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‘I woulddefinitelyrecommend
IT TO ANYONE’ The Principles of Golf Club Management course has gone virtual as Covid-19 restricts our movements. We asked one recent delegate about her experiences of taking the online version
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t’s quite a shift when you think about it. The intimate contact is replaced by images of faces on a computer screen. Break out groups aren’t huddled in small corners but in virtual sessions on a Zoom call. Presenters talk while delegates turn off mute, or type into a chat box, when they want to contribute. In a situation forced by circumstances – all part of the realities of a global pandemic – the way the Association has utilised technology to facilitate continued professional development is nothing short of remarkable. Two online Principles of Golf Club Management courses, the GCMA’s introduction to the profession, have now been staged online and both have been well attended and well received. Instead of a five-day residential course, delegates now complete around 20 hours of sessions over a week. A range of expert speakers from across the golf club industry, and serving managers with many years’ experience, deliver key modules – including leadership, management and enterprising skills, golf club legislation and compliance and golf club accounting and finance
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– and those who complete the course gain a certificate and a firm grounding in the fundamentals of club management. Stacey Mitchell is among those who have recently done so. She’s worked for the Golf Foundation for more than six years and is the charity’s girls’ lead officer. “There were two elements,” Stacey explains when asked why she signed up to the online offering. “One was that it would help me within my role at the Golf Foundation, in terms of a management and leadership perspective. “I also have a number of other roles. I sit on a board of trust with England Golf and I do volunteering at the golf club. It’s gaining that understanding of how the golf club works and it’s another string to my bow for the future.” Stacey had originally applied for the residential course, until Covid had its say, but was able to work her regular hours around the online sessions. “It meant I didn’t have to travel, stay overnight away from home, and it would work around work. It was also around half the price. There were many benefits.” So can an online course deliver
the intense learning experience that five days surrounded by peers – and the networking benefits that brings – can provide? Were the modules delivered in the way you might expect them to be if everyone had been together in a conventional ‘classroom’ setting? Stacey has no doubts. “There were very good speakers and it wasn’t just GCMA people. Around 90 per cent of the course was delivered by external people who had a really good reputation within the industry,”she says. “There were different organisations that got involved and people with different expertise and specialities. “I was really pleased with it and I would definitely recommend the course to anyone who was in a similar position to me or possibly wanted to go into golf club management.” She adds:“I learned something during all the (different) modules. “I don’t work in golf club management but I know about the elements that go on in clubs. “Finance was really interesting, as was greenkeeping and agronomy because it was an area I had no knowledge of. “What was good was that a lot
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