“Let’s Do This !!!!”
That was Michael Breed’s popular introduction to his high-energy lessons on The Golf Channel — The Golf Fix.
Sadly, during the Christmas Holidays, The Golf Channel did its best Grinch impersonation and quietly sent Breed on his way.
We will miss him and and judging by the initial reactions to this decision, a lot of golfers will as well.
The genesis of Breed’s exit was the network’s acquisition of Revolution Golf. With that came the need to feature instructors from that platform — enter Sean Foley, who was working with Woods a while back, maybe long enough for a couple of cups of coffee with Eldrick between lessons.
So now there’s Foley and a guy from Scotland.
Breed will be missed.
At last year’s PGA Merchandise Show, they were lined up five deep to watch Breed do one of his episodes at the show. When it comes to personality and ability to communicate, Breed’s one of the best. Foley? Well, he’s about a nine-handicapper in that context.
No worries for Breed. He had offers waiting in the wings.
He’s signed on with Conde Naste Digital to create an online instruction archive through Golf Digest. He will also expand his presence on Sirius XM from three to five days a week. His show on Sirius is called A New Breed Of Golf.
There’s no heartbreak for Breed in this.
Breed has a nice full-time gig — he operates the Michael Breed Golf Academy at the Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point, New York. Breed is one of the top 50 instructors in the country, ranked there by both Golf Digest and Golf Magazine.
He’s well-respected within the PGA of America and was named its National Teacher Of The Year in 2012.
The really great thing about Breed is that he has the gift of getting through to the average golfer, including your high handicappers. His shows were fast-moving, interesting and his information was always easy to understand.
With his on-air skills, don’t be surprised if Breed shows up on another network before too long.
In the meantime, these changes should allow Breed to spend a little more time with his family. He lives in New York and certainly won’t miss the commuter flights to Orlando.
It’s a new year at The Golf Channel and it’s just not the same without Breed.
The Golf Fix was one of those shows where you could pick up common sense information that would help you improve in one way or another on the golf course.
So now we’ve got Foley and some others.
But we’ll miss Michael Breed.
For sure.
9 Comments
RM
Could not agree more on Michael Breed. I’m one of those high handicappers who usually picked up a little something whenever I watched.
More than that, I watched because I enjoyed his unquenchable enthusiasm for what he did and for everything golf. I always wanted to grab my clubs and hit the course after watching his show.
Also admire his respect for the game of golf. When he commented on having been picked as Instructor of the Year, he was a bit emotional and spoke of it as a huge honor and what it meant. I liked him even more after that.
He will be missed, and I’m glad he has a soft landing. We’ll see how it goes from here.
Tom Edrington
RM: You see and recognize the same qualities we see…..the gentleman is a pro’s pro, a proud PGA of America member who caters to the everyman golfer….guys like Foley prefer to work with professionals….not for me, thanks, I’ll take a Michael Breed every day.
RM
On the money. A playing lesson based on a round with Michael Breed would be a bucket list afternoon, which I suspect would be filled with great stories, a lot of takeaway knowledge, and never feeling uncomfortable. Perhaps even a cold beer or two afterwards.
Nothing at all against Sean Foley, I wish him well, but cannot even conceive of the above with him.
Tom Edrington
RM: Roger that!
kjgoltz
AGREED!!!
kjgoltz
Looks like I’m gonna say “Let’s Do This!” to unsubscribing from my Golf Channel daily e-mail, and my Revolution Golf membership. Heck, I got priced out, because all of the “good” instructors are on the RG+, which is not in my budget right now. All of the good Golf Channel videos have been migrated to RG+, where you have to pay for them–they were free on GolfChannel.com… And their new “star” instructors seem to have an arrogant attitude, Sean Foley especially.
I’m not spending much time watching Golf Channel anymore–when there isn’t a tournament on, we get infomercials and the same five movies over and over again…maybe Michael Breed will end up on Fox Sports golf coverage–he’d be worth it! But I think he’d have a problem working with Joe Buck, who is as arrogant as they come…
Tom Edrington
We’ll stay in touch with Michael and let you know if he goes to one of the big networks…..Michael’s problem is RG is that a lot of those guys are NOT members of the PGA of America….
guiltyhd
I think it was a political move he works at trumps golf course and nbc owns golf Chanel and dislikes Trump think about that
Tom Edrington
Simply not the case, got a call from Michael himself Friday evening and he said we got it right as to how this all went down.