The Situation

A golf club is a combination retail store, upscale restaurant and a park and recreation department. It may require as many as six managers on site: a general manager to oversee the entire operation, as well as a food and beverage director, golf course superintendent, head golf professional, pro shop manager and financial controller.

Matching the right people to the right job to effectively manage and achieve a high level of customer service at such a complex operation is imperative. Thus, golf clubs, golf management organizations and employee recruiters look for human resource development tools to assist them in identifying qualified candidates, weeding out undesirable candidates, and training new hires and existing employees.

Pete Davison knows this only too well. He accepted the challenge of developing and operating golf clubs for the Tournament Players Club Network-a venture of the PGA Tour-in the early 1980s. He soon realized that the cost of hiring the wrong person can be staggering, leading to poor service, lost sales and even employee theft of money, merchandise or company time. (Turnover costs are roughly 150 percent of an employee's salary, according to study by Workforce Magazine.)

"I figured out that I needed more than my own gut telling me who to hire," Davison said.

Nor was Davison alone. Others in the golf club management business had similar needs. They sought human resource development tools to improve and enhance employee selection and training.

"I needed a tool to help us evaluate managerial-level job candidates, something to give us more insight into an individual before making that final decision to hire," said Bud Phillips, director of human resources for OB Sports Golf Management in Scottsdale, Arizona. He also needed a high-quality training program to ensure guest services were the best they could be.

Richard M. Kopplin, president of Scottsdale, Arizona-based Kopplin Search, Inc., Trey Stiles, president of Tennessee-based Golf Solutions Corp., and Gary L. Dee, former executive vice president of acquisitions for the Heritage Golf Group in San Diego, all echoed Davison's and Phillip's sentiments.

The Strategies

Davison, Phillips, Kopplin, Stiles and Dee, among many others, researched human resource development tools that would accurately measure prospective employees' integrity and personality traits to improve the quality of hiring. They all settled on assessment tools offered by The Plotkin Group.

Davison and TPC Network chose the Prevue aptitude assessment and later added the Stanton Integrity Survey. These assessments were used to assess the attitude and aptitude of candidates for management-level positions and to identify job candidates who might steal from the company, misuse sick leave, or engage in other counter-productive behaviors.

And with no employee training program relevant to the golf management business, Davison and the TPC Network chose to work with The Plotkin Group to develop a customer-service training film and workbook tailored to golf club management.

Phillips began using the Profile XT aptitude assessment and the customer-service training program developed by the Plotkin Group and TPC Network.

Kopplin, Stiles and Dee also selected The Plotkin Group's Profile XT aptitude assessment tool to help them evaluate candidates for managerial positions and put the right person in the right job.

The Results

Davison, who retired from the TPC Network in 2004, said one of the elements that made the Tournament Players Club Network successful were the assessment and training tools from The Plotkin Group, tools he used for some 20 years.

"Through pre-employment testing, we've minimized our hiring mistakes, allowing us to retain employees longer, with a higher level of performance," Davison said. In addition, the customer-service training program developed by The Plotkin Group and TPC Network-dubbed "Above and Beyond"-proved highly effective and today it remains a mainstay in the golf management industry.

"The investment in employees is the cheapest investment that you'll ever make," Davison said. "If you can produce honest, positive attitudes, produce stronger teams, you improve performance overall. You minimize employee turnover, and you identify the training needs to develop your staff."

Davison is now forming a new company to manage upper-end golf and country clubs and "will be contacting Jim and Hank Plotkin as soon as we get going."

Phillips described the Profile XT as "right on target and very helpful. It helps us place people in positions that are suited to them, especially when it involves different styles of decision making." He tried other tests, but "Profile XT has the highest degree of accuracy." The company is now extending the use of the assessment to lower-level employees.

Phillips also praises the Above and Beyond training program. "It clearly communicates our key message: How you would expect to be treated if you were the guest?" he said. "It works perfectly; it was a no-brainer that we should go with The Plotkin Group."

Kopplin, Dee and Stiles give the Profile XT aptitude assessment high marks as well. "It takes the 'emotion' out of the hiring equation," Kopplin said. "It clearly defines a candidate's skill sets and gives me an objective tool to determine if a candidate is a well-qualified 'fit' for the club."

Dee said the Profile XT enabled his company to identify certain traits in a candidate that make for a better fit versus other candidates. "In some case we have realized a candidate would be a better match at a club in a different city," he said. "It's also useful in training purposes to help an employee improve on targeted weaknesses."

For Stiles, the Plotkin assessment tool enhanced team development. "The Plotkin Group helped customize profiles for each management position and identify candidates with the skills, aptitude and attitude that best fit within those profiles and are most likely to perform at a high level," he said. "I will never again go back to hiring on instinct and references alone."