Jay Morelli first came to Mount Snow briefly in 1975, but it was his return to the Vermont resort in 1977 which changed his life forever.
That’s when Killington bought Mount Snow and chose Morelli to direct its new golf school in West Dover, VT like a model of its successful tennis camp.
Since then, the 64-year-old Morelli has been the key operative of The Original Golf School, one of the country’s first golf schools, since its inception in 1978 at Mount Snow Golf Club.
Morelli and his staff of award-winning teaching professionals average more than 15 years of experience each and have helped close to 100,000 golfers of all abilities improve their games.
These days, The Original Golf School isn’t even so original anymore. It has expanded to include instruction at golf schools in both Crystal River, Fla. (1983) and Ocean City, MD (1995). On Nov. 1, Morelli will close shop at Mount Snow for the year and head south to Plantation Golf Resort and Spa, just north of Tampa, for another winter/spring golf season through the first week of May.
“I got my (PGA) card in 1974, and I’ve not ever gotten out of bed not wanting to go to work,” said Morelli. “It’s a seven-day business for me. A lot of instruction, customer service, and marketing.”
Morelli was named New England PGA Teacher of the Year in 1989 and he was rated the No. 1 teacher in Vermont by Golf Digest in 2006 and 2009. Along the way, Mount Snow GC, designed by Geoffrey Cornish, has really matured over the years with a top-5 rating for Vermont by Golf Digest as well as receiving recognition for its golf/ski amenities by SKI magazine.
“I love meeting all the different people,” said Morelli. “Any age and any ability, our goal is to make golfers play better, and anyone with an enthusiasm for the game can do it. I once worked with a 66-year-old gentleman who took up the game, and he’s become a good player.”
At Mount Snow, Morelli said the golf school’s clientele is primarily a Boston-Hartford-New York market. In Crystal River, Fla., the golf crowd is much more diverse with many international visitors, a lot of Midwesterners, along with “winter refugees from Mount Snow”.
What Plantation Golf Resort and Spa features is a nine-hole executive course specifically designed for training and practice purposes for golf school patrons only, in addition to its 18-hole, par-72 golf course. There’s also a 4-to-1, student-to-teacher maximum ratio for instruction based on playing ability.
If you’re a snowbird from the Northeast, Morelli would love to see you down South this winter, helping to keep your golf game sharp in order to get a head-start on spring golf in New England.
“From 2-day to 5-day instruction, we’ve got you covered,” said Morelli.
(Bob DiCesare is the golf writer for The Enterprise in Brockton, MA, and he is also a member of the International Network of Golf)
About Bob Dicesare
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