Keeping you from spoiling a good walk
Do you need professional help? | Golf pros can help you stay out of the woods, impress your friends
Imagine being able to get out to the golf course five days each week.
Now, imagine you're being paid for that time.
This dream for most is a reality for Chris Billings.
"We get to do what most people do on vacation," said Billings.
"Get up, come to a golf course and look at great views."
Billings is the Canadian Professional Golf Association head professional at Kingswood Golf, a golf course located off the Hanwell Road.
But be advised that the job isn't just teeing up and letting them rip.
"Have no thoughts of playing lots of golf, that's for sure," he said.
"Now-a-days, there's a bunch of different things that we do. We're administrators, we're managers, we're ambassadors of the game - we teach it as well - and then we sometimes play. That's probably the last thing on the list of things we do now-a-days. It seems that as soon as you become a club professional, the amount of time you spend playing goes way down because you're busy doing everything else."
He is considered somewhat of a director of golf operations.
"I'm pretty much looking after the management of the golf course, so with my other key people in place, we make sure that we're looking after our membership, our daily play, our marketing, some book work, some numbers that any other manager would do with any other company, we're doing it with the golf course," said Billings.
"Anything golf orientated, I'm over seeing. I would have a manager - a golf manager that works for me - doing all the stuff I don't have the time to do."
According to Billings, becoming a golf pro these days is a bit different than it was in the past.
"It's a little bit more in depth than what people think now-a-days," he said.
"With the Canadian PGA, there are a lot of requirements when you get started in the program, when you have to be mentored or be an apprentice. What ends up happening is they are required to take certain classes. They are required to have a business degree of some sort - university or college - there are even Golf Management schools out there as well, it's a two year program. Those people generally get into a golf course; they have a passion for it. Once they get into it, there's a classification status you have to have in order to become a head pro or Class A pro."
As one would have probably anticipated, the hours worked vary greatly from season to season.
"In the summer, they're long," said Billings.
"I'm actually into a position which I am here 12 months of the year and it's turning more and more to that for most golf professionals. Overall, through the summer I'm averaging 64 hours - I consider my hours to be the time I'm away from my family. When I come into work in the morning, even if I'm playing golf with a member, I consider that to be work. It's great work, but it's still work. I mean, I get to come here everyday. So really, it's a great job to have - I get to meet great people. During the winter, it's a standard 35 to 40 hour work week."
According to Billings, a typical day can start as early as 5:50 a.m. and sometimes he will be at the golf course until 9:00 p.m.
But on average, "I would probably do a couple of hours of paper work, a couple hours of chatting, and then I would be teaching for a few hours during the day."
The pay scale of the job varies quite a bit as well.
For some, it's a full-time job.
To others, it's seasonal employment.
"It all depends on the facility," said Billings.
"It's dependant on what kind of facility you're at. It's kind of flip flopped over the years. It can vary from someone who works six to eight months and makes about $24,000 and there are also people in the country who are making $150,000 to $200,000. I own part of the retail segment of the operation with the hard goods. I'm a salaried employee but I make concessions on the Pro Shop"
Billings says he has had several influences earlier in his life that led him to choose this career path.
He said he aspired to become as respected as other members of the Fredericton golf community such as Andy Mabie and Mel Murray.
"I would say it would have been about 15 to 16 years ago, in my late teens and I was working for a gentleman by the name of Andy Mabie at the Fredericton Golf Club and he really captured what I wanted to be, so to speak," he said.
"You always kind of aspire to become well respected like that. I feel that, in essence, is what I have become, and I've had great mentors."
Unfortunately, for the people out there with the dream of a career as a club pro, Billings says there is not a large demand for new golf professionals.
"No, no there's not unfortunately," he said.
"We're in a mix in the whole golf industry. We have new golf courses being built; we don't have enough golfers as is. We have over supply, not enough demand. So all these golf professionals who are young guys getting into the business, well there's now many facilities to work at right now. So what you're seeing is a lot of golf professionals just selling equipment in retail operations. There's not enough jobs."
Billings says the job is very rewarding.
"There is no bigger reward for a golf professional than to see one of their students do what they wanted to do with the golf ball," said Billings.
"One of the biggest advantages to having a golf professional is that people will stay in the game if they play well. There is nothing more frustrating than not playing well - not getting the golf ball up in the air. The old phrase 'It's a good walk spoiled,' sometimes applies.
When you can have some influence on some people, to see the look in their eyes when they actually hit a shot where they envisioned they would, it's very rewarding.
Nobody really realizes that on any given hole, you can hit the exact type of shot that Tiger Woods did. If the ball goes into the hole and you get a hole-in-one, well, Tiger Woods couldn't have done it any better than that. You're the same as Tiger Woods on that given shot."
Billings says that to be a golfer you have to be a people person that does not shy away from the public, and you have to be aware of your strengths and weakness as a golfer.
To Billings golf in general is about the relationships you create.
He says golf teaches good habits, such as respect for your elders and the game doesn't have a lot of the issues you find in other professional sports.
"We don't see many golfers in jail - getting in trouble," said Billings.
"Other sports do have some problems, but golf seems to teach good habits - it's good to see kids take their hats off when they come into a building. You don't see that much now- a-days."
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