Peter Micklewright,PGA, Director of Golf,Edgewood Country Club,Penn Hills, Pennsylvania
The golf boom of recent years has brought unprecedented traffic to many golf shops, but sustaining those numbers has required new strategies. At Edgewood Country Club in Penn Hills, Pennsylvania, PGA of America Director of Golf Peter Micklewright has found success by giving his staff a stake in the outcome.
Headed into the 2023 season, Micklewright, the 2023 Tri-State PGA Section Golf Professional of the Year, challenged his team with an ambitious target: Increase golf shop sales by $100,000 over the prior year. Instead of shouldering the goal alone, he invited his three PGA of America Assistant Professionals (including Phillip Lockhart and Elmer Bland, pictured) to help.
“I promised to split the profits of all 2023 sales that exceeded what we did the year before,” Micklewright explains. “If we hit the additional $100,000, my profit would be around $20,000. I would keep $10,000, and my assistants would split the other $10,000. That’s a nice year-end bonus.”
The results spoke for themselves. With skin in the game, Micklewright’s Edgewood Country Club staff of PGA Professionals became more proactive in promoting products, more creative in presenting merchandise and more engaged in identifying opportunities.
“They are constantly coming to me with new ideas for things we should be doing in the golf shop,” says Micklewright, the 2025 Tri-State PGA Section Merchandiser of the Year for private facilities. “They’re also paying attention to what they see at other facilities when they play elsewhere and instantly considering if it would work for us.”
The program not only boosted sales performance, but also accelerated professional development for his assistants. With two of the three just beginning their PGA journeys, the exercise gave them valuable insight into motivating a team, setting measurable goals and connecting individual effort with business results.
“As PGA of America Golf Professionals, mentoring is part of our legacy,” Micklewright says. “Programs like these are teachable moments as much as they are better business.”
The approach at Edgewood Country Club highlights a best practice any PGA of America Professional can apply: Align staff incentives with shop performance to create shared accountability and stronger results. As Micklewright points out, when assistants see the direct impact of their efforts, they’re not just selling – they’re learning how to lead.
