Project Wrap Up

     I was inspired to do this project due to my love of golf. It was also a great experience for me before I head off to college to continue studying golf management. My goal was to experience first hand all of the responsibilities that come with each position at a golf course. I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to do so. I believe that everything went as expected and I was able to learn a lot from my experiences. It definitely confirmed to me that I am extremely interested in this field, and I am excited to continue learning more next year. I worked extremely hard and I was flexible in doing whatever job was needed from me on a day to day basis. My only wish was that I was able to visit the course at a busier time. There was a lot of action in the mornings, but not a ton for me to do in the afternoons due to how busy the course was. I appreciate that my mentor tried to have me come in during the busiest times of the day, whether that was the morning or for the afternoon leagues or tournaments. I learned a ton of different things. Most of the things that I learned came from learning about the head professionals responsibilities. Much of my work with the starters and cart staff was physical work. I did learn some things but not as much as working directly with Matt. He spent a day with me going over all of the responsibilities that he has as the head professional. This includes overseeing all of the staff, and coordinating with them what he needs. For example, if there is an early tournament, he must coordinate with maintenance and tell them what time he needs the greens and fairways cut by. He must also coordinate with the kitchen staff to tell them when to begin preparing food. We also went over budgeting and how much he is allowed to spend in each area of the club. For example, he only gets 3,000 dollars to spend on range balls per year. He told me that the previous pro had vastly overbudgeted on merchandise which created a backup in inventory. They had too many things to sell so they could not order more before getting rid of it. They had a hard time because they had sunk so much of their budget in inventory. We also went over how he chooses to price the items that they are selling. He said that he needs to see a 35-40 percent difference in the cost of the item to what they are selling it for. I also learned a lot about how to satisfy members and what you need to do to do that. You must hold events and new things that will keep the members interested. There is also an element of people pleasing that is necessary to become a head professional. When targeting people that are semi-interested in joining the club as a member, you must sell the golf course and facilities to them. You are trying to gain their business, so you need to market to them. I do not believe that Hawken would be able to partner with Palmetto Pine in the future, unless there was a student in the same situation as me. Otherwise, the club is in Florida, and it would not make much sense. My advice to someone planning a Hawken project would be to pick something that you are genuinely interested in. I looked forward to coming in every day which made my project so much more enjoyable. I was surrounded by great people who welcomed me from the first day. I have a great appreciation for all of the people that I met at Palmetto Pine. I want to especially thank Matt for letting me work alongside him, and for teaching me all he knows about the industry. It was a great experience that I will never forget!