Every January thousands of PGA Golf Professionals and many PGA Golf Management students make the voyage to the sunshine state to participate in the annual PGA Merchandise Show. Seventeen University of Nebraska-Lincoln PGA Golf Management students, along with program director, Dr. Dann Husmann, and instruction coordinator, Mr. Brad Goetsch, PGA, made the trip this year.
With over 1,100 interactive exhibits, students were able to meet face-to-face with golf merchandise manufacturers and distributors to discover and prepare themselves better with the latest products in the golf industry. Students took advantage of this opportunity and better acquainted themselves with vendors that they wanted to pursue business with for the UNL PGAM Program. Sophomore student in the program, Aaron Hart, took liberty in establishing relationships with Winston Headcovers, Vineyard Vines, and Maide Golf of Bonobos in order to open an account and have these vendors place their merchandise in the hands of our PGAM students, who are the future of the golf industry.
Additionally, UNL students had a fantastic opportunity to network with the industry’s leaders--particularly the current Board of Directors and Past Presidents of the PGA of America in a series of luncheons. Here, the UNL PGAM students and other students from their respective PGAM universities were able to connect, associate, and ask the Board and Past Presidents questions that they may have wanted to ask. Many would agree that this was an extremely rare and incredible opportunity for our students.
With regards to networking, the PGA Merchandise Show gathers 40,000 industry leaders representing 74 countries that our students were able to connect with. Many of these golf professionals would take time out of their own schedules to stop by the UNL PGAM’s booth seeking to hire students as interns at their respective facilities for three- or seven-month experiences. For instance, Secretary of the Student Club, Sam Nodler, interviewed with an array of golf professionals at top-notch facilities from Colorado, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Texas.
Other students such as Brett Finke, Kramer Samuelson, Zach Gleysteen, Briana Werner, TJ Loudner and Tyler Lawson all had opportunities to associate and pursue internships with golf professionals across the country. On the other hand, many students, including me, had already locked up an internship site for the upcoming 2016 golf season.
I had a wonderful experience with my Head Professional, Andy Fisher, of The Kansas City Country Club by touring the floor, sitting in on seminars, meeting with vendors, and attending educational sessions by Titleist. With this in mind, as I walked the floor, I was amazed to see the dozens and dozens of people that I knew in my short time in the golf industry. I felt humbled to be around so many successful and wonderful acquaintances.
Similarly, students were given the opportunity to attend various Educational Sessions at the show. These sessions were designed to improve and reinforce one’s golf business knowledge through the PGA’s educational tracks, which include: Retail, Player Development, Coaching, and Leadership. To sum up quickly, first, the retail seminar was to teach the best merchandising practices that can elevate a facility’s retail operation through optimizing best-in-class purchasing strategies and tracking. Second, the teaching and coaching seminar taught that player development is the heart of the game and profession. Teaching is a process that never stops as effective teachers search for new teaching and coaching strategies that succeed with many types of learners and players of different levels of ability. Lastly, the leadership seminar offered education on what it takes to be a good leader at one’s facility to progress along one’s career path. John C. Maxwell said in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, “A person’s impact is only a fraction of what it could be with good leadership. The higher you want to climb, the more you need leadership. The greater the impact you want to make, the greater your influence needs to be. Whatever you will accomplish is restricted by your ability to lead others.”
All in all, the PGA Merchandise Show offered countless opportunities to our UNL PGAM students over the week. Students had the inside scoop with regards to the newest line of products (soft goods, hard goods, and miscellaneous items) in the industry through all of the vendors and exhibits, and endless networking opportunities through the luncheons with the PGA Board of Directors and PGA Past Presidents. Lastly, the show gave exceptional educational seminars that can benefit one’s personal career and impact a facility by leaps and bounds. After all, The PGA Merchandise Show is the golf industry’s Major.
Jacob Kuhlman
President of the Student Club and Teaching Assistant in PGA Golf Management
More details at: http://go.unl.edu/2r4j