PGA Professional Opportunities

[dave_pga]

Hey guys I'm only new to the site, apologies if this is the wrong section to start this topic.

I've recently became a PGA Professional and currently second guessing the opportunities I have in order to make a steady income, I know there are more like me. Currently work in more the retail side of things with a little teaching and some repairs and fittings. 

I was just interested to see if anyone had any suggestions or ideas that may be worth doing within the golf industry? The retail and shop hours are not really doing it for me and want to do so,etching different and more enjoyable. Particularly considering the long winters we have.

Thanks Guys

 

[WUTiger]

Greetings!

And congrats on making it into the PGA pro ranks. I fear I am one of those amateur golfers who takes lessons, and practices, but just can't quite get it right.

For my day job, I'm a college professor in a business school. This summer, I have begun a case study on a very successful local golf pro. He has developed a number of business line within golfdom, which he has emphasized at various times:

• regionally acclaimed teaching pro
• high school and college golf coach
• driving range manager (and sometimes owner)
• golf club head pro
• organizer of summer golf clinics for the less affluent children; and,
• organizer of golf tournaments for different golf venues.

He's not the only one: several other pros in the area - sometimes father and son - have a similar story. They succeed because they develop multiple skills in the golf industry, which they can emphasize as the market demands.

My general advice: look for opportunities, and enjoy what you're doing.

Also: Pick up a club or two every day and do something golfish. Even if it's splitting a bucket of range balls between 5i and 7i, practicing bunker shots for 15 minutes, or playing three holes at 6 AM or 6 PM... I know time is tight, but if you let your golf game completely fizzle, it's your fault and you're fading as a pro. (I was a caddie from 1964 to 1972, so I know this to be true!)

You live in the UK, so I don't know the market idiosyncrasies of where you live. But, that's what I see in the central USA.

Again, welcome to TST, and congratulations on entering the pro realm!

[ZappyAd]

This isn't a way to make money directly and doesn't replace whatever your main gig is, but if I was in your situation I would think about setting up my own website and start writing or filming golf related content.  It seems to me that as a pro your brand is very important and will last you a lifetime so now is always a good time to start building it.  Helping people find you and giving them an easy way to get in touch has got to be worth a lot, especially if you are in a career where you may move jobs frequently.

There is no guarantee anyone will visit your site or watch your content but if you think of it as an extra string to your bow it could very well pay off.  Every time you take a lesson let people know about your site or refer them to a video.  Whenever you do any publicity (like flyers for your lessons or business cards) make sure you have your website on it.  If you have something to say about golf then shoot a video or write an article and say it.  The more practice you get at those things the better, even if nobody looks at them in the beginning.  If you can build an email list over time then that can be a very valuable tool for whatever golf related things you end up doing in the future.

[Al Vorster]

Hi there, and congrats on becoming a golf pro. I'm a pro myself and have been for 13 years. My main focus is the travel industry. It is a HUGE industry, and luckily for us, golf is an international language. It's great how you can pitch up at a club and play golf with three people from three different countries, isn't it? Perhaps it's a good idea for you to get into that industry. People really value it when a pro travels with them on their holiday, and you'll meet the most amazing people that are equally passionate about golf.

Good luck with the exciting start of your career!

[WUTiger]

More free advice...

Any chance you could attend the PGA Merchandise Show in January 2017? It's held every year in Orlando, Florida.

The equipment manufacturers - Ping, Callaway, TaylorMade, etc. - all attend to roll out their new offerings. Plus, other niches of the golf industry come and show their stuff: apparel, driving range systems, golf instruction systems, travel. Here's the Exhibitor's List  for the 2016 show.

If you go, you might get some ideas for partnering outside your current routine.

[Al Vorster]

Yep, @WUTiger, that is a great idea. I attended the show this year and it was fantastic. Our company had a stand in the travel section. You meet amazing people! I especially enjoyed the PGA seminars and training provided to fellow pros about the industry. You'll be able to get in @dave_pga as you are a pro too. Just go on their website and register as a pro.. 

[Pretzel]

Lessons, depending on your arrangement with your home course, can be a much better way to make money than if you just work in the shop. 

In the shop I would imagine you're not making much more than $15 an hour, even as a professional, assuming that you aren't salaried to run the golf operation for a city. Even if you charged a relatively cheap rate of $50 an hour for lessons, and the course took half of your inexpensive fee, you would be making $10 more an hour than you would otherwise and it might be more enjoyable that pro shop work for you. Playing lessons could be even more lucrative depending on your rates, and you can even play some golf yourself (either playing with the player or demonstrating a shot, for example). 

Youth programs can be highly profitable if that's something you're interested in. A local course with two PGA professionals has a weekly group lesson for junior golfers at $20 per person. On the days that this program is running they easily have 30-40 kids ($600-800) out there working on chipping and putting (and then the kids go out to walk nine holes afterwords). Depending on how your course operates and how busy it is this is something you could look into organizing. Put up flyers both on the course and in public areas where you are allowed to post things to get the word out.

If you are somewhat tech and business inclined it might be a good idea to look into starting up a small business of your own selling golf apparel and equipment. Take advantage of your PGA membership and start up accounts with the major brands such as Titleist, PING, Taylormade, Scotty Cameron (they kind of do their stuff separate from Titleist) and put up a storefront on your own website. Squarespace is one web-hosting company I know of that does an excellent job of making it easy for you to put together what you want. Nearly everything in most golf shops is marked up at keystone pricing or higher, so there is definitely profit to be made if you can get some web traffic (and it never hurts to have it up for people to stumble upon). 

Look up public courses in your area and figure out who the person in charge of contracting out the golf courses is. The title in my city is the "Golf Operations Manager", but this varies from city to city. Get to know this person and learn when the management contracts for various courses expire so you can put your bid in to run one of the courses on behalf of the city. This is where you'd likely end up making the most money, but it would be the most administrative of the options. You would likely be responsible for hiring, firing, reports, and other day to day tasks but the big advantage is that the city, in most cases, will allow you to use the pro shop to sell your own merchandise. This becomes huge since then the profits (or at least a large portion of them) from every pro shop sale goes into your pocket, though it does come with the added work of managing inventory and negotiating terms with the city. This is, though, by far the most lucrative option that would be somewhat easily (with enough background work and a good proposal/interview) attainable.

One other thing, along the lines of the previous point, that you could do is see if there are any professionals that are contracted to run two golf courses through the city. My city currently works this way, but the professional has to subcontract the second course to another PGA professional in order to manage everything smoothly. As a result of this the professional at the course I work for (the subcontracted professional) is now a near shoe-in to win the bid to manage the golf course he's been running when the city contract becomes available this January, just because he has been running the show there for the last four years. Continuing to excel at your current position at the golf course while networking and getting to know your customers (a large factor for the aforementioned pro is that he has developed close ties with the clientele and has increased revenue as a result) is something that will be viewed favorably if you later put in a bid to manage the course.