FEBRUARY 3, 2021
RICHMOND, BC (PGA of British Columbia) -– As excited as Terry Rowles is to share his wisdom with PGA of BC Professionals as part of next week’s Spring Education Seminar, he just wishes he could be delivering it in person.
“I love coming there. It’s a beautiful place,” Rowles said of British Columbia, having made multiple trips to Whistler and elsewhere in the province in the past.
As the current public-health situation has resulted in the 2021 PGA of BC Spring Education Seminar being conducted virtually for the first time ever, Rowles and the rest of the golf-industry experts comprising this year’s lineup of presenters will be delivering their expertise from afar on Feb. 8-9.
But while the Association’s signature professional-development event has moved fully online, it will continue to be a forum for the sharing of ideas that makes the Spring Education Seminar an invaluable event for every Golf Professional.
“I love learning more than almost anything, and being a golf teacher is a really difficult thing because at the end of the day we are dealing with so many different variables,” Rowles said in conversation with the PGA of BC administration team last week. “If I can help my colleagues move along that path a little bit more easily, then that’s a good thing, because it usually reciprocates or comes back 10 times.
“What we do is a very difficult business and there’s no one way (to do it), so if we can share some of the organizing principles behind what we do, that makes us better as a unit.”
Rowles will be the final speaker up during Tuesday's schedule, with Dubai-based PGA of Canada Professional Alex Riggs and GGA Partners principal Henry DeLozier also appearing on Feb. 9. The schedule for Feb. 8 will include elite-level coach Chris Como, renowned golf statistician Lou Stagner and a joint presentation from Titleist Performance Institute Fitness Advisory Board co-chair Lance Gill and Jason Baile, director of instruction at Florida’s Jupiter Hills Club.
Another of Monday’s presenters, golf journalist and TV personality Matt Ginella has an affinity for BC as well, with his most recent trip to the province documented in a 2020 episode of Golf Advisor Round Trip that chronicled his visit to Whistler.
“No one loves Canada more than me. I might love it more than Canadians,” Ginella said with a laugh earlier this week from San Diego. “It took me a long time to get to Whistler for whatever reason, but once I was there, I was like, ‘Holy …’ – the same reaction I had when I went to Banff or Cabot Links. You think you know what you’ll find, and it far exceeds your expectations.”
Ginella has since moved on from Golf Channel and as executive producer of Dawn Patrol Productions, he’s working with Golf Digest and Discovery, Inc. to develop golf-travel programming and content, and just this week launched The Fire Pit Collective website as a hub for all of the company’s storytelling. But in his extensive travels to some of the most iconic golf destinations on the planet, Ginella has had his expectations blown away many times, getting a first-hand look at many of the best golf experiences our game has to offer. As part of his session next week, he’ll be looking at some of the best practices he’s seen at facilities creating memorable customer experiences.
“Service still matters,” said Ginella. “The ultimate question is, as (golfers) load up in their car, are they thinking, ‘Man, what a great day,’ or ‘I can’t believe I just paid 75 bucks to play that course.’ That is what it comes down to. You’re either going to get a return customer or you’ve lost a paying customer forever.
“it’s a buyer’s market for the consumer and therefore the golf courses and facilities need to be delivering, otherwise you’re dead,” Ginella continued. “I just think 20 years ago we weren’t in a place to receive a tsunami of interest post-Tiger Woods. I think everybody said ‘You gotta wear this, can’t do that, no music, must do this…’ In the last 25 years, we’ve flipped the script on that, where we’re much more inclusive and receptive and service-focused.”
Meanwhile, in his anchor presentation for the event, Rowles will be presenting some of the findings on his research in two key areas where the player makes contact with the world – in gripping the golf club and in ground reaction forces.
“If we were all to go to a room on our own and describe the golf grip, we’d probably all end up in a different place. With (fellow researchers) Phil Cheetham and Mike Adams, we’ve basically been able to define what a golf grip is and measure it, and nobody’s done that before,” explained Rowles. “Once you can measure the grip, then you can understand the effect of the grip, so we’re continuing to add limbs to that tree of what the grip really affects.”
Rowles added that many instructors have yet to find a way to use pressure plates efficiently, so he hopes the info he’ll deliver on ground reaction forces will be an eye-opener for many.
“We’ve seen a lot of well-known teachers saying they don’t use force plates and they’re a waste of time, so I hope to change some minds around that because we do get pretty amazing results teaching using the ground,” he said.
“I’m quite humbled (to be speaking at the event). It’s a great list of presenters … and I’m excited to share our research, which is getting better all of the time, and disseminate some of this stuff north of the wall.”
Registration for the event remains open until 4 p.m. PT on Friday. With more than 125 PGA of BC Professionals already signed up to attend, next week's seminar will once again be a can't-miss event.
CLICK HERE to view the event page, including registration links, synopses for each scheduled presentation and bio info on each speaker.
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For more information, please contact:
Eric MacKenzie
Communications & Marketing Manager, PGA of BC
(604) 303-6766
eric@pgabc.org