‘There are so many non-golfers here and that's why we've got five PGA Pros to help them'

25/02/2025

Andrew Rhodes joined Keighley Golf Club just before his 21st birthday. He would stay at the West Yorkshire club for a remarkable 28 years, 20 of them as the Head Professional, before now moving to Express Golf on the outskirts of Bradford. Here, he explains why the time was now right for something different and the initial lessons he's learnt from working at the new facility.

How do you look back at your time at Keighley?

I genuinely loved it, I went and met a load of members and I left with a load of lifelong friends. Around 200 people were there for my leaving do and I was given Honorary Life membership of the club and some amazing vouchers. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, it was just that it was time for something new. Keighley's a great course and a great. club, just numbers wise it's struggled over the last few years. I had a 15-minute commute to work and there are half a dozen courses nearer to home so there are a lot of clubs competing for a relatively small market.

How did your time at the club evolve?

We used to have a full-time manager but then they left, so I took on various roles. They've recently advertised for a new manager, which is something that I fully support. So I was responsible for virtually all of the management of the golf aspects; all competitions, open days and visiting parties. And I would be working six days a week and a lot of my time was taken up in an administrative sense and I wasn't teaching enough.

I didn't have any indoor facilities and we didn't have a covered area for coaching so, for what felt like half the year, I wasn't in a position to subsidise any form of income. The three words I used to hear the most were 'can you just...' and they were all relatively small things but, cumulatively over a full week, I was facilitating other people and I wasn't concentrating on my own business.

How did you come across the role at Express Golf?

I had a conversation with Jordan Gibson who manages the facility. He mentioned that they were looking for a Professional and he came down to see me and I thought that it might be of interest. To leave Keighley and TGI Golf was a really tough decision as they've been absolutely phenomenal for me over the past 20-plus years. I actually wrote to everybody within their business, just sincerely thanking them for everything that they had done for me.

What's impressed you most since starting?

Firstly, the facilities are amazing. I've really enjoyed using the TrackMan custom-fitting room and the coaching facilities are very good. It's great being part of a team of five PGA Professionals too, four of which are fully qualified and one PGA Trainee. Also, the online presence has really ramped up in the past few years. It's a very, very well-oiled machine and it's an excellent business to be part of.

I've run my own business for a long time so, in terms of efficiency, management of the stock and displaying and merchandising of equipment, I feel like I can bring an awful lot to it. I've got a lot of knowledge as to what works and what doesn't work. I pride myself in being very efficient and balancing things to the penny every day and following any orders, inquiries, returns and repairs. I was very structured in how I dealt with that and so I've been able to implement elements of that into the structure of Express Golf. Now I'm working in the shop, fitting, coaching and I've actually started to pick my clubs up again. I've probably hit more golf balls and played more golf in the last two months than I have in the previous two or three years.

What has it taught you from a bigger picture of the game?

It is so different to a traditional members' club but it's also quite warming to see just how many people are interested in golf. There is an assumption that a certain type of person can be a member of a golf club but there is such an appetite for the game here. On an evening you can't move on the range and we have to have a one in, one out policy. The interesting thing is that there is such a mix of people, it's a very well-provided practice facility for established golfers but there are so many people who turn up that are non-golfers and that's why we've got five PGA Professionals to help them on that journey.

They've got Toptracer in all 30 bays and people come up here with a relatively old second-hand driver and they'll just try and get the numbers up as high as they can or they'll be playing Angry Birds on the screen or a simulation course. They're in jeans, trainers and they've got no recognised golfing etiquette whatsoever but they come up all the time, continually spend and enjoy the game of golf.

There's also a nine-hole academy course that circulates the facility and on a weekend nearly every tee time is taken and none of them are what you would call established golfers. The longest hole is around 320 yards but the vast majority of them are par 3s or short par 4s and people turn up, they pay £12 for their nine holes and, if they want to do 18 holes, it's £15. And they do it over and over again.

What would your advice be to the industry as a whole?

We need to find a link somewhere because this course is virtually full on a weekend but if any of the people who are playing it were to walk into a well-established club, the vast majority of members would look at them and comment that they've got the wrong shoes on or whatever. There's somehow got to be a link from this raw interest in basically whacking a ball with a stick to getting people engaged and, over a period of time, make them into golf club members. There are an awful lot of clubs in this area and there are potentially enough people to make each one of them thrive rather than going for the same type of people and competing against each other.

We'll look out on the range and see it full to brimming with people who are not necessarily the greatest golfers but they're here and they've taken a step through the door. So we need to properly engage with them and to help them stay within the game as there are so many other things that you can do with your own spare time. They've chosen to dip a toe into golf an, the more that we can do to help to keep them within the sport the better.