Perhaps many of you didn`t know or realise this, but everything we do and provide you over and above the Duties laid out by the Club that the Golf Professional department has to deliver for the Members, their Guests and Visitors.
For example:
Day to Day Tee Bookings & Starting Duties
Competition Handling & Admin
Co-Ordinating Open Tournaments
Visitor & Society Reservations
Green fee Collection
(Things like clairvoyance as to whether the 'Course will be open tomorrow?' and 'will the main Greens be on in 3 days’ time in the depth of December?' are to quote Liam Neeson 'a particular set of skills, skills I`ve acquired over a long career!')
So all this stuff: 2 other Members of the Professional Shop Staff, all Hire Items, the fully stocked & regularly replenished range of Products, the repairs centre, the state of the art Indoor SW:ING Studio Simulator, all the Club Fitting components/equipment, the Online Lesson & Studio Booking facility and all the digital communication including this weekly e-Newsletter is bought and paid for by me, primarily to ensure I provide you with the very best Professional Members environment & experience that I can.
Like the Club, I will be taking all the measures available to help make sure I can come out of this on the other side. Wee Stuart (Knox) is currently 'Furloughed' too, but in Scott`s case - as a Qualified PGA Professional with well over 13 Years of experience - he had just started (I guess Friday 13th turned out NOT to be the best date to begin your new Job!) also as a Contracted Member of staff as this allowed me to pay him a higher rate more in keeping with his experience. Scott, fortunately, has been able to pick up emergency work back at his previous employer so that`s a weight off both our minds for now and we are both hopeful that when things get back to some normality then we can pick up where we left off.
But when or if that point might be is so, so uncertain right now. There are so many unknowns, intangibles and uncertainties right now. Perhaps this will be unsustainable for my little Empire!? It may be that I scramble through but discover that DGC doesn`t!!? Heaven forbid either of those scenarios - Maybe this is a 'Plan for the Worst & Hope for the Best' predicament!? The one absolute certainty is that when this blows over, and it will if all involved and invested in Duddingston GC are going to survive and thrive we absolutely need to support one another! I`m in no doubt that many of you out there are also in that Self-Employed circle of uncertainty. From here on out we will be scrutinising and questioning every penny of spend to get the best value and make our money stretch as far as we can. So when the day comes that we all stop thinking about Golf and can actually get out there and do it consider where and how you are willing to invest whatever money you can back in your hobby/pastime/passion!? I am 100% Committed to Supporting you and DGC and I`m hopeful my new Loyalty Scheme will be something you will feel is worth supporting back. | 
