Many pros struggle to find their place after their playing days are done, but when they do, it can be quite fulfilling.

Just ask former LPGA Tour player A.J. Eathorne, who is thoroughly enjoying her role as the leader of Predator Ridge Golf Resort’s golf academy in British Columbia, Canada. The 11-year LPGA veteran is now making an impact on others by teaching the game, a role she has come to love.

“It’s just fun to be a teacher,” said Eathorne, who played on Tour from 1999-2009. “I took over management of the academy two years ago and am just trying to expand it in all areas.”

Eathorne recorded 15 top-10s and earned more than $1 million during her playing career, but tired of the Tour grind as the years passed. After caddying on the LPGA and PGA Tours for a few years, she found a need for her services at Predator Ridge.

“I’d had enough of the playing part, so that’s why I went to caddying,” she said. “But that’s tough on the body, and there comes a time when you just want to slow down a little bit. I’m an hour-and-a-half from where I grew up, and I’ve got a lot of ties here.”

Helping players improve their skills and enjoy the game more are two of Eathorne’s main motivators as an instructor.

“Every day is a new day, kind of like golf is,” said Eathorne, the 1997 Canadian Ladies Amateur Champion. “It’s a thrill to have that one person come up and say, ‘I’m playing so well after my lesson.’ It’s that eye-opening moment where they say, ‘Oh, now I get what you’re trying to tell me.’”

Her approach to teaching is to focus on helping students strip the game down to its basics.

“For the most part, you’re just trying to make things simpler for them instead of making it more complicated,” said Eathorne, a two-time winner on the Futures Tour. “Everyone’s a little bit different, and it’s fun trying to figure out that person every day. We try to make it more of a relationship so they’re here for more than one lesson.”

Eathorne’s playing experience gives her added credibility as an instructor and mentor for others.

“They want to know about when you played well and when you played bad, and when you tell them you know what they’re going through, they believe you,” she said. “It adds a lot of trust to have that experience.”

In addition to teaching, Eathorne has worked hard to bring more young girls and women to the game. She has used Swing Like A Girl workshops to do that, and most recently, her role as golf ambassador has included starring in a series of fun golf videos.

Backed and distributed by Canadian cable provider TELUS Optik TV and produced by Steamy Window Productions, the videos teach important golf lessons in a fun and lively way to help spread the word about how fun and rewarding the game can be.

“We were trying to do something fun and exciting, and we decided to do some fun videos,” Eathorne said. “We thought we’d make something fun with golf, and everyone likes to have a good laugh with golf, so hopefully everybody else enjoys them.”

The first video is called “6 Ways Golf Can Change Your Life,” and there are also second and third videos that have been released as well. Eathorne hopes they help bring more people to the game she has loved for a lifetime.

“Being in the game for 25 years, it’s given me a lot and I’ve gotten to meet so many great people and see some great places traveling,” she said. “I’d like to open that up to a lot of people and show them, ‘Hey, this could be you.’ A lot of women didn’t play golf in the past because it’s time-consuming or they were raising their kids so it was tough.

“We’re just trying to show them it can be a family sport that’s enjoyed by everybody, and it doesn’t matter what your skill level is. A pro can play with an amateur and still have lots of fun.”

The affable Eathorne is having fun in her new roles, and being so close to home, where everybody knows her name, is an added bonus.

“I feel like Norm from Cheers, because everybody knows me and we’re one big family,” she said.

Eathorne enjoying role as teacher, ambassador

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