Golf Business News’s Africa columnist – John Cockayne – has been exploring education and its impact on careers in The Business of Golf Magazine.
No other major global sport offers quite the spread of career options as those that can be found in golf.
The world’s major professional tours are often the most visible elements in the matrix, but they are in a very real sense, just the tip of an enormous iceberg of business activity.
This activity spans the areas of coaching, equipment sales and manufacture. It reaches in to real estate sales and golf course design and development. Tourism, marketing, event management, education and retail are also in the mix as are facility and player management.
The discussions have examined the need to equip management in golf with very different skills’ sets than those required, within what feels like a very rapidly evolving timeframe!
The key question has been that given the rapid evolution in the demands on all of the businesses in the golf sector, is it a case of back to the chalkboard for everyone, and if yes what role does the education process need to play in this scenario.
The panel to date has included a cross section of opinion, from educators and purveyors of education programmes to consultants advising their clients on the best skillsets and candidate ‘fit’ for a particular role, to the end user in the form of an employer.
Here is an opportunity for GBN readers to view these opinions over three stages. Follow the links supplied with each name below to view each article in a ‘page-turning’ format. We begin with John Cockayne and Cynthia Johnson from Florida State University.
INTRODUCTION by
Dedman College of Hospitality, Florida State University
Among those to follow are Matthew Orwin, Co-Founder of Promote Training, UK; Tjorborn ‘Toby’ Johansson, Director of Education, Club Managers’ Association of Europe; Eddie Bullock, Golf Management Consultant, UK; and Damian Wrigley, General Manager, Pearl Valley, Western Cape, South Africa.