The golf club management industry has undergone a significant transformation during Colin Chapman’s 25+ years as a GCMA member.
Coombe Hill CEO Colin Chapman has seen a huge degree of change in golf club management since he left the military for his first role in the industry a quarter of a century ago.
Colin, who initially joined the GCMA in the mid-90s when he was serving in the forces and running the army golf, first became a General Manager at The Leicestershire Golf Club in 2000.
He moved moved to Coombe Hill in 2008 and has been witness to a significant transformation in golf club management, with the GCMA at the heart of it.
“The association has changed a tremendous amount in the time I’ve been a member,” he said. “That reflects how much the industry itself has changed.
“I came into it 25 years ago and it was still slightly old-fashioned. We still had double-entry bookkeeping and ledgers and things like that, so it’s completely changed.”
Colin has also seen a noticeable change in the type of people being drawn to golf club management, many carrying high levels of qualifications and harbouring a strong appetite for further work-related education.
“When I came into the industry I would say a lot of General Managers, or Secretaries as they were mostly known then, were doing it as second careers,” he explained. “Many had come from the military, like me, or from banking or other careers, and they were in their 40s or older.
“Now you have a younger generation with university degrees and a real enthusiasm for the job as their primary career path. It’s a very different outlook.
“The number of professional development opportunities available now is fantastic. Pursuing those is certainly something I would absolutely recommend to those who are at the other end of the career spectrum to me, still seeking to grow and progress.
“I’m not in that position now but I still appreciate the work the GCMA does in raising the standards of the profession.”
