How’s it going everybody welcome to the on par podcast from the Winners Award Group Studio but modified studio today we’re actually out of the president of the company’s office because Ben Bauer is here from he’s the director of golf at Hunters Run and his team is actually ordering
For their whole season in the showroom so they kicked us out and we’re using Luciera’s office today so Ben thanks for being with us here pleasure guys thanks for having me on and then we also have the coach Sean Kicker as always you guys fantastic we’re here with you
So how bad could we possibly be so I was like amen so so Ben thanks for coming up and we appreciate you know you’ve been off a long time patron of Winners Award Group first of all so we thank you for that and thanks for spending some time with us today
Absolutely like I said thanks for having me on appreciate it give us an idea of your golf story in golf history sure absolutely so uh really didn’t start playing you know the game until I was about middle school uh was always a baseball guy um so played a lot of baseball
Um through high school a little bit in college um got the golf bug um when my father asked me to go out with him that play golf you know we always have two younger brothers we always resisted as kids cause we always want to be on the baseball fields
But the in the time we were like all right let’s go with that and mom pushed it because mom could have some alone time while the first some dad and the three boys could go out and play golf right so it actually worked out exactly worked out kind of great for everybody
So anyway we started going and then we got the bug so I think really the first year I started playing was the summer after my 8th grade year so my father would take me out to the little local public golf course he just dropped me off on his way to work
I’d hit balls I’d play the walk and play as much golf as I could and in one summer I got myself to the point where I made the varsity team as a freshman so yeah thank you and so from then on it that really sparked um you know
Kind of my passion for golf um ended up getting to the point where I made the state championships as an individual my team we actually lost um in regionals by couple shots of going to state as a team but I qualified as an individual and um then had a couple
You know offers at some some mid level um Division 1 schools um ended up at a small Liberal arts college in Michigan cause I want to play golf and baseball um but Adrian College a small school but little did I know that once you get to school you have to pick one
They’re both fall sports and spring sports in college right you know exactly there’s no such thing so ended up only playing one year of baseball stuck it out played all four years on the varsity team in college I was all set to graduate have was gonna get my degree in teaching
Thought you know what I’ll teach coach the summers off to play golf and so my local club Crow was like hey Ben have you ever thought about the golf business I thought about a little bit but you know I I think I’m just gonna go into education goes you know what you’re young
You’re not married um you try it if you don’t like it you can always go back to education so he helped um I got an interview at a club in Fremont Ohio and then also um got an interview at the club where I actually passed my Pat while I was in college
So a couple of guys on the golf team you know were as I was a freshman sophomore and they were seniors who were looking to get into the golf business took their pat and they’re like well you should set back then you didn’t have to be working just sign up for it
So I looked at it as another 36 hole tournament in the summertime uh went there’s like 90 people that signed up for it like six of us passed you know and I don’t think I understood the the um you know the whole um situation the magnitude of the situation
For those wanting to get into this industry at the time I just need it as another summer tournament so ended up passing it there as a sophomore in college like two more years of college and then as I said my my pro had said something about going into it and um
I passed that it to come see country club and to come see Michigan and sure enough um that’s where I took my first job as an assistant pro out of college at that same facility yeah so all these years later absolutely you never changed like me like
I got in when I was 19 years old yeah and this is the only industry that I’ve ever worked same same and and for me it was it was 100 miles per hour um while I was a small club uh worked for a great guy and his name was Bruce Fred
His wife ran the shop for him um and what I didn’t understand is you know somebody very young out of college my first job I’m a couple years into it the club was a small club so you know you had your golf pro you had a clubhouse manager and you had the super
That was it that was the management team and um so he moved over to clubhouse manager and took his wife over there to help him and kind of left the whole golf thing to me and I’m saying to myself I get kind of halfway through that season working you know
7 to 7 every day you know on Mondays I’m I’m trying to take members to cause up there in chapter events they’re all Croatians so I’m trying to take members meanwhile my wife is a school teacher she’s off in the summertime when you coming home you know and so
I’m having this conversation with my father yeah he’s working me to death not getting any more money well little did I know he was testing me he had gone to the board of directors and said hey I’m looking to retire I think you should give Ben a shot and I had no idea
But that was my shot you know what I mean right isn’t that crazy yeah yep and so that fall I walk in he tells me that he’s looking to retire I have a meeting with the board of directors I’m not even Class a yet you know
And I think they were just looking for the smoothest transition and basically looking to see could I handle it and um obviously I even as frustrated as I was at home and talking with my family I didn’t let that show at work and and it all worked out so um ended up getting
The Head Crows job at age 25 and so yeah so totally was not ready for it because the pro at that club wasn’t a club employee they wanted you to run the entire operation hire your own employees on the golf shop so so I’m you know two weeks before my 25th birthday
I’m sitting in the bank president’s office who’s a member of the club trying to get a 250,000 dollar line of credit to start up yeah you know and and I wasn’t in a position to do that but fortunately the members of the club you know them from the banking side
One of the members who was an accountant helped me set up the business side couple of the members um came together and actually purchased my my total initial uh first inventory you know so the membership was very supportive and and really that’s how I got started um in this side of the business
So I was there for using his assistant for use as a head pro and then um Matt Paul Clvio who’s the director of Mount ST Andrews at um I believe level 2 of PJ School in Port Saint Lucy so at the time you know how they pair you up into foursomes
Right in those quad type rooms I’m even before the days of ports and loose I was a Class a long before fortune yeah well my first level I went through that where you had to go to the site right so I remember we had a ballroom and we’re lugging
Like $50 worth of books through the convention center in Columbus Ohio exactly exactly but you know once they transition to Port Saint Lucy they set everybody up you know two bedroom like apartments um and two people in each room and so you know we had two other guys
And the way they did is you had to test out like the first day and if you didn’t pass or pass the retest they flew you home you couldn’t stay the rest of the week so there were two or four of us in there
Paul and I were the only two standing in that room the room below us was four guys that we had met up with three of them got sent home wow so after that second day it’s myself Paul Clebio Saint Andrews call Crespo who’s now the director of the Delaware wow haha wow
And they’re still are really good friends today we hang out with our wives and it’s just amazing story of of how we met at PJ School and now we’re still friends after all that makes perfect sense when you look at the careers that you had the successful careers that you and Paul
And Paul yep have all had the facilities that you guys are working at and you were probably with Crespo at well when he was next to you at Ballon Isles correct exactly um but yeah I tell you it’s a great team always rises to the top and I love how
You kind of illustrate what we talk about all the time which is how golf opens doors for you in business sitting with the Paul’s sitting with the bank president that was a member right club you meet a upper affluent CEO direct level type of clientele and then those relationships get built
And who knows where it takes absolutely exactly you know you didn’t even know that and you did a perfect job of hearing right into the yeah so yeah yeah I mean it worked out like I said I think it was we met each other in August I believe of 2005
At that PGA school Paul Clivia was flying up for a V1 training and their headquarters were in Livonia Michigan so only about 45 minutes from where I lived and worked and so he called me and said hey I’m coming up for this training meet you for dinner tonight we met for dinner
And he goes hey by the way we might have a job opening you know this next spring have you ever thought about moving to Florida I’m like ah you know no I mean you know I’ve only been the head coach this couple couple years my wife and I just build our first home
You know she’s she’s liking what she’s doing cause you know she’s an elementary school teacher but he was gonna transition into teaching some local community college classes you know so we’re like no we’re all set so we he goes don’t say no meet us at the PGA show
So my wife and I came down the show which we were doing every year anyway come to the show we met up with with he and Glen Hall who was the director golf Paul was the head pro under him at the time at ST Andrews and Glen had some Michigan routes
He was at Norwood Country Club in Michigan was a really good player in the Michigan section in his younger days and so we met up with him for dinner um obviously you know had a great report with Paul ended up with a great report Glen and kind of asked the question again
Don’t say no come down and see the club um so we did at the end of the week we drove down we saw Saint Andrews Country Club and Boca and when we saw the place you’re like yeah there’s nothing like this in Michigan nothing um so absolutely that’s right and you know
And the more we talked about it the more we realized for us that it was actually a better scenario because like I mentioned when I was in Michigan you know she’s caught when are you coming home at night you know cause the days are longer
I’ve had some of the young guys call me and said that you know I had an 8:30 shotgun with the seniors hey I’ll be there at 8:00 tonight for a lesson after I’m there 7:00 preparing for the morning shotgun here are our busiest days are the shortest days of the year
So when she’s off in the summer half of our members leave and go back north and it’s our slocy so so actually we get a much better quality of life based on both of our professions alright sound like Paul and Glenn are great headhunters and you’re really great at sales
To be able to sell your wife and let’s move to south that’s right yeah not that moving to South Florida is a hard sell right I mean I lived in Indiana for four years you were upstate I was all the way up in Maine oh wow yeah right
It’s a tough place to leave and I’ve left twice and I boom yeah trust me I hear you yeah give us a give us a memorable story a memorable moment from the golf course and I’m sure you have 100,000 of those to choose from
Oh yeah so I’m gonna tell one of my favorites um so I had my wife’s best friend from kindergarten um ended up moving in with some family she’s from Ohio we grew up in a small town Ohio um she ended up moving out of the area before we did she moved to Charlotte
Okay that to um to be with family so she ends up meeting a guy she’s married now and they have a child but at the time she was dating him he was assistant pro at a club in northern Charlotte um and um kind of Davidson area and um
So we decide to go visit them so we go up we visit them and it’s it’s a Tuesday and I remember that only because the clubs are closed on Monday right but that Monday happened to be Del Curry’s celebrity outing at the course so and he’s like hey there
Which is his name said hey you know what let’s play on Tuesday I’ve you know I’ve got the you know the Del Curry outing on Monday clubs gonna be closed on Tuesday we can just zip around so we we start playing and stuff and it’s just the two of us
We get to like whole No. 5 or 6 and um apparently they just opened up the bagroom so if members want to come out and play you know they could get them a cart and they can play but not many were out there and said hey um MJ’s here
Is looking for a game and I look at him like MJ he goes yeah MJ his brother lives on the 9th green so when he’s in town he comes out here and plays a lot and he’s like so what do you think I’m like it’s MJ it’s MJ you know
I mean come on right exactly the other MJ so we walk up and turn off it’s Jordan it’s Jordan right so it’s Jordan he’s got a few buddies with him and um so what we introduce ourselves he’s like yeah we’re just looking to play let’s go so we head to the first tea
I wanna say there’s probably you know you know Mike likes to have his entourage you know and so I think we had like six players and five cards cause I’m riding with Andy to start with I think we probably ended up with nine people and eight cards
You know by the time the day was finished but so we get to the first tea and of course they want to bet on everything and and so we’re everybody’s kind of making their side bets in the side bets don’t stop right throughout the round like how long is that clown can stay
Absolutely yeah right and so we get through that like I don’t know maybe a third maybe we’re like the sixth hole and they say to Andy hey is the restaurant or the bar open can we get some beer on the golf course and Andy’s like no I’m sorry there’s nothing like oh man
Really come on and he’s like you know what let me call my you know I don’t know if he’s married at the time girlfriend wife he’s like let me call my wife was with her best friend his fiance or wife and so we called them up
They end up running beer to us on the golf course right while we’re playing with those guys and they get a handshake and a sweaty hug from Michael and that’s it like like 30 bucks like exactly so so you know so it was good you know when it took a couple pictures whatever
It was great so we finished playing the 18 and and you know we’re shaking his hand like hey we’re gonna head out we’re gonna have dinner no we never stop at 18 we’re going again you know so we’re like alright so we call Eliza like yeah we’re not meeting you for dinner
You know cause you’re not gonna say no to that so we end up playing 36 in the day so it’s it was pretty cool it was a great experience you know one of the funniest parts of the round was one of the assistant pros there was was a really good stick
So he kept mouthing off and drone just kept you know so they the best just kept growing right and so they get on a green and I think MJ has like a 10 foot cut for par and they’re all kind of talking whispering over to the side or something
And he goes through his routine and looks like he’s ready to pot and all of a sudden and you can kind of hear the whatever he backs away and he says guys because talk as loud as you want I’m used to shooting free throws in front of 30,000 people
When the games on the line you’re not gonna bother me at all doesn’t even you know looks at him doesn’t even break stride go through his routine again and makes the puddle that level of concentration yeah intensity and confidence and under they thrive under pressure oh absolutely it doesn’t excite him
Until his back is up against the wall and then exactly all the sun is like correct you can be Tiger Woods if you wanted to yeah he’s just their special athlete those exactly those guys have an intensity like like nobody else yeah and an energy level yeah
You and I will talk as loud as you want doesn’t matter I love it yep damn man that’s a great story I don’t even know what to ask you after that so that’s like a life job what kind of you know you know Ben and I are of that last generation of PJ
Professionals that used to have the only own business right where we were that’s right that you might get a little retainer you know me at 12 to 20 thousand dollars exactly for your services but then the rest was on you yeah provide the range you had to provide the carts
You had to provide the pros correct the lessons all of the above was all part of the pros responsibility yeah yep you can make a decent living if you were at the right club absolutely but it was it was very difficult you know because like you said
You got the all the expenses of the staffing as well and the expectation from the members to to cater to the level of service that they expect and so you know I mean it’s kind of a fine line there between making a good living and take care of the members
Because you don’t take care of the members you’re not gonna be employed there right so they only look at the top line number right absolutely gross number of what the pro is making correct and sometimes that bar exceeds the people that are members of the club right that’s right how can that be
So yeah it was a different era absolutely it was probably still a few of those places but very few it’s much more corporate time yeah you have these big management companies that are that are let’s say writing the checks right yeah you do or like you know our facility the facility I’m at
Mount Hunters Run and the other facilities where you know what all that’s building to the budget you’re using the member dollars so in turn you’re providing the numbers with better pricing right they they’ve already paid for a portion of it in their dues and so now you give them that better pricing
So that you know they they stay there and and they really reinvest in their own facility as opposed to going to the big box store ordering online you know so we we’ve got to beat those everyday street prices to provide them with the value to be able to reinvest in their own facility
Yeah absolutely talk a little bit about the difference between where you work small 18 hole has facility and you know going then going to ST Andrew’s and then going to hives and now going to hundred in each facility gets bigger absolutely yes take over Pine Pine Crest right one of these days
So yeah so I mean we were doing about 15,000 rounds a year at the club I was at Michigan we’d always open March 15th um really never close for golf you know some of the guys who had their own private cards would play throughout the winter um so I kind of
It’s funny I kind of joke you know the two things I sold the most in the fall there were were cart covers in those Coleman cart heaters right so that those guys the die hards could play whenever there wasn’t frost um but then transition to Saint Andrews and Boca
You know very high end 36 hole facility at the time we were only doing 33,000 rounds a year open 365 days a year so very seasonal and then making the move from there to Ibis where in my last year there um two years ago we did 120,000 rounds on 54 holes
And almost $2 million in sales out of the golf shop now were you there before well how long have you been while you were there when they did the renovation to the clubhouse correct yeah modernized exactly I came in um they were they just started up like a 5 million dollar renovation
Um to build up sports complex double the size of the clubhouse so they basically went from like one one and a half restaurants the four restaurants on property and then had to turn around like 3 or 4 years later put another 15 million dollars into the clubhouse to expand it
Because once we build it we saw the utilization the skyrocket more than we could have ever imagined um even going from like I said one and a half restaurants to four and just busting at the seams with office space um the the um pub as they called it their sports bar
You know that held like 80 people was like an hour late to get in every every night huge community so way out west way out west and you’re kind of on the island right um 20 minutes away from PJ Boulevard but for the most part you’re there you know so um so yeah
So we invested in the facilities again and that’s pretty much where they’re at did a course renovation a range renovation when I was there and that’s what got me excited about the transition to Hunters Run because I really feel like there’s a lot of similarities in parallels
Where Hunters Run is kind of where Ibis was maybe a year or two before I got there right so we’re on the custom hour just finishing up a range renovation we close March 18th for a one course renovation uh we’re working on a lifestyle center for the membership right now and hopefully
Within the next couple weeks start interviewing architects to do a our championship course next summer so lot lot of great things going on phenomenal membership and so we’re looking to really improve the facilities for not only the existing members but the really attract new members who were moving down yeah cause I mean
You’re at one of those facilities now where the average age is up is up it is and so you know that has to change or the facility will really start to deteriorate yes no new money coming into right so exciting times for PJ professionals in the Palm Beach County area
I’d love to see some of that happen in Broward but unfortunately that isn’t happening and those facilities are dilapidated yeah and they’re closing yep but you know yeah I mean and we got 1,000 people moving to the state of bed today and a lot of it is in Palm Beach camp right
I drove down to Fort Lauderdale this morning and I was going like three miles an hour and there’s no space that’s right Palm Beach there is it’s not brow down so you know how has that helped your membership with all this influx of New York California Arizona Nevada Texas I mean people from
Other States have been moving here and drove yeah since 2020 to the tune of a net of I think a thousand or 11 a day yep so tell us about how that’s a sure absolutely so I’m currently the president of the southeast chapter
So I come into contact with a lot of the professionals that are in our chapter and our chapter runs from Boca up to Viro and a lot of the conversations I’m having with you know the guys and gals in these positions at these clubs
Are that it’s great having this influx of new members these new members they want more they willing to spend more but you kind of have this disconnect between the long term member right who came in when the initiation fee was a lot less when the dues were a lot less
Were happy with the facilities maybe some of them aren’t using the facilities as much as they used to so it becomes a hard sell to them why should we improve it when I’m happy with No. 1 I’m either happy with the way it is or I’m probably not gonna be here
That much longer and I’m not gonna live to see it anyway right so why am I gonna pay for it you know so it it’s it’s a delicate balance right now between all the exactly all this this influx of new members especially you know from 2,020 on after Covid
You know we have to reopen from Covid and having this influx members coming down so it’s a good problem to have it really is I’m not complaining but it is so it so you’ve got to navigate it properly and and really you know try to continue to provide you know
Better level service for the existing membership while making sure that you do plan accordingly for the future as well how big at your facility is is more of the outside of golf activities like the pickle ball oh yeah so we’re just putting together here at Hunters Run some membership surveys
When I was at Ibis we surveyed the membership half the membership based on age demographic gender demographic um membership demographic right which level membership they had so we did two of those a year and in all the surveys from there in the eight years I was there golf ranked 13th most important
Wow right yeah because there’s so many things you know when you look at that entire lifestyle that they feels more important whether it’s um obviously food is No. 1 because not everybody plays golf that everybody eats right security landscaping you know all these things came in higher as a priority than golf
In which it’s kind of hard to understand it first because nobody’s moving to the those these communities without the golf courses right so you would think having three golf courses is has to be the number one priority and it isn’t okay so again you have to manage the expectations of the membership to
Based on their feedback and they pay a premium to be and they can they do that’s right golf courses were built in the first place Hunters Run Country Club right yeah that’s right it’s a country club correct and obviously three golf course yeah so so what do you
If you had to look into your crystal ball and yeah what are these member surveys at Hunters Run gonna say is golf still gonna be way down there at 13 or is it gonna be high I think it’s gonna be higher I think it is more of a priority Hunter Run
I still think there’s some other things where that the membership is a whole um would hold in higher regard but I do think it’s gonna be a little bit higher there um is business networking on the list somewhere as in priority or not really it’s just something that comes ancillary
That comes ancillary yeah absolutely um but yeah I mean as much as is golf is growing pickleball is growing exponentially to the point where we’ve added more pickleball courts we just reservice all of our pickleball courts you know so that’s definitely a priority right now probably just about any facility whether it’s a
Municipal city owned whether it’s a public facility private it just seems like that sport is growing faster than any other sport out there right now has to help your tight row back because you got a kid who’s 10 playing with his dad his grandpa and maybe his great grandpa
Right in the same pickle ball game and the same yeah so you talk about trying to make it’s impossible to make all of the people happy all the time but it seems like pickleball bridges that gap it really does and you know we have so many of our members because you know
We have an older demographic and we see a lot of them transitioning from you know used to play at a high level in tennis maybe can’t move like they used to and so we see a lot of them transitioning to pickleball because there’s not as much movement I will tell you it’s funny
Cause the ball doesn’t bounce like a tennis ball you know when a lot of these clubs first introduced it there were more injuries then you would think associated with pickleball right so but that was you know the the fitness um director and the training staff adjusting accordingly to offer different services
For the membership to make sure that you know they are stretched properly and and they’re working towards you know certain holes in their physical health to to prevent injury I’m not even a little bit surprised that you said the s word when you stretch because every professional whether they’re golf professional
Uh uh any type of athlete at all someone who’s playing pickleball uh John Moscoso was on he talked about the importance of stretching Tom Wilden House talked about and I talked about how we professional hours hours warming up before right hours and then hours warming down cooling down right exactly so all right
Well give us another give us another memorable moment because I don’t know if you can top energy oh there’s you know with this industry and and I’ve been very fortunate there’s you know there’s so many so many great stories so many great interactions um you know I mean another famous person or something
Yeah I mean you know we’re very fortunate Ibis you know I you know I worked very closely with our director Instruction Martin Hall there who had his show on the Golf Channel for over 12 years and we did a lot of filming of of his shows um school of golf
You know at um Ibis we took members every year as part of our charity event up to see Martin go to the studios watch filming on the show take him to play golf have dinner with Martin and whoever the co host was at the time um you know
And and and had a lot of you know people influential people in our industry um come out to the club you know we did a lot of commercials with you know me Rory was out quite a bit and um just a lot of the tour players you know would would visit even though
We’re a little further west and out of the way we’re an ideal spot for filming yes um so I I think one of the best stories um that I have is we were renovating our legend golf course at Ibis in 2,017 so we’re renovating the golf course and so Jack designed it originally
So we’re gonna have Jack redesign it right just signature course he lives local and it was fantastic cause he was out there about every two weeks checking on the progress so I’m in the cart with my general manager Steve Logan ice who hired the at Ibis
Jack was in a cart with Chad Gets who is the lead designer um for that golf course and um Matt Basemar superintendent so we’re driving around and and Jack’s getting out of the cart and he’s talking about certain holes and he’s telling Chad you know like on No. 12 yeah
Let’s elevate the screen a little bit more I want fall offs on both sides because it’s such a short you know almost drivable hole for the members so they’re gonna hit the ball up close let’s make that second shot more difficult so we go around we get to No. 17
Which is a par five and um we’re out there so we drive up and get to the approach so you’re hitting your third shot into the green well the green prior was a three tiered green right beside the water and so Jack says Chad I’m not kind of liking
What we have on the plants let’s take and let’s turn this green a little bit away from the water you know and and see what we can come up with with the design and make it more of a two tier not a three tier or a little more general slope and um
And he goes I forget what the next line was so I said said the Jack you know I said well you know we we um at first when you mentioned that you’re gonna move it away from the water we were a little skeptical he says to me and goes Ben and my GM
Every time I see Stevie doesn’t let me live this town because of Ben how could you be skeptical when you don’t know shit but it was it was great we had we had so much fun and we still have so many laughs over that story every time I’m
I’m back with with some of the people at Ibis or you know I talked it like I said Steve will never let me live that down I’m gonna get you a T-shirt that says that absolutely I gotta say the moral of the story kids is if you want to hang out with legends
Like Michael Jordan and Jack Nicholas you better be you don’t question anything they say no play golf yeah that’s right right that’s true you’re not meeting those guys absolutely without the game of golf yeah that’s right yeah listen it’s been an absolute yes yeah thank you guys welcome back anytime I appreciate that
And um you know for those of you who listen in the podcast today got a couple of great charity events coming up go to on park podcast com or follow the coach Sean Kicker on Facebook and Instagram and check those out and we’ll see you next week on
The on car podcast for another episode guys thank you thank you appreciate it yeah that was brilliant
