Gebauer: The Colonie Town Golf Course is a 36-hole municipally owned and operated facility. We host between 50,000–60,000 rounds between mid-April and mid-November each year. We also operate a busy driving range, as well as a restaurant, which is contracted to a food and beverage business that maintains multiple locations in the Albany, New York area. We just finished a 10-year run as the home site for the Northeastern New York PGA Section office.
My role is to oversee all aspects of the operation directly run by the Town of Colonie. This includes direct supervision of the golf operations, clubhouse maintenance employees and the greens superintendent. I am responsible for managing the contract with the food and beverage vendor, as well as acting as landlord for any concerns the vendor has with the space the restaurant occupies at our facility. Also falling under my purview are the creation and management of all budget lines relating to the golf course in the Town of Colonie’s annual budget.
Gebauer: I have been fortunate to draw from experiences and knowledge passed on to me by the many mentors who have assisted in my development over the years. These mentors have come from many different roles in the industry. From the public access side, former PGA Director of Golf and NENY PGA Hall of Famer Herb Moreland was instrumental in showing me many ways to maximize the profitability of a public course and driving range.
On the private club side, PGA of America Head Golf Professional Steve Jensen from Schuyler Meadows Club opened my eyes to ideas and practices involving high-end member service.
I have also leaned on other great PGA of America General Managers, such as Ron Ireland, for amazing advice when I have run into issues here at our course. I have learned so much from so many people in our industry, including superintendents, course owners, sales representatives and restaurateurs.
Gebauer: My approach to setting and measuring goals is to set them in small increments so that there can be a rewarding experience as goals are reached and then reset to the next rung on the ladder. By keeping positive feedback occurring more frequently, our staff stays motivated and also does not feel buried by goals which, when set too high, are unattainable and bad for trust and morale.
Gebauer: The most prevailing trend in the municipal/public golf space is definitely the appearance of a new type of customer, which we are seeing with more frequency each year. The “new” customer tends to be in their 20’s and 30’s, both male and female, and they have some common traits. The most obvious of these traits is the love of technology during their round, including the golf cart GPS’s ability to play music on the course, as well as access to sports scores, news and other information. These customers also tend to make reservations an hour or less before they would like to play, and they will enjoy their food and beverages while they play, usually opting out of coming into the clubhouse to experience the traditional 19th hole. They also very seldomly sign up for events and traditional tournaments. Despite that, they have been crucial to our business, as they always rent carts to play, have no issue buying top-line balls, hats and more, and they generally will go for more expensive cocktails from the beverage cart while they are playing. This customer will spend at least $30 per visit more on the average than our core traditional customer.
Gebauer: I think the most important part of my growth as a PGA of America General Manager has followed the same pattern as my growth as an assistant and head professional. I try to learn from every place I have been and all of the great industry people who have moved the needle at their facilities. I try to participate in as many Section events as possible to get around to our Section’s different facilities and look at how others do things. Many of the features that make our municipal course special have been copied from the many different types of facilities that I have visited over the years.
Gebauer: The advice I would have for aspiring PGA of America General Managers would be to trust your instincts. The skills that you develop moving through the golf industry to get to the GM position will serve you well when making decisions in any department you are responsible for. If you prove to the department heads of your facility that you are there to support them and to help in any way you can, your staff will respond in a positive manner, and you will be successful managing departments you may have felt you did not have the experience to manage.
Noel Gebauer, the 2003 Northeastern New York PGA Section Teacher of the Year, 2004 and 2005 Section PGA Professional Development Award Winner, 2009 Section Golf Professional of the Year and Bill Strausbaugh Award Winner and 2011 Section Player Development Award Winner, is a Quarter Century PGA Member and the PGA of America General Manager and Head Professional at the Colonie Town Golf Course in Schenectady, New York.