Thompson’s Desire To Learn, Participate Makes Him No. 1 In Top 100
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- Category: Inside Golf
- Published: 2020-02-01
By GORD MONTGOMERY, Inside Golf
CALGARY, Alberta — When the PGA of Alberta’s head office decided to redesign an existing education/performance/competitive stream of interaction among its members, the idea may have met with a few raised eyebrows. But after its first year, no one seems to be arguing with the change. Especially Sean Thompson.
In what has now become the Top 100 Program, Thompson, who is the head pro at the Cottonwood Golf & Country Club in Calgary, was named the No. 1 guy in that field. That placement comes as the result of points earned through a variety of PGA of Alberta sponsored clinics, events, and tournaments throughout the 2019 season.
“The Top 100 program was based on a program we already had, called the Professional Development Program,” explained Trevor Rioux from the PGA of Alberta. “It’s designed to incentivize and reward members who are involved in the association through educational initiatives, tournaments, volunteering. Basically, growing themselves as professionals in the interest of the association.”
Rioux mentioned that it was noticed there wasn’t a lot of interest in the former identity of the program, so some changes had to be made. That was done and those are paying off, he agreed.
“We took a look at the model the B.C. zone does,” and emulated that program including, “putting some cash prizes down for the top seven point-earners and rewarding our members that are involved in the association.”
In speaking to his being named the top guy of the Top 100, with 91 points over the past season, Thompson said he feels that professionals must stay abreast of the business as it changes and what better way to do that than partaking in what’s offered. And hey, the cash reward for doing so ain’t so bad either.
The PGA of Alberta-sponsored events offer point values from two to 10, and run the gamut of activities from tournament play to volunteering at events like the PGA on Wheels, to attending and volunteering at the Buying Show(s), to taking part in the professional development series. Over the past year, Thompson garnered 91 attendance points, 10 more than the runner-up, Samuel Kirkness from Priddis Greens G&CC.
“I think this is really important,” Thompson continued. “This program pools together a bunch of different areas as to why it’s important. From the education perspective, I think golf professionals have to continuously keep improving their skill set to do a better job on a day to day basis. When it comes down to it, while we’re all involved in the business side of things, we all got to this point by playing to a relatively high level before we got to the business side of things, so to continue playing and continue working on your game, I think is important. And, then also, probably most importantly we have a responsibility in our profession to getting more people playing golf. Even if you’re a club professional at a private golf club you need to be spending time to encourage the general population to see value in playing the sport we play.
“I think with those three reasons you’re kind of furthering yourself and not forgetting the reason why you got involved with the game.”
There’s a lot that goes on in a golf pro’s life during the playing season at his/her golf course alone, so an outsider has to wonder how one would find the time to do all these curricular activities.
“It’s always a challenge for sure. I think in Canada you just have to accept you’re going to be really, really busy for six months,” Thompson stated. “From a personal perspective, I have a very understanding wife (Alli) at home. She understands she may not see a whole bunch of me between April and October.
“I also have a good team around me here at Cottonwood as far as things being taken care of here while I’m away,” which includes the club’s assistant and associate professionals as well as the general manager.”
Thompson also feels the re-branding of this program has done much to bring it to the forefront.
“I think there has been a lot more interest in it. I think they’re (PGA of Alberta) doing a really good job of furthering people’s perception of a golf professional and how much they do give back. I think it’s really valuable to be involved in this.”
Said Rioux, “When we first introduced this last year, a lot of members were curious about this, had questions, seeing what’s involved, how they can accumulate points. Now, entering Year Two we’re seeing the interest level grow already. It’s really growing into something cool and something that’s helping our members, our association, and the industry as a whole grow as we move forward.”
As to personal pride of his placement, the second time he’s topped the list, Thompson admitted there’s is some of that.
“There is certainly a lot of pride to be recognized in any capacity by the PGA of Alberta. The fact this is an award that is measurable, that there is criteria as to who is most engaged and does the most for the association and themselves, and that they will be recognized with this award. I think that’s where a lot of the pride comes from.”
Rounding out the Top 7 finishers were Dale Tomlinson, Josh Fleming, Craig Gibson, Jeff MacGregor and Eric Locke. Each of the association’s members recognized as a Top 100 Professional for the year, which runs from October to October for this competition, will receive a custom Top 100 logo in which they can use to further promote themselves as golf professionals to further advance their careers.