PGA Professional Kieran Blackshaw recounts his journey from organising golf days at Cuddington Golf Club in Surrey to his new role as Golf Experiences Manager at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai, home of the DP World Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship.
What has been your career path in golf to date?
I started out my golf industry career in 2015 working at my home club, Cuddington in Surrey, where I was fortunate to work a hybrid role of office assistant and Assistant PGA Professional. While completing my PGA training, I learnt how to organise golf days, social events, competitions and enroll members.
After a five-year spell at Cuddington, I moved to Stoke Park Golf Club in February 2020, where I got to work outside as an Operation Supervisor providing services based on the 59 Club criteria in a high-end resort environment. I also worked as a coach at the club’s academy, teaching members.
Just over 14 months later, Stoke Park effectively closed its doors under the new ownership, so I moved to Moor Park Golf Club as Membership Manager in April 2021. The role evolved into Golf Operations & Membership Manager during delivery of their centenary year, which kept me very busy, but was also very rewarding in terms of expanding my experience.
How did you hear about your current role at Jumeriah Golf Estates in Dubai and what attracted you to apply?
I found an advert for the position on LinkedIn and applied by email. I had three interviews over Microsoft Teams, the second one requiring a 20-minute presentation on how to train the team to enhance service levels. I started the job in July last year.
I wanted to work overseas to get a greater understanding and experience of the level of service standards that are provided and required at world-class venues like Jumeriah. The idea of working to deliver the very best service and learning how things are done differently I thought was important for my overall growth.
What do you see as being the most challenging parts of your job?
Having a much bigger team makes it harder to spend time with everyone to help their own personal development, but I try as hard as I can to keep up with them all individually. And having a much higher budget is a new challenge in itself to provide the best service!
How easy has it been to settle into life in Dubai?
The initial move took a while sorting out, getting a visa and identification papers sorted out, driving license, finding an apartment, all while adapting to the new job. But since that, things are more settled. The cost of living is much higher over here, which has required a few lifestyle changes as well.
Have you had any mentors during your career or people who you have been able to lean on for advice? If so, who and what have you learned from them?
Paul Schunter, the director of golf at Cuddington, has been a huge mentor to me for the past nine years since I first started working in golf. He guided me through my PGA training and was forever exposing me to new learnings on the job across club operations, so I learned a lot under his tutelage. All my career moves to date have been with his advice.
Wesley Cooper and Amy Yeates were also able to help me learn different styles of management and give further career advice during my time at Moor Park. Amy, who was the CEO and was also on the GCMA board, was a great fount of knowledge, while Wes, who was the general manager, consistently gave me the right advice over my two years at the club to develop my own personal skills.
