Feature
Jobs in Indian Golf
I remember caddying for my father . It wasn ’ t a regular occurrence and happened about two or three times , and that too as a fore caddie as there were no fore caddies available in the club on those few days . And this effort was much in line with what kids are doing across the world to augment their pocket money and living expenses while in college etc . But I have not really seen many youngsters do the same here in India , though I have seen some players do the same for other players . And they got paid fairly well for doing so .
Digraj Singh
Golf Entrepreneur and consultant . Has coached and also presented on golf . Represented India in Amateur golf . Won the National Games and Sri Lanka National titles . he objective of this article is to bring to your notice that , much like this opportunity , however small it may seem , there are many more jobs opening up silently in the Indian golfing world . And as we see more private courses coming up , we also see more professionalism coming into the system and creating opportunities for talent to earn well and be recognized .
In my opinion , the ball started rolling with the Classic Golf Resort when they first opened up . It was perhaps the first well funded world class golf centric project that opened up in India and it started setting many benchmarks in the field of human resources management in the Indian golf industry . I daresay , they have not been acknowledged for doing so . They put together a top class team of professionals to manage the course , the membership sales and also market the facility effectively . And a top class facility like that also needed quality administration . Some of those team members , stalwarts now , have contributed tremendously towards the growth of golf in the country . And not surprisingly , they were also became some of the most wanted professionals in the business and went on to do some great work in the industry . Who doesn ’ t want a quality and seasoned professional ?
Then Jaypee Greens , Golden Greens , DLF Golf and Country Club , Royal Springs , Eagleton , Aamby Valley and such projects started opening up and started demonstrating professionalism not seen earlier in Indian golf . They set new benchmarks and became more demanding of their staff and also started hiring very smartly . As a result , golf courses are now maintained better , the services being offered to members is superior , events are getting better , the teaching has improved , refereeing is superior , administration is more cost effective and a lot of new opportunities have also been created . This is not to suggest that the older clubs were not efficient , but the last twenty years have seen a sea change in their performances as well .
And what does improving quality have to do with this article , which is about new and numerous jobs coming up in the golf industry . Well it has everything to do with it . The industry which is now capable of paying decent salaries , is benchmarking with the best in the world . To deliver a world class experience to everyone connected with the sport , it is looking out for quality talent from different fields with skill sets which can be applied here . So there are openings for capable administrators , golf course superintendents , golf architects , golf teachers , marketing specialists , sales specialists , retail specialists , digital world savvy professional , travel professionals , fitness experts , psychologists etc and quality individuals are able to find opportunities . And while we may be seeing a temporary stagnation in growth , some proactive efforts of the leading golf bodies is certain to spur growth again . But talent individuals will find a good job in the industry today .
One challenge that the golf industry will face soon , if not already , will be to retain the talent that exists within the system . I daresay , this talent , which is now trained to deal with golfers , a very high quality audience which experiences the best of everything in the world , is much in demand . Indian golfers expect , demand , and get the best . Any industry will welcome these individuals who have worked with such a high demanding audience and we have seen that . People from the industry who have moved to other fields have succeeded admirably thanks to the lessons learnt in the golf industry . So if you are talented and find the golf industry interesting , there will be a quality job opportunity available for you and it is worth exploring it . Which incidentally is the core objective of this article . The golf industry needs quality talent and we hope that more and more talented people will come in and contribute towards its growth .
G o l f P l u s JULY 2017 43