Christiane spoke to the CPG direct from Paris during the Olympic Golf women’s competition about her experiences as a Rules Official during the week, the electric atmosphere at Le Golf National, and her valuable advice for PGA Members early on in their careers looking to develop themselves.

………..

The Olympics so far have been amazing, and, knowing that I would come here, I’ve watched a lot on TV. Obviously the crowds were amazing for the men, but I have to say that it’s as good for the women. Especially the French girls have been supported massively, but so have the entire field – the fans have been amazing.

We could hardly move anywhere with buggies, which is always a good sign because it means that a lot of people are there to watch.

The atmosphere is amazing and it does feel different than a normal tournament because you just have far more people involved. People are really cheering each other along and they’re playing for their country rather than for prize money, which does give a bit of a different atmosphere.

Especially on the first tee when the players tee off – there are so many people cheering for every player and it is absolutely amazing.

My role this week has been as a rules official, but we do change the official assignments every day. Some days I’m assigned to a specific zone where I am responsible for any rulings popping up in that area. But on other days I’m assigned to be a rover, in charge of managing pace of play, and I could be either on the front nine or back nine, or as general rules, or keeping an overall picture.

To be part of the Olympics as a rules official is just amazing to be honest. It is always nice to be part of a big team, and we only get to meet the officials from the other tours where we do majors usually. So when we share tournaments it is always nice to meet up and collaborate. We have our colleagues from the LPGA but also we have people here from the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, The R&A, and USGA so it’s always really nice to be involved together and see what happens on the different tours and exchanging things.

The core setup this week is a little different to what we do on normal weeks on the LET, and much closer to what we do in major weeks. It is a bit tougher than the average LET tournament – the main differences are the course is playing slightly longer and green speed a bit faster. Plus we have an entire agronomy team here besides the local greenkeeping team and supervisor.

So there’s just more resources involved than what we normally have, but otherwise the standards are similar.

If I talk from a rules perspective, then if I’m just a rules official at one of our tournaments, then it is absolutely similar to what we do here. The only difference being that we have more referees out there than what we normally have. Normally we have around 6 – 8 rules officials out there – this week we are fortunate enough to have one rules official covering two or three holes, so we just have more staff on the ground.

My best piece of advice for a PGA member early in their career…? I started off with teaching and I really enjoyed my time doing that, but I think it is all about exploring what prospective options you actually have. Most people think it is purely teaching or maybe being a club manager, but there are so many options around what you can do as a PGA Member. Explore your options, try different things, and then try to find something that will inspire you to do it for the rest of your career. There is nothing wrong with doing one thing throughout your career at all but I am sure many would like to try different things along the way too.

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For more on the 2024 Olympic Golf  visit igfgolf.org/olympic-games/2024/paris.

Inside the Ryder Cup with CPG Chief Executive, Ian Randell, and Jeremy Snape.

The CPG Business Club hosted a live forum with Founder and CEO of Sporting Edge, Jeremy Snape, interviewing Ian Randell live from Whistling Straits, host venue of the 2020 Ryder Cup. Visit the CPG Business Club and find out how you can join future events: https://cp.golf/CPG-Business-Club​

THE WINNING MINDSET

This article is available in The Insider by CPG magazine, click here to download your digital copy.

The similarities between sport and business are often discussed, but there are few people better placed to shed light on the subject than former England cricketer Jeremy Snape. Here, he tells us what the two worlds have in common and what they can learn from each other.

CPG: You were a successful sportsman and changed tack totally on retirement. Why was that? 

Jeremy Snape: I had always considered myself a journeyman pro. I had 19 years as a professional cricketer, starting at Northants with an incredibly talented team with the likes of Allan Lamb and Curtly Ambrose and a squad full of legends that did not win a huge amount but had a great time. And then I moved to Gloucestershire, who were always underdogs. Everyone fitted together into this tight unit, and we surprised so many people, and ultimately redefined one-day cricket during that period, winning five or six trophies around the turn of the century. And that gave me the springboard to go and play for England. I was man of the match on my debut, but I guess I did not always find I was naturally confident. I was hard on myself and quite analytical – I remember playing a game in front of 120,000 screaming people in India but the loudest voice was in my head, and it was the one that was saying, “Are you sure you are good enough to be here?” I let the emotions divert me from my gameplan and no one had ever coached that, and I suppose it sparked a fascination for me in psychology and mindset and how leaders create a high-performance environment. So that is what I turned to.

CPG: I guess whatever we do we can all empathise with those doubts creeping in…  

JS: Yes, absolutely, and I have spent more time trying to understand this now over the last decade or so but often the highest performers are the ones that have the most doubt and insecurity because they have built up so much and they have got so much to lose. And part of that mindset is actually continually testing the boundaries, which means you are living on the edge and you are out of your comfort zone. Elite performers can actually find comfort in that uncomfortable space and they keep going there because they know that if they can overcome those fears, then that is where their proudest moments come from, and their best achievements.

CPG: And you studied this formally?

JS: Yes. I did my Master’s degree at Loughborough University while I was still playing actually, and there was a moment of epiphany, in the final of the Twenty20 Cup in a tight game at Edgbaston, when I needed to hit a boundary to win, and I used some of these skills that I had learnt from my Master’s degree. In India I had been so focused on what the newspapers and the media might say the next day that I forgot to watch the ball in front of me. Here, I was so focused on my breathing and my routine that I played an instinctive shot, and won the game for us.

So I saw the power of these techniques personally in my own career. I wish I had learnt them earlier but that is the way it is, and that gave me the passion to become a performance coach and help people to understand how they can use their mindset to give them a competitive edge rather than be a hindrance. And that led on to coaching in the IPL with Shane Warne’s team, the Rajasthan Royals, coaching South Africa as they went from number four to number one in the world, and then joining the League Managers’ Association (LMA), supporting the leadership development for the Premier League managers and below.

CPG: And you set up Sporting Edge. What was the aim there?

JS: Sporting Edge is ultimately about going inside the mind of champions, elite performers from sport, the military, academia, best-selling authors, futurists, and trying and find out what is it about this high-performance mindset and this high-performance leadership style that can be broken down into tangible tools that business leaders around the world can use. For me the mindset of high-performance in elite sport and in business are exactly the same. We are trying to get the best out of ourselves and to overcome those doubts, we are trying to get the best out of our individuals that are around us, and we are trying to bring an organisation together and help them to navigate change. The lessons absolutely translate across perfectly and we have proven that with thousands of executives around the world, using our digital library of video insights to fast-track their success.

CPG: Do business leaders need to be selfish to succeed?

JS: As a professional athlete you need to be self-focused. Not necessarily selfish but definitely self-focused, and that can lead into selfishness. The team dynamic is all about selfless performance – what can I give to my team? What does my team need of me now? And we tend to think more selflessly and longer-term in a team situation, whereas when we are under pressure we tend to think about survival in the short-term in our own career. I guess in golf that is where that incredible resilience of living in the moment and being able to build a strategy for your tournament or for the day or the round that you are playing and then be able to break it down into these tight routines. So, for example, if you are playing golf for four hours you are actually only playing golf for 23 minutes and it is the transition between the downtime when you are walking up and down the fairway, what you are thinking there, and that ability to really dial up your focus onto the next shot. You have got to be able to forget the last shot, whether it was a brilliant shot and you feel euphoric or whether it was a terrible shot and you have ended up in the woods. You have got to be able to stop that last shot from contaminating the next one, and that is one of the key mental skills that golf demands.

And it relates into business in that you might be a salesperson who has had three bad sales calls but the fourth call, you cannot afford to go into with low energy, low mood and a negative mindset, because that fourth call might be the one that actually transforms your business. It is that ability to reframe and reset yourself every so often rather than just seeing it as a whole day at work or a whole round of golf. Elite performers have that ability to break the game and the day down into focused units of performance.

CPG: The idea of an individual focus is really interesting but what about when golf becomes a team game?

JS: It is very interesting, I did an interview with Paul McGinley about his leadership at the Ryder Cup, and I think there were a few key elements there. One of the things he tried to do was build this emotional connection with the team. So, clearly all the stars are incredibly successful, they are financially secure, there is nothing that they really need but this team culture has the opportunity to be the thing that they are most proud of in their career and Paul McGinley leveraged this in a couple of ways. First of all he connected them back into the emotional history of the Ryder Cup, so all the players that had gone before them in that lineage. They used really powerful, emotive imagery of people like Seve Ballesteros and tried to bring some of that mindset, almost like the ancient wisdom of these forefathers was speaking to them, that they wanted to be part of this community. And then he, sort of, fast-forwarded it again and asked the players, you know, “Wouldn’t it be amazing if we were sitting in a pub in 15 years’ time when we were old and grey and we could look each other in the eye and say we did it, during those few days, we were the ones that absolutely sacrificed and delivered and we stayed true to the team spirit.”

McGinley was one of the first people to use data in an analytical review. For two years before the Ryder Cup he was looking at the course profile and the pairings and match-ups. He had got really strict rules around meetings only being 30 minutes, so he had to make sure that in those 30 minutes he had got their attention and their focus. And then he made sure he understood different people’s requirements so, for example, some leaders would have mandated a team meal every day at a particular time whereas McGinley had a rolling buffet because he knew that some of the Scandinavian golfers might have wanted to eat early and go to bed early whereas some of the Southern European might have stayed up later and gone to bed later. Having that ability to flex the environment for individuals to be at their very best meant that they did not feel as if they were fighting against the team, they were bringing their best as an individual into a team environment. And then because they had been supported as an individual, they could give as much as they could.

I have also interviewed a lot of Olympians who have spoken about individual performance being great but actually what really make them proud are when they have played their part in something bigger than themselves. Because that is not just a test of skill, but being part of a high-performing team is a test of character as well.

CPG: Are there attributes that these elite athletes, and by extension business leaders, share?

JS: Elite performers need certain core attributes, without a doubt. What I have learned from interviewing some of the world’s elite performers is that they have got this ability to visualise the endgame in high definition. They can imagine what it is going to feel like. And they can see themselves on the podium, they can build this incredible vision of what it is like and that is what motivates them. But they are also able to break that down into the behaviours and processes that are going to help them to do that. And then, more importantly than anything, they can set out a strategy. The discipline to be able to stick to these basics day after day after day is what sets them apart. So, we all see the Olympians on the podium, we all see the Tour de France cyclists in the yellow jersey, but what we do not see is them hacking up the mountains in the rain for four hours a day, for five years in a row.

The other thing I think is really important for entrepreneurs and elite sports stars is the ability to create a high-performance team around them. They rotate their hitting partners, physios, biomechanists, psychologists, nutritionists around them depending on what their game needs at the time. One of the challenges when you become successful is you get an echo chamber around you of people that just want to say that you are doing really well and they do not want to challenge you. What you actually want is a group of advisors who are going to support you and challenge you to be the very best you can be, to give you honest critique to keep you on track, and that could save you years of making the same mistakes.

CPG: Moving away from the absolute elite level, what would you say to the 12,500 professionals who are part of the CPG?

JS: The analogy I often use which is relevant here is that we are all the CEO of our own performance company. It is very easy when you are part of a big organisation to feel like you are another cog in the machine but actually when you run your own business it is critical, every decision that you make about how you communicate, your marketing outreach, the customer service that you offer, the risks that you take with the events that you are putting on. I think having real resilience is absolutely critical, having that optimism is absolutely critical, and we have needed both of those things over the last couple of years with COVID. But I think it is also important to have some kind of strategic roadmap of where you want to be.

One of the experts in digital strategy that we interviewed spoke about three time horizons being critical for leaders. The first time horizon is what’s your email inbox and your to-do list for the next few weeks or the next quarter. And then he spoke about horizon three being this disrupted future which is maybe five to ten years out where technology might have a different role to play. And the most important place to focus on is horizon two, which is this middle ground between our to-do list and this crazy world that may be very different in the future. Having that ability to plan some of these skill developments or entrepreneurial activities where a golf pro may be learning new skills or setting up a website or building some digital courses, they might seem like they are nice-to-haves in the future but if we are constantly just focused on navigating the short-term and surviving, we never build that business model in horizon two, which could be the thing that completely transforms our business.

CPG: Do you believe that golf is the sport of business?

JS: I do. First of all you get to meet lots of new contacts. If we get to play golf with a friend or a business partner and their colleague or client, then that sort of proximity is already a trusted relationship. And as the game unfolds you get to see what people are like under pressure, when they are losing, when they are winning. You do not often see that on a zoom meeting or sitting in a business meeting. Seeing somebody’s emotional profile as they go through pressure I think is a fascinating tell of what that person’s character is like. And again, you are spending a long period of time, maybe three or four hours, out in the fresh air, you are getting plenty of exercise. You are able to be creative because you have got the blood flow and your brain’s switching off from a lot of the analytical processes and often that is when our best ideas come.

In so many of our social interactions there is a power hierarchy, isn’t there? This person is a more senior leader than me, this person is a multi-millionaire, therefore we defer to their power. But in golf, you could have a multi-millionaire who is rubbish at golf and a young buck who is playing off scratch and those power hierarchies are inverted, and you get a pretty good sense from the way people interact with each other what they are like in business. So yes, I would say golf provides a great shared experience and is very much the sport of business.

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VISIT SPORTING EDGE

Unlike its publicity-courting cousin, running, walking is rarely associated with leadership and success. There are relatively few examples of Fortune 500 CEOs ‘powering through’ a 20k stroll on their way to work, nor prime-time comedians ‘sauntering’ through the Sahara Desert for their latest charity/publicity drive. Walking is an also-ran in more ways than one.

And yet, a quick flick through the history books reveals enough famous walkers to more than rival their more fleet-footed counterparts.

From Beethoven to Steve Jobs and the Queen, walking has helped many a historic heavyweight to achieve success in their chosen field, even if they haven’t yet felt the need to brag about it to their favourite financial journal.

As scientists will attest, walking offers an array of benefits for regular practitioners.  Aside from the obvious physical perks of regular exercise, there are the various mental benefits to consider.

Walkers tend to enjoy lower stress levels, as well as increased cognitive function.  To add to this, a recent study by Stanford University found moving around led to an increase in creativity in 81% of participants who had previously been seated.

The only area where walking really falls short (aside from the crummy PR team behind it) is the obvious time commitment involved.  This may explain why it’s rarely the activity of choice among time-pressured modern professionals.

The flipside to this is that, contrary to more aerobically challenging activities, it can be crow-barred relatively easily into the working day.  As well as being the perfect option for a reinvigorating, yet sweat-free lunch break, it is a great way to put a new angle on interviews, one-on-one meetings, and brainstorming sessions.

The most potent pro-ambulatory argument, however, is perhaps the fact that walking is what we humans are originally designed to do.  Not pounding the pavement clad in lycra or expensive running shoes, or – worse still – wedged in behind a computer screen for 10 hours straight.

Walking may not win you any awards in the image stakes, but your body (and possibly career) will thank you for it.

This content appears courtesy of Abintegro, experts in career management, transition technology & e-learning for today’s modern, mobile and technology-savvy workforce – Find out more at www.abintegro.com

Credit: LinkedIn; Design School; Inc.com

Goldman has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, BBC, Mashable, The Next Web, SmartMoney, Workforce.com, ReadWriteWeb, The Star-Ledger, ClickZ, and InformationWeek.

@jeremarketer

A lifelong entrepreneur shares his secrets to building a more productive work environment.

Cultivating a happy and healthy work environment is vital to the success of any business–and even more important is developing a sense of community. With the dawn of a new year, it’s a terrific opportunity to look at your corporate culture and see where you might be able to improve it.

Here are six ways to develop and maintain a more positive corporate culture.

1. Establish Trust

A sense of trust is vital to all personal and professional relationships. The best way to build trust is through active listening and open communication. If you are willing to let your guard down and demonstrate that you can truly listen, chances are that others will reciprocate.

“When it comes to establishing positive relationships with your coworkers, the most important thing is to get to know them first as individuals,” says Dorie Clark, author of Reinventing You. “No one likes to be treated ‘instrumentally’–as someone whose only value is in what they can do for you. Instead, ask and learn about their hobbies, families, and backgrounds.” Take the New Year as an opportunity to create deeper, more productive relationships with your work team.

2. Foster Mutual Respect

It’s important that you respect your colleagues’ input and ideas and that they respect yours. When you lose respect for your marketing director, you’ll be less likely to go to her for help, even when it’s an area in which she excels. Furthermore, she’ll be less likely to come to you when she would benefit from your expertise. As a result, less collaboration occurs, and departments become siloed.

When employees feel like you’re respectful and supportive, and that their efforts won’t be undermined by others’ jealousy or fragile egos, their interactions tend to be positive and to create a virtuous, more productive cycle.

3. Take Responsibility for Your Actions

In a work dispute, do you often feel that you’re 100 percent correct, and that the other party is 100 percent wrong? If so, it might be time to take a closer look at how you operate professionally. After all, it’s pretty difficult for one party to be entirely at fault. Even if you’re only mildly at fault and think the other person should shoulder most of the responsibility, admitting that you’re imperfect and could be partially to blame can help the other individual(s) be less defensive.

Rather than pointing a finger at a co-worker, acknowledge your part and then communicate your message in a clear, nonjudgmental way.

4. Show Appreciation

What do your boss, colleagues, and office janitor have in common? All of them want to feel appreciated. So, when someone does something well, offer a genuine compliment to show your gratitude. This not only leads to stronger relationships, but also encourages everyone to continue working productively. People are wired to respond to incentives. While financial rewards are a well-known incentive, appreciation is a rather underrated one.

5. Stomp Out Bullying

Speaking personally: I left one job because of an awful bully. Since then, I’ve had pretty consistent success in my career, which has included working for my former employer’s direct competitors. Meanwhile, my former employer went through multiple hires trying to replace me. Add up all those hiring and training costs, and you can quickly see how bullying costs companies real money. It leads to high turnover, decreased innovation–with the bully focused on bullying and the one being bullied afraid to be vocal in the organisation–and a harder time hiring highly-qualified professionals, as word gets out about your firm’s toxic culture.

Make it a point to not only avoid bullying at all costs, but call out bullying by others as unacceptable.

6. Maintain a Positive Attitude

Nobody wants to be around a Debbie Downer. Regardless of what’s going on in your personal life, it’s important to at least to try to leave it behind when you step into the office. You don’t want people to misinterpret any bad vibes you bring in from the outside, or have your co-workers think your scowl is directed at them. If you walk into the office with a happy greeting in the morning, that upbeat energy will naturally spread to those around you and create a more enjoyable work atmosphere. Try to high five someone today for a job well done; it’s contagious.

The successful CPG Podcast, which has provided listeners with regular insight and conversations around golf, professional golf and the golf industry, has been relaunched into a new and exciting Podcast Show.

Prairie girl Amanda Minchin has always been a master of all tasks. As a youngster she excelled in a variety of sports — hockey, softball, soccer, basketball — and when she started working at Estevan Woodlawn GC in her teens after getting hooked on golf at 12, she didn’t limit herself to one gig. She toiled in the back shop, on the turf crew and in food and beverage. Need a grip changed? Check. A green cut? Check. A burger for lunch? How would you like it cooked?

Now, some three decades after starting in the junior program at the 400-member Saskatchewan club — known as TS&M Woodlawn Club since 2012 when a naming rights agreement was struck with TS&M Supply to fund a renovation after flood damages — Minchin is its general manager. Serendipitously, but also maybe predictably, she’s the boss.

“I guess I had the best education in terms of experience,” laughed Minchin, who was born and raised in Estevan.

But just like her days punching a clock, general manager isn’t Minchin’s sole title. Along with being vice-president of the PGA of Saskatchewan, she is also Woodlawn’s head professional. She’s one of 29 female head professionals in the country and one of a very few to hold both head pro and GM titles. Minchin says she enjoys a bond with other female head professionals in Saskatchewan, and across the country, citing Bobbi Brandon, the head pro at Saskatoon’s Moon Lake G&CC, as a friend and mentor specifically. However, she also says she doesn’t ever think about working in a male-dominated industry.

“It’s never been an issue, if you’re a woman or man,” she said. “To me, I wasn’t raised like that. I was just raised that you do whatever you want. The stuff that you want to do, that’s what you do. Sort of a genderless thing. And that’s how we try to approach things at our golf club.”

A club that recognized and conceded her desire to keep the head pro job when she was named GM. Minchin was adamant about that.

“I got in the golf business because I love being a golf pro, I wanted to be a golf pro,” she stated. “I didn’t want to give up that side of it.”

Not necessarily a club pro, however. After getting into the game just for fun, Minchin improved dramatically around the time she turned 16. It seemed to happen overnight, she explained. It was then that she started to play competitively and discover the places the game could take her. She won multiple Saskatchewan Junior Girls titles and twice finished second in the Saskatchewan Women’s Amateur. She wound up on provincial teams and competed nationally for the first time at the 1998 Canadian Junior Girls at Toronto’s York Downs G&CC. She loved it all — the trips, the courses, the people she met. A U.S. college scholarship emerged as a possibility and she wound up a two-time tournament winner and three-time first team all-conference player at Eastern Illinois University.

Upon graduating Minchin gave tour life a shot, plying her trade on the old Canadian Women’s Tour and teeing it up in mini-tour events whenever and wherever she could. Success — and cash — didn’t come, however, so at 27, having already lent a helping hand in the TS&M Woodlawn junior program from which she graduated, she became a PGA of Canada member and joined the club as assistant professional. She became head professional in 2016 and head professional/GM in 2018. Through the years the accolades have piled up: PGA of Saskatchewan Assistant of the Year in 2012; PGA of Saskatchewan Teacher of the Year in 2015; PGA of Saskatchewan Junior Promoter of the Year in 2013 and ’16; and the PGA of Canada’s Jack McLaughlin Junior Leader of the Year in ’16 as well. She was also an assistant coach for Golf Saskatchewan’s 2017 Canada Summer Games team. It’s those junior leader awards of which she is most proud.

“I love teaching kids,” Minchin said. “As a GM/head pro I still get to do our Tiny Linkster junior lessons. I still get to be out there with the five-, six-year-olds on the weekend and teach those lessons. Might be funny to some people but I think it’s cool.”

Of course, a world with COVID-19 has changed some of that. After a long shutdown, Minchin was just getting junior camps at Woodlawn up and running again in early June, having to create regimes for physical distancing, especially at the youngest levels. But she also noted enrollment for camps is up over last year as are junior and adult memberships. The school of thought that golf might benefit from the pandemic with people unable to participate in teams sports has come to fruition at TS&M Woodlawn with members of the public struggling to get tee times as season pass holders gobble them up with the ability to book seven days in advance. That is something Minchin said she has never seen at the club. As for golf being a safe haven in these uncertain times, her sell of the game remains the same.

“I’m going to push junior golf no matter what, COVID or not,” she avowed, noting the club has produced nine juniors who played competitively last summer and had graduates playing collegiately in the U.S. before the shutdown. “I feel bad for kids. I can’t imagine not being able to play sports and do all of their activities. I mean, I grew up loving all sports. So I feel for kids. And adults. I mean, I miss sports. I miss watching hockey and whatnot. If I could say anything, it’s that we of course feel very safe here, it’s a great place for kids to meet other kids. We see it now. Kids are coming here, they are learning how to make tee times on their own, they’re booking online because kids are so good on computers obviously. But it’s not just about hitting golf balls. It’s learning how to talk to adults, play with adults because we have to fill those tee times. The life skills alone, I’ll always preach that, in a COVID world or not a COVID world.

“We want your kids — boys and girls,” she continued. “We just think kids should be introduced to golf. Whether they decide to go play competitively or whatnot, obviously as golf lovers we see the benefits of it as a lifelong game, so we’re going to be really pushing that in the next year.”

And why not? Look what joining the junior program way back when has done for Minchin.

“I’m from the junior program and here I am 30-odd years later as the GM. To me, that’s a cool story.”

As part of its long-term education strategy and in response to the current challenging climate PGAs and their Members are facing, the Confederation of Professional Golf [CPG] have announced a new series of free online Masterclass webinars.

The ‘CPG Masterclass Series’ includes a range of online talks and presentations that cover a variety of subjects and topics, delivered by world-class, industry leading experts from their respective fields.

CPG Chief Executive, Ian Randell, commented: “Like most organisations and individuals, PGAs and PGA Members are being affected in a number of ways by the COVID-19 virus. Whilst policies and guidelines differ across our member countries, we are taking a number of steps and introducing new initiatives to emphasise Togetherness and the sharing of knowledge and information, at a time when being part of a community is more important than ever.

“The CPG Masterclass Series is just one of these steps and we will contain to work with the leaders from across our Member PGAs to roll out others over the coming weeks and months – Stay Safe, Stay Learning”.

Through this increased sharing of knowledge and thought-provoking content, the Masterclass Series embodies the CPG’s guiding principles of Togetherness, Collaboration and Development, and aims to provide both new and supplementary golf education resources for the benefit of CPG Member Country PGAs and PGA Professionals alike.

The initial schedule of speakers includes a focus on the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic on golf with Dr Andrew Murray and Dr Roger Hawkes, Project Leaders for the Golf & Health initiative, communication science and its relation to golf coaching with Marie Jeffery, Marketing and student relationship for golf instructors with Jose Vicente Perez, structuring practice and lessons with Adam Young, social media for PGA Professionals with Emma Ballard, along with a variety of other content already scheduled.

Regular announcements of upcoming webinars will be released in due course, with an aim to provide frequent, accessible sessions to enable as many PGA representatives and PGA Professionals to attend.

Further details on the series including the full schedule, speaker line-up, and webinar access details can be found online at cp.golf/masterclass.

If you would like to take part and deliver a webinar then please contact tb@cpg.golf or use the form available on the Masterclass hub page.

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE

Despite the obvious and well-documented challenges this has posed to industries, in particular golf, PGA Professionals have adapted to an incredibly difficult situation admirably. You only have to spend a few minutes on social media to see their drive and determination across the world to maintain both their golf games and enthusiasm, conducted under a cloud of doubt and uncertainty as to when they will return to work and the course.

Your clients and customers will no doubt also be itching to get back onto the course, back to playing in weekly club competitions, back to hitting balls on the range and back to having lessons with you. So how, despite having limited ability to interact directly with them, can you continue to build and maintain a rapport? How can you use this time to increase your relevance and prepare your business for when the play button on society is hit?

Social Media

Social media is a powerful tool and something you or your employers will have been possibly engaging with or utilising in some form already. Established mainstream channels such as Facebook and Twitter provide solid bases to create exposure and generate valuable conversations with your existing clients and potential customers, providing it is done in the right way for you and your business.

Don’t stick to just Facebook and Twitter however. LinkedIn provides a professional platform to collaborate with other businesses. Instagram is a fantastic channel for golf clubs to visually present their business – clubs are utilising closed courses to generate fantastic on-the-ground and aerial drone footage, undisturbed, that can be uploaded across instagram, websites and for future content purposes.

There is no doubt other channels such as TikTok [a video streaming site that’s use has surged very recently] will continue to be popularised as tastes and trends change. Keeping an eye on these, learning how to use them and applying them correctly might help you to digitally converse with new audiences and develop your social reach.

Vlogging

At face value, vlogging [creating video content around topics and instructional areas] seems complex. This previous article helps to simplify and break down first of all what video blogging is, how to actually create a great vlog, and then how to effectively deliver it to your audience.

In essence, it requires a small space to be able to explain and demonstrate a shot [if it is a coaching vlog], a camera or smartphone to record yourself and ultimately, oodles of energy and enthusiasm. For sure, it can be daunting to even the most confident of people to film themselves talking but remember that it is you and your knowledge that customers come for week-in, week-out. The only difference is that you are creating that conversation with them through a screen now instead.

Email Marketing and Weekly Check-ups

Remaining relevant is a constant battle we as PGA Professionals face in even more certain trading conditions. Ever-growing competition from clubs, teaching academies and driving ranges keep each and every one of us on our toes to ensure we innovate and improve, so that our clients continue to demand the products and services we offer.

Therefore, in the absence of clubs, teaching academies and facilities, and in fact any form of consumer demand during this crisis, relevancy is ironically, almost irrelevant to a degree.

Front page headlines, news articles and press conferences around the world thoroughly document the challenges and threats of COVID-19, and are obsessively occupying the front of everybody’s minds right now – for good and obvious reasons. So how do you replace, or at the very least, remind people that there is light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to their golf games, their golf club and their favourite past time?

First, you need a client database to be able to activate and engage with.

Second, you need an hour or two each week to set aside and create some engaging forms of online communication. This can be as basic as a generic text message such as the one below, or a multispread newsletter that covers what you, a PGA Professional who is eager to maintain their own golf games has been up to, simple step-by-step coaching tips or generic thoughts on the game’s current trends, and why you are looking forward to making this summer the best yet for everyone. You will find people have more time on their hands right now, so engaging them with longer pieces of content should be really useful and effective!

…”Hi [first name]!

How are you? Have you managed to get any form of golf practice in on the garden? 

If you are limited for space and time, try setting up some simple putting drills in your front living room, or a chipping net with some foam balls to keep the your game ticking over. It won’t be long before we are through these current difficulties and back out onto the golf course and I am really looking forward to seeing you back!

If you would like some more tips and drills to practice at home, or anything else, I am here to help.

[Your name]”…

Thirdly, you need to deliver the content. If you have a large database of text messages to send, you could generalise the message to apply to a large group. You could then create a themed WhatsApp group that includes various sections of your client base, such as parents of respective golf classes to send info through and maintain their engagement.

However you do it and whatever you write, if you maintain the thought of ‘I am here and available for when we return to normal life’ at the front of your mind, your message will remain relevant, be well received and at the very least, replace a negative with a positive for your clients.

Final Thoughts

We are all involved in a current national and international effort to defeat this virus, and I first and foremost wish you all and your loved ones good health throughout this challenging period.

Right now we have a duty to follow and enact upon the strict social measures delivered by our respective governing authorities. The quicker we do this, the quicker we get through it and the quicker we can walk back out onto the golf course.

However, I urge you to use this enforced downtime to engage and re-engage with your customers and clients as much as possible. The optimist in me believes a booming feel-good factor of festivities and consumer spending is an inevitability once our lives and liberties are re-instilled. By using this time effectively, you can position yourselves effectively to take advantage of expected surges in demand and make up for any bump your business is currently experiencing.

The five attendees of IPE – Danilo Kraljevic, Luka Karaula, Robert Savic, Vladimir Efremow and Piero Mina, arrived in Holland representing various PGAs including Serbia, Russia and Croatia.

The week gave the students an opportunity to complete the first half of their required eight residential days (in which the last four will be completed in February), receiving information from tutors across various disciplines including golf coaching and club administration. By attending, the students have taken the first step into achieving their own professional goals in the golf industry, and the necessary qualifications to support their respective golf clubs and clients in the future.

Director of IPE Jim Van Heuven Van Staereling, commented on the week: “The students enjoyed their stay and went home with an open mind and probably more questions than when they arrived.

“However, facilitating this desire for further learning is the main aim of the first stage of IPE, and I very much look forward to observing their further development over the next few weeks and months”.

Haarlemmermeersche Golf Club was a perfect host for the week, providing perfect practice facilities, 36 holes of golf  (9 of which are flood-lightened) and a close proximity to the country’s capital, Amsterdam. This all enabled a seamless delivery of the programme and maximised the student’s overall experience.

Between now and February, students will undertake and complete an online portfolio – new to IPE, that is guided and assessed by IPE course tutors. This covers every element on the course specification and prepares each student for the final stage of the programme in February.

Upon successful completion of IPE’s learning outcomes, students will attain  ‘Apprentice Professional’ status and be well on their way to becoming a fully qualified PGA Golf Professional with their respective CPG Member Countries.

For more information about IPE, click here

Visit Haarlemmermeersche Golf Club

At the global forefront of psychometric assessment innovation for over 35 years, and with a with a presence in over 60 countries, Thomas are passionate about empowering organisations throughout business, sport and education to make confident people decisions.

Their psychometric assessments are straightforward to understand, quick to use, but more importantly have scientific validity at their core and are provided in 56 languages.

Derek Redmond, Group Performance Director at Thomas International commented, “Thomas International are pleased to announce their official partnership with the Confederation of Professional Golf, to become the Official Supplier of Psychometric Assessments, where we will work closely with the Association to help support the development of their people and teams and ultimately, contribute to the continued success of the organisation.”

“We have already had the pleasure of working with Thomas International in the past couple of years as we continue to develop our own business and services,” said Confederation of Professional Golf Chief Executive, Ian Randell.

“The formalisation of our relationship with Official Supplier status will allow the great team at Thomas to take their work with not only our Association, but also our 38 PGAs, to the next level. These tools and services are going to provide the insight into what makes people successful, measuring areas such as behaviours, personality, high potential and engagement that will empower the PGAs and help them to advance their organisations and Members.”

Since its inception in 1981, Thomas has paved the way to achieving excellence with its clients to transform organisational, team and individual performance. Years of research drive powerful results to help organisations recruit, retain, develop and lead their most important assets –people.

The announcement coincides with Thomas International’s Development Consultant and Gold Medal-winning Paralympian, Naomi Riches MBE, and Global Account Manager, Jonathan Smith, hosting a workshop at the 2018 Confederation of Professional Golf Annual Congress at Costa Navarino in Greece.

The workshops saw representatives from across the 38 Member Country PGAs, along with other partners and suppliers, and various Federation and golfing organisation representatives, hear about the role that psychometric profiling played in Riches’ rowing career, helping her to understand more about herself, before delving deeper into the ways delegates can learn from this and assess its use in their own roles and organisations as a whole. .

For more information visit www.ThomasInternational.net

—————————–

Fact File

Formed: 2002

Members: 36

Players: 1,222

Courses: 16

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“We literally built the first golf hole in Hungary during the early 1980s.” How many people can lay claim to such an achievement? Well PGA of Hungary Professional, László Tringer, can. Not only was László, his father and a few friends right at the sharp end of golf’s re-emergence in the former communist state around the time of independence, but he was also responsible for the creation of the PGA of Hungary at the turn of the century.

I caught up with László and Áron Makszin in a very cold and snow-covered Budapest in February. Why I agreed to go to Hungary at that time of the year is something that I have asked myself for the last few days. Even so, the cold exterior is more than made up for by the warm hospitality and of course the celebrated Goulash soup.

The reason for my visit was to deliver the Confederation of Professional Golf’s Tutor Training course to a group of Professionals who currently are or soon will be, delivering the PGA of Hungary professional education programme. Education is taken very seriously in this part of the world. The University of Sport and Physical Education, which emerged from the world famous Semmelweis University, is an education partner of the PGA of Hungary.

As is the case in many emerging golf markets, there are those who have lived each faltering step along the way. László and Áron are such people. I also caught up by Skype with PGA Professional, Damian MacPherson, who was out of the country during my visit.

Damian moved to Hungary 20 years ago and has since built a career and reputation that has resulted in an award from the government to recognise his services to the game. Thankfully all three were willing to share their experiences. Lived experience is often a subjective account of what actually has happened, but this potential weakness is more than made up for by the rich understanding that emerges from every ounce of their being.

For most of us, it is hard to imagine starting to play golf when there are no facilities, no equipment, and no access to knowledge. Imagine starting to play on an athletic field, or building your own hole. With no courses available, what would you do?

For László the answer was obvious – build one. Well, perhaps not a full course, but a least one hole and then another. Three holes later, these creations eventually became holes seven, eight & nine on the Kisoroszi Course, and once again golf was on its way.

Not content with his efforts, and after a period of training with the PGA of Germany, László returned to Hungary to form the PGA of Hungary. As the President, he has overseen every step of the development of the Association and now acts as Vice President.

Meanwhile, Áron was competing in the Decathlon and racking up two gold medals in the national athletics championships. Imagine his surprise when this seemingly simple game that involves swinging a club and hitting a ball proved too difficult to master. Áron says that the “challenge and the environment were the key drivers” for his involvement in golf. He found it hard to understand as an athlete who could easily control his body positions and copy from master teachers, that he was unable to do the same in golf. He was hooked. Áron is a lifelong learner and sees every situation as an opportunity to develop his knowledge or skill. Golf satisfied his thirst for continual exploration and learning.

Golf has been played in Hungary since the early 1900s, but it was football that was the major sport when under the Communist party rule. Golf was banned as it was thought to be a potential threat to the party and so the existing golf facilities were destroyed. The nation had success in other sports, swimming, water polo, athletics and handball, but surprisingly there has been success on the golf course too. Although the link to Julius Boros, the son of two Hungarian immigrants to the United States, is somewhat tenuous, ‘Boros’ as they simply call him here, won two US Opens and played on four USA Ryder Cup Teams.

Hungary is a very different nation today than it was just 30 years ago. In an economy that has zero unemployment, one might think that golf professionals might have an easy life. This is not the case for the 37 PGA of Hungary members who serve 1,300 officially registered players along with another estimated 500 nomad players. You can do the maths, but it clear that from a population of ten million people, golf is not likely to feature in the top ten sporting pastimes. Why so?

According to László, people like golf when they see it on TV. The Olympics he says has had a small positive effect – so why do more people not play? Many people try golf, but few are really grabbed by the shirt and bond to the game. Time? Expense? We have heard these reasons before and yet alpine skiing, sailing and tennis have all gone onto to enjoy a burgeoning appeal. Why then has golf not made this step?

Damian, who arrived in Hungary in 1998 with no intention to stay more than a year, is fully integrated into the Hungarian way of life with his family and friends. He has no intentions of going anywhere else. He has experienced the difficulties of getting golf to penetrate into the hearts of the Hungarian people. People try the game but rarely take the next step, “perhaps it is perception,” says Damian. “The government see it as an elite sport and when youngsters go home saying that they have tried and enjoyed golf, it is met with parental advice to forget golf and take up one of the more mainstream games.”

Áron, who is the Secretary-General of the Hungarian Golf Federation also makes the point, “perhaps the perception built up by the media is not helping”. Golf is no more expensive than alpine skiing and sailing, and it likely takes around the same or less time, so is there a misguided perception? The Hungarian people see the sport as elitist, for the rich, the powerful and the famous. Until now it is not a game for the people, or so they think, he says. The Federation together with the PGA and golf facilities, of which there are now 18, are all behind a project that will help newcomers have an experience that is inexpensive and entirely inclusive.

Even after more than 20 years, László, Áron and Damian still have the passion to help the Hungarian people get into golf. Typically Áron sees education as being an essential tool for the professionals and says that all professionals now, more than ever before, need to have great communication, personal relation and coaching skills.

All three agree that Hungary needs more players, to which László adds that they also need a good player, someone who can make it on the European Tour and perhaps win a tournament. A dream? Perhaps. But a dream that the professionals in Hungary will keep working for.

Click to Find Out More About the PGA of Hungary

But it’s not just the oldies among us that are affected; millennials are frequently hit with these ‘senior moments’ too. Perhaps there’s an argument for mandatory name-tagging for everyone? Alternatively, there are a number of simple tactics that can help ward off this most socially awkward of conditions. Here is a selection of the best ones to try:

1. Concentrate

Most name blanks are created at the initial meet and great stage when people tend to be distracted by all the other thoughts running through their mind. By listening and fully engaging you stand a much better chance of recalling specifics such as names.

2. Repeat

Having registered the name, the trick is to consolidate it with as much repetition and reaffirmation as possible. Asking your new acquaintance to spell it out in full will help lodge it firmly within your temporal lobe. Warning: this may make you look odd if their name is John Smith. But you could try “John with an ‘h’?”

3.Write it down

For those with a visual rather than aural learning style it’s helpful to write down the name at the earliest convenience. You might even look to carry around a note-pad for this very purpose, though this could also make you look like an undercover detective on a bad day.

4. Name association

Similar to the popular word association drinking game but with more names and less drink, this tactic involves creating links and patterns between the person’s name and those of celebrities or people you know. Always keep your workings to yourself to avoid causing offence.

5. Address it head on

If after all this your new connection still remains nameless, your best bet is to meet the situation head on and own up to your forgetfulness. Do this early while your forgetfulness is still easily brushed aside. Waiting until the office Christmas Party could make things awkward, especially if Secret Santa is involved.

With several potential tricks up your sleeve, compensating your name-blanking tendencies is easier than it seems. Don’t start reaching for the nametags just yet.

This content appears courtesy of Abintegro, experts in career management, transition technology & e-learning for today’s modern, mobile and technology-savvy workforce – Find out more at www.abintegro.com

And we have been doing so throughout history. Stories have allowed us to pass on information from one generation to the next in the form of books, visuals and the spoken word. Some cultures rely heavily – or solely in some cases – on oral storytelling to pass on traditions, values and beliefs. Members of the Native American Abenaki tribe, for example, have traditionally told their children stories as a way to teach them right from wrong and so instil core values in them. Fairy tales have done the same for many cultures for hundreds of years.

So why stories? What makes them so valuable?

First and foremost, stories allow us to make sense of the world around us. The way this works is quite simple: our brains are hardwired to look for patterns, i.e. finding links between cause and effect. This is how we learn from a young age. For example, if we touch something very hot and it hurts our hand we make the causal connection between the two and learn not to touch that thing again. The end result of this thought process is a story, which we can then share with others to spread our knowledge.

Stories can touch us in any number of ways. They can open our minds to new perspectives, inspire and persuade us, help build our confidence, grow a sense of inclusion and incite change. Ultimately, they can be used to shape our values and beliefs. Think, for example, of how stories are used within religion and politics to influence how people think and what they believe.

A story’s power comes from its narrative form, which draws us in much more than dry facts ever could. Evidence from neuroscience suggests that when we listen to a story our brain patterns start to mirror those of the speaker, allowing us to connect on a deeper level. The way a story is structured – with a clear beginning, middle and end – also helps to maintain our engagement as we long to hear the outcome.

Being a great storyteller is an incredibly useful skill for any professional to have, and a relatively easy one to master: after all, it’s something that we practise almost every day. However, to perfect the art there are some ground rules to keep in mind:

1. Make sure you understand your audience and how best to best to engage them.
2. Your story needs to be easy to follow with a clear structure.
3. Don’t forget the power of delivery: your tone of voice and body language can influence engagement levels.

Evaluate your own storytelling skills: how comfortable do you feel telling a story? How good do you think you are at engaging others when you speak? Then start practising those skills. Whether it’s at your next networking event, during a presentation, or a meeting with your boss or a hiring manager: tell a story about you, your career or the project you are working on. Chances are whoever’s listening will remember that story over anything else.

This content appears courtesy of Abintegro, experts in career management, transition technology & e-learning for today’s modern, mobile and technology-savvy workforce – Find out more at www.abintegro.com

Credit: Abintegro; The Guardian; The Health Foundation

Reviewing your CV is something you should do every so often, thinking critically about what should be included and what is better left behind.

Here are our tip 8 CV errors to avoid this year:

1. The words “CV”

Avoid planting “CV” or “Curriculum Vitae” at the top of the page – at this stage, anyone reading it will have a clear idea of what it is they’re looking at. Include your name at the top instead.

2. Photos and personal information

Unless you’re an actor or model, there’s no need to include a photo of yourself. The same goes for personal information (other than your basic contact details).

3. Personal aims and objectives

Employers today don’t particularly care what you want – it’s all about their needs. If you do decide to reference what you’re looking for, make sure that it’s an exact match for what they want.

4. Jargon and buzzwords

Recruiters appreciate plain speaking, so there’s no need to litter the page with industry jargon, especially if it’s not relevant to the sector you’re hoping to work in. The same goes for “best-in-class”, “synergy” and all those other generic buzzwords – they’re not going to impress anyone.

5. Everyday hobbies

The fact you enjoy “reading, gardening and socialising” isn’t exactly going to make a recruiter swoon. The interests section can really make you stand out, but to do so it needs to add another dimension to who you are. This is a chance to show your passion, the diversity of your interests and skills. If you can’t think of anything besides going to the cinema consider skipping this section altogether.

6. Political affiliations

Avoid references to memberships or affiliations with polarising (or arguably any) political groups, unless these are specifically relevant to the job.

7. Fluff

Unless you’re going for a role as an artist or graphic designer it’s best to keep the frills – infographics, wacky fonts, fancy headers and footers etc. – to a minimum.

As eye-catching as they are, they’re also likely to distract from the real “meat” on your CV and may also confuse the applicant-tracking systems that many employers now use. Stick to a simple, modern font like Arial.

8. “References upon request.”

It’s clear you will provide references (otherwise you wouldn’t apply for the job), so either include the names and roles of your references or de-clutter your CV and remove it.

When it comes to your CV there’s one overarching rule to keep in mind: don’t include information that doesn’t directly pertain to landing the job. Less is always more – so before sending your CV out into the big wide world do a double take to make sure everything on there is relevant to the person who’ll be reading it.

This content appears courtesy of Abintegro, experts in career management, transition technology & e-learning for today’s modern, mobile and technology-savvy workforce – Find out more at www.abintegro.com

Credit: Huffington Post; National Centre for Biotechnical Information

Composite Graphic Credit: Flatart / Freepik

What this example demonstrates is the power – and danger – of negative thinking. Research into negative thoughts has shown how they lead us to dissociate from the outside world and turn our focus to one thing only: the thing that is making us feel angry, scared or bad about ourselves. As a result, we stagnate.

Positive thoughts have the opposite effect, opening our minds to see a whole range of possibilities and therefore welcoming new ideas and perceptions. Barbara Fredrickson, a professor at the University of North Carolina and researcher of positive emotions, believes thinking positively can even have long-term benefits. In her ‘broaden and build’ theory she describes how the broadening of our sense of what is possible generated by positive thoughts can lead us to develop new skills and so progress in life.

For some of us, looking at things from the bright side is something that comes easily; others find it harder. That doesn’t mean all hope is lost, though: thinking positively is something that you can train yourself to do.

First of all, you’ll need to start making a conscious effort to not give in to negative thoughts. Recognise when you start dwelling on the bleaker side of things and put a stop to it by asking yourself what you could do to make the situation better. Then start setting actionable goals for yourself – reaching them will empower you.

The next step is to foster positive thoughts. Easier said than done? Not necessarily. While positive thinking creates positive emotions, this process also works the other way around. This means that doing things you love, that bring you joy, can help you to think more positively. Think, for example, of a time where you engaged with something you are passionate about: perhaps you went to a concert or saw a film you really loved. Did you feel inspired afterwards? Perhaps it even led you to actively pursue a goal related to that passion?

Or you can try something new. Meditation has been proven to help cultivate positive thoughts, while a study published in the Journal of Research in Personality showed that writing about positive experiences can have the same effect.

Thinking positively means getting out of your head and looking for solutions. It’s something you may have to practise to get better at, but ultimately it can open doors that you may otherwise have walked right past.

This content appears courtesy of Abintegro, experts in career management, transition technology & e-learning for today’s modern, mobile and technology-savvy workforce – Find out more at www.abintegro.com

Credit: Huffington Post; National Centre for Biotechnical Information

Composite Graphic Credit: iconicbestiary / Freepik

Fred observes that hospital patients judge their experience not only by the way they are treated for the disease but also, and more importantly, by the way, that they are treated as a person…

If Fred is right, and incidentally I think that he is, and if this concept transfers across into golf, which I think it does, then the ‘how’ is perhaps more important than the ‘what’? This is an essential point for all, coaches, managers, and leaders to recognise. By the way, the great ones do; that is one reason that they are great.

Content, or perhaps we should call it knowledge, can be learned. In fact, content can be learned by almost anyone on almost any subject. Certainly, there is always content to learn or be updated on, that is the nature of progress. Often people have a fascination for content, and yet they have a hard time sharing that knowledge in a way that can make a difference in the life of someone else. I believe that it is possible to learn enough content for whatever role you have in a short period of time to become good at almost any subject. Learning to share that knowledge however is altogether different.

Back to Fred Lee and his five behaviours. Fred conveniently created the acronym S.H.A.R.E. Essentially these behaviours boiled down to the following values: using initiative, being part of a team, understanding the customer’s feelings, treating them with courtesy and making sure that communication is open and honest.

• S – Sense people’s needs before they ask (initiative)
• H – Help each other out (teamwork)
• A – Acknowledge people’s feelings (empathy)
• R – Respect the dignity and privacy of everyone (courtesy)
• E – Explain what is happening (communication)

So if the ‘how’ is so important then how can golf focus more on how to share experience and knowledge so that it is relevant, timely and useful? There are many answers to this question, and I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Their staff explains how they do it:

This interview was the inspiration behind The Growth Mindset Playbook (a page dedicated to laying out the best ways to teach and implement growth mindset).

I’d like to give a huge S/O to Karch and his staff for being so incredible these past few years – I can’t explain how much they’ve helped the Train Ugly mission!

If you’d like to see the crew in action and learn more about their approaches, check out:

THE TRAINING THE GAP CONFERENCE

You need to make sure your efforts are being mirrored in the results you see, which means having a system in place to allow you to understand what’s working and what isn’t. Here are our top 10 tips for a systematic, successful search:

1. Take some time out

Start by giving yourself 24 hours off from your search to create some space in your head to start organising yourself. A small time investment now could save you hours in the long-run.

2. Create a workspace

Having cleared some space in the temporal sense, set aside a room or desk that’s clear and clutter-free. Doing this will automatically make you feel more focused.

3. Clarify your goals

Draw up a list of your main goals: what kind of position do you want, when do you want it by and what salary are you willing to accept? Then have an alternative plan in place for each of the above.

4. Have a set schedule

It’s been said that the difference between a dream and a goal is a deadline. Commit a certain period of each day to working on your applications and stick rigidly to this.

5. Sharpen your search materials

You need to be ready to roll with your application at short notice. This means maintaining an up-to-date CV and cover letter template as well as keeping your professional profile ticking over on sites such as LinkedIn.

6. Soup-up your inbox

The email account is the jobseeker’s command HQ. Sorting your emails into different categories – jobs applied to; open positions etc. – will help you stay on top of things.

7. Create a system

Alongside this, you’ll need a tracking system that lets you know where you are with each application at quick glance. It needn’t be an elaborate spreadsheet, but should have all the information you need clearly laid-out.

8. Then use it

The best data management system in the world is no use to you unless you keep it regularly updated. Make sure your version includes a ‘next step’ section to encourage you to follow up on any developments.

9. Map your networking

Monitoring your informal job enquiries is no less important. Stop trails from going cold by keeping a note of any meetings or encounters you have while setting reminders for when to follow up.

10. Review your progress

Taking stock of your search is more important now than ever. Review what’s been working well and what hasn’t. Then decide how you’re going to improve things.

Job hunting can be a relatively painless business or it can be a long, hard slog. While there are usually a number of factors involved, often some simple organisation and forward planning can prove the difference.

This content appears courtesy of Abintegro, experts in career management, transition technology & e-learning for today’s modern, mobile and technology-savvy workforce – Find out more at www.abintegro.com

Credit: Graduate Fog; Quint Careers; Business Insider

“I think women’s golf has a great future if it can market itself correctly. For me it’s as exciting watching a ladies’ tournament as it is watching a men’s tournament. Sometimes people get a bit drawn to how far the ball flies and they attack impossible pins and take on impossible shots, but the ladies play really clever golf too.

“I was at the Evian Championship last year and what I saw was very impressive – they had a very professional attitude and were really focused on the range so there’s no difference between them and the guys. I would like to see ladies get much more TV time and more acknowledgement for what they are doing.”

Interview Highlights:

00:29 – How Marie got into golf…

01:39 – Entering a golf club as a young girl golfer…

02:21 – The changes in golf in Austria…

03:23 – Marie now works at the same facility that she started her golf career at…

06:25 – Being driven by those that originally discouraged her golf…

08:23 – Getting the Austrian National Team Coach job…

09:20 – Becoming involved in ‘Communicology’…

11:25 – Using ‘Communicology’ to break things down and not get lost in the detail…

12:10 – Key learnings from Marie’s career so far…

14:19 – The difference between teaching & coaching…

16:00 – What changes has Marie seen over the time she worked with the Austrian Girls squads…

18:49 – Working as a National Coach is a 24/7 role…

19:41 – What is the future of girls’ golf…

20:48 – The challenges face in women and girls’ participation…

23:01 – The difference between girls and boys’ sport …

24:26 – What are the mistakes most beginner golfers make…?

28:15 – Who is the best lesser-known coach Marie has worked with…?

30:19 – What advice would you give your 25-year-old self…?

31:09 – Marie’s views on who she feels are ‘successful’ people…

32:05 – Marie’s favourite book…

33:01 – The advice has Marie found beneficial up until now…

35:01 – What might surprise listeners about Marie…

35:19 – The golf equipment that gives Marie the most joy…

35:55 – Marie’s dream Fourball…

36:34 – Advice for aspiring PGA Professionals…

Find out more about Marie at www.functionalgolf.at and at functionalgolfat on Facebook.

Find out more about the Confederation of Professional Golf Golf Development Team at http://eur.pe/GolfDevelopmentTeam

On the one hand this pertains to language, i.e. whether or not you speak a second or maybe even a third language. More importantly though, it’s about understanding and accepting that customs, standards, and values differ between cultures, and being willing to learn and adapt to them.

Research undertaken by the British Council showed that employers value intercultural skills just as much as they do formal qualifications. The Council surveyed employers from nine different countries operating within the public, private and non-profit sectors. When asked about their reasons for valuing intercultural skills, they stated that employees who successfully display these skills were more likely to secure new projects, worked better within diverse teams and were more successful in representing the company brand and reputation.

In fact, a lack of intercultural skills was perceived as a risk to the company, possessing the potential to seriously damage client relations, team productivity and ultimately the company’s reputation.

While there might not be a straightforward way for employers to test your intercultural skills in an interview, they might ask you questions like: have you ever worked abroad? Do you have experience working in a diverse team? Do you speak any foreign languages?

They can also learn a great deal from how you communicate throughout the application process and during the interview: are you easy to talk to? Are you able to see things from someone else’s perspective? Are you willing to learn from them?

Ultimately, intercultural skills are something you show. Simply listing it on your CV won’t do; you’ll have to convince people you possess the eagerness to learn and the ability to adapt. So start doing: read, travel, learn a new language, talk to different people and, most importantly, be curious.

This content appears courtesy of Abintegro, experts in career management, transition technology & e-learning for today’s modern, mobile and technology-savvy workforce – Find out more at www.abintegro.com

Credit: British Council; Skills You Need

With Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia on the rise, ‘brain-training’ is very much in vogue among retirees and younger whippersnappers alike. As game developers have been quick to appreciate, preserving healthy cognitive function means maintaining sharpness across all the right areas, from memory and recall to problem solving and planning. There’s enough there for a bi-annual upgrade and then some.

Video games aside, there are plenty of equally as efficient but less costly ways to keep your grey matter firing on all cylinders. Here are some top tips for successful cerebral conservation:

1. Learn something new

Be it the cello, Ancient Greek or Chinese calligraphy, teaching yourself a new skill is a great way to keep the old brain cells ticking over. A recent study of retirees showed that a challenging mental activity one a week reduced the risk of dementia by 7%.

2. Get physical

Work the rest of your body while you’re at it. Research suggests that 30 minutes of exercise three times each week can reduce dementia by 40% and cognitive impairment by 60%. The secondary benefits should also be obvious.

3. Food for thought

You don’t need a PHD in nutrition to know some foods are better for the brain than others. Indulge in vegetables, nuts and fish – staples of the Mediterranean diet that promote blood-flow to the brain. Drink plenty of water and stay off the junk food!

4. Take a load off

From catching enough ‘Z’s each night to meditative techniques, giving your brain some much-needed down time is essential in reducing wear and tear. It will also help you maintain skills such as problem solving, concentration and memory. Aim for 7.5 to 8.5 hours a night for optimum brain function.

Whether happily retired or gainfully employed, whatever your age, looking after the stuff upstairs should be a top priority. The good news is that keeping your neurotransmitters nimble needn’t cost the earth and can slot fairly easily into your day-to-day lifestyle.

This content appears courtesy of Abintegro, experts in career management, transition technology & e-learning for today’s modern, mobile and technology-savvy workforce – Find out more at www.abintegro.com

Credit: Forbes; NPR.com; Time

Interview Highlights:

01:14 – Early beginnings in golf…

04:38 – Alastair’s first golf coach…

07:58 – How has the way Alastair learnt golf shaped his coaching style…

08:48 – Turning Professional…

12:58 – Working at Hintlesham Hall Golf Club in Ipswich…

16:16 – An increased in development and working as a County Golf Development Officer…

22:24 – Taking an interest in gender disparity in clubs and golf in general, creating an interest in women’s golf development…

23:54 – How did Alastair create a women’s participation-led programme…

27:37 – Barriers to developing women’s participation programmes…

29:06 – How will female participation help the industry in general?

30:32 – Learning from the stories and communities developed at ‘Park Runs’…

33:12 – What changes have you seen in golf across your career?

35:00 – What’s the main mistake golfers make when taking up the sport?

37:05 – What would you tell your 25 year old self?

38:57 – Alastair’s favourite books…

39:34 – What might surprise us about Alastair Spink?

40:21 – Alastair’s dream fourball…

Follow Alastair on Twitter at @Thegolfcoach and find out more about Love.Golf at www.love.golf.

Find out more about the Confederation of Professional Golf Golf Development Team at http://eur.pe/GolfDevelopmentTeam

Find somewhere to conduct your job search that is free from distractions and then do the following, roughly in this order:

1. Make yourself a realistic job hunting schedule and stick to it

A routine will stop you wasting your day and make your job search as efficient as possible.

2. Sort your CV out

Rework the format so that pertinent skills leap out at you ; create different versions for different roles; use key words often that are in the job descriptions.

3. Create a cover letter template

Convey your fit for the role and how much you want the job; make different versions with wording relevant to each role/employer.

4. Search both large and niche job boards

It’ll give you the biggest variety of job listings. Take advantage of alerts to find out about jobs as soon as they are posted.

5. Organise and professionalise

Ensure your voicemail message and email address are professional; get a list ready of references with relevant details and contact information; create folders for all your files and emails.

6. Use Social Media

Follow specific companies to find out about job openings and the culture of the company; try to track down your interviewers.

7. Check your online presence

Google yourself and check for any inappropriate or inaccurate information; remove or correct anything that would be difficult to explain in an interview.

8. Make good use of LinkedIn

Check for inconsistencies between your CV and your profile; join professional groups; ask for recommendations from your managers; check to see if you’re connected to someone in the industry or the organisations you’re applying to.

9. Prepare for your interview

Research the industry and company; find out about the type of interview you’ll be facing; be able to talk about your skills and back them up with evidence; practise answers to all types of interview questions.

There will be challenges so don’t give up, think positively and manage your own expectations.

This content appears courtesy of Abintegro, experts in career management, transition technology & e-learning for today’s modern, mobile and technology-savvy workforce – Find out more at www.abintegro.com

Credit: Glassdoor; abintegro

Here are some good examples of where you could make more of an investment career-wise:

1. Build relationships. Create your own circle of influence; find a mentor. Make time to make connections, pay attention to and nurture meaningful relationships.
2. Do the career management thing: make a plan, devise some goals. Take time to review your objectives and challenge your own commitment levels daily.
3. Recognise what you are good at and get better at it. Spend time observing yourself and your colleagues in meetings or just day to day and notice what you uniquely bring. Then invest some time and money getting better at it.
4. Be prepared to take a step backwards. It may be that to move forward long term you need to forego some short term gratification. A lower salary now could mean great things in the future.
5. Get a qualification/attend a course/learn something new.
6. Build your online brand. Create a webpage to showcase your work or simply keep your social networking profiles updated and constantly be on the lookout for anything that could be perceived as negative.
7. Raise your professional profile. Spend time on a committee or board or take on a challenging new project. Find ways to gain valuable, marketable experience.
8. Ask for feedback. And learn from it.
9. Take a risk. If you don’t really have to think about risk it probably isn’t the life changing or breakout move you were looking for.
10. Make time for that which balances you: your family, your friends, your hobbies. They will offer you perspective, different experiences and a much needed escape from the world of work.

If you think about it you probably invest more time and money in your choice of holiday than you do in your career. Given that you spend two-thirds of your waking life at work and your career goes a long way to determining your quality of life, it may be worth reassessing your investment portfolio.

This content appears courtesy of Abintegro, experts in career management, transition technology & e-learning for today’s modern, mobile and technology-savvy workforce – Find out more at www.abintegro.com

Credit: Forbes; HBR; LinkedIn; Investopedia

With job security and a standard career path less and less attainable across many industries, a capacity to handle uncertainty and adversity has never been more important (or in demand).

Such is the case that many employers will try to find out about your resilience through interview questions on how you’ve handled stress, pressure and failure in the past. Additionally, job hunting itself can be an incredibly demoralising experience if you let it. Focussing on building your resilience can make all the difference to your inner confidence and success rate across many areas in your life.

This might be easier said than done though – to achieve resilience means possessing the right blend of self-awareness and inner strength, and the flexibility to adapt to changes in circumstances and surroundings. It’s rather like a palm tree: a strong, firmly rooted base supporting an element that’s far more flexible and able to cope with being blown around by different winds.

Here are three key building blocks that can help you towards developing a resilient professional persona:

1. Positivity

Having a positive view of yourself and the world around you is the basis for developing resilience. Pay attention to the messages you send yourself throughout the day. If you find yourself making negative assumptions about yourself or anything around you, consciously switch to a positive thought. With practice this should become automatic. That will keep you grounded, rooted like a tree, and give you the stability you need for a positive mindset.

2. Commitment

Get to know yourself and recognise what is important to you. Have a clear idea of your future aspirations and where you want to go in your career. You need to be willing to commit to your goals and invest in making them happen. Knowing what is important to you and being committed to your goals strengthens you in your core. Don’t forget however, that even the best-laid plans can sometimes go off course or need to be abandoned altogether. Make like a palm tree and allow yourself flexibility to go with the flow when things don’t go to plan.

3. Control

Control means being aware of the situations or areas in your life you can influence as well as recognising those that you can’t. Being able to distinguish between the two will allow you to focus your energy on the things that are most important or achievable. It will give you the flexibility to prioritise your goals and adapt to different circumstances.

Remember that in order to be resilient you also need to be healthy in mind and body so pay attention to your general well-being, take proper breaks, eat well, and look after the relationships that support you. When it comes to resilience it’s about knowing that you can’t stop the waves, but that you can certainly learn how to surf them.

This content appears courtesy of Abintegro, experts in career management, transition technology & e-learning for today’s modern, mobile and technology-savvy workforce – Find out more at www.abintegro.com

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Read the entire story behind this here from James Clear.

Will’s first suggestion – The Ivy Lee Method

1. At the end of each work day, write down the six most important things you need to accomplish tomorrow. Do not write down more than six tasks.
2. Prioritize those six items in order of their true importance.
3. When you arrive tomorrow, concentrate only on the first task. Work until the first task is finished before moving on to the second task.
4. Approach the rest of your list in the same fashion. At the end of the day, move any unfinished items to a new list of six tasks for the following day.
5. Repeat this process every working day.

Read the entire story behind this here from James Clear.

The biggest killer of everyone’s day is opening up emails first things in the morning.

Everyone is always asking “how” questions. What really matters is the “why”.

Take some time to improve your business / sales skills if it’s something you struggle with and go outside of the typical education / certifications. Give yourself permission to try some new ideas out with the framing of an experiment or challenge.

3 Morning Questions:

• What happened yesterday?
• How do I feel about that?
• What am I working on today

Will’s past episodes on coaching programs:

Group Coaching Q&A part 1
Group Coaching Q&A part 2
Working with Groups

Links / Resources

Charles M. Schwab productivity story – Ivy Lee Method
2017 Coaching Workshop in Orlando
Will’s Consulting Company RGX
BJ Fogg – Tiny Habits

In nearly two decades of working in golf with PGA Professionals and elite players I hear a lot about pressure and see where coaches and players become overly worried about their ‘reputation’ rather than knowing and trusting in their own ‘character’.  Here I witness the limiting beliefs people have about themselves and the perceived consequences of poor results.

Often players will underperform because they feel pressure about how they might be viewed by others if they fail.  This can also affect coaches as they sometimes feel their own reputation is determined by the performance of those they coach, when in reality performance has so many variables, and the coach only contributes in specific ways.

In essence being overly concerned about your reputation creates instability as it is not under your control as it involves the perceptions of others.

Knowing the impact of limiting beliefs should give you the motivation you need to change them for yourself or to help players when you sense this is an issue. A healthy belief puts you into the right frame to have the best chance of success. It is also true that negative beliefs and thoughts have a huge impact on performance, so if we find it difficult to be positive then we must at least learn ways of managing negative thinking to keep it to a minimum and hence give ourselves a chance.

In the previous two articles I have written about the need for effective listening in coaching. Particular words to look out for are must, should and got. For instance, ‘I must make the cut; ‘I should beat this opponent’; or ‘I’ve got to win’. These words reveal very rigid, inflexible beliefs and create unnecessary pressure as they result in patterns of ‘all or nothing’ negative thinking.   It is much better to frame performance beliefs with a prefer approach.  For example, ‘I’d prefer to make the top ten’.

Often these beliefs hinder players’ views of themselves, their golf, and of their potential success.   So in future improve your coaching by listening carefully to the words your players use. They will reveal much about their thinking patterns and the performances that follow.

It has never been easier to embark on a journey of self-education in our field.  We have countless books, seminars, certifications, social media groups, and blogs dedicated to sharing and disseminating new ideas in golf instruction.  And for those focused on learning more about ‘what to coach’, these sources are immensely valuable in furthering our knowledge.  But for those looking for information on ‘how to coach’, and more specifically, ‘how people learn’, sources seem to be much more scarce.  Ultimately, if we are in the business of human development, it stands to reason that understanding how humans come to attain mastery would be of utmost importance to becoming more effective.

There ARE great sources for learning about learning, they are just a heck of a lot harder to find.  Outside of a few textbooks available on Amazon, many of our favorite texts have been circulated amongst peers who are engaged in similar knowledge pursuits.  So it inspired us to compile a few seminal pieces on the topic of motor learning and performance to help you continue your path to better understanding of how mastery develops and skills are refined.  And because we were hoping to discover a few new gems for ourselves, we reached out to a few leaders in the field for help.  We assembled a list of the experts in learning who have focused some of their work on golf, and posed a simple question:

“What is the most important piece of motor learning research that all coaches should read?”

Thankfully, these generous leaders obliged and provided what has become our curated list on Learning about Learning.  Click on the book icons for each of the articles provided by our esteemed list of experts.  We hope you’ll take the time to dig in.  Enjoy.

ATTENTIONAL FOCUS AND MOTOR LEARNING: A REVIEW OF 15 YEARS

RECOMMENDED BY DR. GABRIELE WULF

Our first recommendation comes from Dr. Gabrielle Wulf, a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences at UNLV.  Not only is Dr. Wulf the go-to expert on attentional focus and it’s affect on learning and performance, she is also the author of one of our favorite books (which happened to be a suggestion by one the experts we surveyed  for our list).

Wulf suggested this piece, telling us, “This review of about 80 studies shows the importance of adopting an external focus of attention for optimal performance and learning of motor skills. Helping athletes adopt and maintain an external focus by giving the right instructions or feedback is critical for enhancing performance of complex skills– such as golf skills– particularly in challenging situations.”

PAR (PLAN-ACT-REVIEW) GOLF: MOTOR LEARNING RESEARCH AND IMPROVING GOLF SKILLS

RECOMMENDED BY DR TIM LEE

Motor Control and Learning is the book that introduced us to many new coaching concepts and ignited an interest in motor learning that continues to burn.  In addition to Motor Learning and Control, Dr. Lee has authored Motor Control in Everyday Actions and over 80 papers on the topics of motor control and motor skill acquisition in peer-reviewed journals.

While many motor learning texts are devoted to a broader pursuit of skill development, Dr. Lee sent us over a paper specifically dealing with the learning of golf skills.  He mentioned that this would be a great starting point for many practitioners and we couldn’t agree more.  The paper hits on several big learning topics: phases of learning, effective practice conditions, focus of attention, and delivery of feedback.  Along with a thorough exploration of these major themes, it also includes specific implications for golf skill acquisition.

CHALLENGE POINT: A FRAMEWORK FOR CONCEPTUALIZING THE EFFECTS OF VARIOUS PRACTICE CONDITIONS IN MOTOR LEARNING

RECOMMENDED BY DR. CHRIS BERTRAM

Not only is Chris a former PacWest Golf Coach of the Year several times over, for the past 11 years he has served as Director of the Human Performance Centre and as an Associate Professor of Kinesiology at UFV.  Dr. Bertram recommended another paper dealing explicitly with golf.  This is a paper that we have referenced in previous posts and it’s had a huge influence on our approach to coaching.

Chris suggested the Challenge Point paper because it “nicely summarize many of the important concepts relating to practice and feedback and provides a framework- based on optimally challenging a learner – for a coach or practitioner to apply in the real world.”

As a nice bonus, Chris also included a couple of papers that he credits with shaping his thinking about skill acquisition in golf:

1) Goode and Magill (1986) Contextual Interference Effects in Learning Three Badminton Serves, Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, Volume 57, 4

“An early and important study on the effects of blocked and random practice.  Were among the first to demonstrate that increasing contextual interference (i.e.., randomness) in the practice setting is a more efficient way to see gains in learning than blocked practice.”

2) Winstein, C. J. & Schmidt, R. A. (1990). Reduced frequency of knowledge of results enhances motor skill learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology:Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 16

“Another important early study in motor learning, this time looking at the how the frequency of feedback, and its impact on learning.  In other words, in golf terms, how often should a coach be providing “information” to the student… what we see happening in practice is not always a trustworthy indicator of how much learning is going on.”

MOTOR SKILL ACQUISITION: AN ESSENTIAL GOAL OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION

RECOMMENDED BY TRILLIUM SELLERS ROSE

In addition to reaching out to the academics specializing in learning research, we really wanted to include the recommendations of some coaches who promote the study of skill acquisition within our industry.  Trill certainly qualifies– she paused a very successful teaching gig to obtain a Master’s Degree in Motor Learning and Control from Columbia University.  Now, as the Director of Instruction at Woodmont Country Club, she is applying the lessons learned and can offer the perspective of a coach well versed in how golfers acquire and adapt skills.

Few are better equipped to bridge the gap between academic and real-world practitioner, so her recommendation carries a lot of weight with us.  She points us towards “Motor Skill Acquisition: An Essential Goal of Physical Education”.  The paper is especially relevant to those coaches developing young athletes and explores the importance of time on task, engagement, and corrective feedback.

NON-LINEAR PEDAGOGY UNDERPINS INTRINSIC MOTIVATION IN SPORTS COACHING

RECOMMENDED BY MATTHEW WILSON

We couldn’t finish our list without including a couple of our own recommendations.  During a bit of a research project that we conducted last year, we requested some recommended reading from Graeme McDowell, who has been a great resource for us.  Like Trill, we see Greame as a bit of a hybrid between a well-versed academic and an experienced coach with real-life interactions with the topics in question.  Graeme delivered us about 30 papers, focused mostly on the theme of Non Linear Pedagogy.  We went about reading the list and, through a shared Google Document, recorded our notes and takeaways/actionables from each paper.  Many of the papers by Ian Renshaw were among our favorites, and this one in particular tops Matt’s list.

The article tackles a key challenge for sports coaching– providing performers with learning environments that results in sustainable motivation.  It provides an excellent explanation of both non-linear pedagogy and self-determination theory, two topics that have made a big impact on our coaching styles.

INSIGHTS FROM ECOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS THEORY CAN UNDERPIN A PHILOSOPHY OF COACHING

RECOMMENDED BY COREY LUNDBERG

Our last suggestion was also uncovered from the abundant source of Non-Linear Pedagogy papers provided by Graeme McDowell.  It’s another one from Ian Renshaw and Corey includes it because of how comprehensive it is in organizing so many important learning concepts within one paper.

It provides a clear description of nonlinear pedagogy while giving insights on perception-action coupling, self-organization, variable practice, and implicit learning .

BONUS TOP 10 BOOKS ON LEARNING

RECOMMENDED BY MICHAEL HEBRON

In addition to the papers above, we were excited to get some recommendations from Michael Hebron.  Michael is a member of the PGA Hall of Fame and world renowned coach that has dedicated much of his career to educating coaches.  His books, The Art and Zen of Learning Golf and Play Golf To Learn Golf, have made a huge impact on how we approach golf instruction.  As he has devoted so much effort to better understanding how golfers learn, we knew that our list would be incomplete without his contributions.  Below is a list of 10 books that Michael has recommended.  Once you have read the previously mentioned papers, we think this represents a great way to continue your path to better coaching.

Happy reading!

–Corey Lundberg & Matt Wilson

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A question often asked is, What value does a PGA professional have at a golf club? The answer can be quite a lot.

Does your club have a PGA Professional?  Are you looking to recruit one?  Perhaps you had one in previous years but not anymore?  Times have changed and so has the role of the PGA Professional at club level.  In the heady days of property booms and third houses a PGA Professional at your club was seen as a sign that things were good, that business was strong and having the pro there was just something that clubs did.

Fast forward a few years and clubs saw their incomes drop and many responded by letting their PGA Professional go (or perhaps not taking on a PGA Professional) as they perhaps didn’t see the value that they brought.  Nowadays though, the modern PGA Professional is an invaluable asset to a golf club and it’s great to see how diverse and integral the role has become once again, the role of the PGA Professional is back where it belongs.

Given the right circumstances and direction a PGA Professional can add significant revenues to any club.  The logo for PGA Professionals contains the phrase “The heart of golf” for a good reason.  It’s not because they’ve gone through rigorous training and feel they deserve it. It’s because they’ve gone through rigorous training, have learned about golf clubs from the inside out, have likely spent more time in golf clubs than even the most dedicated club members and they are the lifeblood of any club.  The PGA pro doesn’t only stand in the shop to answer your questions anymore, they are involved in so much more behind the scenes and here are some of the ways in which a PGA Professional can add value and revenue to your club;

1. Knowledge

A PGA Professional goes through an intensive three-year training programme covering all aspects of golf club management as well as the physical aspects of playing the game.They have a broad knowledge of everything required to run a golf club and can be a great source of knowledge on a wide range of topics from membership to marketing.

2. Revenue

This is a key area in any business but in a golf club there are so many ways to increase & control revenue. Why not engage with your current PGA Professional and ask their advice on this and see what they can come up with? Equally as important as revenue is cost control and again the training that PGA Professionals receive puts them in a unique position to advise and assist with this.

3. Customer service & interaction

The person at a golf club who has the most customer interaction is the PGA Professional (43%, with the next person being the GM at 13%). They are the face of the club.Whether it’s a members competition on a weekend or a friendly fourball playing on a Tuesday afternoon, the PGA Professional is likely to be the person who greets you, explains the club policies, encourages you to have dinner or buy a shirt from the shop and this interaction can lead to repeat business and of course the increased market perception for your club.

4. Advice

More and more PGA pro’s are being asked to join in on committee meetings to offer advice and guidance.This is wonderful to see but many more Irish clubs could benefit from the input of a PGA Professional in this area.It shouldn’t only be competition committees, the PGA pro can be a useful asset in any committee, they know your club as well if not better than you do, they know all your members, they get direct feedback from every single visitor and surely that should make them the first name on the committee sheet?Don’t forget too that your PGA Professional is also a great source of knowledge on the latest equipment, clothing and many can even advise on some nutrition and exercise regimes if you’re so inclined – this is an under-utilised but greatly effective members asset.

5. Lessons

Many people only see the PGA pro as just being someone you go to for lessons – obviously this is far from true but lessons are a big part of what a pro can bring to a golf club.If a member can get a lesson from a good PGA Professional at their home club then they will do so.Players from other clubs can come to your PGA pro for lessons too which increases the public profile of your club. Moreover the pro can give introductory lessons and programmes aimed at getting people into golf who have never played.This can result in membership increases and further revenues for the club.Did you know that if someone takes lessons they play 20% more golf, spend 65% more on F&B and spend 70% more on retail?

6. Marketing

This is an interesting one as along with the pro and the manager, marketing was one of the first things to be cut when revenues dropped in Irish clubs.Through their personal contact with golfers your PGA pro is marketing your club, through giving lessons to non-members your PGA pro is marketing your club, through their interaction with other PGA pros and through them being very good at their jobs your PGA pro is marketing your club.It doesn’t always have to come down to spending money, but if it does then your PGA pro is well positioned to advise you on where is best to spend it.They eat, sleep, live and breathe golf, if it’s happening in golf they will most likely know about it so why would you not ask their opinion?

7. Member recruitment & retention

A recent survey found that 100% of people who took coaching lessons from their PGA Professional stayed as a club member the following year. That’s a staggering statistic when you consider the membership turnover in many golf clubs.When it comes to member recruitment the PGA Professional is probably the first person that any prospective member will meet.They will come in to ask questions, get forms or to play a round and see what the course is like.The pro can have a huge impact on recruitment and an educated, friendly face who knows about the club is the ideal person to have dealing with new members.

These are just some of the benefits of having a PGA Professional at your club, there are so many more and to talk to someone at the PGA about it or if your club is looking to recruit a PGA Professional you should contact Paul Wisniewski at the PGA Irish Region on Email: paul.wisniewski@pga.org.uk or Telephone: 085 8821756.