United States Golf Teachers Federation

13 Jul 2010 admin

New Golf Managers

Whether you’re a brand–new golf manager, or you’ve just been promoted to a level of higher responsibility, please consider the following: Early mistakes can create an avalanche of resentment that will bury your potential and good intentions. Try not to commit the following unforced errors:

Change for the sake of change. “Things are going to be different now that I’m in charge.” Certainly some things are going to be different, but some things got the way they are for good reason. Immediately sweeping away all the old rules and procedures is a mistake.
Careless Promises. Never promise anything you aren’t absolutely certain you can deliver. Remember that you cannot buy loyalty — rewards should be handed out only for what people have done in the past and what they are going to continue to do in the future.
Playing favorites. Yes, some employees are more dependable than others. But your job is to manage all of them (or do something about those with significant performance issues). Good managers treat their people consistently and fairly.
Hoarding the work. Often out of nervousness, new managers try to do everything themselves. But training and delegating are among your most important responsibilities. Learn to delegate or you invite disaster.
Special privileges. Remember that everyone is watching you. Coming in late, going home early, taking long lunches or playing 18 holes of golf each day send the wrong message. You can’t expect employees to give 110 percent if you’re not doing the same.

Golf Management Education

By: Ken Kramp, Warren, Ohio USGTF Level III member As a golf course manager you are always expected to look for ways to increase your bottom line and explore opportunities to promote your facility. My question to you is this, “Have you looked at all types of golfers to reach this goal?” I would like to introduce to you a larger growing group of golfers that has visited your facility at least once a week for years. This foursome is made up from one family and includes a grandfather, father, son and daughter. Over time you may have noticed the foursome went to three, then two, and then one. One day you asked the daughter what happen to your grandfather, father and brother. The daughter informed you that her grandfather had a stroke and could not walk that well. Her father had been in an accident and hurt his knee. As for her brother, while on active duty serving our country, he lost his leg. Like most people your heart would ache for this family. The daughter asked if there was anything you could do to bring them back together on the golf course. Here is my challenge. Look at your facility and see what services you have to offer to provide a golfer with a disability the opportunity to enjoy a day of golf. Talk to your customers that may need some assistance to see what they would like to have available. Then figure out how your facility could improve, from the parking lot to the eighteenth hole. Most of the things that an individual with a disability would need you already provide based on zoning laws and the ADA (American with Disability Act). Some suggestions may have an expense that you will have to budget for, but most will have little or no cost to you. In all cases the rewards will be priceless. In the scenario that I described, all of these individuals have a walking and standing disability. I truly believe that everyone would love to help this family return to the game and by doing so your facility would increase its revenue. The best thing you could do is to create a relationship with your disabled golfers and see what they need. Encourage them to just visit the club house. With some time they may start using the practice facility. One day they may transition to the course. As golf club managers you have the ability to make the difference. You may let them use the golf cart around the practice areas for little or no charge. When it comes to the course you may offer a flag on the cart to designate the golfer so they would be allowed to leave the path. In most cases this is all that is needed to provide access and keep pace of play. Allowing the disabled golfer to get closer to the tee box or greens will not hurt the grass. Educate the golfer about ways to access the course and conditions. In most cases they will take care of course better then your regular users. Here are a few suggestions that you can offer at your facility: Have your instructors offer golf clinics for disabled and/or senior golfers. Team up with therapists from local rehabilitation centers or local disabled organizations. This type of networking provides great resources, as well as great marketing opportunities. There are also great organizations that can offer you assistance in finding information about a related disability. Just go online, type in the disability and the word golf and you will find some great information. You can also contact us at the United States Golf Managers Association office and we will get you in contact with individuals that can help.

Introduction to Golf Club Management

By Dr. Patrick Montana USGTF Level IV Member and U.S. Golf Managers Association Course Director Scarborough, New York I have been teaching management to business executives at all levels in profit and nonprofit organizations for almost 50 years. Futhermore, as a certified golf teaching professional, I believe strongly that the process I describe in this article will better enable you to meet your golf club management expectations. There are many similarities in management and golf as well as in teaching management and golf. Both require strategic thinking, planning, execution, control, evaluation and feedback. Let me begin be stating that at the heart of a system of managing for results is managing expectations. More often than not managing expectations seems to be the missing link in business practice. However, it occurs seldomly in golf, because everyone knows what is expected. There is an agreed upon standard of performance – namely, par. Standards of performance in management have one major purpose and that is to develop your people. You may use them for merit, promotion, transfer and compensation purposes but primarily as a manager you want to develop your staff to meet expectations. I might illustrate this point by the game of golf. Par on the golf course is the standard of performance for a professional golfer. Now you can go out all by yourself in the morning, or join three other people in a happy foursome, and when you come in from #18, you know – no matter what the comments are – you know immediately whether you are a good golfer or whether you need development. The standard of performance for a job should be as clear as par on a golf course, at least to the extent language will allow. As golf club managers, we should be developing performance contracts with our staff so that they know what is expected on the job. For every responsibility assigned to a subordinate, a standard of performance or condition that should exist when a responsibility has been carried out well, should be developed jointly by manager and subordinate. It is an engineering of agreement as to the condition that should exist when a responsibility has been carried out well. In order to develop a system of managing for results which negotiates performance contracts through managing expectations, it is important to step back and review or learn the purpose of management and the management process and to break down the process to see how a results-oriented management system fits into the process. Next, during the Golf Club Managers Certification Course, we ask the question: “why bother?” Then, after answering this question, we take a look at the critical links that hold the management process together for the golf club manager and the skills that are necessary to make it work. Finally, I discuss how one goes about implementing such a system back on the job. In addition to learning this system of managing for results, during the Golf Club Management Certification Course students hear from practicing golf club managers and professionals about customer relations and customer service, golf facility operations, merchandising operations, food and beverage, tournament management, golf club financial management, ownership management, turf management operations, golf instructional operations, and even learn about today’s modern golf equipment. If you’re thinking about a career in golf club or golf resort management, you may want to consider enrolling in a forthcoming U.S. Golf Club Management Certification course and increase your employment opportunities in this growing global field. For further information please check our website: US Golf Managers Association.com.