How to sustain a successful pro shop and a happy membership

27/06/2025

Having hit the bar on several occasions, PGA Member Steve White of Thurlestone Golf Club in Devon finally won the Foremost Member Professional of the Year award for 2024

With over 25 years of experience in the industry, White has picked up a wealth of knowledge on how to build and maintain a successful business, and how to engage with golf club members and visitors.

Here, White shares the key pillars that he lives and dies by in his work, and the secrets to his longevity.

Make sure everyone is having fun

We're in the entertainment business here. Everyone is coming here to have fun and if they're having fun, then they're going to want to stay longer, they want to play it more, and they'll want to spend money with you.

As a club professional, you always get the grumbly ones, but at the same time, everyone here is wanting to do this in their downtime, so it's important that we look after those people. For me, sadly, I don't play as much as I used to, but because of our membership demographic, if they're only down for two weeks a year, or a week a year, it's important that I'm here to meet and greet them whilst they're here, because they love it.

They come down here as they've got time on their hands and they end up having club fittings and having lessons, and they fully engage with Thurlestone, and it's quite a special place for a lot of people. If they're having fun, then they’ll keep coming back.

Evolving year on year is crucial

I could say I did this, and I did that. But the reality is, every year I have an evaluation of my business, and I look at what worked well, and what didn't work well. I do that every year.

That could be cutting costs. I've adopted the Foremost Point of Sale till system this year, and had a little bit of input into that and put some suggestions forward. I love the idea that they're building a system around their members.

I don't suppose I've done anything unbelievable in the last 12 months. I've been nominated in each of the last three years, so I guess I'm fairly steady.

I just keep evolving, and I want to do the best I can within the environment that I'm in. I haven’t and won The Open or anything in the last year! Or come on everyone's radar, and at the same time, I've not doubled my turnover either. But, I am getting better year on year in terms of growth.

The key is to keep learning. If you stop, then you're done, really.

- Steve White

Engage with members and be professional at all times

There are a number of PGA Professionals out there that I have a lot of respect for and I try and model myself on them. Being professional at all times is key to me and not being a bar fly, as it were!

If you're professional at all times, people have respect for you and if they've got respect for you, then that's the kind of image a PGA Professional should have. Otherwise, I think if you become one of the lads, or if you're playing for four days, then people might say he’s ever here and this is not happening and that's not happening. He's not engaging with the golf club.

Ultimately, traditional places want a Club Professional to engage within the club and its membership, and that's what they pay me for, and that's exactly what I do.

Understand your staff

Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and understanding the staff’s strengths and weaknesses can help you make good choices if you're replacing staff or recruiting staff. We were always renowned for being friendly.

Interestingly, I had a new assistant start with me at the beginning of last year, and he actually said to me, after the first three weeks when we sat down and had a review, he said, ‘I have to ask, are we expecting a visit from club 59 at any time soon?’

I said, ‘No, why do you say that?’ He just said about the way I am with everyone that walks through the door, and also the way that all the rest of the staff are. I said you never know who is going to walk through the door.

Previously, I've had job offers from people that have actually been captains of other golf clubs, and said we want you to come and work for me because it’s the best reception they've ever had to a golf club.

The secret to longevity is to keep learning

You've got to keep learning. That’s the key. If you rest on your laurels, or you stop learning, or stop evolving within the game, you have to try as best you can to be a step ahead of everybody else.

When club studios etc. were coming about, I jumped on that fairly early, so we did well off the back of that. This is why I like working with Foremost because they essentially are the eyes and ears of the industry for us as PGA Professionals. Consequently, they will typically identify an opportunity much earlier than we would down here in sleepy Devon.

This is why I love working with them. They think that the industry is going this way, and you can make your own call on that, but I think if you embraced even half of what Foremost did, every PGA Professional would be financially better off and within their own environment better off because their club would hold them in much higher esteem. The key is to keep learning. If you stop, then you're done, really.