GBN University Podcast

In this episode, Col (R) Spencer Clouatre, PhD talks with Chief Operating Officer and Director of Golf at Plainfield Country Club, Scott Paris. This episode touches on the importance of hospitality and culture, measuring feedback from members, the significance of recon and intelligence in decision-making, and the value of creating an environment where employees feel comfortable sharing ideas. Scott talks through the unique career opportunities available in the golf industry for younger indivi...

In this episode of "Getting Better Now," Col (R) Spencer Clouatre engages in a dynamic conversation with Jason Prendergast about the journey of being dream driven and supporting others in achieving their aspirations. Jason shares his personal experiences and insights, guiding listeners through the multifaceted process of chasing a dream with numerous goals and milestones. Drawing from his own career path, Jason illuminates the challenges and triumphs encountered along the way, offering practi...

In this episode of “Getting Better Now” Col (R) Spencer Clouatre sits down with Tom Wildenhaus to discuss effective leadership in the golf industry. Drawing from personal experience and offering insights aimed at helping listeners understand the core principles of leadership. Tom emphasizes the importance of fostering a culture of excellence and continuous improvement within the industry. He provides actionable advice and lessons learned from his 40-year career sharing valuable guidance to as...

How do you gain buy-in when managing a large, organization-wide change? In this compelling continuation of the interview with CW Canfield from S10 EP02, Spencer talks about the mechanisms of appealing to logic and data, as well as being a leader who inspires your team to follow, even when the path is uncharted, rocky, or takes an unexpected turn. Great leaders apply the key mechanisms of psychology and rely on their team to make informed, sound decisions. Keep listening on for more practical ...

When change is on the horizon, what helps you weather the hurricanes and unexpected hurdles that sometimes cross your path? In this episode, Spencer and CW, both West Point graduates, cover the key elements that motivate staff to optimize scarce resources and navigate uncertainty with sound decision-making. What role does empathy and cooperation play in executing the master plan? Check back soon for the second portion of this compelling discussion.GBN is the leading private network for today'...

How do hospitality, golf, and leadership intersect? In this episode, Spencer and Phil Owenby discuss the nuances of creating a memorable customer experience that keeps people coming back time and time again, while remaining engaged with every member of your staff and making the most of the scarce resources we sometimes all face. GBN is the leading private network for today's most successful PGA Professionals. Exclusive events at premier facilities, vendor partnerships to grow your busi...

GBN University has launched the Leadership Accelerator program, the only leadership program developed by Golf Professionals FOR Golf Professionals. Registration is open to any PGA Professional or Associate but space is limited! Go to https://golfbusinessnetwork.com/gbnu/leadership-accelerator/ for more info and to grab your spot!Ryan Hawk is the host of The Learning Leader podcast, one of the most popular leadership shows in the world, and is now a best-selling author of two books...

Are you looking to hire team members on your golf staff? GBN's Recruiting Services make hiring easier with our best in class network of Golf Professionals that helps you reach deep into the market to locate your next staff member.Go to www.golfbusinessnetwork.com/recruiting to get started and get ahead of the competition.If you’ve been listening for a while, you’ve come to understand how important I believe leadership is to being a successful PGA Professional. In these times of lo...

Are you looking to hire team members on your golf staff? GBN's Recruiting Services make hiring easier with our best in class network of Golf Professionals that helps you reach deep into the market to locate your next staff member.Go to www.golfbusinessnetwork.com/recruiting to get started and get ahead of the competition.Welcome back for part two of my conversation with Seth Waugh, the CEO of the PGA of America. In part one we focused on a critically important topic for Golf Profe...

Are you looking to hire team members on your golf staff? GBN's Recruiting Services make hiring easier with our best in class network of Golf Professionals that helps you reach deep into the market to locate your next staff member.Go to www.golfbusinessnetwork.com/recruiting to get started and get ahead of the competition.In this season of Getting Better Now, we’ve talked a lot about the state of the golf industry. We heard from the Golf Professionals when we highlighted “The Club ...

Are you looking to hire team members on your golf staff? GBN's Recruiting Services make hiring easier with our best in class network of Golf Professionals that helps you reach deep into the market to locate your next staff member.Go to www.golfbusinessnetwork.com/recruiting to get started and get ahead of the competition.Most of you listening to this are working at golf clubs that are busier than they have been in a long, long time. Maybe even busier than ever before. Rounds...

Are you looking to hire team members on your golf staff? GBN's Recruiting Services make hiring easier with our best in class network of Golf Professionals that helps you reach deep into the market to locate your next staff member.Go to www.golfbusinessnetwork.com/recruiting to get started and get ahead of the competition.Seth Waugh came to the PGA of America after a highly successful career on Wall Street and most recently as the CEO of Deutsche Bank Americas. His love for golf an...

This episode is brought to you by GBN University. GBNU is where today's PGA Professionals come to grow their skills, advance their careers, and increase their bottom lines. Go to www.golfbusinessnetwork.com/gbnu for more info.Welcome to Season Eight of the Getting Better Now podcast!We kick things off with an important conversation about a topic you’re all too familiar with. There probably isn’t anyone listening that didn’t either read or hear about the Golf Digest article “...

One thing we could probably all agree on is that traditionally the golf industry is pretty resistant to change. Look at the way we staff our golf operations with a Head Professional and X number of Assistants. That’s been the model for as long as anybody can remember. Add to that the scope of the job for everyone on the staff from teaching some, running events, doing some merchandising, etc. It’s been the same for a long time. As we know we’re either in or approaching ...

It’s not often that we get to hear a conversation on the issues facing our industry directly from the leaders at the PGA of America. In the summer of 2021 I had the opportunity to record a conversation with Don Rea, the current Secretary of the PGA, and feel this conversation was definitely worthy of releasing again. This was a wide ranging discussion that covered the challenges of recruiting in our industry today as well as goal setting for your future, while profiling Don’s uniq...

For close to half a century as a PGA Professional, John Kennedy has supported, coached, and mentored people for a living. Whether it was his team of Assistant Professionals and other staff at the famed West Chester Country Club where he spent 26 years as the Director of Golf , the students he loved to help on the lesson tee, or bringing the game of golf to military veterans, he’s used his role as a PGA Professional to enrich the lives of others by helping them improve in both golf and l...

Whether it was managing golf course operations as a Superintendent or now heading his own consultant and search firm, Tyler Bloom has always been a problem solver. After working at some of the top clubs in the country as an Assistant Superintendent, Tyler landed his own job as a Golf Course Superintendent and spearheaded some innovative ways to address the challenges of recruiting and retaining people to his team. And now in the nearly two years since he left his position to start...

This episode is brought to you by GBN University, powered by Golf Business Network. GBNU is where leading PGA Professionals come to improve their skills, build their careers, and increase their impact. Go to www.golfbusinessnetwork.com/gbnuniversity for more info. The last time we heard from Kraig Kann on the Getting Better Now podcast, he was giving a keynote (or as he tells us he doesn’t do keynotes, he does experiences) at the Golf Business Network annual members meeting in la...

This episode is brought to you by GBN University, powered by Golf Business Network. GBNU is where leading PGA Professionals come to improve their skills, build their careers, and increase their impact. Go to www.golfbusinessnetwork.com/gbnuniversity for more info. Whenever you hear anyone talk about Caves Valley Golf Club, the first thing they’ll mention is the “experience”. From the moment you arrive throughout your round and after, the emphasis is on creating a lasti...

If you’re in a leadership role, there’s no doubt the spotlight has been shined on you to respond appropriately for all of the people that you impact. How should a good leader respond?What if you’re not in a leadership role yet but are hoping to be in one someday soon? Are there lessons you can learn from this crisis? Where can you focus so that when it’s your turn to respond, you have the answers?Thanks to our guest, Leadership Expert John Eades, we get the answers to these ...

In this episode we're joined by Jason Sutton, aka “The Golf Guru”, who is the Director of Instruction at Carmel Country Club in North Carolina and the host of the appropriately titled podcast, “The Golf Guru” show. But long before Jason was putting out 90+ episodes of his show, he was building a following online and developing his own brand, which as we talk about, has paid major dividends. He’s a personal development junkie and as we walk through his story, we find out how his com...

What’s your story? If someone asked you that, do you have an answer? How are you making an impact in the position where you currently serve? Are you confident that you’re truly making an impact? What are you doing to stand out from the crowd, so that someone might tell another person about you? Anything?Some of these may be difficult questions for you to answer. I know I didn’t have a great answer to all of them. For Kraig Kann, he’s on a mission to s...

As PGA Professionals, we’re in the business of “Growing the Game”. It’s a phrase we hear ad nauseam in our business. Grow the game at our facilities, in our Sections, and in our communities. So in order to do our job of growing the game, we develop programs for our members and customers that consist of clinics, lesson packages, golf schools, junior programs, beginner programs, the list goes on and on. However, we rarely ask the critical question. In our efforts t...

If you’re a typical Golf Professional that takes on a number of different roles and responsibilities, even if you love to teach, finding time to fit in golf lessons can be a challenge. Do you come in early? Stay late? Sacrifice time you set aside for other tasks and say yes to the lesson request? It’s a conundrum that we often fall into.And for a lot of Golf Professionals, the opportunity to teach provides one of the few chances to significantly increase their income. So we squeez...

It’s been said that you can’t grow personally or professionally without developing self awareness. Knowing how you’re perceived by others, what your strengths and weaknesses are, how you handle stress, and how you impact those around you, are just some of the elements of self awareness, that can go a long way in helping all of us reach enjoy success at work, and also at home.For Cameron Doan, the Head Professional at Preston Trail in Dallas, this pursuit of developing self awareness for...

In this episode, we dig into the ins and outs of the Head Professional interview process. This discussion is going to be a great resource for any of you listening that are either planning on interviewing for a Head Professional position or if you will be helping to coach an aspiring Head Professional through the interview process. We brought back Patrick Seither (Episode 001 & 003), the President and CEO of the Golf Business Network, to pick his brain about his experience running th...

In Part II of our interview with the President of the PGA of America, Suzy Whaley discusses what’s going to help attract young people to our business and the PGA’s recruiting efforts, while addressing the need for manager’s today to evaluate the hours and days that they require from their staff during the season. She continues with a discussion about the changes to the PGA education system and whether being able to select a specific career track will funnel too many young professionals ...

In this episode Clay Scroggins, author of "How to Lead When You're Not in Charge", walks us through the four behaviors that he’s pinpointed to be able to cultivate influence when you don’t have the title, while preparing you to succeed when the time comes and that title is yours. This truly is one of the most important episodes we’ve done, because this information isn’t really taught in our business, but it can really help aspiring leaders in our industry to improve and make an impact.&...

In many ways Suzy Whaley is just another Golf Professional. She struggles with many of the same challenges that PGA Professionals face every day. Parts of her story sound the same as many, many others. But on the other hand….Suzy is the head of the largest organization in sports, and not to mention, the first woman to ever do that. She holds one of the most powerful and influential positions in the game of golf. She’s a trail blazer. Not only has she played...

When times are toughest, we feel like work is controlling our lives. We feel it’s the only thing we have time for (and sometimes don’t even have enough time for) while everything else (family, friends, health, finances) sits on the back-burner until things “slow down”.It’s why most PGA Professionals will tell you either directly or indirectly that finding “balance” in this industry is elusive, if not impossible, but something they wish they had.If you've ever struggled with the challenges of ...

One of the most beneficial aspects of the Getting Better Now podcast has been the ability to hear unique insights from leaders both inside and outside of the industry. In this episode, we highlight some of our most popular guests and their advice for Golf Professionals as it pertains to furthering their careers. We learn from Jim Smith of the Philadelphia Cricket Club, Tony Pancake from Crooked Stick, Sports Performance Psychologist Bhrett McCabe, Cary Cozby of Southern Hills, and...

Jay LeDuc is a PGA Professional who’s spent over two decades in the golf industry and held positions running the gamut from Outside Services to Head Golf Professional. Now from his spot outside the industry running strategy and innovation for a luxury travel club, he’s giving back to his fellow PGA Professionals through his podcast, the PGA Jay Show, and wealth of content on multiple social media channels. Through this work, Jay’s been helping promote the usage of social media for...

In this episode, we’re back with part two of our conversation with the GM/COO at Medinah Country Club, Robert Sereci. Robert has profiled his “Top 10 Lessons They Didn’t Teach You in School” and in part one we covered 1-5. In lessons 6-10, we continue to discuss these critical success skills that can make or break your career.We get into the difference between coaching and mentoring, and why you need to stop just being a coach, as well as how putting the success of others first wi...

Welcome back to part two of our conversation with Cary Cozby, the Director of Golf at Southern Hills Country Club. If you missed part one, be sure to head back to episode sixteen and take a listen. We talked about his mindset when he heard his dream job was open and what steps he took during the interview process, and after landing the job how he’s managed to maintain his operation at the highest levels on a daily basis.In part two we discuss, among other things the Oklahoma Soone...

As young professionals working in the golf business, often times our focus is on developing the set of what I call “vocational skills” that are specific to our industry...the teaching, playing, merchandising and event administration skills, among many others that our jobs require from us.But as our careers continue to evolve, success or failure can hinge on a new and different skill set. Often referred to as soft skills, they should more properly be referred to as success skills. ...

Cary Cozby, the Director of Golf at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is likely the most decorated PGA Professional you will ever find. As a winner of 13 section awards plus the national Merchandiser of the Year award, his most unique and special recognition came in 2016 when he was named the PGA Professional of the Year, joining his father Jerry, the 1985 winner and the two became the only father/son duo ever to receive this national recognition from the PGA of America. &...

In this episode of the Getting Better Now podcast, we have the opportunity to learn from one of the most highly regarded sports and performance psychologists in golf today. Dr. Bhrett McCabe is the founder of The Mindside and works with numerous athletes from the PGA and LPGA Tours, NFL, NBA, MMA, and also serves as the sports and performance psychologist for The University of Alabama Athletic Department.In addition, he’s a golfer himself, a long time member at a private club in Alabama...

Most of us in this business are in agreement that when working at a club, it’s important to place a special focus on your ladies program and for the ladies that are playing golf at your facility. We also know that based on statistics, female golfers serve as a huge opportunity to bring players into the game both as beginners and as those that are interested in returning to golf after a long lay off. With this said, it can be a challenge to run new and innovative programs for your l...

Ever feel like you can't get away from your computer or phone during the day, because you're tied to an endless flow of email into your inbox? In this day and age, communicating with our members, customers, students, and vendors frequently takes place over email. Because of that fact, email can bog us down and keep us from getting other important tasks done throughout the day. In this episode, we detail six methods that productivity experts agree can reduce the strain...and ...

In this episode we kick off the new year with a throwback. For the next 60 minutes, you’ll have the opportunity to listen as, someone who most regard as the most successful and respected Golf Professional of our time, Bob Ford, and one of his many ultra successful proteges, Steve Archer, (who’s put together a phenomenal career in his own right) take questions from GBN President and CEO,Patrick Seither, and other Golf Professionals on topics ranging from building your career, what it tak...

Leader. It’s a term thrown around so often that it’s almost cliche. As PGA Professionals, we’re tasked with being leaders in the industry, leaders at our facilities, and leaders in our communities. But even with all this responsibility to lead, how many of us have ever tried to actually define what that means? How does being a leader fit into what we do everyday, and what do we have to do everyday to become the leaders that we all should be.Michael Haywood has taken th...

If you’re in a leadership position at your club, or aspire to be one at some point in your career, what if I told you there was one specific area you could focus on that would guide the thinking and behavior of the people on your team? One point of emphasis that’s effects would be felt throughout the entire operation. That would guide decision making, customer service, attitude, motivation and more?What is it?As we find out from our guest in this episode, that one thing is culture...

One of the phrases we hear all the time as Golf Professionals is something to the effect of “to meet or exceed expectations in every interaction”. It’s an admirable goal and certainly a worthwhile mantra if we want to succeed in our positions as Golf Professionals.But how many of us have taken the time to find out exactly what those expectations are? What questions should we be asking during an interaction to get clarity on what our members, customers, bosses, and club leaders rea...

Jim Smith, Jr. is the Director of Golf at the Philadelphia Cricket Club in Flourtown, PA. A Past President of the Philadelphia Section, Jim has been awarded that sections’s Bill Strausbaugh award twice, the Merchandiser of the Year award, as well as Golf Professional of the Year in 2005. Jim has become a “go-to” guy for career advice and operational insight. He has successfully guided many of his staff members on to their own Head Professional positions and continues to recr...

Have you had trouble attracting interns to your facility? If so, you're not alone. The market for seasonal labor at such an affordable cost is very competitive. If you're like some facilities, you might have just stopped trying.This episode has the potential to put you back on the right track to developing an attractive internship program at your club. We’re talking with Brian Soule, Assistant Director and Internship Coordinator at Penn State’s PGA Golf Management Program.&n...

Kevin Muldoon is the Director of Golf at the Jupiter Hills Club in Florida. During a successful stint as the Head Professional at the Country Club of York in Pennsylvania, Kevin was likely in a position that he could have remained in for years, maybe for his entire career.But as he tells us, his desire to continue his career progression and to expand his experiences, lead him to seek more. So, what was he doing to prepare himself for this new position where he’s doubled his levels of responsi...

When something goes wrong and you're faced with an unhappy customer, what do you do? More often than not, we explain why the situation happened, or tell them we understand that they're unhappy, or worse...we defend our actions and tell them that they're wrong.And how does that usually turn out?What about being polite and professional? That usually helps diffuse the situation, doesn't it? As it turns out, politely proving that you're right and the customer is wrong doesn't make him feel any be...

In this episode, we finish our interview with Tony Pancake, the Director of Golf and Operations at Crooked Stick Golf Club. In Part II, we discuss Tony’s path to Crooked Stick and learn his advice for young Professionals to set themselves up on a positive career track. We uncover the moment that he can pinpoint that seemed to set his career on a successful track, as well as how his definition of success has evolved over time. And at the end of the interview, he has some great advice for ...

Do ever feel like the constant ping of email and text messages are keeping you from getting your most important work done each and every day? Ever feel like it’s the only thing you do and that as a Golf Professional, your job is too centered around a computer screen and a cell phone? I know I do.In my conversation with today’s guest, Tony Pancake the Director of Golf and Operations at Crooked Stick Golf Club, we learn from a 30+ year Head Golf Professional how he’s managing the expectations o...

In this episode, we finish our conversation with Patrick Seither, the President and CEO of the Golf Business Network. He tells us what's happening with GBN and what services he's providing in the network to help solve some of the challenges that PGA Professionals face everyday.GBN is the leading private network for today's most successful PGA Professionals. Exclusive events at premier facilities, vendor partnerships to grow your business, education to increase your knowledge, and access to th...

Welcome to the Getting Better Now Podcast! In the first episode, we talk with Patrick Seither, the President and CEO of the Golf Business Network in part one of our two part conversation. Patrick talks about the route he took to end up in his current position and why he's passionate about helping his fellow PGA Professionals enhance their careers and their lives.GBN is the leading private network for today's most successful PGA Professionals. Exclusive events at premier facilities, vendor par...