I always thought that The Master's marked the unofficial start of the golf season for most of the Carolinas. This has been a weird year though, as it has felt like spring for a long time already and it seems that golf season started long ago. However, mid-April always marks a turning point for my job. With golf courses busy and (hopefully) fully staffed, demands for my time and requests from PGA Members and employers always slow down this time of year. I welcome the change, as it allows me to shift my focus to relationship building, as I believe that developing and maintaining trust is the key to being a successful PGA Career Consultant.

It has been great seeing many of you at the Spring Chapter meetings, and I'll see the members of the Sandhills, Piedmont, Atlantic, and Triangle Chapters in the coming weeks. For those of you who were able to attend a Chapter Meeting already, you heard that my personal goals (which differ from the goals given to me by PGAHQ) include:

1. Reconnect with Carolinas PGA Members through multiple channels

2. Compensation Increases for PGA Members & Associates

3. Educate

4. Inspire

5. Motivate

The next 4-5 months will allow me to reconnect with PGA Members and Associates in person, as I will travel extensively and attend events such as the Ladies Pro-Pro, North Carolina Open, Pro-Assistant, South Carolina Open, Carolinas Open, Assistants Championship, Senior & Ladies Championship, and other Assistant Association events. I also hope to reconnect in other ways, such as online education and beginning to write and distribute articles again.  At my best, I give PGA Members and Associates multiple ways to engage with me, and I hope I can find a cadence in my work to achieve that goal in 2023. If successful, I believe that I will also accomplish goals 2-5 listed above.

You will notice a change in this months report, as the PQ Outreach and tracking spreadsheet has been removed. Pre-Qualifiers have been assigned to the recruiting team, so I no longer track that information. Speaking of information, a big "thank you" to Talma Kee for the monthly membership change report she has been providing this year. I use the list and do outreach to anyone who I have not recently talked to, allowing me to remind people to update their compensation profiles or alert them of an upcoming event in their chapter.

I mentioned Compensation profiles on the last Board Call, and while we are still finalizing the goal to earn additional ADP funding, it is clear that the metric to be "the number of people who complete / update their compensation profile in 2023". I added that number to my "Important Data" section below, but as of April 14, it was only 678 people, or 41.2% of the active members in the section. Whatever the goal, this number will be well below that goal, so we have some work to do. When I receive clarification of the goal, I will work with the Section staff and the Chapter Directors on a plan to make sure we hit our numbers and receive that ADP funding. 

Finally, in my January report, I shared some information about a proposed rule by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) addressing the distinction between employees and independent contractors (IC) under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). I was hoping to update you on this proposal, but at this time...there is no update, as it is still being debated. I'll keep my eyes and ears open and will provide an update when I have more information. 

As always, I appreciate the opportunity to work with all of you. Please let me know if you have any questions, and I hope to see all of you soon.

Respectfully submitted, 

Mike Mueller

All Active Positions

PGA Compensation Profile - Carolinas Section Participation

Job Preferences - Carolinas Section Participation