disqualification for not signing your card. Everybody knows what you shot. I guess if you were playing alone, you should have to sign a card. The fact that you need to sign for it after playing in front of TV viewers doesn't make sense anymore.

Dream foursome (living)?
Tiger, Phil and Gretzky

Dream foursome (living or dead)?
My dad, Hogan, Moe Norman

18 Rapid Fire, Off The Cuff Questions