PRO ACTIVE
Multi-tasking is elementary for the esteemed Mr Holmes. By Brian Keogh
NOBODY knows better than Karl Holmes the vast difference between a professional golfer and a golf professional.
The former describes Rory McIlroy, Pádraig Harrington or the star student of the Greystones professional, Paul Dunne, the recently crowned British Masters champion.
Like Darrell Kestner, the head golf professional at the Deepdale Club outside New York City, Holmes knows the role of the golf professional is now as varied and challenging as the Irish weather.
“All you need to do is dress and run a golf shop like Ralph Lauren, play like Jack Nicklaus, teach like Butch Harmon, be a nice person like the Pope and be a great storyteller and personality like Bob Hope,” Kestner said of the club professional’s lot in life.
He might have added structural engineer and Director of Golf to the list.
It’s the day after Hurricane Ophelia and Holmes has had another busy day.
A section of the roof that covers the bays at Greystones’ driving range has been blown off in the high winds but helping to solve that thorny problem is just one of a myriad of tasks facing the 43-yearold Dubliner.
Despite his hectic professional life, Holmes is not complaining by any means
He has always loved the game but rather than forging an amateur career, he followed his dream of working in sport and became an assistant professional at 18.
And while he admits that the role of the club professional has changed radically since he was appointed in 2000, his job is so varied, challenging and enjoyable that he considers himself one of the fortunate few to find his niche in a changing professional landscape.
While Dunne follows his dream on the fairways of the world, Holmes and his staff deal with the many aspects of the modern club professional’s role from sales, coaching and club fitting to drumming up new business.
“There are a lot more demands on club professionals these days,” he said. “Our role has changed over the years and you have to work harder to get more business into the club.
“We look after all aspects of golf from entries to results and you have to be fairly organised. You have to keep a lot of balls in the air, but it’s great. I love it.”
Despite all that, he believes he is now working in a very different industry to the one he joined 25 years ago.
“It is very difficult to get a club job now and you need to come in with your eyes open,” he said by way of advice to budding club professionals
“I have two assistants here and I tell them to think long term of what the landscape will be like when they qualify.
“The club professional in the traditional sense is on the decline and it is becoming more of a Director of Golf role now, which the PGA is adapting to.
“A lot of guys are qualifying and looking at where they go from here. So my advice is for guys to take a good long, hard look at what they