Rod Cook

Originally from Fridley, Minn., Rod turned professional in 1997, participated in PGA Tour qualifying school five times and won more than 20 professional golf events. Rod worked for six years as the Director of Instruction at Black Diamond Ranch in Lecanto, Fla., ranked a top 100 golf facility, and he spent five years as the Head Teaching Professional at the Four Seasons Resort and Club in Dallas, home of the Byron Nelson PGA Tour event.

Rod currently is the Head Professional at the Four Seasons Costa Rica at Peninsula Popagayo, ranked one of the 53 best golf courses outside the United States. Rod is a Titleist TPI level 3 golf/fitness Instructor and specializes in golf fitness training. In addition, he is also a Titleist certified club fitter. Rod is on the faculty staff for the Professional Sports Care group, which certifies doctors to work on the PGA Tour.

Rod’s teaching philosophy centers on breaking the game down into simplistic terms. He looks at five components:

• Trajectory of the shot
• Curvature of the ball
• Contact point on the clubface
• Impact
• Titleist TPI body assessment

One or more of these areas will stand out and allow Rod to understand the direction he needs to take to begin improving the student's swing.

Rod’s ultimate goal with his students is to help them play better golf, enjoy the game more and to be able to play “pain free.”

• Erik Christopherson

  “I am 34 years old, competing on the state and national amateur level. Since working with Rod Cook my results speak for themselves - my first two career appearances in the 2009 and 2010 U.S. Amateurs, along with one Individual Minnesota State Match Play Championship and Best-Ball Championship. Finally in 2010, I was chosen as a top-three amateur to compete in the 2010 USGA State Team Championship representing the state of Minnesota. Rod has opened my eyes to many areas of improvement, from pre-shot routine, basic pre-shot fundamentals, swing path and overall education of how one factor of your technique leads to a specific result. In my opinion, Rod’s greatest asset as an instructor is his ability to clearly and efficiently explain the cause-effect relationship of the golf swing that I have never been able to receive from five or six other instructors I have worked with in the past 15-20 years.”

• John G.

  “Ron, thanks for the lesson. I just finished hitting two buckets and I already notice the difference . The video analysis sure points out the faults and now I will be aware of where my swing plane should be . I will be hooking up with you in the future as I progress.”