Meet Evan Cather
NYC Golf Instructor • Jim McLean Master Instructor
Evan Cather has built his career around one simple idea: great golf instruction should help players understand their game, not leave them more confused than when they arrived. With more than 12,000 lessons taught, Evan has coached golfers across the entire spectrum—from people holding a club for the first time to college golfers, touring professionals, notable athletes and entertainers, and a player who competed in the PGA Championship. His goal is always to meet the golfer where they are, identify what matters most, and make the path toward improvement as clear as possible.
Evan has been teaching golf in New York City since 2017 and currently teaches at The Hack Shack in Midtown Manhattan. Before coming to New York, he spent five years at the Jim McLean Golf School at Trump National Doral in Miami, where he became a Jim McLean Master Instructor and developed the technical foundation that continues to influence his coaching today.
- Jim McLean Master Instructor
- Teaching in NYC Since 2017
- Beginners to PGA Championship-Level Players
9,500+
Lessons Taught
Jim McLean
Master Instructor
Midtown
Manhattan
Beginners Through
Advanced Players
From College Golf to a Career in Teaching
Long before teaching became his career, Evan was a competitive golfer himself. He played collegiate golf at Taylor University and recorded a low tournament round of 68. That experience gave him firsthand appreciation for the strange reality of golf: a swing can feel completely natural one day and seem to disappear the next. He understands the frustration of working hard, caring deeply about your game, and still wondering why the ball refuses to cooperate.
Over time, Evan discovered that his greatest passion was not simply playing golf—it was helping other people understand it. Teaching combined his love for the game with problem solving, communication, and the satisfaction of seeing a student finally understand something that may have frustrated them for months or even years. That ability to connect the technical side of golf with language a student can actually use became the foundation of his career.
Over time, Evan discovered that his greatest passion was not simply playing golf—it was helping other people understand it. Teaching combined his love for the game with problem solving, communication, and the satisfaction of seeing a student finally understand something that may have frustrated them for months or even years. That ability to connect the technical side of golf with language a student can actually use became the foundation of his career.
Five Years at the Jim McLean Golf School
One of the most important chapters in Evan’s development as a golf instructor came during his five years at the Jim McLean Golf School at Trump National Doral in Miami. During that time, Evan became a Jim McLean Master Instructor and immersed himself in one of golf’s most established teaching systems, studying the movement of both the golf club and the body while learning how to identify the causes behind different ball-flight patterns.
That experience gave Evan a deep technical understanding of the golf swing, but it also reinforced an equally important lesson: knowing more does not automatically make someone a better teacher. The information only matters if the golfer standing in front of you can understand it, feel it, and eventually reproduce it without an instructor beside them. Evan’s goal is never to impress a student with complicated terminology. The goal is to take complicated information and make it useful.
That experience gave Evan a deep technical understanding of the golf swing, but it also reinforced an equally important lesson: knowing more does not automatically make someone a better teacher. The information only matters if the golfer standing in front of you can understand it, feel it, and eventually reproduce it without an instructor beside them. Evan’s goal is never to impress a student with complicated terminology. The goal is to take complicated information and make it useful.
Bringing Golf Instruction to New York City
Evan brought his instruction to New York City in 2017 and has spent the years since coaching golfers throughout Manhattan. Today, he teaches indoors at The Hack Shack in Midtown Manhattan, where the private environment allows students to learn year-round while combining hands-on instruction, video analysis, and modern golf technology when it helps make the lesson clearer.
Teaching in New York has also created an unusually diverse student base. One lesson may be with someone who has never held a golf club and simply wants to survive an upcoming company outing, while the next may be with an accomplished player trying to understand a specific ball-flight pattern. Evan has taught beginners, recreational golfers, juniors, college players, accomplished amateurs, touring professionals, celebrities, and a player who competed in the PGA Championship. That range has helped shape his ability to communicate differently depending on the golfer, rather than forcing every student into the same lesson.
Teaching in New York has also created an unusually diverse student base. One lesson may be with someone who has never held a golf club and simply wants to survive an upcoming company outing, while the next may be with an accomplished player trying to understand a specific ball-flight pattern. Evan has taught beginners, recreational golfers, juniors, college players, accomplished amateurs, touring professionals, celebrities, and a player who competed in the PGA Championship. That range has helped shape his ability to communicate differently depending on the golfer, rather than forcing every student into the same lesson.
A Teacher First
Golf instruction can become complicated very quickly. There are endless swing theories, drills, launch-monitor numbers, social media tips, and opinions competing for a golfer’s attention. Evan sees one of his most important responsibilities as helping students filter through that noise and focus on what actually matters for their game.
A great lesson should leave the golfer with a better understanding of what the club is doing, how the body is moving, why the ball is reacting the way it is, and what deserves their attention next. Technology can provide incredibly valuable information, but it should support the lesson rather than become the lesson. Evan’s job is to take everything available—his experience, the ball flight, video, technology, and the student’s feedback—and turn it into something the golfer can understand and use. Evan does not believe every golfer needs the same swing or the same amount of information. Some students want to understand every detail. Others improve most when one complicated idea is reduced to a simple feeling or checkpoint. The best coaching adapts to the person standing in front of the instructor.
A great lesson should leave the golfer with a better understanding of what the club is doing, how the body is moving, why the ball is reacting the way it is, and what deserves their attention next. Technology can provide incredibly valuable information, but it should support the lesson rather than become the lesson. Evan’s job is to take everything available—his experience, the ball flight, video, technology, and the student’s feedback—and turn it into something the golfer can understand and use. Evan does not believe every golfer needs the same swing or the same amount of information. Some students want to understand every detail. Others improve most when one complicated idea is reduced to a simple feeling or checkpoint. The best coaching adapts to the person standing in front of the instructor.
Golf Instruction Beyond the Lesson Tee
Evan’s instruction has reached golfers well beyond the lesson studio. His work has been featured on Newsmax TV, including appearances on National Report and Wake Up America, as well as through Revolution Golf and SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio.
Through Instagram, @evancathergolf, Evan has built an audience of more than 70,000 followers by sharing golf instruction, swing analysis, and a behind-the-scenes look at life as a golf instructor in New York City. His social media work was also recognized by GOLF Magazine as a top golf social media account.
Whether Evan is sharing an instructional concept with thousands of golfers online or standing next to one student in the studio, the objective remains the same: take a game that can feel overwhelmingly complicated and make it a little easier to understand.
Through Instagram, @evancathergolf, Evan has built an audience of more than 70,000 followers by sharing golf instruction, swing analysis, and a behind-the-scenes look at life as a golf instructor in New York City. His social media work was also recognized by GOLF Magazine as a top golf social media account.
Whether Evan is sharing an instructional concept with thousands of golfers online or standing next to one student in the studio, the objective remains the same: take a game that can feel overwhelmingly complicated and make it a little easier to understand.
More Than Golf
Golf may be Evan’s career, but it is not his entire personality. Evan enjoys living on New York City’s Upper East Side and has completed seven full marathons, so he understands firsthand the patience, discipline, frustration, and occasional questionable decision-making that come with committing yourself to something difficult.
He is also the proud owner of Marvin, his Shiba Inu, who has become a familiar part of Evan’s life in New York. Don’t be surprised if Marvin occasionally makes an appearance around the studio or stops by during a lesson.
For Evan, one of the most rewarding parts of teaching in New York has been the relationships that develop along the way. An hour may begin with fixing a slice, learning how to make contact, or preparing for a tournament, but golf has a funny way of becoming about much more than the swing. Getting to know the people behind the golfer has become one of Evan’s favorite parts of the job.
He is also the proud owner of Marvin, his Shiba Inu, who has become a familiar part of Evan’s life in New York. Don’t be surprised if Marvin occasionally makes an appearance around the studio or stops by during a lesson.
For Evan, one of the most rewarding parts of teaching in New York has been the relationships that develop along the way. An hour may begin with fixing a slice, learning how to make contact, or preparing for a tournament, but golf has a funny way of becoming about much more than the swing. Getting to know the people behind the golfer has become one of Evan’s favorite parts of the job.
More Than 12,000 Lessons—and Still Learning
Teaching more than 12,000 golf lessons creates experience, but Evan does not believe an instructor ever reaches a point where there is nothing left to learn. Golf instruction continues to evolve, technology becomes more sophisticated, and every student presents a different problem to solve. Evan continues studying the swing, refining how he communicates, and learning from the golfers he teaches.
That curiosity is a major part of what keeps teaching exciting. The goal is not to create one perfect-looking golf swing or make every student move exactly the same way. The goal is to understand the golfer in front of him, identify what is holding that player back, and help them play better golf.
That curiosity is a major part of what keeps teaching exciting. The goal is not to create one perfect-looking golf swing or make every student move exactly the same way. The goal is to understand the golfer in front of him, identify what is holding that player back, and help them play better golf.
