Golf Academy of America review: The entire program from the ground up 12

I just completed the Golf Academy of America Associate's Degree program from the San Diego Campus. I discovered this "Siren" while I was in the military and stationed in San Diego. I was eager to finish my enlistment and pursue my new goal. I visited the campus a number of times, and was very interested in the "Titleist TPI analysis computer", which the staff reiterated many times over it was "one of 4 in the world." Not only that but I could use it whenever I wanted, and while attending the academy I would be a certified operator so that I could train other people on this very limited and exclusive hardware. Not to mention I could "play all the free golf I could." Needless to say, I left the military after 6 honorable years to attend the GAA San Diego Campus. The morning I was Honorably discharged I was down at the campus with all of my required, certified copied discharge paperwork (which includes highly sensitive info, personal and government) and my GI Bill paperwork. To make the admissions part of this story short, they lost this info 3 different times, which meant I had to obtain certified copies on 3 different occasions, which if you have ever had to obtain certified copies from the county courthouse, or the local government/military liason this is no easy task. Not to mention during my fourth semester at this campus the admissions office called me in to say they did not have a copy of my discharge paperwork in my file and they needed another certified copy. I thought this was a joke but she was not laughing. I was absolutely beside myself! The amount of personal info contained on this document is ... well... there is more than enough, not too mention to misplace this info on 4 different occasions is appalling.
Now back to the primary reason I came to this campus ... the "one of four in the world" TPI Analysis machine. The day of orientation I was trying to get on this thing but the staff was having nothing to do with it. They just told me wait until classes start. So classes have officially begun, so now we can do this ... or not. I was told by the instructor that it would not be available for 5 weeks. During this 5 week period I counted the utilization of the TPI Analysis 3 different times tandemly by intructor/student. And for the record, first semester scheduling is the heaviest as far as being there everyday of the week, so I may not have been there all of the time but the majority of the day I was (with exception to Mondays which is the tournament day and there is no school on mondays except for third semester students who have to attend a two hour long resume building class for the entire semester. Believe me it is more painful than it sounds not to mention it lets out one hour before your tournament round starts. If you have ever driven in cali, well you know how traffic is and to have only an hour to drive to a tournament round is ... well ... outlandish! Not to mention my pre-round warm-up greatly exceeds one hour. So that entire third semester you are breaking traffic laws and running through parking lots with your clubs and trying to eat your pre-round meal before you get to the tee. Not to mention this place is nazi with the rules of golf and if you havent checked in with the tournament committee 15 minutes prior to your tee time you are assessed a two stroke penalty and if you are not in your golf cart when its time to drive to your assigned tee you are DQ'd. You think this institution would see the entire picture and fix this but they choose to do nothing about it.
Getting back to the TPI, utilized only 3 times in a 5 week period. So finally the sixth week of the semester and I finally get a chance to get on this thing. I get there, Ive already warmed up for the analysis, about to attach the sensors and get hooked up to the monitor and the instuctor states, "you have not completed the 8 week TPI fitness program and in order for you to receive a swing analyis you need to complete this 8 week program. So you can get on the Titleist Performance Institute website and register and complete the program."
At this point I am completely befuddled. So I go home and register on the TPI website only to find out that I need to be evaluated by a certified TPI technician who evaluates balance, and flexibility, etc. This TPI tech was the very instructor who earlier that day told me I need to register myself on the website! At this point I am beyond words. Needless to say it was 2 more weeks until they gave a TPI evauation. So here we are beginning the 9th week of the semester and I only have completed the fitness assessment and now I may begin my 8 week physical workout programs. And since the semesters are only 16 weeks long, well by the time I complete my workout program it will be the start of the 2nd semester. So time passes and here we are, I've completed all the prerequisites for this TPI analysis. It's finally time! NOT! I show up for my swing analysis only to be told that the GAA's policy has changed and you now need to have 5 recorded individual golf lessons with the instructors. And by recorded I mean once you have completed a half hour lesson with an instructor you have to leave it up to them to record their notes into their database. Long story short, I ended up having to take 8 half hour lessons with various intructors. And due to time restraints and scheduling it only took me to the end of the third semester. Not to mention you got a different teacher every time. Whom really knew nothing about me except what was recorded on their database. All of these different teachers, different philosophies, or most time lack there of ... well my game suffered and I have never played so poorly in my life. All of this just for a swing analysis? Really?! I'v come this far right? What else could there possibly be? Well there was a lot more hurdles to jump throughout the semester and in the end I never did get on that machine because it just disappeared during the third semester. Ah-huh, but this is the best part. It was replaced by a gargatuane yellow training apparatus called the "Bender". This behemuth contraption took up 1/3 of the full swing hitting area only to sit there because no one on the staff was certified to work it. Nor could anyone really figure it out so it just sat there for my remaining 2 semesters at the GAA. Come to find out you can get on the Bender website and register and any one person can be certified online. Way to go Golf Academy of America Staff and affiliates.
Too touch on the academics (sigh) ... well I've witnessed 3 different teachers quit this place (there was the anatomy/physiology intructor who resigned with 2 weeks left in the semester, there was the club builder who quit and went back to work at Taylormade and that was 3 or 4 seeks into the semester. There was the Food and Beverage instructor, and the Accounting II instuctor but he was also the club builder (but we did not receive our books until the 9th week of the fourth semester, these books included a project which we were supposed to be creating the entire semester but because the staff misplaced this pallet of Accounting II projects in some hidden closet the students had to suffer and create this project in less than half of the allotted time. Keep in mind your entire grade is this project. Not to mention my instructor for Rules of Golf II lost my final. To shed some light on this event, Golf Academy of America requires you to stay there for the duration of the 2 hour classes. So during finals week even after you have finished you have to remain there. So the first hour the class took the final. The second part we would review and you would have an idea of how you did. So even though the finals were graded they were not recorded yet. meanwhile, they just sat in a pile on the empty table in front of the podium Well, this happened to be my last class so after I was going to the airport. Well I am about to board my plane and I get a call from my instructor who blantantly states, " where's your final? I don't have your final! Why would you just walk off with your final. I need to have it so I can turn it in before 5 pm. I dont understand why you would walk off with your final with out it being recorded?" I informed him I did not have it and why would you turn this around on me. Blah blah blah it turned into he said she said. So his resolution was to average all of my test grades together and that would be final grade. Well, to say the least I did not enjoy this class and in the beginning I did not put in any effort into the class so i was performing on a C level. But for this I actually prepared for the final because I wanted a B for the class. I know i was close to acing this final but because he wants to leave the entire class' final answers out on an open table unsupervised and not recorded, I suffer for it and end up with a sub par grade because of one incompetent instructor. This is the way of the Golf Academy of America. I can't believe I have written this much and I have just scratched the service but quite honestly I have never felt so betrayed. This place is not worth the $28, 000. Don't buy into the free golf either, on paper they will show you like 30 different courses but in actuallity you play like 5-6 different ones. Theres so many restrictions on all of the other courses. Not too mention tournaments are on Mondays. If you have ever been a member of a country club you know there is no play on Mondays because thats the recovery day from the heavy weekend play and thats the day the maintenance crews are out in full force. You can bet the course is in complete overhaul, heavy watering, seeding, repairing, tree cutting, mowing, blah blah. I cant count the times where my group has been ambushed by sprinklers activating, crazy miscellaneous sounds in backswings, standing water on greens, well you get the picture.
Believe me, all of these issues along with I'm sure a memoir, have been brought up to all the intructors, and all of the directors on campus. And after awhile you just hear the same standard damage control response. I'm not kidding I swear the staff has meetings and the campus dirctor tells them standard responses to say, and througout the day and throughout the week you will hear various members of the staff say the same quoted line, for example, "We want your experience here at the Golf Academy to be a good one". These guys are the kings at damage control and can dance around questions without giving you a direct answer. Once a semester the campus director would come into the class so that students could address issues. Except there were issues he would avoid or leave it up to someone else to anwer. These would get going on a pure simple yes or no answer but they would drag it out for a 5 minute response in hopes of creating a sidebar topic or just numbing your mind so you would forget what was asked in the first place. Our class called him on it, and well the campus director he never came back to talk with us in our 4th semester.
I can look at some of these comments that are pro Golf Academy and grammatically I could identify these people. I hope to see some responses from my comment and you can see for yourself the "Damage Control" and the subjective statements they create in response to my detailed statements.
And let this be known, they may say that this is a performance orientated acadmey, but their primary focuse is a business school and not a golf school. So if you are looking to improve your playability forget it. Not too mention the credits obtained from this school are non-transferable anywhere. The only school that these credits transfer to is Virginia College Online. So if you are looking to finish your Bachelor's well, look at the limited number of degrees that Virginia College Online has to offer, than make your decision. This place offers a clubbuilder certification (which you can do on your own for less than $300, they have a rules officiating certification, but you can do that through the PGA program for a considerably small amount of money and attending a couple of classes/seminars. They have self created an advanced teaching certification which I dont understand because these are students who have never given a lesson in their life but the GAA is calling them advanced teachers? And they in no way offer support or have programs that has anything to do with passing the PAT and getting you on your way if you want to be a PGA certified intructor. Even if you pass they will not reimburse or help you out with the $200 fees involved. They told me they had a PAT program and would assist in everyway possible. But once I got here it changed. Really ask yourself, is an a Associates' Degree, a Clubbuilding cert, a teaching cert, an apprentice rules official cert, the maybe 10 different courses you will play really worth $28, 000? Even though the GI Bill paid I would definitely save myself the trouble and go to a school where my credits would transfer instead of being forced to finish my degree through Virginia College Online where I cannot play golf and I could easily obtain those certs in a weeks worth of classes. But that's me.
I have put way too much time into this beastly comment, but that was only part of my experience and I hope it helps you in your decision making and helps you avoid the torment I have endured during my stay at the Golf Acadmey of America San Diego.