Five Strategic Questions Every Golf Club Manager Should Know
By Dr. Patrick J. Montana
USGTF Level IV Member and U.S. Golf Managers Association Course Director
From an historical perspective, golf originated in Scotland around the fifteenth century but reached America during the colonial era, and Americans began playing golf after the American Revolution. The earliest clubs were established outside of Scotland in 1766. Golf in the United States, while known to exist in the 18th century, did not catch on and it was in Canada that golf first established its roots in North America. The Royal Montreal Club was formed in 1873, the Quebec Club in 1875 followed by a golf club in Toronto in 1876. It wasn’t until 1888 that golf surfaced in the United States with the St. Andrews Club in Yonkers, New York. Thereafter, golf soared literally as a new national pastime in the United States. Shinnecock Hills was formed in 1891 on Long Island and by the turn of the century, more than 1,000 golf clubs had opened in North America. Today, there are approximately 17,000 golf clubs in the United States and an equivalent number worldwide. With many golf facilities and courses being constructed annually and the industry continuing to grow, there is a need for more qualified and effective golf club managers in the golf industry.
The United States Golf Club Managers Association is dedicated to training and certifying golf club managers nationally and internationally to effectively perform as golf club or golf resort managers.
In addition to learning the skills for implementing a Results-Oriented Management System, participants are first asked to think seriously about the five basic questions that are strategic in nature for their organization.
Peter Drucker, the late and famous worldwide management authority and a former colleague of mine, associates this process with a set of five questions which are applicable to any organization:
1) What is our business mission?
2) Who are our customers?
3) What do our customers consider value?
4) What have been our results?
5) What is our plan?
Once an organization has made decisions in these areas, it will have defined the scope of its operations, mapped its future direction, defined its overall relationship to its environment in terms of product/market scope, geographic boundaries, competition (including competitive advantage) and goals and objectives to be achieved. Any and all strategies should, in turn, offer clear and demonstrable opportunities to accomplish strategic goals and operating objectives through our system of Managing for Results.
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, 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.
