As I mentioned in my last report, I recently divested myself from all additional responsibilities I had with the PGA Career Services team so that I can fully focus my time, energy, and attention on the 2,000+ members of the Carolinas PGA.

Immediately following that decision, I decided to get back to my old way of doing things and hit the road. Between April 28th and May 25th, I was able to visit 71 facilities in the Atlantic, Cape Fear, Mountains, Lowcountry, and Charlotte Chapters and visit with 115 PGA Members / Associates in person at their facilities. In addition, I was able to attend the Piedmont Chapter education at Greensboro CC, the Assistants Association event at Colonial CC, and the NC Senior Open at Irish Creek, reaching dozens more PGA Members and Associates at those events. I truly believe that this is the best use of my time, as creating and maintaining relationships with our PGA Members is the foundation for all of the other work that I try to do.

I also spoke in my last report about the shortage of labor, and since that time Golf Digest was nice enough to write an article about the life of a Golf Professional that I'm sure all of you have read. I've had many good conversations with PGA Members about the article, and I'm sure many of you have had good conversations with club members too. To summarize my thoughts on the article:

• It was well researched and written, and serves as a good conversation starter with club leaders

• I wish there was an easy solution, but all GM's, owners, etc that I have talked with agree that it is not just a Golf Professional problem, but an industry problem, and the financial realities of most facilities don't allow for raises for all staff members and the addition of new staff members to allow for more time off for current staff

• The solution will be a difficult one, and will only be achieved by working with the CMAA, NGCOA, GSCAA, to find solutions acceptable to everyone.

• On a positive note, I've never had so many GM's and owners contacting me requesting compensation reports!

Speaking of the shortage of labor, I (and the CPGA Career Committee) have been working with Brock White and the Associate Education Committee on a program to help aspiring PGA Professionals enrolled in the Qualifying Level. I did some quick research last month and found that roughly 130 people registered for the PQ Level in the past 18 months. Out of those 130:

• 12 finished the PQ level

• 53 never finished and did not re-register in the program

• Of the remaining 65 people, 23 had a deadline to finish this summer.

Obviously, those are bleak numbers, and Brock and I reached out to all of them with an offer to assist. 18 raised their hands to be part of our first group of PQ Cohorts, with the goal of all 18 finishing the Qualifying level and registering for the Associate program. At that point, we plan to create new cohorts and help them through that process also. Going forward, all new PQ's will be invited to a future cohort, with invitations being sent monthly.

In addition, the Career Committee is working with the PGA REACH Committee on the VetWorks Program, which will look to take PGA HOPE graduates and place them in roles at facilities throughout the Carolinas. We have identified 6 candidates for a pilot program to be run in the summer of 2022 in the Charleston market. If successful, we hope to launch something bigger for the 2023 season.

While these two programs will not fix our labor shortage, I hope they provide some proof of concept that we can have a positive impact at the section level, which I believe will eventually provide a tangible benefit to the all facilities in the Carolinas.

I'm going to stop here, as I know that all of you are busy. As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

Mike Mueller

All Active Positions

PGA Compensation Profile - Carolinas Section Participation

Job Preferences - Carolinas Section Participation

Tab 1 - 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.

Tab 2 - Newly elected PGA Members