What does your new role involve?
The main part of my role is to improve the customer experience for the members and visitors. To make sure I have a constant presence and enhance their time at the club. Everything from ensuring there is a world-class custom fitting experience on offer to course and club satisfaction.
The second part of my role is a very clear instruction - I’ve got to help get the handicaps down at Bramshaw. I’ve got to make the members better at golf. I was very fortunate to train under European Tour Coach Jason Floyd in Spain in my early twenties. I was always taught to give the very best customer experience. So doing everything at a slower pace, rather than rolling people in and out of the door. That’s the remit I’ve got here with the teaching. Do things the correct way rather than the quick way.
How different is it to your previous one?
I’ve held a variety of job roles in my career, everything from running my own coaching studio, to working at a busy driving range and also at Reading GC, a members club. I was also lucky, early on in my career, to work over in Spain under European Tour coach Jason Floyd. That entire role was teaching. So my background is quite wide-ranging and varied. I’ve tried to tick off everything. I’ve always tried to take something from every kind of experience.
How does it fit into your career path?
I always wanted to be a Head Professional at a top prestigious golf club. That’s why I’ve done the previous roles I was in. Always with this end goal in mind. My view was that if you are going to lead something then you need to understand every part of it.
How’s the new job going?
I am enjoying the flexibility the club have given me. Bramshaw are quite happy for my role to be a little bit unscripted, I guess you could say, and to focus on that all-important member interaction. What that means is I’m out on the golf course talking to the members, seeing where we can help improve their enjoyment of their golf. From that perspective it’s very different to any role I’ve ever had before.
I understand that there is a lot of investment going into the club?
Yes, we have a brand-new golf studio being built. That was a big part in attracting me to Bramshaw. I could see that everything was on the up. They have spent a lot of money updating the course, they are building a brand-new balcony for the members and they also recently re-did the inside of the club house. There’s a new shop and a health suite also. The positive changes are attracting new members from slightly further away because they can see that this is a club going somewhere. The average age is coming down rather than going up. We have a young leadership team. We are all on board and working together in the right direction.
Now I’m at a club that is run as a business but we want the members to feel like they are at a private members club. Feel like everything we do is for their benefit. A society coming here will bring money in that will be invested back into the members club. The big difference in my role is that there are zero shop hours. I’ll be overseeing the shop with my name above the door, how I want it to look and the service I want it to be, but I won’t be in there booking tee times and regrouping clubs. They think they can utilise me better.
When I first started teaching in Spain we had very high-end clientele. Those customers were given the exact same experience that we would give to a tour pro. I always though that that was the best way to view every single person. Have the tech available for them. Customer first, rather than rolling people in and out of the door. That’s the remit I’ve got with the teaching here as well.
Everything is done at a slower pace. We do everything the correct way rather than the quick way. We have two assistant PGA Pros going through their first year of training. So part of my job is to mentor them. Training them through the fitting processes, how you should be at a golf club with members. Helping them with any coaching questions. Then long-term overseeing them while they develop.
From the small little details like custom fitting with them. My background has been custom fitting for all the leading manufacturers over the years. I also work with Trackman. So a lot of my time will be focused on giving a world-class custom fitting experience. I worked at the European Fitting Centre for Titleist in Spain and I then went from there to working at a very busy driving range back in the UK that stocked every brand under the sun. I also worked as the main fitter at a members club, under a few different brands. So I’ve had that experience of fitting alongside all my coaching roles.
The second part of my role is a very clear instruction, I’ve got to help get their handicaps down at Bramshaw. I’ve got to make the members better at golf. When I first started teaching in Spain we had very high-end clientele. Those customers were given the exact same experience that we would give to a tour pro. I always thought that that was the best way to view every single person. Have the tech available for them. Customer first, rather than rolling people in and out of the door. That’s the remit I’ve got with the teaching here as well. Everything is done at a slower pace. We do everything the correct way rather than the quick way. We have two Assistant PGA pros at Bramshaw going through their first year of training. So part of my job is to mentor them. Training them through the fitting processes, how you should be at a golf club with members. Helping them with any coaching questions. Then long-term overseeing them while they develop.
How different is it to your previous one?
I had my own coaching studio. I have also worked at Reading Golf Club, a members club. My background is quite wide-ranging and varied. I’ve tried to tick off everything. I was lucky, early on in my career, to work over in Spain under European Tour coach Jason Floyd. That entire role was teaching. We didn’t have a shop. I then went to a very busy driving range, a very big contrast, then into a members club. I’ve always tried to take something from every kind of experience. Now I’m a club that is run as a business but we want the members to feel like they are at a private members club. Feel like everything we do is for their benefit. A society coming here will bring money in that will be invested back into the members club. The big difference in my role is that there are zero shop hours. I’ll be overseeing the shop with my name above the door, how I want it to look and the service I want it to be but I won’t be in there booking tee times and regrouping clubs. They think they can utilise me better.
How does it fit into your career path?
I always wanted to be a Head Pro at a top prestigious golf club. That’s why I’ve done the previous roles I was in. Always with this in mind as the end goal. My view was that if you are going to lead something then you need to understand every part of it. What did you learn from working at a driving range that you could bring in to a members club? What did you learn from a private members club.
What do you hope to achieve in the role?
The key thing at any golf club is member retention and getting more members. I’m a huge believer that quality will attract people, rather than price-driven. So rather than a race to the bottom, it’s a race to the top. We want to be the best one in the area. Known for being a really nice place to come to. That target market. I”m quite driven as a person. Details matter. I have a young team here at Bramshaw, but everyone is thirsty to make change. Don’t tread water. Always try and get better and improve. Year-on-year, month-on-month, week-on-week, day-on-day. What can we do that makes a difference? I’ve also got to drive the profitability of the club. Again my plan is to do that by offering a quality service. For instance, when it comes to the custom fitting, knowing that when you walk out there isn’t a debate over the clubs you were suggested. It should be very clear. This is what I’m gaining. If you get quality results advertisement takes care of itself. Its the same with coaching. It’s always been my view. If your friend starts beating you by four or five shots they’ll want to know how. You can’t keep it a secret for long.
Describe the application process.
It was quite streamlined. It was on the PGA website and I applied in the traditional way with an application and covering letter. They then relatively quickly asked me for an interview. I went along and it was quite a long interview in two stages. We went through an initial “do we think this would work” dialogue. I felt like we clicked very quickly. The big thing for me was that if I work for anyone, they have to have the passion for what they are doing.
As a coach I have a passion for teaching. I couldn't work for someone above me who didn’t have the same passion. The club knew exactly where they want to go. They quickly got my vision, so then we went into more details to make sure this was exactly what I wanted to do. They had looked for someone before and hadn’t found what they wanted, so rather than putting someone into that role for the sake of it they went now is not the right time, let’s wait.
All along they were asking me what I thought? What do I want at the club? Do I have ideas that are similar to theirs. Not that I have to do things differently, more do I see things the same way? Quality rather than quantity. For example they told me they had space to potentially build two small indoor golf studios or one large one. They asked me my thoughts and they matched up with theirs. There was a clear timeline about when the role would start and when they would notify me. They said within seven days I would know and actually within four days they called and offered me the job.
What advice would you give to fellow Members when applying for new jobs?
I learned as much as was physically possible about the golf club before I went along for that interview. So anything that was online I had read it. At the interview they mentioned something that had happened, that was public knowledge, but at the same time I had to find it. I was then able to say “my understanding is X” and they knew I had looked into it. I was prepared for the questions that they were coming at me with, rather than a deer in the headlights. I prepared for the interview in the same way that I would prepare if a tour player was coming in to work with me. I wouldn’t just ask “so what have you been working on for the last year?” I would know exactly what they’ve done in the last eight years, why did it not work? What’s their miss? What’s their patterns. So I would not be caught out by something that was readily available to me. I took a day off what I was doing before to go through every detail that I could find out. I planned for it so that when I came to interview I was prepared and I think that was visible to them. I’m meticulous. Details matter. I learned this very early on in my career. There aren’t many 23-year-olds who are able to sit in a room with tour pros, or ex tour pros, and give an opinion. I was told that because of my age, and because I was baby faced at the time, I had to be more planned, more organised. Show maturity beyond my years. You can never be too prepared for anything. It’s better to be over prepared than under prepared.
I believe that you have to fit. If you make a step that doesn’t seem right then it will always be a challenge. I drove away thinking “I want to work there” and I was hoping that they were driving away thinking the same thing - “I want that person to work there”.
