How PGA Professionals can work effectively with club committees

How can PGA Professionals work effectively with committees?

11/06/2025

Industry expert, and PGA Member, Eddie Bullock is on hand with useful advice for PGA Members on how to build relationships with boards and committees

Who is the first person most golfers see when they arrive at the club? Yes, the PGA Professional has a pivotal role in every facility and that means they’re often in the most demand.

But with the role of the Professional changing, whether that’s moving from the traditional retained position to an in-house job, or whether it’s counterbalancing the need to service the needs of members and visitors while balancing a family life, it can be a tough role when they’re being pulled every which way.

Learning how to work well with the volunteers who keep golf clubs going, as part of their positions in boards and committees, is vital for PGA Professionals.

And few know more about the intricacies of club committees than Eddie Bullock. Eddie Bullock Golf Consultancy has become a first port of a call for golf clubs seeking management consulting and staff training services.

Combining up-to-date techniques, while valuing traditions, the PGA Member has helped countless clubs and employees tread a path to success that can sometimes be difficult.

Here, he reveals four little nuggets of advice that can help Club Managers better navigate the waters of the club environment...

Ensure boards understand the asset a PGA Professional is to the club

The board should always have a report from the Professional for every meeting and they should visibly attend at least once - if not twice - a year to give their views on the status of the club. They don't need to sit for the whole meeting. It’s to come in for half an hour and give their understanding.

That is important because everyone is part of the team. The board is a team and it is about cascading information. This where the Professional can help educate the board. They can ask to come into a meeting, to express their views on where they and the club are going, how they see the future, the trends that are emerging in the game of golf, and what the challenges could be in the future. That is vital.

Prioritise what is important in the deluge of committee requests

How can a Professional deal with the various requests they receive and the people that are pulling on their time?

We’ve seen Professionals over the years that have really embraced [requests] and really gone into the detail – ‘I’ll do that, I’ll do this’ – and it puts mental pressure on them.

PGA Professionals need to be bold: ‘This is where I’m accountable. This is what I’m going to do’. They've got to very clear about what their duties and what their roles and responsibilities are.

Otherwise, they'll get pulled from pillar to post. They do things and think, ‘once I do that, it starts a precedent’. Once you start a precedent in any business, expertise is going out of the window.

I don't want the Professional, or anybody that I am employing, doing things that is taking them away from the experience - whether that's a hospitality or a service experience.

Get to know every golfer – they are your next board and committee members

It doesn’t matter who it is. Get to know everybody. If someone is making a phone call, make sure they're phoning the pro shop.

That is the hub. It’s the golf hospitality service hub for everybody. When you walk into a good golf club, the professional is almost on a pedestal. They can answer every question, and they have this great peripheral understanding of what’s happening around them.

The work is important.

Know the Rules of Golf

Don't send a Rules query to a committee member. Don't send it to somebody else. I want the Professional to be an expert on every conceivable area appertaining to the golf experience.

They should be the rules expert. In fact, anything to do with golf, the Professional should be the expert. Don't send those queries to the Board or to the General Manager.

Though the General Manager might be a PGA Member quite equipped to talk about the Rules, I want the Professional to be able to grab hold and engage with each and every person who comes into their orbit. I want them to be the person to deliver that knowledge.