I’m probably playing half of what I used to play competitively a few years ago.
We have so many events at the club here that is tough to get away for many of the big events that go on around the country.
It depends on what roles people have in their jobs. Self-employed teaching pros make their own schedules and do what they want. That’s not going to change, but clubs these days are busier and trying to do more things, so they need staff to work.
Times are changing, but there are still enough people around here who play regularly. You have people who will claim playing is where they make their money, not teaching, and they’re teaching to be able to play.
You so get some clubs that want to use the success of a pro, promote it and market it, but when I won the 2008 PGA of Canada Club Professionals Championship, our regular players and staff were really happy about it, but my owner at Point Roberts over the border in Washington, said right away that I couldn’t have the week off to go play the Canadian Open.
I said, “Well, I’m going. Tell me if I’ve got a job when I get back.”
That was a once-in-a-lifetime thing that you dream about when you’re a kid, so I just said I’ll see if my keys work when I get back. I never heard anything more about it.
In your heart, you like to think that playing is important for a golf professional, but do members, boards and employers think that?
Not as much as they once did.
