The Sonnenalp Golf Club's PGA of America General Manager, Jim Miller, knows that small things can sometimes significantly impact the member experience. Before Miller’s seemingly simple yet powerful idea is revealed, let's get to know him better and learn more about his club. Jim Miller came into the game of golf a little later than most of us in the business.
"A much thinner version of myself played college soccer and baseball at Judson University in Elgin, Illinois,” Miller explained. “I went out to Colorado for a summer in 1988 and started bussing tables at Castle Pines Golf Club. That's when I began to play more golf. I spent 13 seasons at Castle Pines and literally did every job at the club. I was a back waiter, front waiter, locker room attendant, shuttle driver, valet, assistant maître d', caddie, bag room attendant, engineering staff, course maintenance staff and assistant golf professional. My last six seasons at Castle Pines were with the golf staff and under the guidance of one of my most important mentors, Keith Schneider, PGA. In the winter, I would go down to the Vintage Club in Indian Wells, California, where my mentor there was Paul Lemcke, PGA. Between Mr. Schneider and Mr. Lemcke, I don't think I could have had two better examples of what it means to be a PGA of America Golf Professional and, more importantly, how to treat others and what it means to be an amazing human being."
Miller earned PGA membership in 1998, and his first head professional role began in April 2001 at Catamount Ranch & Club in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. After two years, Jim moved from the head professional position to club manager.
"That promotion was my first GM experience,” he says. “Although I was young and inexperienced, I was, again, uniquely blessed to have a management mentor in Mr. Joe Petrash. He is the one who showed me the mechanics of what it takes to be a private club general manager."
In 2009, Jim started a new career with Timbers Resorts. "The gentleman who hired me was Mr. Lance Thompson. I feel like customer service has always been a strength of mine, but when I saw Lance's work, I learned what it takes to be a world-class "hospitality linebacker." Lance is the best on the planet. Timbers had just finished building One Steamboat Place, a Private Residence Club in Steamboat. I incorrectly thought that private residence clubs would now be my forever career."
In 2014, Timbers bought their first golf course, Kauai Lagoons, in Lihue, Hawaii.
"I was sent out to Kauai to help transition Kauai Lagoon’s operation to the spectacular Hokuala property that it is today. One of the great benefits of working on this project was that I could rejoin the PGA of America after a brief five-year hiatus."
Miller returned to Colorado in 2016, and at that point, he heard about a fantastic opportunity at the Sonnenalp Club in Edwards, Colorado.
"It was the perfect chance to apply all of these learned skills and valuable experiences and focus them all on the club manager position at the Sonnenalp Club. I have been here for eight years and could not have been more blessed. I cannot begin to properly thank my owners, the Faessler family, for taking a chance on me and allowing me to grow and flourish with this great club. The Faesslers, our operations team and our Sonennalp Club family have been so wonderful to me and my family. I could not have landed in a better place."
Built initially as Singletree in 1980, the Sonnenalp Club was designed by Bob Cupp and Jay Morrish. The course has hosted the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, won by Brett Quigley in 1987, Colorado State Amateurs and two Colorado Opens.
The Faessler family bought the course in 1986 to help them expand their summer hotel business. It then became the Sonnenalp Golf Club and in 2016 underwent a massive renovation.
"We added a state-of-the-art fitness center, and the club added 200 new fitness members almost immediately."
In 2016, the club was still a semi-private "stay and play" golf course with a membership component but also allowed afternoon public play.
"We had always intended to take steps toward higher and higher levels of exclusivity and gear our programming towards our membership. COVID took what was once a 5-6-year privatization plan and made it one! We are now 98 percent member play. We have several tee times that we can reserve for our hotel guests, but other than that, we now function as a private golf club. We are now sold out and have approximately 350 full golf members and 350 fitness members.”
When asked to share an example of something he has incorporated at the club that has proven successful, Jim started by saying, "This could be perceived as a small thing, but it's proven to be a vitally important thing for us." Like many great ideas, that is often the initial thought one has when presenting them.
"When I arrived, the Sonnenalp Club did not have a "beer loop." We didn't have a four or five-hole loop that would just take an hour and then bring you back to the clubhouse. We built a "secret tee" behind our 12th green. Only members knew it was there. You could now play 10, 11, 12 and then go up to the secret tee, play 17 (a par three) backward, and finish on 18."
"As I stated earlier, culturally, the club was intentionally going down a path toward increasing levels of exclusivity. This "secret tee" that we dubbed the Landauer Tee (named for a member who has recently passed) was something that only members knew about; it was theirs alone. It helped start a new tribal bond between our members, their golf course, their club and one another."
I'm passionate that whenever you can cultivate programs and initiatives unique to your membership and your club, this will continually strengthen those bonds and produce a positive culture. This positive culture, and the one-of-a-kind experiences born from that, is a connective tissue that retains members and keeps them loyal to your club."