Hiring great employees is crucial for the success of any business. For those of us in the golf industry, and more specifically managers at a golf course, hiring entry level landscapers is just as important as hiring a fantastic PGA Professional. If you are a PGA Professional, Golf Course Owner, Club Manager, or in a position hiring for golf courses, focusing on hiring great people for the below 3 undeappreciated positions can make or break the success of your business.
1) Drink cart attendant
Most of you are thinking, hiring a good drink cart attendant means finding an attractive female who can serve food and drinks quickly. Part of that equation is correct, given you do want a cart attendant who provides great, convenient, quick service to customers. But another way to can help is course is hiring a great F&B cart attendant who knows social media and can post pictures about your facility on social media during the course of their day and tag golfers in the posts*. Instead of giving your golf course social media access to someone stuck in the clubhouse, give the person on the course serving drinks to smiling golfers this access.
*Colby Morris, former Nextgengolf Intern, came up with this idea!
2) Starter
Who is the starter at your golf course? More often than not, the starter at a golf course is an old retiree who is angry if you are not at his starter's post 10 minutes in advance of your tee time. Hiring a great starter means finding someone who is very personable, says "Hi" to every customer ,and asks how he/she can help the golfers versus yelling at golfers who do not know the course. I’ve had friends who refuse to go back to a specific golf course given the starter is always the same angry guy and makes you feel like you are not welcome. The old retiree might be the right person, but make sure he is happy, smiling, and welcoming to golfers.
3) Cashier
The first person you usually interact with at a golf facility is the cashier or pro-shop attendant. Ensuring a fast, smooth payment transaction is important as it relates to customer service, but more importantly, the cashier has the power to welcome golfers to your course and ask them for help. When hiring your next cashier, make sure you find someone who pays attention to details. Train the cashier to ask golfers to review the golf course following a round. If you get 5% of customers reviewing your course on sites like Golf Advisor, you will receive a huge increase in free marketing/advice from your customers. Read more about why online reviews matter.
Although the drink cart attendant, starter, and cashier are not the sexiest jobs nor are they focus for most hiring managers, hopefully the above reasoning can help you understand why these 3 employees are crucial for successfully marketing of your golf course.
