Mark's Column

CONGRATS to my younger brother Trevor on his first of many PGA victories! Trevor beat a top-notch field (including Tiger and Vijay) at the Cialis Western Open to secure his first PGA Victory. "Well done boet!"

Blessings

“Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Philippians 2:4

It has been my goal for Tracy (my wife) and I to always try our utmost to follow the advice offered by Paul in his letter to the Philippians. In short, our creed is to bless everybody and try to leave a really positive imprint in the lives of everyone we come into contact with. Now, in all honesty I cannot say that I have always been the best advocate of the afore-mentioned lifestyle - I do keep trying though!

That said, it seems that a lot of my friends and clients are either trying to outdo Tracy and I or they follow the same principle as we do. Hence I feel a real need to write about how a few people have really blessed Tracy and I and my USA golf teaching endeavors.

So allow me to briefly share how God (and a few key stewards of His) have made some of my dreams a reality. Now in no particular order, the major blessings I have received lately have been as follows:

One of my young Mini Tour Professional clients, Steve Sokol, qualified for the US Open at Shinnecock Hills this summer. It was an incredible feat on Steve's behalf as he went through two stages of qualifying in order to make it into his first PGA TOUR event - a major championship at that. It was a great blessing for me to share that experience with Steve. I began working with him a couple of years ago when he turned professional after college and being around to share his most notable professional achievement to date was a great blessing and something that I will treasure for a long time.

To Steve, great job my friend and thanks for blessing me!

Tracy and I were subjected to a pretty harrowing experience with the U.S. Immigration Authorities recently. Fortunately though it turned out that it was an opportunity for us to be blessed by a wonderful couple here in Columbus . Due to a paperwork wrangle, Tracy was informed that she would have to leave the U.S.A. within a couple of weeks (this was a over the summer) and that she would be black-listed for three years if she remained in the county over the deadline. In stepped Richard and Helen Olnick who took on our travails as if they were there own. They enlisted the support of various people, including Dr. Frank Brown, President of Columbus State University and together they managed to get the paperwork error rectified before the authorities deported Tracy .

To Richard, Helen and Dr. Brown, thank you so much for blessing Tracy and I. We owe a great debt of gratitude to you.

Earlier this summer I was giving a lesson to a client and his son. It was one of “those” Georgia Summer days when the mercury was topping the scales and it was unbearable to be outside. In an overheated fit I mentioned that it was my dream to have a range cover and an outdoor cooling fan for my clients. (After all, it is my vision to provide a golf instruction experience to my clients that is bar none…) Without batting an eyelid, my client, who prefers to remain anonymous so we will call him the Good Samaritan, instructed me to order both a range cover and a cooling fan and that he would pick up the cost for it. (A significant cost at that!) I was completely overcome and speechless but I told Tracy who, alongside the Good Samaritan, looked into various models. Well to cut a long story short, I now have an outdoor cooling fan and a three-person, all-weather range cover. They both provide unbelievable respite from both the sun and the rain and they make the Mark Immelman Golf Instruction experience that much more professional and memorable.

To my anonymous client and friend, the Good Samaritan, thank you from the bottom of my heart – you have no idea how much you have blessed me!

My golf teaching studio at Bull Creek is a super venue but I always felt that it was lacking a few things, especially a darkened, air-conditioned room in which I could do private swing analyses with my students. Well, in stepped a young man, Omar Sanchez, and his family. Incidentally Omar plays on my golf team and he stayed in town over the summer to work on his game. He knew of my desire and without me knowing, he got into cohorts with Tracy , and they proceeded to go to work on the back room in the teaching studio. By the way, Omar also enlisted the help of his father and his brother who were in town on vacation. Well, the back room, which was unpainted, unfurnished and not air-conditioned is now a fully-fledged darkened, swing analysis room. What makes this blessing all the more special was that Omar, his father and Tracy (along with a few other special aides) did their room overhaul in the heat of the summer – unbelievable!

To Omar, Mr. Sanchez and my beautiful wife, thanks for blessing me with a great place to work!

Now those are only a few of the blessings that I have received lately. If I had to list each and every one I would have to set up an entirely new web-site as the list is so long. That said, let me sign off by thanking each and every one of my clients for blessing me with their patronage and their belief in my abilities as a golf instructor. I appreciate you all immensely.

Finally, thank you Lord – you make all things possible!