Meet the Pros

Rob Labritz, Touring Professional & Sr. Instructor

Rob Labritz has been awarded the Westchester Golf Association’s player of the year in 2002, 2003, 2008, 2013, 2015, and 2016 as well as the Metropolitan PGA Section Player of the Year in 2008 & 2013, which included a victory at the New York State Open played on the famed Bethpage Black Course.

Rob has also competed in the 2002, 2003, 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2019 PGA Championships. Rob attained Low Club Professional honors after making the cut in the 2010 PGA Championship and 2019 PGA Championship. Recent tournament wins are the 2016 Westchester PGA Championship, 2016 Westchester Open Championship, 2016 New York State Open, 2016 Metropolitan Professional Championship He has played on many professional tours around the globe including the PGA Tour, Nationwide Tour, Canadian PGA Tour, the Australian PGA Tour and 14 National Club Professional Championships.

Rob is a Titleist Performance Institute Certified Instructor and has twenty-nine years of teaching and coaching experience. He makes routine instructional television appearances featured on the Golf Channel's "Morning Drive" and "Golf Fix", Sirius XM Radio, CBS Sports "On the Range", CNBC, local news channels, has been a regular guest on the Metro Golf Show and co-host of “The Clubhouse" as well as contributes instructional video clips and articles to some of golf’s major publications. In January of 2015, Rob was the featured instructor for “Lesson Tee Live” on Golf Channel! Rob has served on the Metropolitan PGA Board of Directors from 2012 – 2015. He teaches students of all caliber from beginner to professional.

GOLF Mag Rob Labritz Article
GLobal Golf Post Rob Pro

David is entering his 17th season with us here at GlenArbor and his 4th as our Head Golf Professional. While balancing his Professional Tournament schedule and duties as Head Pro, David plays a major role in our world class instruction program and is constantly updating and improving his teaching skills with the use of the latest technology and teaching methods. As such he had one of his busiest seasons yet with instruction and is looking to build on it further. This winter he traveled to the PGA Show to research current instruction technologies and best practices to incorporate into our own Academy as well as view the latest in fashion and equipment. He led another updating of our Teaching Center and also directed our most successful member tournament program to date. He is also a key organizer in numerous informal member events throughout the season including the “Bulls & Bears” series and Member Pro-Ams. David has also taken an active part in our New Member Programs and will continue to be a driving force in this area.

Debbie was named in Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Teachers in America once again for the 2019 year, already making the list in 2017 and 2018. She is one of only nine women on the list. She was featured five times this year within the magazine. Golf Digest named Debbie the #5 teacher in New York for 2017, 2018 and has been in the top ten since 2016, voted by her peers. Debbie is featured on SiriusXM PGA Tour radio during the US Open and PGA Championship doing live updates from the range and then leading the post round interviews with the leaders of the majors. Debbie will also begin a new podcast with Golf Magazine featuring Top 100 teachers, leaders and experts in the industry and bring the important information to the masses. Debbie spends much time honing her skills and learning from the best in the industry such as Mike Adams, Butch Harmon, Bill Harmon, Randy Smith, bio mechanistic experts like Dr. Scott Lynn and Dr. Neal, sports psychologists like Dr. Bob Rotella as well as leaders in the fitness industry.

Top 20 Under 40	MetGolfer Deb solid back
Golf Magazine top 100- Deb	Doniger feb singles

Get the flip out!

Dan Putzer, Golf Shop Manager & Head Golf Professional

Craig Hocknull, Lead Assistant & Senior Teaching Professional

We are excited to announce that Papua New Guinea born Australian, Craig Hocknull, will be joining the GlenArbor Professional Staff beginning in March as Lead Assistant & Senior Teaching Professional. Craig is a member of the Professional Golfers Associations of America, Australia and Canada and was touted as “The Most Interesting Man at the 100th PGA Championship at Bellerive in St. Louis, MO. Click Here for the full story!

Craig’s previous experience includes Director of Instruction roles at Glenwild Golf Club in Park City, Utah, Silverleaf Golf Club in Scottsdale, AZ, and The Club at Black Rock in Coeur d’Alene, ID. Tournament experience includes 27 tour events some of which are: the 100th PGA Championship at Bellerive and the 101st PGA Championship at Bethpage, 3 PGA Tour Events including last years WM Phoenix Open, as well as several events on the Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour Latino America, PGA Tour Canada, PGA Tour Australasia and European Tour.

This April, Craig will be representing GlenArbor in his 11th PGA Professional Championship at Twin Warriors Golf Course in New Mexico. We will be watching closely to see if he can secure a return trip to a third PGA Championship at Oak Hill in Rochester, NY in May.

Craig's PGA Professional awards include the following: PGA National Finalist for the Player Development Award, Two time PGA Section Teacher Of The Year, Section Player Of The Year, Section Player Development Award and the Section Junior Player Development Award. Also, in 2017 Craig's Patented invention, the Saber Golf Swing Trainer, was awarded the PGA Merchandise Show’s Best New Product.

As a caring coach, Craig's passion is for helping golfers of all ages and skill levels by focusing on building strong fundamentals in a fun, simple, logical and efficient manner. In every lesson he’s looking for swing compensations and manipulations that are creating inconsistencies and power leaks. These inefficiencies may be due to bio-mechanics, equipment or Golf IQ issues and it’s Craig’s goal to diagnose the root causes accurately and quickly so that the best solutions can be used to solve the problems permanently.

Craig and his wife, Laura, an early childhood Teacher of the Deaf and hard of hearing, have three fine sons. JC (22) has just begun his career in the golf business in Park City, Utah; Hugh (19) is pursuing his professional acting career in Utah and Arizona; and Gregor (16) is a junior in high school and a standout performer in the theatre department. The performance gene is probably more from Laura who is a gifted vocalist, however we are also looking forward to seeing Craig perform his Outback Golf Trick Shot Show at GlenArbor in the near future. Don’t be afraid to do a little Google research on Craig as his achievements won’t fit on one page here. Help us welcome Craig and his family with open arms. We look forward to playing some great golf and having some laughs with our new found friend.

“I’m super excited to be joining the team at GlenArbor in early March! Golf is my passion and I can’t wait to help you turn your struggles into strengths. Whether it’s putting, short-game, driving distance or club fitting, I’ve got some tried and true secrets to share that will make the game more fun and the birdies easier to find! - Cheers to a great 2023 full of laughs and lower scores! Feel free to reach out with an email or text so we can get to know each other more." - Craig

Golf Professionals