The PGA is launching a new matchmaking advisory service to help golf clubs recruit the right professional with the right skills.
The move follows the decision by the PGA to visit every single golf club operation in the UK over the next two to three years to discuss the roles and merits the PGA professional brings to the management of the club.
In the meantime the PGA is offering to help clubs find the perfect match from short-listed applicants and to generate greater awareness of the wide-ranging roles that club professionals now offer. The move follows the dramatic changes in the profession over the last few years and an increasing focus for both private and proprietary clubs to run golf as a business.
As Sandy Jones, chief executive of the PGA explained, “The professional is arguably the most important member of staff in the golf club. Being at the ‘coal face‘, he or she is usually the first point of contact for members and visitors. Their expanding role is now one that operates from dawn ‘til dusk, often 365 days a year, and it’s therefore vital that clubs make the right decision when it comes to recruitment.”
Phil Weaver, PGA chairman and head professional at Coventry Finham Golf Club added, “The importance of matching the professional’s skills to the club’s expectations is essential, in terms of their management role and marketing function for the club, as well as in providing services to members and visitors in terms of teaching and retail merchandise.
“This latest initiative from the PGA is set to change the way clubs review the role of their professional and reinforces the value of having the right person in place at the right time.
“It will also help clubs to clarify their needs,” added Phil Weaver, “as no two clubs are the same and often have to rely on the expertise of a transient committee headed by the club captain. In view of the golf business management training that professionals now receive, there are merits to introducing a more integrated approach between the PGA pro and the club.”
For further details, visit www.pga.info to tune into Tony Adamson’s exclusive interview with Sandy Jones and Phil Weaver.
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