Meet the Staff
Welcome to Tahoe Donner Golf Course. Tahoe Donner prides itself in offering members and guests premier customer service and instruction opportunities. Meet the staff!
Jeff Hwang | Head Golf Professional
As an instructor, Jeff’s primary philosophy is to understand WHO you are teaching, and what they are capable of doing in a golf swing. From there, he focuses on the biomechanics of the body and swing to create the best result for each individual. Jeff spent the better part of 10 years in Southern California where he was the President award-winner upon graduating the Golf Academy of America in Carlsbad, CA. He went on to become the golf professional and teaching professional at PGA WEST and Indian Wells Golf Resort in Palm Springs, and more recently the 1st assistant and head golf professional at Red Hawk Golf Resort and Petaluma Golf and Country Club. At these properties, Jeff worked for multiple lifetime PGA members and PGA Master Instructors to sharpen his knowledge and skills. Make sure you swing by and introduce yourself!
James Murtagh | Professional Golf Staff
James brings to the golf team and visitors alike a magnitude of experience, including 22 consecutive seasons of working in the golf business, 21 of which have been at Tahoe Donner Golf Course. “The golf club members and staff members have always been my west coast family,” said Murtagh, who is originally from Vermont. He spends his winters managing a ski school of about 80 instructors, enjoys playing golf and teaching golf at Tahoe Donner. “Teaching golf and skiing for years has taught me that to be an effective instructor you must have a good eye and be able to adapt to different teaching and learning styles,” explained Murtagh. “Golf is a sport where you are constantly working on your swing or on course management to improve your scores.”
Dan Degenhardt | Lead Golf Instructor
Growing up in Santa Rosa, CA, Dan began playing golf at an early age and quickly developed a passion and love for the game. He spent the last decade teaching golf at Tahoe Donner during the summer months, and Palm Desert and Arizona during the winter months. Dan values fitting your individual athletic ability into the fundamentals of the golf swing in order to discover your natural and most repeatable swing. New to golf? Let’s keep it simple and learn the basics. Dan values being able to break the swing down into simple to understand language. He is comfortable teaching all aspects of the game, ages, abilities while making the learning process engaging and fun. He believes in keeping your mind focused on individual, attainable goals, and to practice with a purpose. Let’s have some fun growing your game and lowering your scores. Happy hitting!
Molly Springmanm | LPGA Class A Golf Instructor
Originally from Wisconsin, Molly worked for The First Tee of Silicon Valley, a a national non-profit organization that teaches youth character development through golf. She worked there for twelve years as an instructor, coordinator and manager. During that time, she earned her LPGA Class A teaching credential and began teaching private lessons. Molly enjoys teaching junior golfers and beginners. In her lessons, she aims to keep swing changes simple, by focusing on a couple tweaks at a time. She makes the game fun by using memorable analogies and acronyms to teach golf skills. She also incorporates games and little competitions during clinics and camps, to keep her younger students engaged.
Tahoe Donner Staff are available to assist members, guests and the general public with golfing needs all summer long. For more information, call the Pro Shop at (530) 587-9443.