Welcome to ChrisSmeal.com
Chris Smeal, the San Diego Golf Instructor was born and raised in San Diego, CA and has been actively building the Future Champions Golf Program at Stadium Golf Center since founding the program in January 2004. Chris teaches full time with an approach and philosophy that gets incredible results. His holistic approach to coaching players through technique and mindset have helped over 170 junior golfers earn college golf scholarships.
***Proud Coach to the 2020 California State Amateur Champion, the 2022 California State Open Champion, and the 2023 California Girls State Champion
Private Coaching Sessions available by appointment are held at Stadium Golf Center in San Diego, CA. Please purchase range balls for every lesson in the golf shop before your lesson and come prepared and fully warmed up and ready to go at your scheduled time. I coach on the top right side of the range.
Call or Text: 619.339.2377 or Email Here
Coaching Rates and Schedule a Session Here
***BIG NEWS – Chris has put in a state of the art short game facility in his backyard to better train his students on short game and putting. These are special coaching sessions and must be booked directly through Chris via text or phone call. Learn More Here
Awards and Accolades
2023 – GRAA Growth of the Game Teaching Professional Elite Member Status
2023 – Golf Magazine Teachers to Watch Award
2022 – Golf Digest Best Teacher in CA Award
2022 – Golf Range Top 50 Elite Master Status Award
2021 – Golf Digest Best Teacher in CA Award
2020 – SCPGA Youth Player Development Award
2020 – Golf Range Top 50 Elite Master Status Award
2019-2013 – Golf Digest Best Teachers in California
2019 Golf Digest Top Teacher Under 40 Award
2019 Southern California PGA Player Development Award
2019 Golf Range Top 50 Elite Master Status Award
2019-2013- Golf Range Top 50 Growth of the Game Instructors
2013 SDPGA Junior Golf Leader
2011 SCPGA Junior Golf Leader
2005 SDPGA Junior Golf Leader
2004 SDPGA Apprentice of the Year
2004 – 2009 recognized as one of the Top 50 Kids Teachers in America
2009 Named Top 50 Master US Kids Golf Instructor
Over 800 Junior, Amateur, and Professional Golf Victories by students
College Signees – See where Chris’s students have gone on to compete. Fun Fact: Two of my former junior golf students played in the NCAA Division 1 National Championship in the final match on Golf Channel. One made the winning putt to win the National Championship and one was beat with a birdie to finish 2nd as a team in the National Championship. I love this game!
How can I help you today?
Please drop me an email and let’s talk about it. I love sharing with you my passion for the greatest game on earth. I spent my teenage years and my whole adult life developing my coaching style and I can’t wait to help you play better. I had an amazing coach during high school and was able to go from a beginner at age 15 to a scratch golfer by 17 and then a scholarship to SDSU by age 18. My journey through this game had its frustrations and I learned from all experiences.
I then worked and learned from some incredible coaches including Butch Harmon, Carl Welty, Jim Flick, and Ben Doyle. The past several years I have been able to coach/ caddy for some of my long time students at the following events: 2017 US Amateur Championship, 2018 US Amateur Championship, 2018 California State Amateur, 2019 US Women’s Amateur, 2019 LPGA Qualifying School, and the 2019 European PGA Tour Q School.
In 2004 I launched the Future Champions Golf Program at Stadium Golf Center that was first to be a junior golf training program consisting of group classes, golf schools, and private lessons. After immediate success I was training over 100 kids a week in different programming and in 2007 decided to start the Future Champions Golf Tour. I teamed up with my good friend Antrone Williams to start hosting monthly tournaments for kids in San Diego. The program took off and now has become one of the largest junior golf tours in the world featuring over 100 annual events including 3 of the largest annual events in junior golf. Check us out at www.futurechampionsgolf.com
Testimonials
Chris Smeal has been my Coach since I was 6 years old! Along with my younger sister Isabella who has also been with Coach Chris since she was 5. We are 15 and 11 now. He was just so welcoming to myself and my family and he has an amazing connection with kids. I was so shy and quiet when I was younger but he always made me feel comfortable and I was always so excited and happy to come back and let him teach me. Golf has been a new adventure for my family and I and to be honest we had no idea what to do or what to expect, but Chris has guided us through this process and still is! My game wouldn’t be nearly this improved without the great teaching and philosophy of Chris Smeal and we are so thankful! Most importantly Chris genuinely cares about the improvement and development of our skills along with how we grow and develop into respectful and successful adults. He not only teaches us the fundamentals of the game, but also the life lessons that can be learned through playing this game. Chris really is the man and he can improve your golf game with every lesson! He keeps the game fun and has mastered the art of being a motivating but never too serious to be around Coach! He absolutely does wonders and is the number one golf instructor around! – April R
Chris not only makes golf fun, but he makes it easy! He is very likable and connects well with all his students (ranging from young to old). It’s no wonder he is one of the best coaches in the U.S. If you want to improve your game and do it with literally one of the best around, Chris Smeal is the one! – Torrey M
Before we moved in San Diego and met Chris Smeal in January 2012, my 12-year-old son Zihao had experienced 5 coaches since he started learning golf when he was 6. After one year of learning from Chris, I have realized his strengths and value when compared with my sons’ former coaches who are all good coaches in one way or the other. Chris has combined almost all of the others’ strengths. I feel in my heart that he has REAL passion, constant endeavor and enough seriousness in helping his students and digging out their potential. His teaching method is practical and insightful, never boring students or losing students confidence and inner self by comparing their swing with other famous pros’ swing in every detail. In addition, he himself is a competitive player and still plays tournaments nowadays. This makes him offer fresh, practical tournament strategies and better understandings to advanced junior tour players. He keeps thinking and writing various articles and tips for players, sharing his wisdom in the game of golf. He also has a positive learning attitude, keeping in attending PGA seminars and making sure he acquires the most advanced knowledge in this industry. Furthermore, he sharply observes the individual characteristics of his students, then teaches and communicates with them accordingly. Most importantly, he cares about the integrity of his students’ long-term development and stresses the importance of balance, guiding them to develop well as a whole person not merely a golfer. In sum, he is the best combination coach for advanced junior tour players in our experiences so far. My son has improved much in many aspects, and will continuously learn from him for sure. – Zihao J
What we also talk about…
Since day 1 I have always looked at Coaching as an opportunity to share my experiences with my students to help build long term success. As an entrepreneur I take great pride in the way my mind works and how I see things. I help my students all the time with perspective and life balance. I’ve helped more players get out of slumps than I can count because of how we re-engineer someones mindset and how they view things. Some of my students have reached the highest level of the game and some of built amazing careers and had amazing success. Golf teaches you so much about life and work ethic. Improve your weaknesses and enhance your strengths. Let’s build really strong people for life so they can be successful at whatever they decide to do.
“Work really freaking hard and then when you play… play one shot at a time and let the magic happen” – Chris Smeal When you get to this point and you have tremendous skill, anything can happen! Let’s get to this point!
Get Started Today
If you are ready to take your game to the next level please click here to schedule your first Lesson! Please browse the website to learn more and call 619-339-2377 if you have any questions.
We are very active in social media so check out our students on these platforms: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook.
***During Covid-19 and stay at home orders… I transitioned into at home coaching and created a You Tube Channel with interviews with PGA and LPGA Tour players, exceptional collegiate golfers, and junior golfers. I think the content is extremely helpful for every player who is interested in improving their golf game. Please take a look at some of the videos here: YouTube
PARTNERS
