GolfNewsRI

As the season is finally slowing down in the Northeast, club professionals and members alike surely have the time to reflect on their season at the club they belong to. This is where I am finding myself taking a good amount of time to step back and reflect on how the last few seasons have gone for me. To make a long story short, I started working in the club business when I was seventeen. Working in the bag room for Kyle Phelps at Rhode Island Country Club.

Through my years in college I found my way to a few different clubs, Warwick Country Club, Newport National Golf Club, and Louisquisset Golf Club all just as a college kid working in the golf shop. I spent my first season as an assistant professional at Fall River Country Club for Dan Shepherd, then seasonally at John’s Island Club in Vero Beach. (The story is much longer if you really want to hear it).

What I’m getting at is, at the ripe age of twenty-two I accepted a position as the Head Golf Professional at Louisquisset Golf Club in North Providence. Yes, twenty-two years old. I had graduated college months earlier, I actually got an email saying my degree has now been recognized while standing at the bag drop in Vero Beach.

I think anyone that I have worked for would be comfortable saying I am a go getter, ambitious you could say. For example, after transferring out of the PGA University Program at Coastal Carolina, I spent three years as the captain of the Rhode Island College Men’s Golf program. This put my credits toward PGA Membership on hold.

I re-entered the PGA Program in May of 2022 at Fall River Country Club. By October of 2023 I was elected to PGA Membership as a Class A Member. The PGA of America defines “acceptable progress” as completing the program in eight years, I completed the program in sixteen months.

I have spent the last two seasons as the Head Professional at Louisquisset, leading our popular and quite lengthy tournament schedule, day to day operations, and oh yes owning the golf shop. I can’t say I have been humbled by the experience because as far as I can tell, I have been blessed to have succeeded. The club has overly doubled in membership in the past season, tournaments sell out in less than a day, and members couldn’t be happier from my estimation.

One thing I have certainly been humbled by is the responsibility you inherit when becoming a Head Professional. Bottom line, something goes wrong, they are looking at you. Don’t get me wrong. I love every single second of this business, this job, and this wonderful life I have the privilege of living. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I tell the members all the time, I will die behind a counter in a golf shop. Being a golf professional is not only what I do, to a point it is who I am.

I heard a clip of a golf professional saying “They want you to play like Tiger, teach like Butch, merchandise like Ralph Lauren, and tell jokes like Bob Hope.” There are so many aspects of being of golf professional that are overlooked. It takes a very particular person, with a very specific personality that will lead to success in a position such as this one.

Attention- you better like it. You better be comfortable with it. Look tired today? They are going to notice. Messy hair, missed a spot shaving, wrinkle in your pants. Miss the green with a wedge? Wow, Anthony must be swinging bad today. What did he shoot in his last event? 78. No wonder he can’t make a dollar out there.

I’ll say it again, I wouldn’t give it up for the world. You better like people, and I love people. Being a positive moment in someones day, getting to know the membership, building relationships. Taking care of people. Being of service to them. That is all a massive part of a role like this one. One that you better be good at. Now, you are going to have bad days. A few come to mind for me right now. They are on the tip of my tounge, I can feel my head laying on my desk.

I can hear what you’re thinking right now, imagine this kid thinks this job is so hard, all jobs are hard! All jobs are like this, imagine owning a business! Actually, I do know. Or have a few years of experience with it. On top of managing over two hundred members and ensuring they are all happy and enjoying the experience, you manage a retail store. For the third time, I love this job, I wouldn’t give it up for the world. There is just a lot going on! I think you’re getting my point.

Anthony- what’s your biggest takeaway from your last two years as a Head Professional?

It’s a lot.

It really is, there is just so much. So many facets. But, for the fourth time now. I would not. Trade it. For the world. Just a friendly (long winded) reminder that your golf pro certainly has a lot on their plate. And by the way they don’t want the windshield of your cart to be dirty either.

At the end of the day, we get paid to work at a golf course. A facility where people play a game, a game that we all love. We manage people, playing a game. We are of service to people, playing a game. Our job is under the umbrella of a game. A game that we play and hopefully love.

Something I feel like I have been naturally good at but certainly took the time to learn and improve at is taking care of people. Something my Uncle Lenny told me when I was a kid was how Mike Harbour always acknowledged everybody. You have to do that. Because you are the center of attention. You are The Pro. I can hear one of my members Ralph Mollis right now, “Hey Pro”. The most endearing thing is to be addressed as “Pro”.

Being the Pro comes with a ton of responsibility. But, I can genuinely say I am absolutely blessed to have found a place in this industry. Blessed to be a PGA Head Professional at such a young age. Blessed to have relationships like I do with past and present members. And blessed to have worked for so many incredible PGA Professionals that have allowed me to learn and develop into the professional I am today.

Go easy on your Pro. Not the assistants though, you can torture them. 

 (Love you Brendan)

Anthony Loiselle, PGA is the Head Golf Pro at Louisquisset Country Club in North Providence, Rhode Island. He previously served as an Assistant Pro at Fall River Country Club and John’s Island Club down in Florida. He played college golf at Rhode Island College.