CEO's Report

The Year That Will Make Us Even Better

Frank Talarico

When I was younger, much younger, Christmas was the time of year I’d make long lists, wondering what was going to magically appear under the tree. I’d wake up on Christmas morning amazed that one fat man in a red suit not only knew what I wanted, but got it covered perfectly for all my friends and neighbors, too.  I knew he had elves and ate a lot of cookies with milk, but it was still incredible. Did my parents have anything to do with this?  Of course, not; it was a miracle.

As I am now much older, and I am a father myself, I appreciate that the magic was how my parents and relatives pulled off Christmas each year.  I am now well-aware of the sobering reality that the “Christmas miracle” was really in how my parents were able to afford any presents, how they managed to work multiple jobs, and how they balanced our family and all the additional chores that the holidays brought them.  With age, I have become wise to what happens “behind the scenes” to make the Christmas magic a reality. 

This Christmas, I’d ask that the PNWPGA Members take a moment and think about all the magic that happens throughout the year, and then consider what happens “behind the scenes” to make it all work for us.  This Christmas I want to pay special tribute to all of the volunteers and to the Section Staff that I now have the privilege of working alongside in service to you.

Your Chapter and Section Boards are filled with men and women who share a passion and commitment for “serving the members and growing the game.”  Let us not forget, though, these willing volunteers have “day jobs,” too.   In a COVID-19 environment their responsibilities have only gotten more difficult to tackle.  Leaders in a sport that is a social game have been forced to conduct the important business of our Section from a distance.  Zoom is no substitute to being in the same room, sharing a meal, or grabbing a couple of adult beverages together.

Members of our Section and Chapter Committees, also, have the unenviable task of juggling their own competing priorities, from employment to family, to their own professional development.  Theirs is not an easy task, but I am confident that if you asked any one of them, they wouldn’t trade their responsibilities.  In fact, I am sure they would encourage you to volunteer, too, and you should! 

Likewise, the Section staff is a family of like-minded—and like-hearted—professionals.  In three short months I have witnesses their dedication, firsthand.  Taken together, this group is the reason we can rest easy knowing that, when we wake up, everything will be simply perfect.  Each day, every day, this group of selfless men and women ensure that all of our expectations are exceeded.  They are the reason we are seldom disappointed, and for that I am thankful.

The Christmas season should also be a time for you to take a moment and celebrate yourself.  What you do, as golf professionals, is amazing too.  Celebrate your commitment to a profession for which you have an unwavering passion.  Be proud of the collegiality that you unconditionally share with your peers.  Never forget the impact you have each and every day on those around you. The professionals who care so much for what they do and who they serve  clearly deserve recognition.  This holiday season, remind yourself that the work you do makes a very big difference.

2020 may not have been the year we would have hoped for, or resulted in the things we all wanted for ourselves.  Nevertheless, 2020 certainly makes us all a little more grateful for the things we have.  Feel confident in how far we have come and be assured in how far we will surely all go, together.

Frank Talarico, CEO
[email protected]

District 14 Director's Report

Doug Doxsie, PGA

I want to use my article this month to share some thoughts. Like many of you, I like to reflect upon the past year during the holidays and at year's end. This is mostly therapeutic for me, but hopefully you find some points of reflection about this past year as well.  

Our Pacific Northwest Section PGA has certainly experienced some significant events and changes this year. It is difficult to grasp the scope of what has transpired this year.  From the sudden start of the pandemic in March, cancellation of golf and events through the spring, our section and chapter staff working remotely, the retirement of CEO Jeff Ellison and the welcoming of new CEO Frank Talarico, we have certainly had to be adaptable and creative. But nothing hit our section harder than the tragic passing of our friend, Sean Fredrickson and his children. At times I am sure you had thoughts like I did of "what is next?" However, through it all we find ways to cope, adapt, and find some measure of hope.

Nothing is more symbolic of this than the “Freddy Initiative” that has been started in Sean’s memory. Established to honor Sean’s legacy in our section, the initiative will create unique opportunities for youth that Sean had a passion to help. The initial rollout in 2021 will be a small “pilot program” with the goal of expanding in 2022 and the years ahead. I encourage you to learn more about this and other efforts with the foundation by going to freddyfoundation4.org. While we always will miss Sean, I find great comfort in knowing we will keep his memory strong. 

freddyfoundation4.org

Personally, I wanted to thank each of you for what you are doing at your facilities and for the game of golf this year. PGA Professionals in our section and across the country have stepped up under extraordinary circumstances to keep golf up and running during this pandemic. Your efforts to give golfers the chance to exercise, get a break from the pandemic, and enjoy the game we all love have been extraordinary. Often these efforts have been in trying circumstances; usually with limited staff, complex protocols, and record numbers of golfers flocking to our facilities. While I am not telling you anything you didn’t already know, you should realize that your leadership to provide the golf experience to an existing and an entirely new audience is to be recognized and be proud of.

I can share many stories that I have heard from golfers, employers, and community leaders raving about the tireless efforts PGA Professionals have put forth this year. Through it all, the PGA Professional has been at the forefront of one of the few recreations people could still enjoy. Our opportunity will be to capture this newfound popularity of golf and keep it going post-pandemic; I am confident we can capitalize on this growth of our great game. Again, thank you for all the hard work, sacrifice and tireless efforts this year to represent the game, fellow professionals, and the badge.

I feel blessed and thankful for the opportunity to serve as your District 14 Director.  My main commitment is to represent you in the PGA of America boardroom so please reach out if you have questions, concerns or opinions about our Association.  

Finally, I hope everyone gets a well-deserved chance to enjoy the holidays and spend time with their loved ones. Be safe, stay healthy and best wishes.

Doug Doxsie, PGA
Seattle Golf Club
PGA District 14 Director
425-681-8889
[email protected]

PGA Jr. League

Branden Thompson, PGA - Regional League Manager

The time is now.  Captain Registration is open!  Before clicking the 2021 Captain Registration link at the end of this article, please read and take advantage of a couple tools we have to help you.

First, we developed a Value Tracking Form to evaluate your prior seasons.  This will help you get a good picture of how much PGA Jr. League impacts you and your facility.

Value Tracking Form

Next, check out the Pre-Registration Planning Tool.  This will help you organize the answers to many of the questions that are asked during the registration process.  

PGA Jr. League Pre-Registration Planning Tool

Hopefully these tools will help you plan for 2021.  The goal is to get all captains registered by January 31st so we can get a jump on organizing leagues.  Parents love having schedules set early.  The sooner our captains register, the easier it is to accommodate this.

2021 Captain Registration


Let me know how I can help. Happy Holidays!

Branden Thompson, PGA
561-293-2585
[email protected]

Building Blocks of Your Career Series

Monte Koch, PGA of America Employment Consultant

Part 3: Networking

“Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity, and the emotions to affect other people.” – Jim Rohn

If I say you need to be good, authentically good at networking to be successful as a golf professional (or frankly at any other profession where you work with people), what do you say? Or, what do you picture in your mind when you hear someone is “a really good networker”? Do you picture a schmoozer, someone who is fake and contrived and do you see it as an ugly ambition? Maybe you don’t see networking as an issue, but you feel like it’s not easy for you because you’re not outgoing, not social enough, etc.

As the fourth building block for building a career, I would like to suggest networking is not schmoozing, it’s not fake and it’s not ugly. In fact, when it’s done in a genuine manner, with a focus on building relationships, finding connections with others based on the previous three building blocks mentioned (passion and purpose, experiences and mentors) it can be both beneficial and an incredible support to make the great days of the career better and the bad ones more survivable.

In the book Never Eat Alone, Keith Ferrazzi wrote about the safety net provided by a robust network of social connections: "Experience will not save you in hard times, nor will hard work or talent. If you need a job, money, advice, help, hope, or a means to make a sale, there’s only one surefire, fail-safe place to find them – within your extended circle of friends and associates."

That is so true, and it’s been a reality in my work experience not to mention my personal life experience.

A fact for the golf industry (and for any other people-centric business) is this: Some of the best jobs are “earned” based on the candidate’s network. Some of those jobs are never posted online, published by PGA Career Services on our Job Board, or even on LinkedIn or Indeed. Instead of many people applying for the position, about 3-12 get invited to consider applying based on the quality of their network, their relationships (especially their mentors) and their qualifications. (This may not seem fair to the rest of those who’d like to apply, but the ones who are invited to apply have been interviewing for the specific opportunity all along, whether they knew it or not.) Note: we will be covering the “always interviewing principle” in the Block #5 soon.

Before we jump to any conclusions, let’s consider what networking really is and what it is not.

Networking is NOT:

Networking is:

Being good (or even great) at networking requires one to understand the benefits of building relationships with a servant’s heart, a great attitude and a willingness to be authentic to yourself, your sense of humor and more. Being genuinely interested in “how the world is occurring for others” is a great place to start.

If you have become a good networker and have many whom you can “lean into” in that network (because they can “lean into you”), it is a wonderful thing. And it is the reason we are all here, as it’s the relationships that make a life worth living. I’m reminded of Simon Sinek’s quote, “Why did you get out of bed this morning, and why should anyone care?” With a meaningful professional and personal network, there will be plenty who not only want you to get out of bed in the morning, they will genuinely care if you do or not. (That’s a good sign of a life being lived well.) You could say the same for your professional career, as they say the average person spends about 90,000 hours working.

Let’s work together to ensure that our investment in that career is time well spent and we can say we made “our one career really count.”

Monte Koch, PGA Certified Professional/Player Development | Career Consultant
PGA Career Services | PGA of America
Serving PGA professionals, employers in the Pacific NW & Rocky Mountain PGA Sections
Email: [email protected] Cell: 206/335-5260

Career Planning and Coaching

Employment Opportunities

Monte Koch, PGA of America Employment Consultant

These are primarily “PGA Professional” only positions posted on the PGA Career Services Job Board:

https://jobs.pga.org

Internship, non-PGA positions, strictly retail and “franchise” ownership positions will not be listed here.Please visit jobs.pga.org to see these types of opportunities.

ASSISTANT GOLF PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS (Full-time, not Internships)

Listed in order of most recent first. Note: these are listed as of 8 PM, December 11, 2020. Positions listed here are not guaranteed to be available. Visit jobs.pga.org to see the most current listings.

Job Title Facility
ASSISTANT GOLF PROFESSIONAL (Seasonal) Wenatchee G&CC, Wenatchee, WA
1st ASSISTANT GOLF PROFESSIONAL Wenatchee G&CC, Wenatchee, WA
ASSISTANT GOLF PROFESSIONAL The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge, Snoqualmie, WA

TEACHING & COACHING GOLF PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS

Job Title Facility
CERTIFIED PERSONAL COACH GOLFTEC - Tualatin, Tualatin, OR
GOLF EQUIPMENT SALES/MASTER CLUB FITTER Club Champion - Seattle, Bellevue, WA
GOLF EQUIPMENT SALES/MASTER CLUB FITTER Club Champion - Tacoma, Tacoma, WA
INSTRUCTOR/CLUB FITTER Gregg Rogers Golf Performance Center, Bellevue, WA
JR GOLF DIRECTOR & FULL TIME INSTRUCTOR RedTail GC, Beaverton, OR

MANAGEMENT POSITIONS (HP, DOG, GM or similar) 

Note: not all positions like these will be posted here; instead, postings will generally be at the request/approval of the employer.

Job Title Facility
MANAGER OF TOURNAMENT OPERATIONS Pacific NW Section PGA, Tumwater, WA
HEAD GOLF PROFESSIONAL Twin Lakes Village GC, Rathdrum, ID
HEAD GOLF PROFESSIONAL Meadow Lake GC, Columbia Falls, MT
CLUB DIRECTOR/MANAGER Gig Harbor GC, Gig Harbor, WA
HEAD GOLF PROFESSIONAL Everett G&CC, Everett, WA
HEAD GOLF PROFESSIONAL The Wilderness Club, Eureka, MT

It’s Time to Say Goodbye to Your CareerLinks Profile

CareerLinks is Phasing Out Soon! Take just afew minutes and update your Job Preferences today. If you want to see current job opportunities, you need to update your Job Preferences on PGA.org. Unlike the old CL profile, this just takes 2-3 mins (not 20+.)

By updating your "Job Preferences" on pga.org, you'll start to see open positions similar to your preferences listed on your PGA.org dashboard (see picture below.)

We are asking PGA Members and Associates to make these updates, even if you aren't an active job seeker:

Click here to get started

 

Scholarship Opportunities

PGA WORKS Golf Management University Scholarship Program

PGA REACH, the 501(c)3 foundation of PGA of America, has established a scholarship program to assist students intent on pursuing PGA of America Membership. These $8,000 scholarships are designed to improve the recruitment and retention of talented and motivated students from diverse backgrounds, who are pursuing PGA Membership through PGA Golf Management University Programs nationwide.

https://learnmore.scholarsapply.org/pgaworks

Deadline to apply: January 28, 2021 3:00 pm CT

PGA Financial Assistance Fund Scholarship Program

Applications for the 2020-2021 PGA Financial Assistance Fund Scholarship are available on PGA.org. Open to children and grandchildren of PGA members, these scholarships help incoming college freshmen as well as existing college students with much needed funding for their education.

PGA Financial Assistance Fund Scholarship

Upcoming Events

PNW PGA “Stay Involved” Education

Early Career Success: Job Campaigning
Dec 16 @ 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Presented by Monte Koch

Inaugurating 17U Into Your PGA Junior League Program
Dec 17 @ 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Presented by Branden Thompson

Considerations When Purchasing or Leasing a Cart Fleet
Dec 18 @ 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Presented by Bill Morach

Full Education Schedule

Check out the 2021 tournament schedule below!

2021 Tournament Schedule

DECEMBER 15, 2020

Foreword Press

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