It has been a busy month! Since my last report, I have spent 19 nights in hotels, driven more miles than I want to know, ran a marathon, and served on jury duty for a week! In that time, I attended the Section Championship, Harvick Pro-Am, Board Meeting, 9 Chapter Meetings, Fall Teaching Summit, and numerous member and employer meetings. Through it all, I have had several opportunities to see many of you and lots of time with PGA Members, so though I would say it has been productive!

If you were able to attend your local Chapter Meeting, you heard me speak about the long term shifts the labor pool, and what they mean to our industry as a whole. If you weren't able to attend, here is the short version:

The golf industry as we know it (business models, staffing models) was built on the premise of cheap and abundant labor. Through a confluence of events, labor is no longer abundant and certainly not cheap. As an industry, we need to start to re-imagine the way we staff and operate our facilities, as we are dangerously close to becoming the local restaurant that is only open 4 nights each week because they can not find staff.

I shared some statistics in my last report and at the Chapter meetings, and I am going to share them again below.

Carolinas Section Only - Assistant Professional Jobs posted 8/1/21 to present

• All jobs / compensation shown - 4.15 applicants

• All jobs / compensation hidden - 3.89 applicants

• Private Only - 4.99 applicants

• Public Access - 2.95 applicants

• All jobs / under $29,999 - 3.04 applicants

• All jobs / $30,000 - $39,999 - 2.75 applicants

• All jobs / $40,000 - $49,999 - 4.89 applicants

• All jobs / $50,000 - $59,999 - 6.83 applicants

• All jobs / $60,000 - $69,999 - 7.13 applicants

• All jobs / over $70,000 - 14.4 applicants

I just looked at the PGA Job Board and there were 17 year round Assistant Professional jobs posted at that time. The average salary for the 14 salaried positions is $37,678 - $42,393, and they have received an average of 3.83 applicants. The 3 hourly positions average $16.33 - $19.33 / hour and have received an average of 4.66 applicants, though that is a small sample size and the positions were in desirable locations.

The main takeaway for me is that while compensation is continuing to rise, applications are not. It is also scary to note that we are also seeing the same trend with management level positions. Head Professional / Director of Golf jobs that would have attracted 150 applicants just a few years ago are now getting less than 20.

I've said it before, but I believe it even more now. Labor will be the defining issue of this decade for our industry (and probably most of the service industry). It will be interesting to watch the number of Assistant Professional jobs that get posted in the coming weeks and months, as this winter could mark an inflection point where our facilities don't have enough labor for "business as usual" in 2023. If so, will facilities continue to raise compensation and push work/life balance initiatives? Will they begin to reduce the number and quality of services offered to members / customers? Or will they ask existing employees to continue to work more hours to shoulder the burden?

It should also be noted that I have received more "I don't want to do this anymore" emails and calls from Assistant Professionals in the past month than I remember receiving in a long time. It will be interesting to watch all of this play out in real time and see the adjustments golf courses make to their staffing plans and business models. Supporting the burned out employees while still helping employers find staff is going to be a challenge for me! I never like being wrong, but in this case, I hope I am and there is enough available labor to adequately staff our golf facilities.

Finally, I have received several requests from Carolinas PGA Members for data that the Association doesn't collect. I am in the process of working with the Section staff to create a Carolinas PGA Member Survey in an effort to collect relevant data that would be useful to our members. Once complete, I'll compile the results into an annual report to share. Look for that survey in early December, with results published as soon as possible.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

All Active Positions

PGA Compensation Profile - Carolinas Section Participation

Job Preferences - Carolinas Section Participation

Names and emails of people who have applied to the Pre-Qualifier program. PQ applicants purchase and review the five qualifying level courses: Introduction to the PGM and the Golf Profession, PGA History, PGA Constitution, Rules of Golf and Career Enhancement to be eligible to register for the qualifying test through our third party test company virtually.

Please note that PGA HQ does not collect employment information at the time of PQ registration.