Happy spring…. I totally say that in jest because it hasn’t arrived! This winter has been incredibly long, and it just seems to want to stay!
Monday I am going to go play in a last-minute “Still Winter Pro-Am,” thanks to Cameron Milton at Polson Bay GC, who said he is “tired of winter and wants to golf.” The high is going to be 40 degrees. We are a desperate lot! I guess it just shows how much we love golf and our business of golf. It is because of my love of golf I am going to give an honest assessment of us as golf professionals, and of course, encouragement to take care of ourselves and our livelihood.
This month we had our spring meeting of the Section Board at Royal Oaks. The meeting was a great success, and a lot of impactful work was done by the Chapters, Section, Committees, and Staff in the leadership of our Association. The meeting was followed by a very heartwarming celebration of life for Harold Bluestein. I commend his wife, Sue, and his beautiful family on a wonderful event. I was inspired by Harold’s accomplishments, and I am very impressed by the love shared by his family and friends.
During the meeting, we covered a gamut of topics from tournaments to programs to compensation. The one message that kept jumping out at me was how important it is for us as professionals to act to be successful. Many items are going to come up in this newsletter, and they always seem to boil down to us, the member, signing up or filling it out.
I recently missed the deadline for a YAMAHA Grant for my Ladies’ Red Tee League. I was too busy! Red Tees is a program that starts with wine at 5:45pm, lessons at 6pm, and three holes of play at 6:30pm. It is wildly successful and has produced many new golfing ladies from our membership at Missoula CC. Shame on me. Not filling it out didn’t hurt the program, and it won’t hurt the members that participate, but it will hurt the pros that teach, because I didn’t grab easy money available to boost the benefit to my team. That is a perfect example I know many of you can relate to. I digress.
The meeting was packed with updates from each Chapter discussing grants, programs, playing opportunities, leadership training, and so on. Through the updates, it kept coming up that too many pros aren’t interested, don’t know the benefits or we just don’t sign up.
I look at PGA Junior League and the success it has gained. I think about how slowly it took off until, suddenly, it was huge. What are the motivating things that made it work? Revenue to our pockets could be one item. Revenue to our facilities is another. Was it satisfaction from our members, the parents, or the kids, or maybe, we all realized it’s really just a great time! At first, everyone already had a junior program of some variety, so why would they need a new one? I guess I see the real answer being things always need an opportunity to improve. In this case, my facility put a toe in with one team in a five-team league with other facilities. The next year we expanded it to two teams for us. The next year we had 48 kids and our own league and now there are 60 kids. We made it to regionals, and some of those kids are single digit handicaps at 14 years old, begging to sign up for our Barnett Memorial Championship! Oh, and every pro on our staff was paid well for their efforts, and we are proud of what we have accomplished. PGA Junior League was the opportunity we needed to improve.
Every one of us is busy. I get it. However, we all want to make more money and have better benefits also. We have opportunities work smarter. I promised a couple months ago that I would get certified in PGA Coach. I am almost there. Wow, I have learned a lot. It has taught me that the instruction world is changing, which will allow us to develop more players through the PGA Coach model, which then frees up time for me to do other things on my long list of to-dos, win/win. I will finish soon. I hope you will too.
I filled out my Deferred Compensation registration. It only took two minutes. Yet, at the meeting we learned such a small percentage have registered to earn retirement for conducting programs or leading the way as professionals. What keeps us from signing up to get additional income for things we already do? The same can be said for the PGA Compensation Survey. While it only takes a few minutes, the value is amazing. You may not need it now, but what if you need a job later to change locations and the data isn’t there to support what you are worth?! What if your daughter or son wants to follow in your footsteps? I want better compensation for them for sure!
Sure, there are other programs that will take more than a few minutes to complete, but they have such value, to us as Pros, to the members we serve, and ultimately to the growth of the game. Most of us certainly can’t do them all, but what if we took the time to consider picking just one and running with it! Accomplishment is often a great motivator. Maybe one turns into more. If PGA Lead was around when I was an apprentice, I would have jumped at the opportunity. A free leadership training that has proven results to escalate young pros to better paying opportunities, while getting to work with the leaders of our Association. What an incredible opportunity?! For so many of us, it was a long walk to a well-paid position as Head Pro or GM. When I started PGA JAM we were struggling for outside services staff. The program membership and conversation surrounding it has led to young workers coming at us left and right. That is refreshing! It was worth the time and effort to make the program available.
I don’t have all the answers, but I do have personal experience to share. As I have matured (not old yet), I have gained this wisdom, I think. It is time. Time is the problem. There never seems to be enough of it! The best thing each of us can do for ourselves is evaluate where the time goes. Account for it and find ways to fix areas of wasted time to put it to something useful. Figure out the most efficient way to get the tedious things out of the way or delegate to others. Then, use that time for things that will make the biggest impact in your value, life, and career. Sign up for the simple things that will give you something back now. When considering other opportunities, carefully pick what’s next and weigh it against your goals and desires so it also gives you the biggest reward. Pick something that will make you better, benefit you and your facility, and make you smile with accomplishment. Then sign up.
Cheers!