This month we interview Nick Pollock, who was named the 2020 PNW PGA Assistant Golf Professional of the Year. Nick has completed two PGA Certifications. He is a CMA member and serves on the Western Washington Chapter PGA Board and Assistants’ Committee. Read more about his accomplishments below.
Facility: Seattle GC
Hometown: Seattle, WA
PGA Member Since: 2017
Tell us about your golf beginnings. How did you get started?
I was a late bloomer with golf. After college, I was a bartender at night so I had plenty of free time during the day. One day, my good buddy called and convinced me to go play with him and I fell in love with the game from the start. After playing recreationally for 10 years, I chose to follow my passion for golf by pursuing PGA Membership.
Who are or were your mentors?
I’ve been extremely fortunate to work for, and learn from, some great PGA Professionals and Club Managers. Doug Doxsie and Kipp Johnson top the list. Craig Moore, Darren Black, Marcus King, and Brian Coury have been great resources for me as well.
To face the challenges caused by COVID, you created a tee time system, an online pro shop and a new 13-week golf league. What was the biggest challenge of the pandemic so far and what solution are you most proud of?
Most importantly, keeping our staff and members healthy. As far as our first-world challenges in the golf industry go, the constant changing of regulations and the uncertainty of when more regulations (or easing of regulations) are coming have been the biggest operational challenges. Preparing for multiple scenarios, adjusting on the fly, and communicating those changes with our members, often with very little warning, takes a lot of team effort. I am most proud of the way we implemented multiple tee time systems on short notice while preparing to re-open back in May. We were a show-up-and-play facility, and our club software company was not able to get us set up in time with a tee time system. We got creative with Golf Genius for the first few weeks before building and switching to an actual tee time software system. It took tremendous amounts of work, communication, and video tutorials to educate and train our membership, and the feedback from our members was nothing but positive. To them it was as seamless as could be and that was extremely rewarding.
Thank you, Nick Pollock!