Laird Small

Master Professional 

Golf Magazine Top 100 Lifetime Achievement Teacher in America 

2003 PGA National Teacher of the Year

 After more than 37 years of working at Pebble Beach, Laird Small is comfortable calling the famed golf resort his home. A consummate golf professional with a wealth of experience and an intrinsic love of the game, Small helped launch, and bring to national prominence, the Pebble Beach Academy, serving as its original Director. Prior to that, he was the Head Professional and Manager of the Spyglass Hill Golf Shop for nine years. He was instrumental in the development of the AT&T Pebble Beach Junior Golf Association, which hosts about 2,500 kids year-round.

Laird’s many accolades include: 2003 National PGA Teacher of the Year; PGA Master Professional, recognition by Golf Digest as one of the America’s top 50 greatest teachers; Selected by Golf Digest Best in State as the Number One Teacher in California; and most recently, having been consecutively listed every year since 1995, he was awarded listing on the Top 100 Lifetime Achievement Teachers by Golf Magazine—one of the most prestigious honors golf teaching professionals can attain. 

Laird has accumulated multiple certifications with the PGA Business School, HeartMath Coaching and Titleist Performance Institute. In 2002, he earned status into the elite group of Master Professionals by the PGA of America, with a Specialty Certification in Teaching and Coaching.

Laird is the author of Play Golf the Pebble Beach Way, co-author of GolfCordz the Power Source and regularly contributes articles for Golf Magazine, Golf Tips Magazine and Golf Digest. He is well recognized for his weekly “Small Golf Tips” aired on KSBW, California’s Central Coast local news. Some of his many students over the years have included Bill Gates, Tom Kite, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Young, Kirk Triplett, Warren Buffett, Jim Nantz, Bob Wolcott, Orel Hershiser, Josh Duhamel, Paul McGinley and Julius Irving.

Laird has observed during his lifetime commitment to this game and being around the best players in the world that golfers have a performance gap which keeps them from shooting their best scores. He believes strongly that the gap can be minimized through swinging the club correctly, training, and transferring those skills to playing the game, ultimately maximizing enjoyment and performance. With his inventive “Performance Gap Golf Program,” Laird looks forward to helping players recognize their identity as a golfer and mapping a path to successful scoring through management of the triad of skill, mindset, and emotion. 

 San Joaquin Country Club – Club Ambassador

My golf philosophy is based on  30-plus years of golf instruction combined with experience competing on the Canadian Tour, Nike Tour, and PGA Tour events. Regardless of the skill level of my student, I continue to evolve as a coach introducing the necessary technique-oriented advice necessary to improve and play better golf. More importantly, my instruction must revolve around the skills my student currently has and the many ways they can improve their games through how they approach their game. I continue to be reminded daily that most of my students think the #1 cause of poor play is their technique. My guiding principle as a coach is not to ignore this type of thinking but to first create awareness of the many mental and physical roadblocks that are ever present in the playing environment. When discoveries are made here, and awareness is heightened, both play and practice often become a new and enlightening experience.

Canadian Tour 1992 & 1993

Nike Tour 1994 & 1995

PGA Tour events: 1996, 1997, 2000