Pro Shop Experiences

bobmac said:
I'm guessing you've never worked in one?
So you arrive at the club at 7.30 on Saturday morning and you need a card and a yardage chart, maybe some balls and a mars bar.
You notice you've lost one of your spikes, or you want to hire a trolley or a buggy (who do you think cleans those). You find the tee has been closed for your society and the longest drive/nearest the pin signs are already out. Who do you go and see after 18 holes when you have a rules question (bear in mind the bar doesnt open till 11). Who do you go and tell your hard luck stories to when you finish your days golf and who collects all the cards and prepares the prize table and works out who has won what after checking the cards are all filled in correctly.
Who has to repair your broken shafts worn grips/spikes, check your loft and lies and give you free tips on your swing because most folk are too tight to pay for a lesson.
Who keeps the shop clean, the floor hoovered and the stock dusted.
Who is still there when you leave at daft o'clock?

I did all that and more for 6 days a week and tried to fit in a family life, and practicing and studying for the next CPD exam for

THE BASIC MINIMUM WAGE.

So the next time you see a pro and you think he maybe you could cut him some slack
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Come on Bob, in my case the pro not being the warmest of people is pretty much on the money.
 
CheltenhamHacker said:
If only people would try and come up with ideas that may help make being a pro more successful and profitable. But noone would want to try and help them now, would they!
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There's a perfectly good business model where the pro is the course manager & earns his keep. It's just that some of the traditional shopkeeper/teacher pros haven't got what it takes to handle this kind of job & are becoming an endangered species.
 
To be honest there are good ones and there are bad ones.
Imo a golf club without a pro shop doesn't seem right.
Bob it might take a pro a while to get to a 4 handicap,but if then he decides to be a pro
in a golf club and a pro shop imo he needs other attributes.
At every club you get members that support or don't support the pro,his job is to get them on side.
Wether that's giving a free bit of advice,treeting his regulars very well so word gets around,and generally
going out of his way sometimes even if he doesn't feel like it.
At the end of the day hes representing the club and running a business at the same time.
Also he chose that road,generally he should know whats required.
No golf pro should be working for minimum wage and if he was or has been he should be asking the question why.

Just a little story about a pro I know who lost £30k running a shop at a golf club.
He was selling a TM stand bag for £75 I cheekily offered him £70 which he refused,this was after
I had spent over a hundred on a pair of Footjoys,imo a crazy business decision.
I never spent a penny in there again.
A golfing pro is not just a golfer he needs to be able to know how to deal with human beings.
As has been said he might only have a few hundred customers he has to look after them,not
to the detriment he loses money but to the extent they keep returning.
 
The assistant pro at my club has been a revelation. He's going to carve out a very good reputation as a teaching pro when he qualifies and is already hugely popular with members and the public alike. In the shop, he's friendly and approachable, knows his stuff and always keen to help. In fact his attitude has rubbed off on the pro who ha also started being a lot more proactive with the members and is now price matching a lot more and doing more for the members. I find the OP's tone on here throughout disappointing and out of touch with the realities of being a pro or an assistant and think Bob has it spot on
 
My pro shop is great. All 3 of the guys will stop and have a chat and have plenty of banter.
They price match most things and there pricing is very competitive to start with.
The day they got the new titleist 915 range in they let me take them out for 18 holes to see how I got on. Great service.
 
Jimaroid said:
Personally I really dislike that approach in retail. I want staff on hand that I can approach when *I* need something when *I'm* ready. I do not want staff jumping on me the second I walk through the door trying to "help me with sizes" or asking me if "everything is OK?" or explaining how to use my eyes to look at stuff on a shelf as if I'm some sort of newborn adult idiot in a shop for the first time in my life.

It's that sort of behaviour that's made me want to shop online more.
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I agree, a pushy salesman usually sees me walking out of the door.
 
devonlad said:
I agree with the OP and I hate being attacked by sales people. To be honest I am suprised pro shops have clubs in at all considering how much cheaper they are online. I find the pro shop always slightly unwelcoming and maybe this is due to the fact the person behind the counter is trying to be a pro golfer, who lets face it arent the warmest of people and also trying to be a sales person. I just dont think the two go together.
I personanlly think you could do away with a pro shop and just have vending machines outside.
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Not true in all cases. I got my Ping G30s irons from the pro shop at Sherwood Forest last week including a quality fitting on GC2, and the cost of the clubs was cheaper than any on line site I looked at. And I did not barter him down either, that was just the price he quoted off the bat. In fact some on line sites were still selling G25s at not much less than I paid for my G30s.

He also gave me a taster lesson for free and I've now booked a proper lesson with him, and also when/if I look to upgrade my hybrids/woods then he will be the first place I look at and not go directly on line as I may have done in the past. So he may well have got a long term customer. And if he is repeating this with others then I expect he will be successful. A good pro will adapt to the retail environment when needed and make a good pro shop.
 
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Hacker Khan said:
Not true in all cases. I got my Ping G30s irons from the pro shop at Sherwood Forest last week including a quality fitting on GC2, and the cost of the clubs was cheaper than any on line site I looked at. And I did not barter him down either, that was just the price he quoted off the bat. In fact some on line sites were still selling G25s at not much less than I paid for my G30s.

He also gave me a taster lesson for free and I've now booked a proper lesson with him, and also when/if I look to upgrade my hybrids/woods then he will be the first place I look at and not go directly on line as I may have done in the past. So he may well have got a long term customer. And if he is repeating this with others then I expect he will be successful. A good pro will adapt to the retail environment when needed and make a good pro shop.
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1 Example......case closed then.
 
Perhaps my latest experiences purchasing from Pro shops reflects the "how" and "how not to". I ordered a club jumper from my Home club, got an email when it was in stock (good so far) and popped along to collect it. When I got into the shop our Head of Golf was staring at his computer screen and allowed the assistant to serve me (again ok but not great), I bought a few other things paid and left ( again ok) in all I had spent around £100. However during this process (and its a VERY small shop) the said Pro conducted a conversation with his assistant, didnt greet me or acknowledge my existence in any way or even lift his head. All through this he was close enough that I could have leaned over and touched his shoulder!

Having joined another club as a country member I popped into the shop to pick up some tees and a ball marker. I was greeted by an assistant, the pro was chatting with some other members and advising them on some waterproofs. When he finished he introduced himself (ok, he would to a new member although this didnt happen at my home club ever!) and we chatted for a while. I mentioned I might need some new shoes and he asked how long I was staying as he was putting some FJ on sale later in the week, and when I told him he said he would put a pair aside for me to collect. I then bought a club jumper and left feeling very good about the process and determined to support his shop as best I can in order that I might have that pleasurable experience again and again.
 
devonlad said:
1 Example......case closed then.
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If you noticed I said not true in all cases. i.e. I was not saying it is untrue and the 'case should be closed' as you put it, but questioned your statement that clubs are cheaper online as it was a rather generalised sweeping statement. I like to think I qualified mine with evidence from personal experience as opposed to unqualified hearsay to suit an specific agenda.
 
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I'm also slightly skeptical of all these pros that have no 'people or selling skills'. Yes I am sure there are a few, but surely if you are a half decent pro who is making living being a pro you will give good quality lessons. And to give a good lesson you must have people skills. I've had lessons from 3 separate pros and in every case their people skills have been excellent in the way they have coached me.

So I find it hard to believe that as soon as they leave the teaching bay and then go into a shop they suddenly become some kind of social leper who can't even converse with a customer.
 
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I have played at well over 100 Clubs, and I am trying to remember when I have met a Pro without people skills. The huge majority of Clubs have been member clubs if that makes any difference ?
 
richart said:
I have played at well over 100 Clubs, and I am trying to remember when I have met a Pro without people skills. The huge majority of Clubs have been member clubs if that makes any difference ?
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Only one who I have met that was lacking any people skills and was plain rude was the pro at Sprowston Manor
 
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