“ They do call it work for a reason. But I really do love it. It’ s something I always dreamed about. And the dream came true.”
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“ They do call it work for a reason. But I really do love it. It’ s something I always dreamed about. And the dream came true.”
— Mike Tate
“ I spent a month or two after we closed the restaurant doing nothing really,” Tate said.“ I guess I was trying to find a dream job in the golf business, for which I was supremely unqualified.”
Still, one of his old restaurant regulars knew one of the investors in a group that had recently purchased Bull Run Golf Club in Haymarket, a public course with a gorgeous layout at the foot of Bull Run Mountain that had been badly neglected under its previous ownership. Tate sent in a resume, and then spoke with the new head professional at the course, David Finocchiaro.
“ We hit it off,” Tate said.“ He told me he didn’ t have much available, but if I was willing, I could start off like anyone else— as a cart boy. It was minimum wage. You washed the carts, picked the range, got clubs out of people’ s cars, cleaned their clubs when they were done and made some tips. For me, it was perfect. It gave me something to do. And it was fun.”
That entry-level job did not last very long. Tate eventually found himself working at the front counter, checking in players, taking tee times over the phone and selling merchandise in the pro shop. And when the new owners of the course— Raspberry Golf Management— found out he’ d been in the restaurant business, he was soon asked to help out with the club’ s food and beverage business.
“ I told them I really didn’ t want to, but that I’ d do it for a year,” he said.“ Then it became another year. But I really enjoyed it. Some days I would come here to Bull Run, or work over at Raspberry Falls( in Leesburg). They had a course in York, Pa., and the Legacy Golf Resort in Phoenix, and I spent time at all those places. It was a huge change for me, but I loved it.”
Three years after he took that cart-boy job, there was an opening for the general manager’ s position at Bull Run, a 10-minute drive from Tate’ s home in nearby Aldie. This was a no-brainer, the very sort of“ dream job” he’ d envisioned when he left the restaurant business, and Tate jumped at the opportunity.
He was uniquely qualified in many ways, not only from his restaurant and cart-boy experiences, but as a golf consumer himself. During The Coach Stop’ s( pardon the expression)“ salad days,” Tate had joined Evergreen Country Club in Haymarket, a private facility only a few minutes down the road from Bull Run. In addition to getting his handicap into the high single digits, he also became an active member, serving on the club’ s board of directors.
“ I was on the golf committee,” he said,“ and I was able to get a peek behind the curtain of how a golf course operates. It was really interesting, and I had a great relationship with our head pro, Chris Hall.
The people working there were actually living the life I wanted to live, and it also helped prepare me for what I’ m doing now.”
What he’ s been doing in recent years involves a wide variety of responsibilities, including overseeing a staff that swells to more than 50 employees during the golf season. He works closely with all his department heads, handles personnel, focuses on generating more revenue, increasing the number of rounds and making sure the customer experience rivals just about anything a private club could offer.
When Tate first arrived at Bull Run in 2010, the course only recorded 15,000 rounds played a year. These days, it’ s up to as many as 33,000, and there have been increases virtually every year. Tate modestly credits his staff as well as the management at Raspberry Golf Management( which has seven courses under its corporate umbrella) for Bull Run’ s continuing success, and of course his leadership also has been a critical factor.
“ What I do is really not that much different from what I did at the restaurant,” he said.“ It’ s all about taking care of people and making them happy— your staff and the people who come here to play golf. It’ s not fun every day. They do call it work for a reason. But I really do love it. It’ s something I always dreamed about. And the dream came true.”
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vsga. org J ULY / A UGUST 2018 | V IRGINIA G OLFER 15