I find it so helpful in what we’re trying to accomplish at the PGA of Canada to follow closely what all of the zones are doing.
For example, I’ve talked to many people across the country about best practices and it’s very enlightening. The more we talk, the more we read and the more events that I attend, the more I learn. I was just at consumer shows in British Columbia and Toronto and I’ll be in Alberta next week.
Our mantra is to be world class. We don’t want to stay still and we can’t be satisfied to just move it up a notch. I want to move it up five notches, but that means thinking differently than in the past.
Learning from one another includes other associations outside those for golf professionals. Earlier this week, I was at the Canadian Golf Course Management Conference in Quebec City and before that, I was happy to give a speech to the Canadian Society of Club Managers, who do a lot of information sharing.
The same goes for that National Golf Course Owners Association and Golf Canada. I spend a lot of time with CEO Laurence Applebaum and I really feel that golf associations in Canada are in a great position and every association is at the table and not afraid to share.
I was blessed to be at the PGA of America AGM recently and I also attended the USGA AGM and we take things that we pick up there and bring them back to our associations.
It doesn’t just have to be golf businesses that serve up ideas. We might see something that works well in the electronics business and think about how we can bring that back to the golf business and apply it specifically to our industry.
Maybe it isn’t possible for whatever reason or it might cost $10-million to implement and be cost-prohibitive, but it’s worth considering and perhaps even holding on to for the future.
I make notes all the time about things that I see in traditional and social media that offer any idea about how to make our association better.
That idea may come from unexpected sources.
