PRESIDENT ’ S NOTE

March Madness and the impending trip down Magnolia Lane mean that golfers will be chomping at the bit to hit the links or check out the newest equipment. While these next few months will fly by, it is important to try and make an impact at your facility and especially to track it. Golf Professionals are really good at growing the game, club fitting and up-selling merchandise. We are not the greatest at tracking these results so we can implement quantitative statistics into our resumes or simply show our employer the value we have.

The reason I mention this now is that if you take the time to determine an easy tracking method such as an excel spreadsheet, google doc or an empty page in your lesson book, and start from the beginning you’ll be more likely to keep accurate records. It is really hard to wait until we can catch a breath and try and compile these numbers in a meaningful way. I’ll be the first to admit I have to improve in this area. We are making it a staff contest and tracking fittings that result in sales as a leader board at Springfield. By putting a fun spin on it, hopefully it’ll keep us all invested in keeping score! Each season you should try and bring something new to your club or facility. Here are some suggestions:

• Take on a new program like PGA Golf Day or PGA Junior League Golf and run with it.

• Take the time to attend an educational event in our Section or one put on by a club manufacturer.

• It could simply be setting a goal to play more golf or to play with a variety of members that you haven’t done before.

• Be creative and run a fun format event at your facility like a Par 3 tourney, Tee It Forward Scramble or maybe start a league.

Middle Atlantic PGA Professional of the YearJosh Tremblay, PGASpringfield Golf & CCjosh@sgccva.org

SOCIAL CORNER - - PETER LABOURDETTE, PGAThe social committee is happy to announce it’s second event. We have arranged for a fun night of bowling, food and drinks at Kenwood Golf & Country Club on Thursday, March 27th. The event will start at 6:00 pm and run until about 8:30 pm. The price will be $20 per person, which

includes, shoe rental, 3 games of bowling as well as appetizers, and pizza. A cash bar will be available so make sure you bring some spending money. We are encouraging members of the Central Chapter to bring their significant

others to partake in this fun evening. For those who have never bowled at Kenwood there are no ten pin lanes, only duckpin. If you are accustomed to regular bowling then you are in for a whole new experience. The best part about duckpin is you get three tries instead of only two!

POWER OF INTERNS

Since arriving at Stoneleigh Golf & Country Club, we have aimed to address the service gaps that existed at the Club. As we’ve added programming, it became clear we also needed a greater professional presence. Unfortunately, our budget at Stoneleigh didn’t provide room for additional assistants, so as a result I needed to get creative in order to build a team capable of accomplishing all of our programming. To fill the staffing needs, we started an internship program. While an internship program brings with it challenges, for us, the benefits have far outweighed those obstacles.

Solid interns are aspiring professionals, and bring with them the desire and caring to gain the knowledge, skills and abilities to become qualified Class A Members. That innate caring is what motivates an intern more than a non-industry staffer, and helps provide value to your staff and your club.

With their addition, we’ve been able to add a greater professional touch to everything we do. Our Club is set up like a campus, and having a professional involved in each aspect of our operation has improved Member service and satisfaction. Moreover, we were able to undertake an ambitious Member programming schedule as a result of our team of young professionals. Interns have become and will remain a major part of our Club’s operations, and do so at a fraction of the usual price. For the price of a quality, full-time assistant, we can bring in nearly two interns.

An internship program does bring with it challenges, however. Take for instance, recruitment. It has been amazing to watch how competitive the recruitment of high character and qualified interns has become. For many clubs, the process begins in November and interns are hired long before the PGA Show. In addition, free housing makes or breaks the possibility of interns. At Stoneleigh, we are not fortunate enough to have staff housing readily available on Club grounds; so again, we got creative

Matt Hess, PGA - - Stoneleigh Golf Clubmhess@stoneleighgolf.com - - (540)338-4653

and turned to our Membership for the answer. Our Members now house our interns throughout the season, and it has led to “bragging rights” around the club for who is getting the interns each year. We work hard to match the intern with the right host family. In 2013, the Page family played host to our female 3-monther, which lead to the Page daughters playing more golf than nearly anyone at the Club.

The success of an internship program is dependent on the supervising professional. Acting as a mentor and consistently training and retraining will bring out their talent, but does take your time and energy. If you are willing to invest in their recruitment, training and development, they will pay you and your Club back multiple times over. If nothing else, you can take great pride in watching a young professional grow and know you’ve given back to the game. Should you provide an exceptional experience to these interns, they will help you network for your next group.

At Stoneleigh, our internship program has been one of our largest success stories. In 2011, we had one, three-month intern. In 2012, we hosted one, six-month intern. Last year, we employed a three and a six-month intern, and this year, we look forward to hosting two, six-month interns. While it may not have a place in your operation in 2014, I encourage you to give it a strong consideration in the future. It has paid major dividends for our Club and will for yours.

TournamentsTOURNAMENT SEASON WILL BEGIN...MOTHER NATURE WILL COOPERATE!!

Meet other MAPGA Professionals.

How many MAPGA Central Chapter events do you plan on playing in 2014?

MARCH 2014 CENTRAL CHAPTER 2014

Reasons why you should Play….

Support our Sponsors!!

I have spent 22 years associated with the Mid-Atlantic PGA Section. All of the professionals I have friendships with I met because we were paired together in a tournament.

Support! Sponsors pay good money to be a part of our programs, the more players that show up at these events, the more bang for their buck.

by Steve WenPetren, PGACentral Chapter Points Race...

The fourth year of the Central Chapter Player of the Year Points Race begins in conjunction with the Spring Meeting. New this year is the “Senior/Junior Cup” the Top 8 Seniors will compete against the Top 8 Juniors at the end of the season. For some it could be the best way to compete against some of the Legends of our Section and for those Legends, an opportunity to play with future leaders of the PGA. This event will have great camaraderie and some occasional trash talking.

Current Tournament Schedule...March 31, 2014 Central Chapter Spring Meeting & Pro-Pro

Sponsored by Callaway Golf

May 27, 2014 Central Chapter Championship Sponsored by Page & Tuttle

June 2, 2014 Central Chapter Pro-Am ChampionshipSponsored by The Golf Tour Trailers Game

Improvement Center

June 30, 2014 Central Chapter Pro Junior

September 8, 2014 Central Chapter Pro-Assistant

Sweet Spot Ideaswith Scott Shapin, PGAscott.shapin@gmail.comKenwood Country Club

Greetings fellow Assistants and Apprentices of the Central Chapter! We are really

looking forward to another great season of APA events and education this year. There are a couple of new facilities on the calendar for this year as well as a brand

new event that we hope to make the highlight event of the year. 

Northern Chapter A-8 Vice President, Brian Dix and Central Chapter A-8 Vice

President, Blake Thomas and myself spent some time this past winter discussing

different ways to improve the APA for 2014. We asked Stacey Smith for her help in

conducting an anonymous survey to get the opinions of the Assistants on various

topics. This information was invaluable and has helped us gain a better understanding of what the membership wants to see from the APA. We are

working to make some changes and hope to attract more members and more

participation in the future years. We are excited with the direction things are

going.

Please keep your eyes on the APA section of the MAPGA website as things will be

updated quite frequently over the next month. One new event I would like to draw attention to is our APA Head Pro-Assistant Pro team event. I would like to thank Bob Dolan and Geoff Montross for their input and ideas

for this event. The event will be on July 1st at Creighton Farms. The event is designed for Assistants to reach

out to a Head Golf Professional or Director of Golf that don't work for and invite them to partner up for the event. We feel this will be a great way for the Assistants to meet and network with Head Professionals they don't know

or wouldn't normally get a chance to meet and play a round of golf with. We hope this event will be a great success and become a staple event every year in the future of the APA schedule.

This winter has been brutal, between the snow and golf course construction we may go days without seeing a member. To combat this and reengage with our membership, we held an indoor golf summit. The event was a two-day seminar that featured two, two-hour segments each day. The segments included golf fitness, led by golf fitness professional Jason Meisch from Peak Golf Fitness; golf psychology, taught by Aaron Pearl from the

Center for Athletic Performance Enhancement; putter design, fitting and instruction, led by the professional staff and Pete Leggett, our Ping sales representative; and wedge design, fitting and instruction, taught by

the staff and Sean Ryan, our Cleveland sales representative. Since we were teaching indoors we used foam balls to keep everything safe. Additionally, we built in an hour for lunch each day in between the two sessions.

Almost every member went down into the restaurant which helped boost our food & beverage sales on a weekend that no one would have come out to the club.

Our members loved the sessions and the feedback was great. Many of the students came up to me afterwards and told me how much they learned as a result of the summit. Finally, as a direct result of the summit, we have already sold four wedges and will be following up with students about putter fittings; only six of the 24 had putters that properly fit them!

MARCH 2014 CENTRAL CHAPTER 2014

Assistant Professional Associationwith Brice Busse, PGAA-8 Director (301) 424-8496

Woodmont Country Club

CENTRAL CHAPTER PGA MARCH 2014

Kevin has scored 24 goals in 13 contests helping the Ale sail by their opponents. Don’t worry he shares the biscuit too! He also has 17 assists, bringing his total point count to 41, which makes him the league leader. His only short fall is being a Red Wings fan (Go AVS!). Assisting Kevin on offense is PGA Director of Golf at the Country Club of Fairfax, Matt Gallagher, affectionately known as #54 Matty G. Matt is one of the fastest players on the ice who bring his tireless professional work ethic to the ice every Sunday night. Matt is solid offensive roll player who lights the lamp frequently.

Headlining the defense for the Ale, Tom Melideo – aka Mel. Off the ice, Tom is the Head Golf Professional at

International Country Club. If you were to attend an Ale game you might think…is that Zdeno Chara? Nope, that is our captain! Defending alongside Mel are numerous PGA professionals. Dustin Moser #88, PGA Assistant Professional at Westfields Golf Club, is the proud league leader in penalty minutes. Other key enforcers include Tyler Tucker of Army Navy Arlington, Jay Lindell of Springfield Country Club (who has yet to grace us with his presence this season) and the one true Canadian, Chris Cramer who has recently moved to North Carolina and will truly be missed.

The backbone of the Ashburn Ale and new Head Golf Professional at Raspberry Falls Golf Club is Willy

Lutz. Willy is a brick wall in net! He has helped the Ale to a 10 and 2 record during the current Fall League. Recording 288 saves, he is the true face of the Ale and not to mention has the cleanest pads known to man. A consummate PGA Professional Willy dawns the PGA Professional logo on his custom mask with pride.

Here are a couple fun facts:-During the winter, the team looks forward to a few below freezing days to get out and play some old school pond hockey between holes #1 and #2 at International Country Club. -The team’s unofficial local watering hole is the Ashburn Ale House. Here you will frequently find Ale teammates hanging out and drawing up many thoughtful plays!

Who are the Ashburn Ale?by DUSTIN MOSER, PGA - - Westfields Golf Club

WILLY LUTZ, PGA KEVIN KREMER, PGA

THE ASHBURN ALE

INTERNATIONAL CC

The Central Chapter MAPGA Professionals is comprised of many well-rounded golf and business professionals. Did you know a select few not only have silky smooth golf swings, but also have the ability to play ICE hockey? Many PGA professionals have heard of the athletically talented Ashburn Ale team, but for those of you who haven’t, here is a behind the scenes look at the team. So… who are the Ashburn Ale?

The Ashburn Ice House Adult league leading offensive player is Kevin Kremer – aka KK. When he’s not on the ice, he works as the master Tournament Coordinator at Westfields Golf Club. Raised in Michigan, this natural born hockey player has one of the meanest shots in the league.