An inside look at the demanding and changing role of club pro
Club Pro
Evolu
by MICHAEL J . STOTT
An inside look at the demanding and changing role of club pro
O ccasionally , club professionals confess that the job they once loved has become the job they loved to hate or — at least for a while , a dream unfulfilled .
“ As golf pros , we put a lot of expectation on ourselves , and a lot are put on us ,” said Adam Relan , Director of Golf and General Manager at Bide-A-Wee Golf Course in Portsmouth . “ As a young pro , I worked an incredible amount of hours . I didn ’ t think I was burned out because I was still young . However , we ’ ve created a culture surrounding the job ’ s competitive nature that ’ s very hard to break — one that keeps people driving , and knowing there is always someone out there to replace you .”
“ The expectation in the past was [ that ] you work sun up to sun down and if the members didn ’ t see you , you weren ’ t doing your job ,” added Kevin Haney , Golf Professional at Spring Creek in Zion Crossroads . “ A golf pro was a dream job when I got out of college . Somebody who was looked up to , was pretty popular in the area ; they had a cool job where they got to play golf every day . Then you got into the industry and found out it ’ s not the case . We wear many hats : pick up range balls , wash carts , give lessons , are psychologists and teachers . We work a lot of hours , weekends when everyone else is off . They play and we get to watch .
22 V IRGINIA G OLFER | M AY / J UNE 2024 vsga . org