My name is maria Mills and I am an LPGA Class A teaching professional.  I have over 25 years of experience as a golf instructor and over 15 as a certified club fitter.  Up until last summer, I was employed by Dick's Sporting Goods as a golf shop manager/club fitter.  I was part of the 500 plus professionals and apprentices that lost their job without notice.  The store that I managed was a top 5 store out of 500 plus stores in custom fitting orders and golf equipment sales due to my expertise as a club fitter and also due to my reputation in Central PA as a great golf instructor. 

     For the past 11 years, the golf academy has operated on a transient basis from several golf course/driving range facilities in the Harrisburg and Mechanicsburg, PA area.  It was a transient business because I was employed full time as a golf professional at a local Dick's Sporting Goods store.  In April 2015, I was given the opportunity to lease a building and open the golf academy in a more permanent location at a golf course/driving range in Mechanicsburg, PA.  Because this new opportunity came together very quickly, I did not have adequate time to fully secure the financial backing necessary to realize my full vision for the golf academy.  That vision includes physical upgrades to the driving range and miniature golf course, merchandise inventory for a golf shop (including equipment sales and repairs) and equipment for club fitting and indoor/off-season instruction and practice.  A priority for the Maria Mills Golf Academy is to develop both the facility and instructional programs in order to meet the needs of all populations, including but not limited to individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders and military veterans with disabilities.  Ultimately, I also envision Maria Mills Golf Academy hosting a chapter of the First Tee Program and the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf Club.

     My secondary goal is to provide for my employees. As the business grows I would like to be able to pay them a living wage.  I want them to have the security of knowing that when the business succeeds- they will too.  I was with DSG for almost 10 years and was given absolutely no warning of losing my job.  We were told to come in for a conference call.  That was it.  I want my employees to know that I value them and what they bring to the business.  Its the way things should be.