Roaring Fork Club

18-Hole Private Facility

Positions

PGA Assistant Golf Professional

Roaring Fork Club was my first Assistant Professional position as a Class-A member. I applied for the job while I was still attending Clemson University. I heard of the position from a fellow Clemson Alum. I was a little hesitant at first because I had never been to Colorado before. However, I have to say this move was one of the best decisions I have ever made. A true hidden gem, I worked under Greg Bryan, who has groomed me into the Golf Professional I am today. I value his friendship and mentorship and everything he taught me during my time at Roaring Fork Club.

PGA Professionals I Worked With

May 2015 - November 2015

May 2016 - November 2016

May 2017 - November 2017

Head Golf Professional

Greg Bryan

Assistant Golf Professionals

Tyler Van Kooten

Penn Saad

Amy Nordeen

Eric Nelson

Dane Olson

Dillon Reynolds

Geoff Bisi

Craig Corcoran

PRO SHOP RESPONSIBILITIES

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

Working in this prestigious Pro Shop was an incredible experience for me. I was able to acquire experience in all facets of the Pro Shop and this would become very valuable in future positions. One main task was receiving stock and special orders. Using Jonas Software I would receive, price off of the invoice and ensure all product was received that was ordered. If it was a special order the member was then contacted. At the end of the season I learned that RAs can really make an impact on the bottom line as credits were applied to the account for certain product that we could send back to certain companies. This would require inventory and communication with the company representatives, along with packaging and shipping the product back. Pro Shop inventory was counted at the end of every month. This was important as we were able to stay on top of the product on hand and lower our costs of good sold.

DAY-TO-DAY OPERATIONS

Day-to-day operations included, but were not limited to, Visage GPS, monitoring pace of play, answering phone calls, performing point of sales using Jonas Software, checking in guests for golf, organizing caddie chits that the members would sign following play, managing merchandise displays and Fly Shop. Visage GPS was a great tool in a magnitude of ways. I got my feet wet with this software and learned about all the resources it can perform. This skill was highly valuable as I would go on to use it at Ocean Reef Club and Medinah Country Club. Monitoring pace of play was important and we used a multitude of resources such as Visage GPS and rangers to make sure pace of play was smooth and there were no issues. Jonas Software literacy was enhanced and with Medinah Country Club putting Jonas Software into effect for the 2020 season I will be prepared to use its resources. Fly Shop was a unique experience for me. Booking trips and selling merchandise in the Fly Shop were areas I was often involved in. Not knowing anything about fly fishing when I first arrived I was put into situations that forced me to learn. Fly fishing ironically has become one of my new favorite hobbies and I was in a situation that allowed me to learn and excel from some of the best Fishing Guides in Colorado who were based out of Roaring Fork Club.

MERCHANDISING

One of my main responsibilities was merchandising. Our Pro Shop consisted of not only golf merchandise, but fly fishing merchandise as well. Not knowing a thing about fly fishing going into my first season, I was nervous. However, over the years I have grown to love fly fishing and learned a lot. The golf side of the shop consisted of approximately 75% of the total shop space. Consisting of primarily Peter Millar, we purchased our merchandise to fit the demographic of our membership. Our membership is a very laid back, casual group of people so we sold a ton of Peter Millar button downs. When it came to soft goods I was primarily responsible to setting up eye-catching displays and selling the product. Above you will see a slideshow of some displays that I hand crafted over the years.

SHIPPING LOGISTICS

A huge part of the Roaring Fork Club Pro Shop operation was shipping logistics. Accounting for nearly $35,000 of revenue, shipping played an unpredictably critical role in the Pro Shop's bottom line. In charge of FedEx and Shipsticks operations, I had to be extremely organized and set up a system that made sure members got charged for shipping services so that we were not losing money from it. To the right you will see a form that I used for Shipsticks. This was helpful if I was not around so the rest of the staff could make sure everything was accounted for. A big part of the 2017 season involved our Scotland Trip. Greg Bryan took a group of 36 members on the Royal Scotsman and the majority of the members used Shipsticks. It was my responsibility to stay in touch with our Shipsticks representative, Chris Gilkey, and ensure all bags were properly tagged with the correct customs paperwork for international shipping. Ultimately, all bags made it safely to and from Scotland and from course to course. This task was very time consuming and required a lot of organization and communication between the members, Greg Bryan and Chris Gilkey.

STATISTICS

From 2015 to 2017, Roaring Fork Club showed a 15% increase in soft good sales
From 2015 to 2017, Roaring Fork Club showed a 35% increase in hard good sales
In 2017, Roaring Fork Club was awarded as the Colorado PGA Section Merchandiser of the Year in the Private category

WINSTON COLLECTION

My first season in the Pro Shop at Roaring Fork Club I noticed that we were not doing too well in selling headcovers. Being a hot commodity in Golf Shops around the globe, I felt we needed to improve this. After three seasons of working with Andrew from Winston Collection I was able to get stock orders into our Pro Shop, manage special orders and increase overall headcover sales by 20% from 2016 to 2017. 2017 was the first year we sold Winston Collection from stock. Our 2016 sales from Winston Collection were all through special orders. Even though this process was only for selling headcovers, I feel that this experience taught me how to work with vendors. It provided me with invaluable retail experience that I will use down the road.

INSTRUCTION

TEACHING

Over my three seasons with the club I increased the amount of instruction I provided for the membership each year. My first season at the club I did not teach a whole lot as I was new to the Class-A Assistant Golf Professional role. Every year the number of lessons I gave grew and I only became more comfortable on the lesson tee. Much thanks goes to the incredible Professionals that I was able to shadow during my time at Roaring Fork Club.

SHADOWING

Our Teaching Professionals, Mike and Sandy LaBauve are one of the best if not the best duos of instructors at any club. They were very willing to share their knowledge of the game and went way out of their way to help the Golf Professionals. I took a lot away from what they had to say and their methodologies. Not only did their willingness to grow my understanding of the golf swing benefit my teaching, but their close friends Roger Cleveland and Mike Shannon made multiple trips to the Roaring Fork Club and provided instructional series for our membership. I was fortunate enough to shadow these series and take a lot away from them.

TOURNAMENT OPERATIONS

Tournament operations accounted for the majority of my time at work. I was responsible for setting up and administering Ladies Days. I was also heavily involved in the administration of other major events and you will see a description of those below. Below you will also see a slideshow of scoreboards and other pictures related to some of the tournament operations that I was engaged with at Roaring Fork Club.

LADIES DAYS

After being promoted my first season, the next two seasons I had the pleasure of running the Ladies Days at Roaring Fork Club. Ladies Days at Roaring Fork Club were fairly small weekly events, averaging 16 participants per event. They signed up in the locker room next to the previous week results on the bulletin board. This was a great experience as it gave me time to prepare on a smaller scale so that I was ready to work at Ocean Reef Club and organize all of the Men’s Golf Association. I improved my Microsoft Office and Event-Man literacy while working at Roaring Fork Club through tournament facilitation.

CUTTHROAT CLASSIC

The Cutthroat Classic is our Men's Member-Guest and the crown jewel of golf events at Roaring Fork Club. This 168 person event was a four day event that featured many tasks. Helping in all facets of this tournament over three seasons really gave me an idea of what it takes to run a great event. From tee gift selection to the functions and other small contests this event had it all. Some skills I improved on through this event was Microsoft Office, Event-Man, interdepartmental communications, logistics, scoring and much more. Below are some documents that were crucial to the success of the event.

MEMBER-STAFF

A fall and spring Member-Staff was an awesome part of the tournament schedule for overall staff morale. With over 100 players each event we rotated who would play and who would administer the event. I was responsible for the organization of the event three times and this required a few tasks. First of all, Event-Man was used in all aspects of this scramble format and there were a ton of changes. Organization was key as some employees needed rental sets and we need to evenly split up members and staff to make the teams fair and competitive. During play I had to budget based on the number of members who played as they had an entry fee. This budget is where the boxed lunches and prizes came from. In the end, prizes were handed out, results posted in the locker room and everyone enjoyed themselves. See below for some documentation to give you an idea of what went into these events.

MEN'S DAYS

Our weekly Men's Days would take place every Friday morning with a different format that included skins. I would help our First Assistant facilitate these, but had the pleasure of playing in more than half of them. This was a great way for me to really build relationships with the membership. These Men's Days were anyway from 40 to 80 participants on a weekly basis.