Originally from England Mark Blackburn arrived in America in 1994 on a college golf scholarship. A multiple Lettermen and Team Captain at The University of Southern Mississippi, Mark received a BS in Coaching.
Mark has developed a tour proven teaching philosophy and coaching continuum for cultivating high performance. The Blackburn Coaching Codification is a pragmatic critical thinking based approach that is score centric. The continuum begins with a human movement through performance analytics to optimize scoring potential. Mark is a four time Alabama NW Florida Section PGA Teacher of The Year, a finalist for The PGA National Teacher of The Year in 2019, Alabama NW Florida Section PGA Horton Smith Winner in 2014 & 2019, one of Golf Digests 50 Best Teachers, a Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher, TPI Advisory Board Member and part of Titleist’s Leadership Advisory Staff. The Blackburn Golf Academy based at Greystone CC in Birmingham Alabama develops and coaches beginners, juniors, club golfers, elite amateurs, college and professional clients from around the world. On the PGA & LPGA Tour clients who have utilized Mark’s coaching include; Chez Reavie, Kevin Chappell, Sean O’Hair, Charley Hoffman, JJ Spaun, Mike Weir, Colt Knost, Andrew Putnam, Harris English, Nick Cullen, Brad Hopfinger, John Peterson, Tyrone Van Aswegan, Chad Campbell, YE Yang, Hudson Sawfford, Heath Slocum, Robert Karlsson, Arjun Atwal, Bill Lunde, Bobby Gates, Boo Weekley, Nathan Green, Brian Gay, Richard Sterne, Julietta Granda, Janie Jackson, and Anna Nordqvist.

The Blackburn Coaching Codification Consciously or subconsciously great coaches are critical thinkers. Solving problems is the true artistic part of coaching. To consistently get positive outcomes as a coach there are tangible and intangible characteristics / skills required. These are the ingredients / factors which create processes or "The Process" which can be repeated to yield continued successes. Across all endeavors great coaches create a culture which nurtures and develops their athletes. By formulating a process my coaches would have a blueprint to guide them regardless of an athletes’ skill level. The humanistic part of coaching means this process had to encompass everything from “Connecting” with the athlete all the way through to performing and playing in competition relative to their skill level. The culmination of these processes is what morphed into the Blackburn Coaching Codification.

Swing Philosophy: Producing the necessary conditions for consistent ball control is always related to the body - swing connection. Lessons follow a holistic approach. There is no one method or swing style for all golfers. Rather, the instructor must develop an efficient and repeatable motion based on the student’s own movement patterns. Utilizing their own physiology, a student will then learn the necessary stability, mobility and power sources unique to their stroke pattern from the green back to the tee.