The Golfdom Files: Confessions of a club pro

By |  December 16, 2014 0 Comments

Screen Shot 2014-12-03 at 11.47.07 AMGolf: it’s not an easy gig. In the May, 1967 issue of Golfdom, an anonymous club pro was given the opportunity to let it all out about the trials and tribulations of his job… the fickle members, the small salary, the lousy hours… nothing was off-limits in this three-page, first-person essay. And yet, the club pro still loved his job, despite catching constant grief from his wife. We present an excerpt of the story here. To read the full version, visit golfdom.com/exclusive.

Despite having every member — and his wife — as his boss, the life of this professional is not without its compensations.

A professional at a private golf club has the toughest of all the sports jobs. I ought to know — I’m one and I love it.

The number of bosses a pro has is only limited by the membership, for his boss is every member — and his wife. He has to make a year-round living for his family in an active season that’s only five to seven months long at clubs in the Central and Northern states.

He and his family has to live on a scale that will be a credit to the “class” of his members and their club. But if he, his wife or children, happen to have something better than an envious member, better look out! Club officials change often, and the pro can become the victim of club politics.

Frankly, professionals haven’t always been intelligent in dealing with the risk. They’re inclined, for example, to pretend they’re making more money than they actually are. Officials of their clubs see the total of charge tickets for pro-shop merchandise and lessons in club books, and may assume that the pro is making a big income for six months’ work. But I’ve never met a club official who came within 20% of guessing a professional golfer’s expenses of doing business.

Why, my laundry and dry cleaning bill alone during summer usually represents the gross profit on the sale of at least ten sets of clubs. Many a summer day I’ve had to change clothes three times. The members expect me to be immaculately groomed. That costs money — as my wife well knows when she tartly compares the extent of her wardrobe with mine.

How easy are the hours of the professionals at his club? He’s on the lesson tee by 9 a.m., after having checked over operations in his shop and briefed his staff…

…At night I go home dead tired. The kids are in bed. My wife asks if there was a big crowd today. There was. They are paying to have fun and they’re having it. That’s great for them and for me. That’s my business.      

 

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