World Golf Teachers Cup
October 23-26 26, 2007
Nevada, USA

ARE YOU A
True Professional?
By Ajay Pant
USGTF Contributing Writer

Over the years, I have had the opportunity to observe golf pros at various clubs and academies all over the country. There are a number of good, even great teachers. Then there are the select few that I term “true professionals.”

True professionals are not necessarily the highest skilled players of the game; however, this group makes me proud to tell people I am a teaching pro. True professionals dispel every stereotypical negative myth about our profession and are ambassadors for our sport. I have listed some qualities that are necessary for a candidate to be a true professional.

Talks With, Not To, Club Members and Clients
A true professional greets and speaks with all members, whether or not they are taking lessons from him. True professionals make others feel important. They remember little details that make people feel good. For instance, a true professional may say, “So Jane, tell me how is Joshua (her grandson) doing?” True professionals genuinely care about people, members and clients and it shows in how they speak with them. They have no ulterior motive. They are not directly selling anything.

RETURNS PHONE CALLS
True professionals return telephone calls within 24 hours. This may sound like common sense, but in a lot of cases it does not happen. Sure, we all say we should do it, but then come the excuses. I use the analogy of a second serve in tennis. Either you get the ball in the correct box or it is a fault. No excuses!

RESOLVES CONFLICTS WELL
Understand that conflict can be a good thing and must be resolved in a win-win fashion. This applies to conflict both on and off the golf course. It’s easy to be nice, but you must be nice and be able to resolve conflicts. This requires a sense of balance and diplomacy. A true professional is an expert at resolving conflict. In fact, some are so good at it that they actually look forward to the challenge!

MASTERS TIME MANAGEMENT
True professionals are masters of time management. They do not take the path of least resistance or make excuses. “I did not finish the assignment because play on the course was too slow today,” is not something you will hear from a true professional. A true professional plans his work and works his plan. They respect the value of other people’s time and do not waste it.

Some top time wasters are:

• Not prioritizing daily, weekly and monthly assignments.
• Not attaching a time frame to how long you will spend on a specific task. An example is planning to work on a golf report, which will take a full hour, between a lesson that finishes at 10 and another that starts at 11am. This is a recipe for disaster. First, after your lesson, it will take 10-15 minutes to get back to your desk. By the time you’ve checked voice mails and said hello and been disturbed by colleagues (yes, plan on that!) it will be 10:30. Not enough time has been allotted to complete the hour long task. Why not plan to work on this report at 7-8am, before the day and all the interruptions that come with it begins?
• No organized filing system. A sure sign of this is a lot of paper and post-it notes lying all over the desk.
• Saving the least appealing task for last or doing unimportant tasks just to avoid tackling it. My mother used to say, “Do what you dread first and then there will be nothing to dread.”
• Gossiping with students and fellow teaching professionals. I am not suggesting you become anti-social; however, if you are still talking about that 300-yard drive you hit in a local tournament in 1980, you might need some help in this area.

MAKES EDUCATED, LOGICAL DECISIONS
A true professional has the ability to make intelligent decisions. Specifically, they understand the decision making process including: • THINK before making a decision. There is conclusive data to support my theory that the mouths of several of my fellow golf teachers work independently of their brains.

• THINK before telling a student, “I can’t believe the range ball machine is acting up again. That’s the second time today. Management should really do something about that.”
• It is more important to be fair and respected than to be cheaply popular. Let’s face it – our students think we can walk on water just because we can teach them how to correct a slice. In our business, it is easy to be popular! Besides being popular, a true professional is respected due to his or her ability to make fair decisions.
• Write down the pluses and minuses of making a decision before making it public. Benjamin Franklin used to do this and just look at all the fair and wise decisions he made.
• Once you have made your decision, act on it! Do not procrastinate implementation!

IS COMPUTER LITERATE
True professionals have a basic working knowledge of computers, especially writing programs and spreadsheets. In this age, to not know how to create a spreadsheet with appropriate formulas is unacceptable. A true professional will also use computers for lesson plans, payroll, tournaments, e-mail, etc.

UNDERSTANDS A PROFIT AND LOSS STATEMENT
A true professional is able to look at the big picture beyond the confines of a golf course. He/she understands what it takes to make the club business successful. A true professional understands the following examples:

• A Friday night mixer with wine and cheese for a price of $25 per couple and a net loss of $400 is not a good idea, irrespective of how much the students would love the event. The students would like it even more if the price were zero!
• Private lessons make a club’s revenue-to-payroll ratio go up dramatically. Conversely, a group lesson will make this important ratio go down. If you want your business to succeed, keep revenue-to-payroll as high as possible.
• Teaching private lessons during prime time is a waster of prime time hours and hurts your bottom line.
• Contrary to popular belief, profit is not a bad word. Profit is what allows you to pay your mortgage and provide the best customer service for your members.

IS HUMBLE
A true professional is genuinely humble or has learned to hide his ego about his teaching and playing ability. A true professional does not talk incessantly about all the world-class players they have worked with. They do not name-drop, nor do they go on about whom they have beaten as a player. Rather they focus on the students and their progress. This is not to suggest that a true professional doesn’t have an ego. There is a distinction between a strong ego (good thing) and a big ego (not such a good thing).

A true professional is very secure about his or her teaching. When a student questions the logic behind a drill, the pro does not get offended. Instead, they see this as an excellent opportunity to show all the students that they, too, can question and even criticize without any repercussions. This is also a chance to show the student who raised the question that you really care and will spend time to explain. Using our sport science models, a true professional is a cooperative-style coach as opposed to a dominant or submissive style.

When a teaching pro is talking endlessly about his playing, I love to say, “It is obvious you are a very skilled player. It seems strange I have not seen you on television lately.” The point is that a true professional does not let his playing ego get in the way of being an effective teacher. They should be able to empathize when a beginner is having trouble holding the club properly.

A common thread with true professionals is they give credit to their students. If this sounds like an oxymoron, it is not. How often have you heard, “I taught Johnny consistency off the tee, which is why he won the tournament”? You were merely the catalyst- you introduced the strategy and Johnny, once he bought into the concept, executed. Go ahead and take some credit, just give poor Johnny the bulk of the credit! I have heard teaching professionals make pompous statements like, “I am his only coach” or “I am responsible for his win.” It is entertaining to watch these same pros not take disproportionate (dis) credit when the student has a poor tournament.

True professionals are very secure with their teaching egos. They understand that the real challenge behind teaching golf is to allow the students to THINK on the course. This is the only way to unlock your student’s true potential, and that this disciplined thinking transcends the boundaries of a golf course.

True professionals enjoy, even love, working with all levels of play. Teaching beginners and low intermediates excites them. The logic is simple- this group will pay your mortgage and your kids’ college education. If you can make learning fun for them, they will take group lessons and join leagues. They will make new friends through golf lessons, leagues and socials. So, if you are waiting to work exclusively with that top player, don’t hold your breath. The irony is that most of us don’t realize the tremendous stress involved in working with elite level players. When the player’s ranking drops, sponsors and adoring fans disappear. The coach quickly becomes nothing more than excess baggage.

Many true professionals have even realized that teaching beginners is actually harder than teaching elite players. Let’s face it – we are unlikely to change Tiger Wood’s takeaway or position at the top. However, teaching a rank beginner the ten-finger grip can be a challenging job. I admire the true professional who takes a rank beginner and has him playing well and enjoying the game as quickly as possible.

A true professional lives by the rule: never speak poorly of another pro’s teaching ability, regardless of the circumstances. There are simply no exceptions to this! Picture this scenario: parents of a top-ranked junior tell their new professional how they want him to work with little Susie. Her current pro “really doesn’t know very much” and they have “heard many good things” about this alternative pro. The new professional responds with the cool, “You’re absolutely right. Gosh, that joker has destroyed so many careers. He couldn’t teach his way out a wet paper bag. Let me tell you about all the nationally ranked players I have produced…”

A true professional would respond with, “I am sorry to hear that Susie and her pro are not seeing eye-to-eye. Let’s see if I might be a good fit for Susie at this time.” Unless the other pro was arrested the previous night, and even then, say that you heard “good things” about him. Think about it. He is also a teaching professional and we owe each other this professional courtesy. Also, the prospective student and her parents will respect you more with the latter response because they will realize that they are now dealing with a true professional.

True professionals make lesson plans for all of their lessons. I am sure you can relate to teaching pros who take great pride in stating “the plan is in my head,” “I always wing it,” or my favorite, “I don’t need a plan.” Maybe the reason they don’t need a plan is because to paraphrase a famous saying, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.” Lesson planning is a must! Some true professionals even have a Plan A and Plan B for some lessons. They will also make their plans accommodate the personalities of their students.

SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF A TRUE PROFESSIONAL’S LESSON PLAN:

• Lessons have a theme and all themes are on a continuum. There is always a “big picture” goal, which is then broken into smaller weekly goals. As the adage goes, “Take small bites to eat an elephant!”
• Every lesson has drill-building built into the plan. The USGTF National Teaching Seminar is ideal for those who wish to increase their repertoire of drills.

True professionals have at least a rudimentary working knowledge of how other departments (membership, front desk, golf course pro shop) function. They realize that there is more to the business than going on the practice facility and teaching a lesson. Take some time out of your “teaching hat” and you will surprise yourself. Do you ever consider that someone had to cut and fertilize the fairways, fix the equipment, fill the water coolers, pay the electric bill and pay the staff before you even set foot on the golf course? Someone in the membership did a good job selling YOU and the golf program to join or get the potential customer to the practice facility. Get out there and start to understand how other departments come together to make you shine. Thank them and help them when you can.

True professionals have a consistent professional demeanor. This is something they work on just like a chip shot or bunker shot. It is not enough to have a professional personality; the real issue is to have a consistent professional personality. A true professional says, “Hello, how are you?” to all members all the time, not just on Monday morning. They treat all colleagues with respect all the time, not just when they are in a good mood.

So are YOU a true professional? Take the good ole “Mirror Test.” Look in the mirror and ask yourself the question. More importantly, answer the question honestly. Do not attempt to mask the truth with excuses. “I was too busy today to stop and greet John in the pro shop” is not the way a true professional thinks.

If you are managing other USGTF teaching professionals, ask yourself the more important question: “Am I setting the right example for my colleagues to become the best they can be?”

True professionals have an insatiable thirst for knowledge. They work toward their Level IV certification and in the USGTF continuing education program. A true professional attends the annual United States Golf Teachers Cup whenever possible. True professionals are always seeking ways to learn more and to become better teaching professionals. USGTF offers instructional videos and manuals to help you with your quest for knowledge. Call the USGTF National Office at 1-888-346-3290 or email to info@usgtf.com.

This article was written by tennis professional Ajay Pant. He is club manager at the Bannockburn Club in Bannockburn, Illnois. The USGTF felt that “Are You a True Professional?” was an appropriate article for golf teaching professionals as well as with some slight changes, the article was reprinted with permission from the TennisPro Magazine. TennisPro is the official magazine of the Professional Tennis Registry. Copyright 2002.