“It opened my eyes to how much a golf club has got to do to keep themselves alive,” said Frances, reflecting on his initial office experience. “When you are a golf pro, it’s very much retail, shop, repairs, business side of it. But I wanted to know a bit more about the integral parts of a golf club – the day-to-day running of it basically. Through my time at North Middlesex where I was taking on roles left, right and centre, I think I fell into that category into quite easily.”
Learning on the job has been key. But Jack also outlined how that the education provided by the PGA Foundation Degree course has given him a great framework for a career within different elements of the golf industry.
“Through the Foundation Degree you learn a lot,” he said. “It’s good that it’s split into four different sections: sports science, custom fitting, teaching, business. You do tend to find what you like. My favourite part was the business side of it. I think that’s really held me in in good stead going forward in this job.”
The golf operations supervisor role is a new one for Frances – and Hadley Wood. It has been created to work externally, as well as with the club’s existing stakeholders. There’s a marketing aspect to the position and Frances is involved in what he refers to as “community outreach programmes”, connecting with local schools and other sectors of society in the vicinity.
While fulfilling the brief in terms of his new job is taking up much of Frances’ attention, there will still be room this season for his love of competition golf. Often competitive on his outings in the East region, he has recorded pro-am successes in each of the last two years. He’s also been victorious in the Searles Spring Classic and plans to launch his tournament programme at the same event (April 26-27, Hunstanton, King’s Lynn).
