Jake in the Press

Golf Magazine Feature

Instructor Jake Thurm and Letting the Dogs Out

Listen as Nick and Cassie chat with Jake Thurm, PGA Regional Director of Instruction. 

TOUR COACH with Tony Ruggiero Podcast

Jake Thurm: The Order of Implementation

Tony sits down with Jake Thurm – one of the top teachers to watch in the country – to talk about his upbringing, teaching style, and what’s important when making people better!

Jake Thurm voted “Best Teachers in Your State” for 2024-2025 by Golf Digest

Golf Digest’s rankings are the only one in the game powered by a peer-voting process. Jake has been humbled to receive this award every year since 2017.

Cure your early extension issues by using this alignment stick drill

As Thurm explains in the video, one of the most-searched golf issues that players seek answers to is early extension. Check out his drill to see how it can improve your swing.

How ‘loading’ in your backswing can generate more power

Your backswing is your chance to “load” into your right side — the key to generating power in your downswing.

Optimize your distance by discovering the proper weight shift. Here’s how

Thurm says that he has “no problem with the beginning level golfer who pretty much turns around on a single axis and stays on the lead side.”

However, for players looking to increase their distance, “we need to learn how to shift in our swing,” he adds.

Behind the Golf Brand – 
with Jake Thurm

Jake uses 3-D Technology to analyze Streelman’s swing

Last week, while in his native Chicago, Ill., for The Streels, a golf tournament he put on with the Illinois Junior Golf Association, Streelman stopped at the house of longtime friend and coach Jake Thurm. Equipped with 3-D technology in his garage, Thurm put Streelman’s swing under a microscope and found a slight irregularity with the position of his rib cage at address. While Streelman’s hips and shoulder were square to his target, his rib cage was actually 20 degrees open, not allowing him to make a complete backswing. As a result, Streelman was too often losing stability and throwing his hands at the ball, causing the consistent and unwanted fade. Now Streelman sets up for a shot and wants to feel his rib cage closing to the target. What may seem like a minor tweak has “been a pretty drastic change for me,” he said.

Rising stars: Meet GOLF Magazine’s 2024-2025 Top 100 Teachers to Watch

Every two years, GOLF Magazine convenes an independent committee of instructors to evaluate teachers’ bodies of work and decide whether it warrants inclusion on our GOLF Top 100 Teachers list. It’s a highly competitive process and consists of months of our selection committee reviewing applications against a rigorous set of criteria.

Here’s 1 easy way to get better at golf (without swinging a club)

“It’s humbling, it’s scary at first, but if you want to play the game better you have to play with people better at the game than you. That helped me immeasurably with playing with other players who were eventually two-time PGA Tour winners.”

Jake Thurm: Self Talk, Sequencing and Standards

“In this episode I got to chat to Jake Thurm. Jake Thurm is one of the most educated, intelligent, well spoken, thoughtful and exciting coaches I have met throughout my years and if you don’t know him you are about too.”

How’s My Hand Path? Jake Thurm on Analyzing the Swing & Pressure on BodiTrak

Jake Thurm (@jakethurmgolf) joins Podcast “How’s My Hand Path?” to talk about his start in coaching, how he uses BodiTrak to analyze pressure movement in the golf swing, some stories from the past, and a few really good laughs along the way.

The Golf Channel: Jake Thurm on “Fairways of Life”

Jake Thurm joins Matt Adams on "Fairways of Life” with two-time PGA Tour winner Kevin Streelman and caddie A.J. Montecinos.

Wilson Staff: Jake Thurm for D7 Irons

Take the #D7Challenge with Jake Thurm.

Jake Thurm: “You Get What You Emit”

Golf Digest: “Teaching Golf In The 21st Century”

“By embracing technology — and we're not talking just launch monitors and standard video — Thurm has taken instruction to an exciting new level that he uses both with his regular students in the Chicago area, and with the PGA Tour players he coaches, including Kevin Streelman. Technology lets us get away from opinion and back up what we're saying with quantifiable data."

Chicago Golf Report: Golf Instructor of the Year

“One of the best at utilizing new school technology and old school teaching along with a strong awareness of psychology is Jake Thurm, who is the Director of Instruction at Fresh Meadow Learning Center and Ruffled Feathers Golf Club. His ability to effectively bring technology and teaching together to positively impact golfers of all skill levels is why we are proud to name Jake as the Chicago Golf Report Instructor of the Year.”

On the Mark Golf Podcast: Jake Thurm Interview

“Jake Thurm is a foremost expert in use use of Pressure Mapping systems (BodiTrack) and he joins the podcast to share his research and insights on how the body interacts with the ground during the golf swing. He also helps you understand how the correct use of the feet on the ground can help you make more accurate, and powerful golf swings.”

College of DuPage Student Spotlight: Jake Thurm

Jake Thurm came to College of DuPage primarily for golf.

“I played on the golf team during my time there, which was a big reason for having attended COD,” he said. “I was all conference both my years at COD and it was the best golf team I ever played on, comprised of future golf professionals, D1 players and scratch golfers.”

Daily Chronicle: “Motion more important than the club in swing”

"A pitching coach in baseball doesn’t come out to the mound when a pitcher is struggling and talk about the ball. They talk about motion. It should be the same way in golf."