The instructor

Will Aldridge

— PGA Class A · Master Professional · TrackMan University L3

Will grew up on the public muni course in Salisbury, North Carolina, on a junior membership his grandfather paid for. He played four years at Wake Forest under Jerry Haas, made it to four Korn Ferry stage-two finals, and looped on tour for two seasons before deciding the life he wanted was teaching. He's been at Pine Needles since 2003.

The teaching practice is intentionally small — fourteen private students per season plus the junior academy, plus a rotating roster of corporate clinics. Will doesn't run an assistant program and doesn't plan to. The whole point of Swing Line is that the person you book is the person you get.

He lives in Southern Pines with his wife, a high-school history teacher, and their two kids — both of whom are currently better than he is at putting.

Playing & teaching record

Twenty-five years of golf on file.

From the muni course in Salisbury to the practice tee at Pine Needles. Edited.

1995

Junior state runner-up

Carolinas Junior PGA, runner-up. First trophy that wasn't from a club championship — and the first time he beat the older kids he'd been losing to for four years.

1999–2003

Wake Forest varsity golf

Four years on the Wake Forest team under Coach Jerry Haas. Made the lineup as a sophomore. ACC tournament lineup all four years. Team finished top-25 nationally three of those four seasons.

2003–2006

Korn Ferry professional / caddie

Two seasons of stage-two finals. Two seasons looping for a player who would later make the PGA Tour. Will calls the caddie years the most useful golf education he's ever received — "you watch every kind of swing under every kind of pressure."

2007

PGA Class A

Earned PGA Class A teaching certification at Pinehurst Resort. First teaching job at the resort's group instruction program — fourteen kids in a row from sun-up to lunch.

2009

Swing Line founded

Opened the private practice at Pine Needles with two students. By the end of the first year he was at fourteen. He hasn't grown the practice past fourteen since.

2014

TrackMan University Level 3

Completed all three levels of TrackMan University certification. Began rebuilding the technical curriculum around launch-monitor data and frame-by-frame video.

2017

PGA Master Professional

Earned Master Professional designation — the highest credential in the PGA of America. Currently one of forty-eight in North Carolina.

2020

Junior Academy founded

Started the junior academy with eight kids in the first cohort. Two of those eight are now NCAA Division I — UNC and Wake Forest.

2024

Golf Digest Best Teachers

Named to Golf Digest's "Best Teachers in State" list, North Carolina, for the third time.

Five tenets

What every lesson here actually does.

A lot of golf instruction sells outcomes ("two strokes off your handicap"). The lesson here sells the thing under the outcome.

— Tenet 01

Diagnose once

The first lesson is a diagnostic. We don't fix anything. We watch, measure, and write the lesson plan. Lesson two is when work begins.

— Tenet 02

Two cues

Every student leaves a session with a maximum of two swing cues. More than two and the brain forgets all of them on the course.

— Tenet 03

Practice plan

Every session ends with a written, dated practice plan emailed within twenty-four hours. If you don't get the plan, you didn't get a lesson.

— Tenet 04

The course is the test

Range work isn't golf. The on-course playing lesson is where everything we do gets tested. Every package includes at least one playing lesson.

— Tenet 05

Equipment matters

If your clubs are wrong for your swing, no lesson on earth will fix it. We fit before we teach, when fitting is needed.

— Tenet 06

Stop when it's working

If a student gets to a 4-handicap and is happy, we don't push for a 2. The point is the joy of the round, not a single number.

Equipment endorsements

What Will plays, teaches with, and stands behind.

No paid endorsements. The brands listed are the ones used in the bay every day and recommended without commission.

Bay tech

TrackMan 4Launch monitor · radar-based · primary teaching tool

Short bay

Foresight GC QuadCamera-based monitor for wedge & putter calibration

Putter

SAM PuttLab · EdelPutting analysis & custom-fit putters

Iron fitter

Mizuno Swing DNAMaster fitter · MP-23, JPX series

Driver fitter

Titleist SureFitCertified · GT2, GT3, GT4 platforms

Premium

PXG 0311 GEN6Authorized fitter · for the bag-rebuild students

Putter shop

Scotty Cameron CustomAuthorized · Newport, Phantom, Special Select

Wedges

Vokey DesignTour-rep relationship · grind testing on staff

Press

Where Will has shown up in print.

A short list. Will doesn't write much, but he's quoted in the right places.

— Golf Digest · 2024

Best Teachers in State · North Carolina

Named for the third consecutive cycle to Golf Digest's Best Teachers list. Quoted on the value of the on-course playing lesson over the bay-only model.

Read the feature →

— Carolinas Golfer · 2023

The quiet revolution in junior instruction

Long-form profile of the Swing Line junior academy and the cohort-of-ten model. The piece tracks one Elite track student through a season.

Read the feature →

— Golf Channel · 2022

Range to course · short segment

Will and a former tour student demonstrating the on-course playing lesson at Mid Pines. Eight-minute segment in the morning broadcast.

Watch the segment →

— Carolinas PGA · 2022

The teaching philosophy series

Will's contribution to the Carolinas PGA section's annual teaching essays. The pull-quote on this page comes from this piece.

Read the essay →