CAREERS IN PROFESSIONAL GOLF pdf

Pro fes sional golf ers rou tinely play in big-time tour na ments un til well into their 70s.. To gether, they spend $25 bil lion on golf equip ment, in struc tion and green fees at the

CAREERS IN PROFESSIONAL

GOLF

In sti tute Re search Num ber 46

ISBN 1-58511-046-9

DOT Num ber 153.341-010

O*Net SOC Code 27-2021.00

CAREERS IN

PROFESSIONAL GOLF

TOURNAMENT PLAYER

CLUB/COURSE GOLF PRO

AT THIS STAGE IN YOUR LIFE YOU MAY FIND THAT THERE IS NO SHORT AGE OF

peo ple around who will gladly give you ad vice on find ing your way in the world of work Some of them will have cau tion ary tales to tell and will give you tips on how to avoid mak ing the mis takes they made Oth ers will have wor thy con nec tions you can use A sur pris ing num ber will just want to hear them selves talk Lis ten to all of them Many adults don’t know as much as they

think they do, but they prob a bly know more than you Keep that

in mind when you’re sit ting through your ump teenth

long-winded lec ture on how to get a job.

Some peo ple get lucky when it co mes to choos ing a ca reer They have a tal ent that can’t be ig nored, that they’ve turned into

a skill that they know they’ll use for ever Art ists and ath letes tend

to fall into this cat e gory They spend their child hood de vel op ing their tal ent and try to earn a liv ing at it as young adults Ath letes are es pe cially prone to this ca reer path be cause their tal ents may peak when they are rel a tively young, forc ing them to re tire and seek out sec ond ca reers by their 30s rather than pur su ing one

ca reer un til their 60s Some pro fes sional ath letes make mil lions of dol lars in their youth, but that money may have to last for the rest of their lives.

Golf is one sport which is an ex cep tion to the rule.

Pro fes sional golf ers rou tinely play in big-time tour na ments un til well into their 70s Golf is a game that en hances phys i cal fit ness, but does not re quire the kind of hy per-fit ness of, for ex am ple, foot ball, a sport in which great strength is an ob vi ous as set If you set your sights on a ca reer in golf now, you could have many

de cades of en joy ment ahead of you

If golf sounds like a pretty good way to make a liv ing, then there’s no time to waste About 37 mil lion Amer i cans play golf or visit a driv ing range at least once a year To gether, they spend $25 bil lion on golf equip ment, in struc tion and green fees at the

na tion’s 16,000 golf courses and driv ing ranges, known to gether

as golf fa cil i ties That’s a very large busi ness, and one that needs

a con stant flow of golf pro fes sion als not just to play in

tour na ments, but to man age golf fa cil i ties, teach golf les sons,

de sign golf courses and sell golf equip ment De mand for golf pro fes sion als, gen er ally known sim ply as golf pros, typ i cally

out strips sup ply, mak ing em ploy ment pros pects very good for

en thu si as tic ca reer ists like you The busi ness is very com pet i tive, how ever If this is the path you choose to take, be pre pared for some very tough days But never for get that you’ll be get ting paid

to do some thing that many peo ple would gladly do for free.

If you like what you read in this re port, keep go ing Check out pub li ca tions and pro fes sional as so ci a tions; they’ll be happy to lend a hand to an up-and-com ing golfer who wants to en ter their ranks You are set ting your sights on a very com pet i tive ca reer You can never know too much.

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WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW

IF YOU DID N’T AL READY PLAY GOLF, YOU PROB A BLY WOULD N’T HAVE PICKED UP

this re port Keep play ing! If you want to be a pro, you better be good Play on as many dif fer ent courses as you can and stay on top of the golf in dus try by read ing the many mag a zines and

news let ters that cover it.

The most im por tant thing you can be do ing right now to

en hance your ca reer pros pects as a golf pro is to play golf Se ri ous pro fes sion als play five or six days a week, es pe cially in their youth when they’re per fect ing their game and try ing to be come good enough to get paid to do it, rather than pay some body else for the priv i lege This can be an ex pen sive and time-con sum ing

prop o si tion, but it stands to rea son that if you want to be a golf pro, the first thing you should do is be come a better golfer than most other peo ple Less than one per cent of all golf ers rou tinely shoot in the 70s, and you’ll have to be one of them to get ahead

in the golf busi ness You can cut your costs by play ing at a pub lic course Many pub lic courses have mem ber ship pro grams that

al low mem bers to play un lim ited rounds for a set fee and even to store their clubs in the club house

Even though play ing at one course reg u larly is the best way

to keep your costs down, take ad van tage of the op por tu nity to play at dif fer ent courses as of ten as you can If you play five days

a week, play four rounds at your usual course and the fifth at a dif fer ent one Be pre pared to drive an hour or two to get to the most in ter est ing courses By play ing dif fer ent courses you’ll be con fronted with dif fer ent sit u a tions – dif fer ent kinds of turf,

wa ter and sand haz ards and fair ways with dif fer ent widths and dog legs The ex pe ri ence will better pre pare you to play, and play well, any where your ca reer may take you You’ll also ap pre ci ate the change of scen ery.

Go to a good book store and buy a stack of golf mag a zines.

There’s no short age of them: Golf, Golf Di gest, Golf Tips, Golfer and Golfweek are all readily avail able, as are many oth ers Sub scribe to

a few and read them re li giously Read ing trade pe ri od i cals is the eas i est, fast est way to gain an un der stand ing of any pro fes sion.

HISTORY OF THE CAREER

GOLF HAS A LONG AND IL LUS TRI OUS HIS TORY AND MAY HAVE BEEN IN SPIRED,

AT least in part, by var i ous stick-and-ball games played by the Romans thou sands of years ago in the far thest reaches of their

em pire Some of these games more closely re sem bled hockey than golf, and were about us ing sticks to pass a ball through a large goal What makes golf unique among ball sports is its use of the small hole, or cup, as the tar get When you think about it, hockey, soc cer, foot ball and golf all aim to put a ball, or puck, into

a spe cific place, but golf’s tar get is by far the small est Golf is also the only one of these ball games that is gen er ally played as an

in di vid ual sport.

Golf as we know it first ap peared in Scot land in the 15th

cen tury Known var i ously as “gowf” or “goff,” the game re quired play ers to use sticks to hit balls into far away holes The first balls were made of leather and were stuffed with feath ers The ear li est clubs were some times carved from a sin gle piece of wood, and most play ers used the same club for ev ery shot in the game.

Cre ating clubs of dif fer ent lengths with faces of dif fer ent an gles was an idea that came on slowly and has con tin ued to evolve right up to the pres ent day Your clubs look very dif fer ent from those pro duced only a few de cades ago, and the clubs made

hun dreds of years ago are al most un rec og niz able to day.

Golf be came so pop u lar in Scot land that in 1457 King James II banned it, along with soc cer, be cause it dis tracted men from

ar chery prac tice, which was not only a sport, but a mil i tary

ne ces sity Al though it was widely ig nored, the ban stayed in ef fect

un til 1502 when King James IV took up the game him self He was not the first per son of great rank and priv i lege to take a lik ing to golf The game has al ways been as so ci ated with wealth This may

be be cause it re quires so much open land His torically speak ing, only aris to crats were al lowed to own land, at least large tracts of

it, and, like most peo ple, they tended to do things they could do

on their prop erty with their friends The same is true of fox

hunt ing and horse rac ing, both of which re quire great spaces This

is also why pri vate golf clubs still make up about a quar ter of all golf fa cil i ties.

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Golf is first men tioned in the his tory of St An drews, Scot land

in 1552 in ref er ence to a course op er ated by a lo cal re li gious

or der Pub lic play ers were al lowed onto the course in 1553 The first golf club as we know it to day was founded in Leith, Scot land

in 1744 Known as the Gen tle men Golfers of Leith, the club is

re mem bered to day for de vis ing the first com pre hen sive set of rules of golf, writ ten by mem ber Duncan Forbes The rules are sim ple and eas ily rec og niz able as the foun da tion of to day’s game They are also widely pub lished on the Internet Look them up some day and take a glimpse into the past.

St An drews took its per ma nent place in the his tory of golf in

1754 Founded to com pete with the club in Leith, the St An drews

So ci ety of Golfers built the first 18-hole course in 1764, cod i fied and pub lished the rules of golf and was re warded with the royal

pa tron age of King Wil liam, who be stowed the ti tle “Royal and

An cient” upon the club in 1834 The Royal and An cient Golf Club

of St An drews has been golf’s gov ern ing body ever since That means St An drews makes the rules, ap proves changes in rules and sanc tions tour na ments Even the United States Golf

As so ci a tion (USGA), the gov ern ing body for golf in the US, takes it cues from St An drews Tee times at St An drews have to made years in ad vance and a once-in-a-life time trip to play golf “at the Royal and An cient” is a holy pil grim age for many golf ers If you suc ceed in be com ing a golf pro, you’ll have to go – just once Golf spread very quickly through out the Brit ish Em pire, which grew rap idly in the 19th cen tury The first golf clubs founded out side Brit ain were all in In dia, start ing in 1820, which was then

a Brit ish pos ses sion De pending upon the source, some his to ri ans

be lieve that a golf club was founded at Charleston, South

Carolina in 1768 The es tab lish ment of St An drew’s of New York

in 1888 is better-doc u mented, how ever

The first golf tour na ments were held in Prestwick, Scot land in

1851 and spread south into Eng land shortly there af ter The USGA was founded in 1894 to reg u late the game in the US, and by 1900 there were about 1,000 golf courses in the coun try Golf pros made money by win ning tour na ments, of fer ing les sons and

man ag ing courses, just as they do to day.

Rub ber-cored balls sim i lar to those used to day were

in tro duced in 1900, and dim ples were added in 1905 Irons

re ceived their first grooved faces in 1902, and clubs with steel

shafts were in tro duced in 1910 The Pro fes sional Golfers

As so ci a tion of Amer ica (PGA) was formed in 1916 to co or di nate Amer i can tour na ments Golf had be come very pop u lar on both sides of the At lan tic, with the US and Brit ain host ing the most courses, tour na ments and pro fes sional play ers.

The two coun tries split in 1921 when St An drews im posed a size and weight limit on golf balls Dis agreeing with the rule, the USGA wrote its own rules, ig nor ing the rules of the Royal and

An cient un til 1951, when a com mon set of rules was agreed upon

To day, the USGA and St An drews jointly gov ern the game of golf, hold ing a sum mit meet ing ev ery four years to go over the rules and al ter them as needed.

To day, golf is one of the most pop u lar sports in the world Men, women and children play the game by the millions, and golf is especially popular among elderly people who would find

it very difficult to play most other sports

Avid golfers go on vacations specifically to play famous – or just interesting or scenically beautiful – courses around the world

Proximity to a golf course boosts the value of real estate

High schools and colleges sponsor golf teams.

Purses for professional tournaments have never been bigger Advances in materials technology have given players “irons” clubs with shafts of graphite, and “woods” clubs with heads of metallic alloys that didn’t even exist a few years ago.

The inflation-adjusted cost of an 18-hole game has never been lower than it is today

There has never been a better time to get into a ca reer in pro fes sional golf.

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WHERE PROS WORK

NOT SUR PRIS INGLY, THE STATES WITH THE MOST GOLF COURSES ARE FLORIDA AND Cal i for nia, with about 1,000 each The com bi na tion of warm weather, large pop u la tions and con stant in flux of tour ists makes them nat u ral lo ca tions for thriv ing lo cal golf in dus tries But the state with the third-larg est num ber of golf courses is Mich i gan, which has a large pop u la tion, but long win ters and rel a tively lit tle tour ism Golf may lend it self to mild cli mates long on

plea sure-seek ers, but its ad dic tive, frus trat ing, glo ri ous na ture means that there are golf courses wher ever there are peo ple What does this mean for you? For start ers, it means that you can be gin your ca reer pretty much any where you want to If

you’re play ing fre quently, as you should be, your first golf job will prob a bly come from one of the courses where you are a fa mil iar face When you, as a young per son pre sum ably short of money, come into the same club house five days a week to play a round, don’t be sur prised when the pro or the head greenskeeper asks you if you’d be in ter ested in a part-time job In fact, you should ask them first Golf courses need many peo ple to do grunt la bor, like mow ing lawns and main tain ing greens, but those jobs re quire some skill and an un der stand ing of the im por tance of at ten tion

to de tail Any body can mow a lawn, but cor rectly mow ing a golf course is some thing that has to be learned And full-time

greenskeeping, a job you won’t be qual i fied to do for many years,

is as fine a craft as there is The point is, golf courses em ploy

low-cost la bor ers, but they have to know that the peo ple they hire care about the game and will take care of the course.

Many golf pros move around from course to course within the same met ro pol i tan area That way, they can move up the lad der

of the pro fes sion with out ac tu ally mov ing their home if they

don’t want to Some golf work is also sea sonal, so the great job you have with one course for the six warm months of the year may have to be sup ple mented with a not-so-great job for the other six months of the year

A GOLF PRO’S WORK

YOU WILL PROB A BLY DO MANY DIF FER ENT JOBS DUR ING YOUR CA REER AS A GOLF pro – some times sev eral at the same time This kind of

multitasking ap peals to some peo ple, but not to oth ers If you think you’re go ing to spend your en tire ca reer just play ing golf or just run ning a pro shop, think again If the thought of do ing

many dif fer ent things si mul ta neously does n’t ap peal to you, you should prob a bly look into an other line of work This list of brief job de scrip tions also in cludes a few jobs that you may have on your way to be com ing a pro, even if they aren’t your ul ti mate goal.

Head Golf Professional Known sim ply as “the pro” in ev ery club house in the world, the head golf pro fes sional is the

go-to-per son for all mat ters con cern ing golf The pro typ i cally man ages the pro shop, teach ing pro grams and all em ploy ees par tic i pat ing in golf busi ness, such as cad dies The pro may or may not over see the greenskeeping as pects of run ning the course,

as those func tions may be in the hands of a golf course

su per in ten dent Pros re port ei ther to the club’s gen eral man ager

or di rectly to the board of di rec tors The ex act place ment of the pro in the club or course hi er ar chy will vary from one op er a tion to the next based mostly on size and bud get.

All golf pros are ex pected to be able to par tic i pate in

long-term busi ness plan ning for golf op er a tions This in cludes

an a lyz ing fi nan cial data to de ter mine green fees, cart rent als and pric ing in the pro shop, set ting fees for les sons and es tab lish ing rules for op er at ing hours Pros al ways man age the pro shop, and need to have a good grasp of how to run a re tail op er a tion, from mer chan dis ing and ba sic ac count ing, to per son nel man age ment and cus tomer ser vice Pros rep re sent their club or course in lo cal, state and na tional or ga ni za tions and to the me dia when ever the course is the site of a no ta ble event, such as a tour na ment Pros are also usu ally the prime mov ers be hind spe cial pro grams, such

as teach ing un der priv i leged kids to golf.

Head golf pros are also ex pected to be able to ren der sound

de ci sions on any thing else that may come up that in volves golf Where to put the view ing stands for a tour na ment, how to set tle

a scor ing or rules dis pute among club mem bers, and how to deal with strong winds are among the many ques tions a head golf pro will be asked There are many chal lenges in this top ex ec u tive

po si tion.

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Assistant Golf Pro

An as sis tant golf pro, some times known as a dep uty, is

re spon si ble for help ing the head pro carry out all of the func tions

of that of fice Large clubs and busy courses may em ploy sev eral

as sis tant pros, and the pro may par cel out spe cial ist du ties to each of them: one as sis tant may take charge of the teach ing

pro gram, for ex am ple, while an other runs the pro shop Most pros start out as as sis tant pros and spend sev eral years prov ing their abil i ties be fore they can com pete for the top jobs.

Be ing an as sis tant-any thing re quires thor ough knowl edge not only of the job du ties, but also of the per son to whom you re port You may have your own ideas on how to run the pro shop, but your job, whether you like it or not, is to run the shop the way the head pro wants it to be run If you have a good boss, your

opin ions will be heard and ap pre ci ated They won’t al ways be used Bosses get to be bosses be cause they know more than the peo ple who work for them.

Course Superintendent

Golf course su per in ten dents of ten rank along side head golf pros

in the club or course hi er ar chy, also re port ing to the gen eral

man ager or board of di rec tors Where pros are re spon si ble for

du ties as so ci ated with play ing the game, su per in ten dents are

re spon si ble for the course it’s played upon This is a big job.

Su per in ten dents are re spon si ble for su per vis ing the con struc tion and main te nance of the course, pur chas ing and main tain ing the cap i tal equip ment needed for main te nance, keep ing the fleet of golf carts up and run ning, and main tain ing all land scap ing on the grounds, from the care fully man i cured greens to the flow ers in front of the club house.

Su per in ten dents need ad vanced knowl edge of agron omy and turf man age ment, a per fect grasp of lo cal, state and fed eral

en vi ron men tal leg is la tion, a thor ough un der stand ing of golf and how it is played and very good man a ge rial skills If be ing a golf course su per in ten dent can be bro ken down into two func tional

ar eas, they are agron omy (soil and plant man age ment) and

per son nel man age ment Su per in ten dents need much of the

knowl edge typ i cally as so ci ated with farm ers or gar den ers, and they of ten em ploy large staffs of full- and part-time em ploy ees to carry out the work nec es sary to keep their course pris tine.

Su per in ten dents who do their job well are hardly no ticed be cause

ev ery thing looks great and there’s noth ing to com plain about Those who do their jobs poorly or who cut too many cor ners will find them selves in trou ble quickly be cause ev ery body will no tice the poor re sults.

Golf Instructor One of the many du ties you will per form dur ing your ca reer as a golf pro will be to teach other peo ple how to play the game of golf You may not do much teach ing af ter you’ve

be come a head club pro, but you will prob a bly have to man age

in struc tors, clin ics, schools, and as so ci ated pro grams Be fore you get to that point, you should do some teach ing your self.

There are many jokes about the thank less, hope less pro ject of teach ing other peo ple how to play golf Re mem ber, most golf ers never shoot better than 90, no mat ter how much train ing they get Golf is easy to play ad e quately, but very, very dif fi cult to play well In struc tors have to guide new and ex pe ri enced play ers

through the me chan ics of swing ing a club, how to choose

dif fer ent clubs for dif fer ent shots and how to ad dress spe cific shots, like putt ing or get ting out of a sand trap They also have to

ex plain the rules and et i quette of golf, which can be con fus ing for first-tim ers.

It seems straight for ward, but there’s more to it than just

go ing through the mo tions Good teach ers fig ure out how to keep them selves and their stu dents en thu si as tic, even if things aren’t go ing par tic u larly well Peo ple in most pro fes sions could ben e fit by spend ing some time teach ing their job to oth ers Golf

is one pro fes sion in which spend ing time teach ing is part of the nor mal ca reer path Even if you find out that you aren’t very good

at teach ing, you’ll learn a lot about your self, golf and peo ple in gen eral If you don’t have the knack, move on and re mem ber the les sons learned when the time co mes to man age other

in struc tors But if you do have a flair for teach ing you may be able

to do it for the rest of your ca reer.

Greenskeeper You may not have your heart set on a long- term

ca reer as a greens keeper That’s okay, but main tain ing the course

is the kind of job you’re likely to get dur ing sum mer va ca tions while you’re still a stu dent Take ad van tage of the op por tu nity The ba sic knowl edge of turf man age ment you’ll gain from a job in greenskeeping will serve you well for the rest of your ca reer.

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Greenskeeping is equal parts art and sci ence Knowing what kind of fer til izer to use de pend ing upon the con di tion of the turf

is sci en tific knowl edge But there is un de ni able cre ative

op por tu nity in main tain ing a golf course Even prop erly trim ming the spe cial grass used for greens, known as bent grass be cause it does n’t stand up straight, of fers oc ca sion for ar tis tic flair, as

marks left by the lawnmower glint in the sun light It can be very pretty if done prop erly Trimming hedges and trees, plant ing and

wa ter ing flow ers, and deal ing with ro dents and other pests are all part of the greens keeping reg i men If you plan to make your

ca reer in the golf busi ness you should prob a bly spend some time work ing on the greenskeeping team – pref er a bly when you’re young and better-suited to the heavy lift ing and long days in the sun Like teach ing, this is an other op por tu nity you should n’t

avoid.

Caddy Cad dy ing was once the en tree to golf for ev ery youth who wanted to swing a club When golf was con fined largely to pri vate clubs, in ter ested young peo ple had to beg, ca jole and pray their way into clubs to be con sid ered for a po si tion as a caddy At many clubs, cad dy ing was an un paid priv i lege Players were

ex pected to tip cad dies, but they re ceived no reg u lar sal a ries Cad dy ing was con sid ered part of a pro gram to bring up the next gen er a tion of golf ers Caddies were al lowed to play for free very early in the morn ing and very late in the eve ning, just be fore dark Some times they were pro vided with free food For up-and-com ing pro fes sional golf ers, a few years as a caddy was con sid ered

man da tory.

Caddies are fairly rare to day and are used mostly at pri vate clubs and tour na ments Caddies still get to play for free and still get tips, but they are usu ally paid some thing, al though it may not

be much More than just car ry ing the clubs, cad dies are ex pected

to help golf ers choose the right club for each sit u a tion and are

of ten re warded hand somely when they choose es pe cially well Cad dy ing can still be a lu cra tive job and a great way to learn

about the game of golf, but caddy jobs are hard to find be cause carts are cheaper and more re li able If you can find a cad dy ing

op por tu nity in your area, try it out But don’t be too dis ap pointed

if you can’t find one – there just aren’t very many.

Driving Range Manager

Driving ranges are an im por tant part of the golf busi ness Many

golf ers spend more time on the range than they do on the course Ranges are where golf ers can go to hit as many balls as they wish with out need ing to play an ac tual game or chase down the balls

af ter they hit them Many golf ers start the sea son with a few week ends at the range be fore they play their first game.

Dedicated golf ers may hit 100 balls at the range be fore each

game, to warm up.

Op er ating a range is like be ing a golf pro, only some what sim pler You don’t have a course to main tain, but you may still have a pro shop and staff of in struc tors to man age In fact,

driv ing ranges are al most al ways home to in struc tion pro grams of some sort Ranges are of ten lo cated at courses or clubs, but many are stand-alone busi nesses In Ja pan there are more ranges than courses be cause there is so lit tle flat land Avid Jap a nese golf ers may go to a range sev eral times a week but only get to play on an

ac tual course two or three times a year!

GOLF PROS TELL THEIR OWN STORIES

I Am a Head Golf Pro fes sional “I have played golf since I was tall enough to swing a sawed-off club My par ents

en cour aged me, paid for les sons and green fees, and sent me

on my way I’ve never se ri ously con sid ered do ing any thing else.

I won my first few tro phies in lo cal am a teur tour na ments and went on to be come the cap tain of my high school and col lege golf teams, where I ac quired a shelfful of tro phies In col lege, I did the smart thing and ma jored in busi ness

ad min is tra tion Be ing a golf pro usu ally in volves run ning a pro shop, so I fig ured I needed some ba sic busi ness knowl edge I’ve also found that I get to meet busi ness ex ec u tives in this

ca reer, and it’s nice that we can speak the same pro fes sional lan guage I feel like I am an ex ec u tive, too.

Dur ing my col lege years I held ev ery kind of job re lated to golf I worked in pro shops, I taught les sons, I worked on

greenskeeping teams and I had an in tern ship with a ma jor club man u fac turer I played an av er age of five rounds per

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week, some times more, and got up at 5 a.m if that’s what it took to squeeze in nine holes be fore class or work Some

se mes ters I played 18 holes a day by play ing the front nine in the early morn ing and the back nine in the early eve ning.

That’s the kind of ded i ca tion it takes if you want to be come a pro.

I spent the first few years af ter col lege play ing

pro fes sion ally I drove around the coun try, play ing in

tour na ments and win ning enough of them to make a profit I

ac tu ally man aged to feed my self and put gas in the car dur ing those years! Some times I had to sleep in the car, but that was just a mi nor an noy ance I did n’t break into the big time, but I did better than most and es tab lished my self as a PGA

pro fes sional That’s what mat ters.

Since then, I’ve worked as as sis tant pro or head pro at pub lic clubs, pri vate clubs and pub licly owned clubs The

pub licly owed clubs, usu ally lo cated in park dis tricts, are the busi est and ca ter to the wid est va ri ety of peo ple They also tend to have the small est bud gets and the play ers are happy just to have a place to play that they can af ford – they’re not too picky Clubs that are open to the pub lic but are pri vately owned range from sim ple op er a tions not too dif fer ent from park-dis trict courses to op u lent coun try clubs that any body can be long to for one day at a time Pri vate clubs tend to have the high est stan dards of cus tomer ser vice and course

main te nance, but also tend to be home to the cra zi est club pol i tics They all have their ad van tages and dis ad van tages.

I am now head pro for a top-of-the-line pub lic club I

man age a large pro shop staff, a staff of in struc tors and a busy tour na ment sched ule I work with the course

su per in ten dent to make sure that we meet each other’s needs, and we both re port to the club’s gen eral man ager I am

well-paid, and get many perks in the form of green fees, free equip ment and all the free balls I can lose I am no lon ger

ex pected to be the best golfer in the club, but I am ab so lutely

ex pected to know more than any body else and be able to share my knowl edge with any body who asks for it And I’d better be one of the best golf ers around, no mat ter what.”

I Man age a Golf Learning Cen ter “I’ve been a head golf pro at a con ven tional course, but jumped ship a few years ago to start up my own golf learn ing cen ter It’s a lit tle

dif fer ent from the con ven tional golf pro job, and I get the sat is fac tion of run ning my own busi ness.

I loved ev ery thing about be ing a golf pro ex cept the

pol i tics that so of ten come with the job As a head pro, you gen er ally re port to a gen eral man ager or straight to a board

of di rec tors Their goals and yours aren’t al ways on the same page, and since there’s no short age of peo ple will ing to take your place, pros are of ten fired for what I con sider to be petty rea sons I moved around a lot more than I wanted to, and got tired of it.

So a few years ago I opened my own busi ness to

con cen trate on teach ing golf Be ing an in struc tor was al ways what I liked best, and I built up sig nif i cant teach ing pro grams

at ev ery course where I worked Now, I have ev ery thing at my fin ger tips ex cept an ac tual course My cen ter has a driv ing range with two lev els, four putt ing greens and the lat est in com put er ized swing-as sess ment tech nol ogy I am equipped to teach golf to any body from chil dren who’ve never swung a club to el derly golf ers who need a re fresher course I also have

a fully-stocked pro shop Any body who wants to learn how to play golf can come to my learn ing cen ter for les sons, putt ing and driv ing prac tice, and all the equip ment they’ll need When they get the hang of it they can play their first real game at one of the many courses in the area, some of which

rec om mend my cen ter to their cus tom ers.

For me, this is the best pos si ble out come of a life time spent play ing golf I make more money than I did as a course

or club pro, I get to con cen trate on the as pects of golf that I

en joy most and I’m my own boss, which has a lot to

rec om mend it It took many years of sav ing money and

build ing my rep u ta tion to make open ing this learn ing cen ter a pos si bil ity, but I would n’t trade it for any thing If you love golf and have the nec es sary en tre pre neur ial drive, this may be the

ca reer for you.”

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