How virtual education has become a big hit

‘I would definitely recommend 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

It’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 – 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

of it was practical. It wasn’t just someone who was a teacher in a classroom.

“It’s people who are working in the industry day in and day out in those roles. It’s very relatable to what actually goes on in the industry.

“There were so many different areas that we covered that I found interesting.”

One of the key advantages of a residential course is the chance to really get to know other delegates

and form a support network – a group that can lean upon each other when they return to the ‘real world’ and face the situations that happen every day in clubs and the wider industry.

Clearly, the opportunity to swap stories and experiences over dinner in a hotel setting isn’t possible when a course is delivered over the Internet.

But is there still a chance to bond even in the Cloud?

Stacey adds: “There were about eight people who did the course and, because of the numbers, there was a really good level of interaction.

“We had breakout rooms and worked with different people in those. The presenters were very open to questions.

“If there was something we wanted to find out more about, that virtual environment helped in that sense.

“We could ask those questions and got that interaction. Obviously,

it is nice to meet people face to face, and I’m always a face to face person, but given the situation in this climate, virtual worked really well and we still got a really good level of interaction with the delegates and presenters.

“I wouldn’t doubt that side of it.”

So with certificate now in hand and an experience that has left her far more knowledgeable about the role of a golf club manager and the many hats they wear, Stacey is also convinced that

taking the Principles of Golf Club Management course will bring wider benefits for anyone who works or volunteers within a club.

“It’s a very useful course for golf club managers but I think for people who work in golf it’s a very useful course as well,” she says.

“That’s potentially for board members, as they would get to see what the manager’s role is actually about.

“In some ways, that’s often where golf clubs go wrong. They don’t really understand what the right golf club manager’s role is.

“It’s useful for people who work in the golf industry. There are a lot of skills you can pick up through the virtual course that are transferable too.”

• To learn more about the Principles of Golf Club Management, visit gcma.org.uk/ education