Rick Smith - May 25, 2012

• By Morning Drive Team
• May 25, 2012 8:30 AM ET

Golf instructor Rick Smith has worked with a number of professional golfers including Phil Mickelson and Greg Norman during his career and his company is based in the state of Michigan. The state of Michigan has some of the best land in the entire world and when he is designing courses, he cannot imagine a better place than Michigan. Alister Mackenzie went up to Michigan to design Crystal Downs and that is just one of the many great courses in the state.

He and Phil Mickelson are not teacher and student anymore but they are still together in terms of business. Smith said that he feels very fortunate to have been a part of 3 of his 4 Major wins. During their years together, they would play together the Wednesday before the Majors and it was during those rounds that they would discuss the business of golf course design and Phil is now in that business with him. They are working on courses all over the world and Smith said that he spends a lot of time on the road promoting Phil and promoting their business partnership.

Teaching has always been his passion and it feels great to be back out on the PGA TOUR with players including Rory Sabbatini and Brendan Steele. He took some time away from the road to spend more time with his family but the time came for him to return to the road and he has really enjoyed getting to spend time with a lot of players again.