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I’m honored to announce I’m the 444th member in the history of the PGA of America to earn Master Professional status, with my designation in Teaching and Coaching. The Master Professional Program started in 1969. Currently, there are 30,000 PGA Members so it’s a very small group. My journey started 2 years ago, I conducted and submitted several live lessons for review, published a 200-page book with over 40 citations, participated in 3 mentoring sessions with PGA and Certified PGA Members, flew to PGA headquarters in Frisco, TX to present my work and defend it in front of a collection of PGA Members and Master Professionals and successfully completed a live lesson in front of the panel.

Matt Keller, originally from North Wales, PA, turned professional in 1998 and earned his PGA Membership in 2003. Matt continued his work with the PGA and earned certifications in Player Development and Teaching & Coaching within the PGA’s Certified Professional Program 2.0. Matt holds additional certifications in Titleist Performance Institute Level 1, K-VEST Level 1 & K-VEST Level 2.  Matt is recognized as a Top 100 GRAA (Golf Range Association of America) Growth of the Game Teaching Professional in 2020, 2022 and 2023 while White Rose Golf & Training Center – York is recognized as a Top 50 Stand Alone Practice Facility in 2019.  In 2021, Matt was nominated as a Top Teacher in the state of Pennsylvania for Golf Digest.

He is a graduate from the Pennsylvania State University with a degree in Recreational Park and Management with an option of Professional Golf Management. Matt continued his education and earned a Master’s Degree from Ohio University. Within the Master’s Program, Matt focused on sport psychology, long term athletic development, athlete performance, conditioning, recovery and injury prevention.

Matt has worked with some of the finest PGA Golf Professionals and facilities, highlighted by Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster, PA. Other facilities include the Country Club of Naples, The Strand, and Cripple Creek Golf and Country Club.  In 2017, Matt founded White Rose Golf & Training Center – York and opened a second location in 2021, White Rose Golf & Training Center – Lancaster.  Later that year, he took over Bridgewater Golf Club so students and customers have access to year round training and playing opportunities.

Matt’s experience draws on the ability to develop successful player development programs, highlighted by a Play Golf America program in 2003 that ranked in the top 30 of 3,800 participating facilities nationally. Other programs include a SNAG (Starting New at Golf) Golf in School Program with over 30 schools participating.

Over the course of his career, Matt has instructed thousands of players of all ages and ability levels. His teaching ability extends beyond the golf course and into the classroom where he served an instructor for Ohio University’s Masters Degree Program. Currently, Matt teaches a Kinesiology class at Penn State and serves as an Assistant Golf Coach for the Varsity Golf Team.

In addition to traditional roles as a PGA Golf Professional, Matt has worked as a freelance writer and published over 2,000 golf industry articles from 2010 – 2017.

Derek has been a PGA Class “A” Member since May 2016. He took up the game of golf when he was just 6 years old. Growing up Derek played a variety of sports, but while playing golf in high school he decided he wanted to make this great game his passion and career.

Derek was born and raised in the small town of Dover, Pennsylvania, which sits about forty minutes south of the capital, Harrisburg. He started working at Grandview Golf Course in Dover, PA when he was 15 years old and upon graduation from high school, he was accepted into the Professional Golf Management program at Coastal Carolina University. After four and a half years Derek graduated with a degree in Professional Golf Management while also receiving a bachelor’s degree in Accounting.

Derek’s experience comes from working internships at clubs such as the Country Club of York, where he worked for his first 3 internships, Bristol Harbour Resort, where he completed his final internship, and Regents’ Glen Country Club, where he worked as an Assistant Golf Professional from April 2016 – January 2017. Over the course of his 4 internships and Assistant Golf Professional position, Derek was instrumental in helping grow instructional programs. He is K-Vest Level 1 certified, which is the industry’s only human motion learning system. His desire for knowledge on how biomechanics can help the golf swing has motivated him to study more about this subject. He is very excited to be pursuing his passion for teaching and club fitting, full time, at White Rose Golf & Training Center – York.

Chris was born in Easton, Pennsylvania. His love of golf began at the age of 4 after receiving a modified persimmon 5 wood from his grandfather Joe. Over the next 38 years, Chris would study the game, the emerging technologies and theories of golf, and develop an obsession with golf equipment and how to separate actual performance from marketing. He petitioned for reinstatement of the golf team at Wilson Area High School in 1995, while also competing in state championships and LVJGT events throughout that. Chris moved to Lancaster in 1999 and attended Millersville University graduating with a BA with a well-rounded education in technology, welding and metal work.

Chris studied independently from 2000 through 2013. After some trial and error, conversations with established professionals and engineers in the golf industry, he attended the Maltby Advanced Clubmaking Academy for a formal education that golfers could see on paper. In 2014, Chris founded The Club Nut Golf in Lancaster. There, he provides repair and builds with accuracy far above the industry standard, as well as advanced technical services that include MOI matching and shaft mapping. He has achieved status as a Gold Dealer for Fujikura golf shafts, a Project X Performance Fitting Center, and one of the first fitters of LAB putter technology in the area.

Chris had operated what has been the best kept secret for golf equipment performance in Central PA for 7 years before taking a position with Club Champion golf as a Master Fitter to apply his expertise. Unsatisfied with the level of service he was limited to providing, he returned to The Club Nut and ultimately was offered a position working with White Rose Golf & Training Center – Lancaster where his unique abilities and years of experience can be applied without restraint to every golfer, creating nearly unlimited possibilities for golf equipment performance.  Chris has seen and studied every equipment innovation since the aluminum golf shaft and repaired them all. He’s always willing to talk golf equipment and give you a straight answer. In his off-time, he caddies at Lancaster Country Club applying his years of competition golf experience and soaking in the sunshine.