Gary Wiren Biography

Gary Wiren is a golf educator, a Master member of the Professional Golfers Association of America and a former national PGA staff director. He is a graduate of Huron University in South Dakota with a master's degree from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. from the University of Oregon. He was a collegiate conference golf champion and winner of long-drive contests. Wiren is a past board member of the National Golf Foundation, the American Junior Golf Association and the Children's Golf Foundation.

He has written or participated in the writing of over 200 magazine articles and 11 books. His latest, "When Golf Is a Ball," was selected as the "best golf book in the year 2004." He has 13 film credits, four videos on the market including the award-winning, "The Fascinating World of Golf," and has taught, privately, in groups, at seminars and stage performances, over 250,000 people in 34 countries. Wiren was featured on ESPN's "How to Play Your Best Golf," and also "Par for the Course," was carried weekly in Japan on his own TV show, and can now be seen on the Golf Channel's "Preserving the Game." He is a three-time national winner of the Golf Collectors' Society wooden-shafted tournament and one of its premier collectors, has won the South Florida Seniors PGA title, the South Florida long-driving championship, played in the USGA Sr. Open and the PGA Sr. Championship, was six years on the Golf Digest professional panel, and is on the Golf Digestselection panel for the 100 Greatest Courses.

Wiren has received several awards, among them the national Joe Graffis Award for educational contributions to golf from the National Golf Foundation, the LPGA's "Wind Under Wings" and Rolex Ellen Griffin award, Distinguished Service Awards from the Swedish Golf Union and Italian Golf Federation and the National Merit Award from the Golf Course Owners Association of America. He is an honorary member of the New Zealand PGA, was educational consultant for the Japanese PGA and has an honorary doctorate from Ferris State University in Michigan. In 1987, Wiren was selected by the PGA of America as its "Teacher of the Year" in the USA, and has consistently been picked by Golf Magazine as one of America's 100 Best Teachers and by Golf Digest as Top 50 (currently ranked 9th). He is honored in six golf halls of fame in the United States. In December of 2006, Wiren was inducted into the PGA Hall of Fame, and in January 2007, into the GOLF MAGAZINE World Golf Teachers Hall of Fame.

Dr. Wiren served the PGA of America for 12 years. He founded its National Academy of Golf and served as director of education, learning and research, and the PGA Hall of Fame. Wiren has been a proponent of fitness training for golf for over 30 years, lecturing and writing on the subject around the world.

Dr. Wiren was the keynote speaker at the First Scientific Congress of Golf at St. Andrews University and was chairman of the coaching section there on two other occasions. He keynoted the second PGA Teaching Summit in Nashville, Tenn., and was a featured speaker at all of the others until 1996, as well as being a featured speaker at three European teaching summits -- 1991 in Milan, 1992 in Montreaux, Switzerland, and 1994 in Nimes, France. Gary spoke at Canada's Summit in Toronto and was keynote and lead speaker at the first Australian PGA Teaching Conference (1993) in Sydney, which he repeated in 1995.

Wiren is married, the father of four and lives in North Palm Beach, Fla. His current activities include chairman and founder of Golf Around the World, Inc.; Sr. Director of Instruction at all Trump Golf properties and consultant at The Kingsley Club (Michigan); is on Golf Magazine's contributing teaching staff and represents Mizuno Golf USA. Wiren was the 26th Master Professional in the country to earn that rank and was among the first to be recognized by the PGA of America as a Master Certified Teacher.