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Amy Bush-Herzer                                                                                                                            Shawna Elliott



                LAS VEGAS
                                                 PHOTOS COURTESY UNLV ATHLETICS/UNLV PHOTO SERVICES                                                                                                         PHOTOS COURTESY SHAWNA ELLIOTT























                                                                                                                                   hawna Elliott is a Class A PGA Pro-
                                                                                                                                 Sfessional and director of instruction at
                                                                                                                                 Rhodes Ranch specializing in golf instruction
                                                                                                                                 for beginning golfers, juniors and women.
                                                                                                                                 Elliott, a Las Vegas native, began playing golf
                                                                                                                                 in high school. She graduated from UNLV
                                                                                                                                 with a Masters of Science in Hotel Adminis-
                                                                                                                                 tration in 2013 and was a part of the presti-
                                                                                                                                 gious UNLV Professional Golf Management
                                                                                                                                 program.
                                                                                                                                   She is also a certified personal trainer
                                                                                                                                 and Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) golf
                                                                                                                                 fitness professional and doTERRA Wellness
                                                                                                                                 Advocate. She believes wellness from the
                                                                                     my Busher-Herzer is a PGA of America        inside out is critical to achieving any goal on
                                                                                 Amember who once served as the first            and off the golf course.
                                                                                 official employee of the Southern Nevada          “The game of golf is one that can uncover
                                                                                 chapter of the PGA. For the last seven years,   talents, passions, and experiences one might
                                                                                 Bush-Herzer has been the head coach of the      have never anticipated,” Elliott wrote in a
                                                                                 UNLV women’s golf team, which as of this        recent blog. “As a golf coach I am fortunate to
                                                                                 year has made the NCAA regionals for 15         work with and learn from the tiniest golfers.
                                                                                 straight years.                                 At the beginning of each class we start with a
                                                                                   Bush-Herzer takes great pride in her play-    movement warm-up of sorts. In a span of just
                                                                                 ers on and off the course and is now thrilled   a few minutes we find ourselves pretending to
                                                                                 to watch former players Therese O‘Hara and      be a frog, bear, or even a snake! Though the
                                                                                 Dana Finkelstein as they play on the LPGA       goal I have set forth is to encourage motor
                                                                                 Tour, marking the first time two former Lady    learning and control through play, I am si-
                                                                                 Rebels have been exempt on the tour during      multaneously being taught how to be silly and
                                                                                 the same season.                                let go. As I get more and more comfortable
                                                                                   “I take great pride in knowing our student    with playing like a kid (strange to think that
                                                                                 athletes are successful in the classroom,”      has become challenging because I was a kid)
                                                                                 Bush-Herzer said. “They continue to work        the more relaxed and free I feel, and ultimate-
                                                                                 very hard on the golf course and in the         ly, I learn how to be a better leader, friend,
                                                                                 classroom. Every day it is my goal to make a    teacher, and person. The most interesting part
                                                                                 difference in my student athletes and get them   is that the more I let go of my rigid agenda,
                                                                                 ready for whatever the next step in life may    the more organic and fuller the learning envi-
                                                                                 be.”                                            ronment becomes at a far greater magnitude
                                                                                                                                 than what I planned for the lesson that day.”

    56  LVG&L   SUMMER 2017                                                  WWW.LASVEGASGOLFANDLEISURE.COM                      WWW.LASVEGASGOLFANDLEISURE.COM                                                      SUMMER 2017  LVG&L  57
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