Pro shop service

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Its not about the money. Its about the way the OP wants to do business. It could be argued that "the customer is always right" but that was thrown out as a valid argument many years ago. Ultimately businesses need to make a profit, and sometimes that means the customer isn't right.

In the original post #1 he asked is it a sign of the times. Yes it is. Many pro's do business this way nowadays.

Should the pro be doing business the "old fashioned way?" If the club hasn't detailed this in the T&C's its up to the pro, although he may well lose some business he may on balance make more from new only sales. It may well be that this "service" was never agreed with the club.

Ask the pro why, and ask the club why. Maybe you'll get an explaination from the horses mouth that you're more comfortable with.
 
Nope...because it's not about the money (I've tried explaining that several times but you don't seem to get it) In fact, if you drive to Bournemouth, I will GIVE you the putter for FREE!
Wow! does that offer extend to people who live in Suffolk cos I would certainly drive from here to Bournemouth for a free Scotty.PM me if you offer stands to folks who dont live in Scotland :) .
 
Pro's shops are like the village shop/pub everyone wants them for convienience but very few really support them.
The 'loyal' club members tend to only spend when they have sufficient vouchers.
Dumfries and Galloway is a vast area that only has four Pro shops.

Great reply. Our club has 400 odd members on the books (male/female) and how many of those would you say hand on heart by solely from the pro? Not many and I'm as guilty as anyone. Granted my pro does well out of me because of my shoe fetish but aside from that what else is there to buy. I've loads of clothing with the club logo so don't want anymore. Not in the market for new clubs (aside from a putter perhaps) and I've more balls than even my dodgy swing can lose.

Everyone is either after a quick sale, must have it now mentality or want it at the rock bottom price and will trawl the internet and high street outlets looking for the best deal. Again, how many will honestly then go back to the club pro and even give them the opportunity to price match.

As a result I can see why the guy doesn't want to take it off the OP's hands when he has the chance to sell the new gear and see the profit immediately and not credit the shop accont and wait for the OP to eventually find something he wants to settle up and buy.

On a tangent, I've found and I may be alone, that whenever I go to my pro and splash the cash, be it on a pair of £120 myjoys or some new sticks, they usually chuck something else in too, for regular customers. I have come away with a sleeve of balls, new glove or cap on a number of occasions. OK not major but it gives you a feeling of being made to feel wanted and would definitely entice me back
 
Heard about a similar scheme to this where the pro (Jeeves his name was) rented lockers to the members but only got income when they were in use, i.e something had to be stored in them

A player came in after a muddy round and handed over his shoes and asks Jeeves to clean them for the player & in return he could then pop them into the pay as you go locker (otherwise he'd just take them home, clean them himself & store them there)

The pro declined what the player thought was a win win scenario, go figure!! :D
 
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Couldn't you just ask the pro to sell it for £100.00 and to stick £70.00 in your account???
At least he's made a bit of a profit

It's not about money Smiffy aparently, it's about the quality of service he provides and the perception that his service is not up to scratch because he doesnt flog members cast offs.

Pro's are in business to make money and clearly this pro see's no merit in flogging old kit. His choice and it should be respected by members of his club, the OP should have taken this up with the pro and expressed his frustrations directly. All the OP got was a mixed reaction here and didnt particularly like the thought that some posters backed the pro in his thoughts.
 
It would be interesting to hear the Professionals point of view or his side of the story as my experience of these matters is that the truth is never like the original story.

I also wonder how this thread stands from a legal point of view if the information is indeed inaccurate. Good job the pro or golf club was never named.
 
I also wonder how this thread stands from a legal point of view if the information is indeed inaccurate. Good job the pro or golf club was never named.

????

I created this thread to canvass opinion so why on earth would I start making up stories and inaccuracies?
 
13 pages of basically someone trying to tell someone else how to run HIS business.

Unless you (the OP) have in your membership T&C that the pro / pro shop is at your disposal then I'm staggered by your views.

I run my own business and sometimes turn clients away that I know will cause me more problems/complications in the future and will be to the detriment of the business in the long term, its not always about here and now.

Oh well - I guess we all have different viewpoints eh........
 
Some of the responses on this thread have been taken so far out of context it is untrue. All sorts of accusations from people that have jumped on the bandwagon without trying to get to the root of the thread which was a simple question about whether or not a pro is providing a good/acceptable/sensible/profitable* service to his members.

A few people have taken the time to read through the posts and write a sensible response either for or against my original question, thank you to them. A lot of others have accused me of having the hump because I didn't get offered what I want for the putter etc. You lot are very intuitive because I'm still waiting for the pro to get back to me with an offer ;) (incidentally, 3 days after I left it with him).

Lot of hostile people on here, do you have to supply your own boxing gloves for forum meets? :whistle:
 
Any response you get is a direct result of the question you asked (& I acknowldge it would be near impossible to script your question such that an entire web community would respond in a manner you'd like) but that's the price for reaching a community this varied/size instead of a few guys in the clubhouse & something that has to be accepted

& context is always going to be out because we don't have all the information to keep it in context

For me it just seemed the scenario was one of the Pro doing two jobs to get one sale (having to do the work that would earn you the money to spend with him) and will work as a one-off instance but not really sustainable for a business model when word gets round

To take this to the ridiculous, I couldn't really ask the Pro to put in an hour or twos overtime at my job so that I could then use that wage on a lesson with him
 
Slab;576770For me it just seemed the scenario was one of the Pro doing two jobs to get one sale (having to do the work that would earn you the money to spend with him) and will work as a one-off instance but not really sustainable for a business model when word gets round [/QUOTE said:
Yeah that is fair comment although I don't really see it as the pro having to do any work to sell the club other than process any proceeds from the sale into my account, something which would only take a couple of minutes.

I saw the entire process along the lines of he scratches my back and I scratch his back scenario. Seems the majority of people on here see it only as I scratch his back. There are numerous hardware retailers out there (and in the vicinity of my club) that are all eager for business.
 
D4S, you took the hump because the pro wouldn't do what you wanted and the you asked opinions here and then took the hump with anyone who agreed with the pro's stance.
 
No, I didn't take the hump. Yes I didn't agree with his stance because IMHO he has turned down a valid business opportunity. If I was in his position, I would have jumped at the opportunity of guaranteed future sales. Some people on here agree with me and others don't.

It's called a debate.
 
D4S
Imagine you are the pro
In comes a member and wants you to sell his putter for him, Ok you say.
The next day, it's an old set of irons
The next day it's his pal wanting the same service from you to sell an old driver
The next day it's someone else wanting you to sell a spare golf bag
then an old pair of shoes
etc etc etc.
Where do you draw the line?
I wonder if the pro had similar problems in the passed and has decided as policy to not provide this service.
Sure some pros have second hand racks, but often these are full of clubs that have been part exchanged for new sets and don't belong to the members.

Maybe it would have been better to hear what the pro had to say before starting this thread as it's a bit unfair that he's not here to fight his corner.
 
No, I didn't take the hump. Yes I didn't agree with his stance because IMHO he has turned down a valid business opportunity. If I was in his position, I would have jumped at the opportunity of guaranteed future sales. Some people on here agree with me and others don't.

It's called a debate.

There is no guarantee of future sales as there was no guarantee your putter would have sold.
 
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