Jim is the owner of the Jim McLean Golf Schools which include: Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Miami , Florida , PGA WEST in La Quinta, California , La Quinta Resort in La Quinta, California , and Grand Traverse Resort in Traverse City , Michigan .

Jim has been the South Florida Section Junior Golf Leader (2000) and has won the following PGA awards: 2003 PGA Horton Smith (So. Florida) Award, 1996 and 1998 PGA South Florida Section Teacher of the Year, 1994 PGA National Teacher of the Year, 1987 Metropolitan PGA Horton Smith Award, and 1986 Metropolitan PGA Teacher of the Year. Inducted into the Pacific Northwest Hall of Fame in 2003.

Jim is probably best known for his research on the golf swing and his work on The X Factor, which describes in detail, body motions, body angles and body positions. He is also the founder of the 8-Step Swing sm teaching system. The Eight Step video is the all time best selling video on The Golf Channel and the all time #1 golf DVD in America . Jim's "Eight Step Swing" book was ranked by Sports Illustrated as one of the top golf instruction books of the 20th century (ranked #11). "The Golf Swing: Ben Hogan" video has won 6 major awards (3 Aurora awards in 2000 and 3 Telly awards in 2001) - the most of any golf video in history.

Jim's playing achievements include being one of the few people to qualify for the US Junior, the US Amateur (4 times) the US Open (2 times) and the US Senior Open and has also been a contestant in the Masters (where he made the cut). Winner of the Northwest Open and 3 time winner of the Pacific Northwest Amateur. Jim was the Pacific Coast Amateur Champion (at Olympic, San Francisco ) winner of the National Skins Game Pro-Am (seen on ESPN $61,000), winner of the Westchester PGA and runner-up at the Metropolitan PGA Championship. Jim has qualified for the National Club Pro Championships ten times. Jim was an All-American at the University of Houston and when he left the team, it had won 12 of 16 NCAA's and finished 2nd in the other four. He was winner of more than 50 Junior and Amateur Titles in the Pacific Northwest . Jim was also named 1st alternate to the US World Cup Team in 1972. He played the PGA Tour during the winter of 1982.