Interview with Erin Walkotten, Golf Professional at Camp Creek Golf Club, Florida

from Hotelier Indonesia Magazine

www.hotelier-indonesia.com

Issue 10, 2013

Successful hotel & leisure organisations around the world recognize the value of customer-centered service and strive to create a memorable impression through all services at their facility.  Women have become irreplaceable in conveying these values to the guests.

Camp Creek Golf Club, one of the quality clubs managed by internationally renown Troon Golf, has long recognized the value of women in management positions.  We’re fortunate to catch up with Erin Walkotten at the club in Panama City, Florida.

[HI]  What is your current position and what are your responsibilities at Camp Creek Golf Club?

Hotelier Indonesia Magazine
Issue 10, 2013

[EW]  I am the assistant golf professional at Camp Creek and have a number of responsibilities at the club. The responsibilities at the club include day to day golf shop operations from making tee times, to merchandising, to running golf tournaments. I also help lead the summer youth clinics. Recently, due to a management change, I have also started to get more familiar with the food and beverage aspects, from ordering, to cooking, to managing the grill.

[HI]  How long have you been working in the golf industry?

[EW]  I have been working in the golf industry for 8 years.

[HI]  Did your coursework in school help build toward a career in Golf?

[EW]  My course work in school did help with a career in golf. With the golf management degree they focused on the industry as a whole.  From the food and beverage, turf management, operations, and repair from gripping, regripping, and reshafting of the clubs. My degree is a bachelor of science in business administration with an emphasis in golf management. As noted below, this coursework has helped prepare me for the PGA program coursework.

[HI]  When did you start playing golf?

[EW]  My dad got me started playing golf at the age of 8.

[HI]  How do the golfers react to a female instructor?

[EW]  I feel like golfers react well to a female instructor. We tend to be more "motherly" and both the kids and the women golfers seem very comfortable with a woman instructor.

[HI]  Are you planning to become an LPGA Member?

[EW]  I am currently going through the PGA program. I am hoping to be through that program within the next year and a half. The college I attended (Trine University in Angola, IN) was not a PGA affiliated golf school. By choosing this route I was able to decide if I wanted to go the PGA route or go the LPGA route. In the end, the PGA route offered me more opportunities in the industry then it appeared that I would get from the LPGA. I would love to one day own my own golf course and/or become a head professional at a course and to be a head pro you have to go the PGA route. From my observations and discussions, the main difference between the two routes is that by going PGA they focus more on the business side and going LPGA they focus on the teaching side.

Camp Creek Golf Club can be found online at:  www.campcreekgolfclub.com

Hotelier Indonesia is pleased to catch up with Erin Walkotten, and thank her for her time.   We recognize the value she brings to the golf and hospitality industry and see the limitless future ahead.

Full issue of Hotelier Indonesia Magazine 10 can be found at:  

hotelier-indonesia.com/HotelierIndonesia10.pdf