Spencer Graham and Thor Parrish could be called the yin and yang of Southwest Florida golf. Graham, 51, is a heart attack and cancer survivor who’s a communicator and teacher extraordinaire. Parrish, 27, has a physique that fits the name of a Norse god. He’s the organized one who has the business acumen of a Wall Street banker.

They are two pieces of a puzzle that fit together perfectly. They are 50-50 partners in the Junior Golf Performance Academy at Quail Creek Country Club in Naples, the largest junior golf academy in Florida.

The academy has been a shot in the arm for Quail Creek to attract new, younger members and a magnet for local kids hoping to learn golf. It has grown so much an expansion is in the works, with the goal being to open another academy in Fort Myers this year.

Graham is a born teacher. “His super power is connecting, not only with the player but the family,” Parrish says.

Graham grew up playing competitive junior golf, learning from some of the best teachers. And teaching the game is what got him excited. “I found myself at 13, 14 years old always wanting to help my friends learn how to play golf,” he says. “I always was wanting to help them get better.”

He left college after one year to become an assistant pro, became a teaching pro at 21 and soon after started the Junior Golf Performance Academy in Delaware. He moved the school to Orlando where he could teach outside 365 days a year, and then to Tiburón in Naples.

He moved from Tiburón to Quail Creek around 2015. The move was a win-win. “This place gave me a chance,” he says. He gave it a younger demographic, parents of the children who attended his golf school.

Graham brought 47 of his students and their families from Tiburón to Quail Creek. He said when he started at Quail Creek only about 6% of his students were members’ children. Now it’s about 50%, and one reason is because younger families are joining the club for golf.

“We get interest from their clients,” says Kristin Downey, director of membership for Quail Creek. “We definitely both reap the benefits.”

The club’s website touts that its average age, now 60, keeps declining. The average age of family members with children is 47, according to the website.

The academy has brought Quail Creek 52 members and $2 million in additional revenue in the past three years, Parrish said.

“We’ve totally shifted their culture in the sense that we’ve had families who bought homes, who bought golf memberships, who have food and beverage there every single week,” he says.

The club and the academy signed a 10-year contract extension last year, Graham said.

Parrish started with the academy as an intern from Florida Gulf Coast University’s golf management program. He was special from the start, Graham said. “He was so mature for his age, so organized, very professional—and that’s not what I’m used to, because in today’s world it is really hard to find good, hardworking, strong people like that,” he says.

Parrish wears the description well. He spends mornings at Thunder Performance, the gym he and his wife own on Alico Road in south Lee County. He spends afternoons at the academy.

Parrish is a scratch golfer left-handed, but to become a better instructor he learned to play right-handed.

Two years ago, Graham offered to make Parrish a 50-50 partner.

“He was the perfect person to have by my side in terms of keeping things organized,” says Graham, who is the chief executive officer, with Parrish the chief operating officer. “He knows exactly what his strength is, and I know exactly what my strength is: talking to people, interacting with families and building really good golfers.”

From a business standpoint the academy was a mess, Parrish said. “He’s an artist, he’s not a businessman,” Parrish says of Graham. Parrish streamlined the process. He helped grow the number of students in the after-school program to about 160. Parents pay anywhere from $200 to $1,000 a month depending on the number of lessons. On average, 10 full-time coaches run the 15 classes a week, Graham said.

The academy has a 6-year-old and under program, an advance program for 20 golfers who go through interviews and competition to be selected and summer camps with 500-600 kids.

The golf academy extends far beyond Naples, too. Graham has 16 golfers—students from around the world—in the Masters program. Parents pay $24,000 annually, $30,000 if they want Parrish’s fitness program. Graham will see them in Naples six times a year. He also goes to tournaments they play in. He said $4,000 of the $24,000 is for travel.

He has 12 kids in the Futures program. Most of the golfers are local and aren’t ready for the Masters program, Graham said. It costs $6,500 annually.

The money is well spent. Graham has had 140 students receive college scholarships, he said.

Graham doesn’t want to stray too far from home for his second academy. He said he’s had offers to open academies across the state and around the country. But he’s only looking north to Lee County.

“The goal,” Parrish says, “is to take the same blueprint we built and apply it somewhere else.”