Meet the director of golf: Nick Sargent

The PGA director of golf at Upton By Chester Golf Club in Cheshire talks about how he keeps the pro shop stocked and how he uses ‘part exchange’ to drive business, teaching golf to a larger membership than before and introducing the game to beginners.

Can you detail what your life was like from the first lockdown in March 2020 until the present day?

From the first lockdown in March 2020 it was an absolute circus, I have never known or seen anything like it and I don’t believe we ever will again.

My role at the club is obviously to run a pro shop but we also have full responsibility of running the membership, visitor green fees and the time sheet, so when we opened up, we were faced with the same issue like everyone else, a lot of people wanting to play but not enough tee times.

We had to restrict tee times to members only and people didn’t take long to work out that if they joined, they could play. Our club was in the very fortunate position where we had room to grow, which led to us successfully taking on more than 130 members, so through the pro shop we had the responsibility of integrating those new faces into the membership.

The golf club has now reached a new normal, it has calmed down a lot but is still much busier than before the pandemic with the majority of the new members rejoining over the last two years.

What daily challenges do you face in running a pro shop and teaching?

A big thing for me is I cannot be in both places at once. I have a very limited teaching facility which restricts when I can conduct lessons, so I am not as flexible as I would like to be. When you have a good relationship with your members and they need to have a ‘quick five minutes’ to check their swing but the time and facility does not allow me to do so, I feel like I have let them down.

There is a constant flow of new golf products – how do you manage your stock to serve the needs of your members and visitors?

I try to stock as much of the new product as I possibly can so that I give my members and visitors the opportunity to see and try all the latest equipment.

I try to stay stocked up with the most popular lofts, shafts or clothing sizes so that my customers do not have to wait to get their products. However, having said that, as much as you try your best you can never have everything.

Suppliers seem to be getting back to normal shipping times so the customers are never waiting too long if we must place an order. I have been doing this job for 22 years now and I have built excellent relationships with all my sales reps, they all seem to answer emails or phone calls very efficiently which is always a bonus. If you ever come across any issues, they are always resolved quickly.

How do you manage your day?

I try to do my lessons in the morning so I can spend the afternoon catching up in the shop, seeing members or attending club meetings. I feel this works well as it’s a good balance of time. The members know I will be around in the afternoon and I have time to focus on what is happening in the shop.

What are you doing to support junior golf and introduce kids to the sport?

As we have limited space and practice facilities, we have only run a handful of coaching sessions in the summer and a team of our members started guiding the juniors round three / six / nine hole competitions to get them started. This worked well until the nights got shorter, so we will pick this up again in the spring ready for the 2023 season.

Are you trying to attract more women to golf?

Again, we have difficulty with the restricted practice facility, but we organised a ‘Get into Golf’ ladies coaching course and a group of our lady members teamed up with the beginners and started taking them out on the course playing a few holes at a time to build their confidence and skill. We feel this worked well because the beginners are now entering competitions and joining in with the ladies’ section. We plan to do this again this year.

Do you have any programmes in place such as academy membership to make it easier to introduce beginners to the game?

We are very proactive in new member initiatives; I organised a trial membership with golf lessons which is a great stepping stone to the two introductory membership programmes we have.

One is purely a social golf membership where the beginner can find their feet, no pressure to get a handicap immediately and play in competitions. This has also been beneficial to the member who doesn’t have much time because of work or family commitments, it’s a reduced fee because they cannot play within prime competition times, but it allows them to still be able to play the game.

Our second programme is a 12-month membership at a reduced price, this allows people to get a handicap and enter selected competitions to get a feel for golf club competition life to then upgrade the following year.

We have had good feedback about this way of doing it because we are not giving membership away at crazy prices, but we are attracting the person who is serious about getting into the game and wants to progress and be involved.

A lot of PGA pros are having to be a step ahead of their competitors in their offerings and technology – what additional added value services do you provide?

Planning permission is in place to have a swing studio built early in 2023, I am really excited about this as it will be game changing for us, I will not be restricted with space and time.

Most of our membership growth comes from my coaching initiatives, but we usually have to wait until spring to kick this off. With a studio I can do it all year round. I can also get my team more involved in the club fitting side, which will alleviate some of the time from me.

A big part of my business is the ‘part exchange’. I started this when I first came to the club nine years ago by having club ‘amnesties’. Members were bringing clubs along that were collecting dust, we sold them on various platforms and credited their shop accounts.

It’s a very time-consuming task but I feel my members value it a lot, we now do it on all sales. For example, a customer will come in and buy a driver, I then sell their old one and put the money on their shop account which normally leads to them buying a matching fairway or hybrid.

Without this service I don’t believe I would get as much follow up trade as I do now, because a lot of people do not have the time or knowledge on how to sell second hand golf equipment. Therefore, if I do it for them the money stays in my shop and always leads to them putting it towards something and paying the extra.

When did you join the TGI Golf Partnership and what was it about it that attracted you?

I joined TGI Golf in 2010. Some friends who are TGI partners and some of my sales reps recommended the group to me. I was told it was like a close-knit family who were building relationships with suppliers to benefit the partners, and they were not wrong.

Has TGI Golf been of benefit to you as a PGA professional?

Absolutely, in so many ways. The annual business conference is a great opportunity to listen to expert speakers, see the suppliers and meet up with fellow partners to discuss everything about our businesses. It is a great opportunity to pick up so many ideas just before the start of the season.

The ‘Team Challenge’, held in Turkey each year is always a fantastic event, from start to finish the organisation is second to none. In 2022 I also participated in the TGI Golf Travel Masters, which was efficiently run again. The travel team has everything in place so all you have to do is turn up! My teams have always complimented the efficiency. The Srixon Amateur Championship is also a great event to be part of, that’s before we even get to the business assistance we receive from our retail consultants who are always there at the end of the phone if we need them. Having them come into the store as a fresh pair of expert eyes to help our business is a real asset to have.

What year did you turn professional and what have been your career highlights, both playing and employment?

I turned pro in 1996, and became a PGA member in 1999, I took over my first head pro role at Eastham Lodge in March 2000, a very daunting task at the tender age of 22.

Being thrown into the deep end at such a young age I soon had to learn how to run a business. Up until this point I was playing golf practically constantly, was doing some coaching but had very little idea about anything else!

It soon became apparent that although I enjoyed playing golf, it had to be sacrificed to commit fully to the role. It was difficult at first having very little funds and no credit history, so it took me a few years to get any decent buying terms and have enough money to buy any stock.