Max SullivanPortsmouth Herald
NORTH HAMPTON — Rico Riciputi had a vision for a country club indoors - the perfect place for local golfers to work on their swing with a PGA professional at their fingertips.
Now, Riciputi has opened Coach Club at 69 Lafayette Road, a facility he said is designed to get its members on the "fast track" to improving their game. The new facility, which opened in October, has three TrackMan Golf simulators designed to track 26 different parameters of a golf swing, from face angle to swing path to dynamic loft.
Memberships come with unlimited access to the club and its simulators, as well as up to five lessons a year with Riciputi. The club also has a liquor license and offers private functions as well, like golf clinics for corporate team events or parties.
At the center of the room is a 600-square-foot practice green where members can work on their putting. Coach Club also offers club fitting and regripping, and has a conference room in the back for members who want to use the space to get some work done.
“Everything you can basically get at a country club inside,” said Riciputi, who was previously director of instruction at the Wentworth by the Sea Country Club for seven years.
Memberships run $275 a month for six months, $200 a month for 12 months with one lesson included, and $4,000 for the Founding Membership that includes five lessons. New members undergo a 20-minute swing analysis by using the Trackman simulator’s data and video features.
“That is in place for people to really identify what they need to be focusing on,” Riciputi said.
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From budding golfer to PGA pro
Riciputi, 35, was recently named 2022 New England Section PGA Teacher of the Year. A Rollinsford native, he fell in love with golf when he was 9 years old playing at Rochester Country Club under his stepfather’s membership. By 12, he said he was regularly playing 36 holes in a day, walking.
“I would stay there the entire day,” Riciputi said. “I would probably play 54 holes in a day sometimes.”
Riciputi got his first job at the course running the golf carts at 15 and rather than go to college he set his sights on becoming a member of the PGA – Professional Golfers’ Association of America. PGA membership opens the door to many coveted jobs in golf, like instructors at country clubs, but requires a high level of playing ability.
“I was just never that great at school, and I was like, ‘You know what? I’m not getting into any university. I’m obsessed with golf,’” Riciputi said. He decided to enroll in a golf management school in Orlando, Florida, when he was 18, moving down there with his parents. Eventually, he began working at the golf course there and was hired by the academy. He also became a PGA member in 2012.
Riciputi did not see himself as becoming an instructor when he first went to Orlando. Initially, he thought he would become the head pro at a course, which includes other duties like managing the pro shop and membership. He was convinced to try teaching by his first boss in Orlando and quickly found it was his passion.
Riciputi spent 10 years as an instructor in Orlando, then decided it was time to come home to the Seacoast. He knew that Wentworth by the Sea had never had a director of instruction, so he reached out to the head pro there to see if they were interested in adding one. They brought Riciputi on, and for seven years he ran instruction, giving about 800 lessons a season.
“It was a perfect scenario for me because I love teaching,” Riciputi said.
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Coach Club hopes to expose more people to the game of golf
Three years ago, Riciputi said he began thinking about how he might take his career in teaching to the next level. He began contemplating his vision for an indoor instructional facility that felt like a country club.
“I’ve been thinking about, ‘OK, how can I grow my business and really expose myself to more people,'” Riciputi said, “Creating an indoor space like this was really the perfect way to do that.”
Riciputi said the timing of the Coach Club’s opening is perfect given the rising interest in golf since the coronavirus pandemic started. The total number of rounds played in 2020 in the U.S. rose 13.9 percent in 2020 from the year before, according to USA Today’s Golf Week.
That number dropped by 5.7 percent this year from 2021, but Riciputi said golf in New England remains popular, including in the New Hampshire Seacoast. He pointed to the number of restaurants and clubs that have added golf simulators in the last few years, including Grill 28 and Tour located in Portsmouth.
“Just seeing that, it was kind of time to open something and do what I’ve wanted to do,” Riciputi said. “It was perfect timing.”
Riciputi said he ultimately hopes Coach Club can grow enough to add another location. In the short term, he wants to add another simulator, as well as bring on another instructor to help him provide more lessons.
“I think that’s what will allow me to kind of grow the business with instruction,” Riciputi said. “Find someone that’s young, who was ambitious like I was, that wants to be in the golf business and wants to teach.”
