Beyond The Baselines

Capturing the essence of an athlete—let alone defining a career within the grand tapestry of a sport's history—is no easy feat. As the era of the "Big Three" nears its close, Rafael Nadal's reign over clay courts and his unprecedented dominance at Roland Garros stand unmatched—and perhaps forever unrepeatable. On the latest episode of the Beyond The Baselines podcast, renowned journalist Christopher Clarey—former international sports correspondent for The New York Times and International Herald Tribune—offers a multifaceted look at Nadal's legacy: athletic, historical, and deeply human. His new book, The Warrior: Rafael Nadal and His Kingdom of Clay, has garnered praise for its insightful, elegant portrayal of the man behind the legend. The book embraces the romance and comments on and depicts the discipline Rafa brought to the tour, but especially to Roland Garros and the Bois de Boulogne in Paris. Clarey paints a picture of Rafa and Roland Garros that would make even the great French impressionists proud. Monet could not have painted a better canvas, as Clarey calls one of his chapters, using the red brick dust to create a pastel in words that tracks and notates an historic and incredible career. In the book, Clarey explores the profound discipline and emotional depth Nadal brought to the game, particularly in Paris' storied Bois de Boulogne. While Nadal will always be synonymous with clay, Clarey is careful to position him within the broader context of tennis history—not merely as a surface specialist, but as a transcendent champion. Nadal's legendary intensity is captured with charm and detail—whether on court or playing fiercely competitive games of Parchisi behind the scenes. Drawing from over three decades of tennis coverage, Clarey delivers not just facts, but a textured portrait worthy of the greatest French impressionists. Indeed, in a chapter inspired by Monet, Clarey uses the red dust of Roland Garros as his palette, crafting a vivid narrative of a once-in-a-generation career. Though anchored in clay—with a staggering 14-0 record in French Open finals—Nadal's résumé extends far beyond. His eight Grand Slam titles on other surfaces equal the career totals of Connors, Lendl, and Agassi. Clarey deftly examines how evolving surfaces shaped Nadal's journey and what those shifts meant to his enduring greatness. Ultimately, The Warrior is more than a biography—it's an artistic tribute to one of the sport's most iconic figures. Nadal's legacy, etched in grit, grace, and red clay, comes alive through Clarey's masterful storytelling.

The podcaster sits in the hot seat. Private Club Radio's Denny Corby joins the Beyond The Baselines podcast and talks everything private member clubs. If a listener gets one thing out of just one of his podcasts, it means the world to Corby, the host of the biggest podcast in club management. “Your vibe attracts your tribe,” says Corby who took over Private Club Radio several years ago. Denny Corby As personal friends, Ed Shanaphy, our host, and Denny talk movies and fashion through to club management and the two organizations, the CMAA and the NCA, which dominate the industry. We ask the question if clubs actually compete against each other. As an industry, management shares more and more each year, but perhaps clubs and members see it differently. Various factors are behind how prospective members look at possible membership at clubs and future members may have various motivations to join a social group. Clubs are rebranding themselves with an eye toward legacy and the younger generations. And in attempting to attract that younger-aged member, clubs have been relaxing the dress codes and looking for more family-friendly events. We discuss how rebranding a club can, in an odd way, be similar to rebranding our respective podcasts. Clubs usually find a niche and present themselves within that special market. Most podcasts survive within a niche. And Corby has found his crowd for sure as his podcast is the leader in the private members club arena. We have both realized that the CMAA World Conference is so grand that, for business reasons, it's truly important to also attend the various chapters conferences to get even further inside the community of club managers, vendors and association members.

You've heard of the points guy, but this is the gift card guy, or as Larry Rubin calls himself, the gift card guru. This recording is aimed at marketing for both of our client subsets, private members clubs and boutique hotels. Usage, Revenue Streams, Departments Inspected And Enhanced Through gift cards, clubs and hotels can track usage of new and returning members and guests when given free money or points. Marketers can introduce a club or a hotel property at really no cost if the gift card is combined with a payment toward membership - many clubs already give statement credits to members who bring in new members, there's no difference with a gift card. Or a hotel, during a light time of year, can use gift cards to offer free rooms, adventures or services. All would add more revenue and find business they wouldn't have had otherwise. Rubin, who is president of SwipeIt.com, has been doing this for decades and now sees a new trend in which you incentivize the use of a gift card by giving another gift card upon arrival. Imagine getting a prospective member to the club through a gift card with funds toward a summer membership. Upon presentation and use of that card, that guest receives two free rounds of golf - no cart or caddie fees. An incentive upon an incentive. Pickleball, Hard To Monetize, Can Be A Revenue Stream With Gift Cards In what is fast becoming a digital domain, private members clubs, boutique hotels and resorts are turning toward digital wallets. Rubin uses as an example a new pickleball facility within a retail mall. Through gift cards available throughout the mall, possible new members were enticed to the restaurant and retail store within the pickleball facility, adding revenue. And here's a statistic we all know is true through our own use of gift cards: 90 percent of gift card users spend more than the value of the gift card. That's found money for a hotel restaurant, private club food and beverage outlet. or golf or tennis pro shop. Clubs are revaluating their marketing strategies. Through membership apps, newsletters, revamped websites and text and push communications, clubs should perhaps look at building already existing revenue streams, or possibly finding new ones, through the use of gift cards. Here's why, and just how to do it - right here on the BeyondTheBaselines.com podcast. If you love our podcast - and we love our listeners - please feel free to donate to our BTB Podcast fund to help defray travel and recording costs. As we our in our sixth year of broadcasting, we are looking at expanding to a weekly release through the second half of 2025. Thank you for listening! Please donate here!

How did an international trade and finance student from Mexico come to head up Red Bank New Jersey's Navesink Country Club's Racquet Program? It's a long and winding road, but one that is full of insights into the private members club industry. Victor Vidal knew he was not suited to work behind a desk. As Navesink's Director of Racquets, Vidal runs a year-round program boasting tennis, platform tennis and pickleball. With a team of 5 certified professionals and four collegiate players along with a retail manager, Victor is on the courts, but as his staff grows, his time behind that desk grows also. Victor started his career at the famed Belle Haven Yacht Club in Greenwich, CT. Belle Haven has one of the most active tennis programs in the country. Born in Mexico, he soon realized that yacht clubs can be a misnomer with racquets, rather than sailing, the main source of revenue after food and beverage. Racquets usually provides one of the biggest revenue streams at a yacht club – not always so at a country club, where racquets tends to be an add on, or an amenity, says Vidal. Family Time Imposing Itself On Summer Activities Either way, whether its golf, sailing or racquets, family time is shortening the activity or experience at private members clubs. “One o'clock is pushing it…” says Vidal when holding a tournament. “Folks like to start at 8.30am and be done by 1pm and move on to family activities.” The era of weekend-long tournaments on the tennis courts at least, might be over. Programming follows the same suit. Live Ball has become Victor's most popular clinic program. It's an hour and a half, non-stop tennis, which gets the member to hit “a ton of balls” in a short amount of time, fitting into their weekend schedule. And “105” will be the new focal point for the upcoming summer. With lights on the court, Victor has more social-focused clinic programming in the evenings with adult beverages to follow. Although he doesn't always enjoy his time behind the desk, Victor is limiting his hours on the court. He still relishes his time on the court. He enjoys mentoring his staff when he is off the court. He tends to look for those who want to stay in the industry as possible candidates. “I want them to move up and spread their wings,” says Victor. That's how we make our industry better.

We might be booking our juniors for summer sleep away camp this March, but have we ever thought that a summer camp is really a private members club for kids? From the red clay tennis courts, and all the maintenance they entail, through to the enormous food and beverage operation and the hiring of chefs and servers, a summer camp is similar to an elite private club. Ramsey Hoehn, who returned in 2020 to his family's business, brought his many years as a Head Tennis Professional and Director of Racquets to Windridge Tennis and Sports Camp in Roxbury, Vermont. His return marked a new era for the iconic camp, which caters to juniors from around the world. Ramsey's experience at Nantucket Yacht Club and The Westmoor Club both on Nantucket, down to Jupiter Island Club in Hobe Sound, Florida helped him immensely as he took over the reigns of the junior sports camp. Ramsey left the private members club industry after ten years as Director of Racquets at the famed Hay Harbor Club on Fishers Island. He moved to Vermont to take over the reigns of the family business only to find that Windridge is in fact a club for kids. Offering soccer, tennis, golf and equestrian activities, Windridge is known around the world as a leading sports camp.

Danielle Chavez, Founder, Club Design Studio The daily questions we ask ourselves over club communications – how often should we email our members? Is it possible or should we make the weekly newsletter shorter? How do we integrate the club's website into our marketing strategy? – all these questions and more take center stage in this podcast with Club Design Studio's fearless leader Danielle Chavez. Communication is at the heart of a club – whether it's members conversing with each other, staff and management promoting food specials or golf programming, or whether It's marketing through email, social media and the club's website. And, Danielle has her fingers on the pulse of all of these segments of communications. Achieving club communications, keeping the portals where members consume their information, fresh and inviting while still adhering to a club-like tradition in terms of media, is not an easy task and it's finding the correct mixture of creativity versus traditionalism that interests Danielle. Danielle discusses the need for scheduling and creating an entire communications strategy based on researching and working with each club as every club is different. As Danielle says: “Get to know the club…” before you do anything, propose anything, or create any materials. Let's dig a little deeper and find out if hashtags are remain relevant for club communications. And we find the dangers in overusing Canva, the new In-Design for the lay creator, which is completely transforming art and communications not only for the private members club industry but across all commerce and business! And is it actually possible to create a template that doesn't get stale over time? Communications, Marketing and Sales Clubs far too often blend a position that encapsulates marketing, communications and even, sometimes, sales or new membership. But in reality, these are three very different roles, taking the individual in various directions. A common diagnosis for Danielle and her firm. In turn, Danielle's firm supports clubs in trying to better communicate the club's events, programming and membership news through these three, distinct areas, rather than the club having to appoint two new positions. But now, during a week where Tik Tok might be the first major social media network to be banned in the USA, we investigate social media and private members clubs. Let's talk fonts and point sizes in detail and strategy and calendar marketing at a macro level with the founder of Club Design Studio, Danielle Chavez.

by Ed Shanaphy There's always that guy. The guy that is on the sidelines of every tournament, from a WTA qualifier to an ATP Masters to a Grand Slam. The guy who amazes onlookers through his building of a network. The guy who continues to work, even after retirement and sleeps in the back of a Suburban on the way to the next event. The guy who finally creates such volumes of great work, it brings him to the top of his profession from roots deep in the industry. The guy that becomes a legend and works with legends. On the tennis tour, that guy is Gary Kitchell. Kitchell, or Kitch as he is called by his hundreds - if not thousands - of colleagues and friends, is known around the world as one of the leading physiotherapists who graced tournament tennis courts across the globe. From the hallowed lawn of Centre Court at Wimbledon and the hard cement of Louis Armstrong Court at the US Open to the back courts at the 1990s Volvo ATP Tour stop in New Haven, Kitchell has worked with some of the greatest tennis players of all time. From the era of Borg and McEnroe, to the following upstarts Sampras and Agassi, to Federer and through to today's Tommy Paul, Reilly Opelka and Maria Sakkari, Kitch has treated injuries, reduced stress on the body and helped strength train numerous number one players to new heights. Gary loves tennis. It's always been a part of his life. His early days saw him teaching the indoor season in his native New Jersey. Soon after, he followed the sun as most instructors do and playing in semi-professional tournaments and was noticed at a small club in Vero Beach, Sea Oaks, at which he started his road along the highways and byways of the professional tours. His views of the professional tennis tours are from an interesting objective - a viewpoint from outside the employ of either the men's or women's tour but from within the fires that comprise the professional game and the travel demanded of today's tennis stars. He sees the challenges that the professional tour faces today as the Davis Cup limps along while the Laver Cup becomes a global phenomenon. He also sees the difficulty private members clubs may have using the professional game as a catalyst to new members as the tour lengthens its season and the tournaments are diluted by so much television and streamed coverage. An understanding of the professional game helps Gary to see where tennis may be headed on the amateur level at tennis and country clubs across the country. A commitment to building a community and social network at any club needs to be a priority to continue the sport's growth as it faces challenges from pickleball and padel. As a member of several private members clubs, Gary has some sage advice for club managers and directors in the club management arena. Join Gary on the BeyondTheBaselines.com podcast.

An Historic Club's Metamorphosis Through Consultancy to Interim Management To Long-Term Strategy Completion Pretty Brook Tennis Club first called BeyondTheBaselines.com in late 2019. The club was dropping members as if members were falling leaves on a cold November, football Saturday at the famed university in the club's hometown of Princeton, NJ. The president mentioned the club's membership was at just 155 member households, significantly down from its glory days when it boasted over 200. Although the five clay courts were busy on weekend mornings, the club was having difficulty finding younger families who might join. Pretty Brook was founded in 1929, however, its younger upstart just down the road, Bedens Brook was literally stealing the younger thunder and attracting the families that would be the lifeline to Pretty Brook as it headed toward its hundredth year. Princeton University is known for its eating clubs. Pretty Brook had started to resemble one of these old-fashioned institutions - a stodgy eating club rather than a modern racquets facility. Not exactly fraternities, the eleven Princetonian eating clubs are situated on Prospect Avenue just off campus. Several eating clubs still "bicker" (the phrase coined for admission decisions) as to which underclassmen they should admit. Bickering had been going on at Pretty Brook - perhaps a halcyon look back to their university days by the numerous Princeton graduates who were members of the club and had served at the board level and inside the admissions committee for years. Nonetheless, the club was at a crossroad between tradition and modernization. The Princeton University Campus on our first day of Interim Management As a management consultancy to the club, we did some of digging. The club, which boasts one indoor tennis, five outdoor clay tennis courts, two platform courts, one indoor tennis and two squash courts, wasn't jam-packed on the weekends, or really at any time during the week. Average usage on a summer's weekend morning we found from the data was 3.4 courts out of 5 of the clay courts. Mid to late morning wasn't busy on the weekends on the indoor in the winter either. And, squash was really reserved to young students from Lawrenceville preparatory school who wanted additional coaching and a practice facility. They weren't a part of the club's social scene and a squash club championship hadn't been held in recent years. As we assumed the interim general manager's role, we made changes and clarifications to the membership application process, the ethos of welcoming members and their guests, and started on the road to revitalizing and refurbishing the club's grounds and programs. Trees were cut. Irrigation was improved and ponds were reconfigured and fortified. Club championships were reintroduced in squash. The staid prizes of glass tumblers were replaced with celebrated gifts and clothing, and branded retail was introduced - all symbols with which members could show pride in their club. Change Creates Momentum Thankfully, the board was largely open to change, given the membership situation. Through our mentorship, we investigated methods and programming to create greater court usage and larger revenues. We discussed membership drives. With Corey Ball, the Director of Tennis whom we were fortunate to inherit from the previous management firm, we were allowed to make substantial changes. We moved the teaching court during certain times for Live Ball and 105 from the traditional teaching court, shaded at the back of the club, to the center two courts under the eyes of those on the patio lunching. This shift brought instruction and social tennis to the forefront of the club. Perhaps impossible just a few months previous, we were now filling three courts with 24 members on a social night rather than having years-old, closed doubles games with only half the players across those three courts. And,

Young John Bierkan would bike through the parking lot at the club where his father was teaching golf most childhood mornings at 6am. These halcyon Pennsylvania mornings might have seen his siblings resetting the blackout curtains, but not John. Golf was in his blood and his early mornings as a junior golfer saw John always at the club - every day and all day. And, from those early days and moonlit mornings while breathing in the freshly cut fairways, Bierkan knew he wanted to, just like his father, teach golf. John has become one of the leading golf instructors in the country. From his early days at Doral through his time at Quail Valley and Old Marsh, John started out on a trajectory that took him to some of the most prestigious golf and country clubs in the nation. As one of the leading Directors of Golf Instruction in the country, John has a learned and objective viewpoint from over 20 years of experience. His views of golf, golf and country clubs, and the differences among different parts of the country in which he has worked are valuable to all of us in the private members club and hospitality businesses.

Taylor Newman left college for two careers. Her love of writing led her to her daily, first shift - a beat journalist covering the DC Metro sports teams for the sports desk at the Washington Post. Ben Bradlee would have been proud of her commitment up there with Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in terms of hours. For when Taylor had filed her sports reports, she would move to her second, eight-hour shift at Chevy Chase Club, where she was serving as an Assistant Professional. Finally, weighing up her options, Taylor chose the hospitality, private members club, and tennis career - and she has never looked back. In fact, she has used her writing skills to build one of the biggest cardio tennis programs in all the nation. Through communicating with members, Taylor and present BeyondTheBaselines.com Vice President Brittany Sanders, took over a quiet cardio tennis program. Changing the headlines of the program and using writing and lines of communication, the two women built a program that has led to fifteen cardio courts each week. "Cardio is not just about running a good clinic, it's about knowing the personalities and levels of all the players to help make it succeed." Newman is a consummate professional: checking the court booking sheet at 10pm every night for the next day to avoid any surprises or pitfalls, picking up balls after each and every cardio class outside the fences, and mentoring her assistants on a daily basis both on the court and in terms of hospitality, off the court. Just as she would have been at The Post covering sports, Taylor is on duty twenty-four hours, always being out there ready to communicate, learn and grow. The Washington Post lost a treasure to tennis. Here's Taylor Newman on the Beyond The Baselines podcast.

Hospitality runs in the family. Alexandria LaRocca, Director of Member Engagement at The Beach Point Club in Mamaroneck, New York, and Matt Assumma, who served at Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, join the podcast. And, they've known each other for years, and we mean for years, since they were kids. Alexandria and Matt are both offspring of well-known and highly regarded club managers, having grown up in the industry. Their respective backgrounds highlight how important both human resources and hospitality are in the private members club industry. Ocean Reef Club And Gaining Membership Through Visitation Matt spent eight years at one of the leading clubs in the country, Ocean Reef. He notes how he worked his way up through the ranks from banqueting and ended up working in the membership department, where he would flag visitors who may have visited the club more than twice in five years, but who had not expressed an interest in gaining membership. Membership plays such an important role at any club through events, such as outings and member guests, but for a iconic club on the tip of Key Largo, perhaps new members can be even more significant. Ocean Reef, although a private club, can be seen as a destination with both a conference center and an inn on property. Matt notes the friction that can be caused between hosting events, attracting new members and the tradition of a small, fishing village which was the dream of its founder and present-day members, according to Assuma. Member Communications LaRocca notes that although email is very strong, different messages require different timings and different avenues of communication. Tennis, food and beverage, and timing of delivery all affect how communications are received by her elite and private membership at Beach Point Club. She realizes that with the numerous clubs in the area, a director of membership really is forced to know the entire brand – not just the activities at the club – but the brand that is the club's identity. That identity separates the club from its many competitors, especially in the Westchester/Fairfield county areas of New York and Connecticut. The Pros and Cons of Living On Property Assumma lived on campus at Ocean Reef for a year before he, for the first time in his life, commuted from a property off campus during his time in the industry. Housing can attract great talent, especially since many may be on J1 or H2B visas, states LaRocca. But, there are times when living on property can be difficult. Your thought process may be that you can never be “off duty” or a member might find you late at night as they might need their clubs for an early-morning flight, as has happened to Assumma. In looking back at their respective careers, it's clear that perhaps the hardest job one might have in the private members club arena is running a dining room. With that said, both these individuals started doing that as teenagers working with their fathers, and food and beverage is clearly a life-long love as well as a wonderful way to learn the club industry from the inside out.

Two major seasonal jobs have just one director: Brett Gaede. From his first ever, post-college professional position at the renowned Nantucket Yacht Club, Gaede has made New England and Florida his seasonal homes, and follows his members, and the sun, up and down the East Coast. With his two director roles, he lives with water views year-round, and has views over the Atlantic almost two thousand five hundred miles apart, depending on the calendar. Gaede is the director in the summer in Maine on the remote Mount Desert Island at The Harbor Club. A very private club, hidden in the gem of a village called Seal Harbor, made famous by the ultra-private Rockefeller family back in the early 1900s. At his winter post, where he serves the membership as director at the elite Hillsboro Club, just outside Ft. Lauderdale, Gaede works with an older demographic and a club that is etched in tradition with its tennis and croquet professionals in all-white clothing from head to toe. Pine Trees In The Summer, Pine Trees In The Winter Famed Testa's Restaurant in Palm Beach, Florida in the winter had a sister restaurant also on Mount Desert Island in Maine. Nick Testa Senior formed a motto: Pine trees in the summer, palms in the winter. That's exactly how Gaede thinks as he spends evenings enjoying the scenery of Acadia National Park in the summer and views of Hillsboro Inlet in the Broward County, Florida through the winter months. Gaede could have used that motto to describe his life over the past 15 years. Funnily enough, Testa's in Bar Harbor is just minutes away and in Palm Beach just about 30 miles from his winter nest, as the proverbial crow flies. As the director that has "racquets, and will travel," Gaede takes us through his tips of creating a great seasonal program. Housing is crucial to help find and retain great instructors and assistants at such "destination" clubs. Second is the meal plan or benefit. Third comes, perhaps, the commission as the millennial employees look for comfort in not only their food, but their life and living and having a work/life balance. Tournaments Are Losing Popularity - Clinics The New Club Competition Gaede has seen trends away from tournaments to live ball and pro-fed clinics, especially at Seal Harbor. With an older demographic at Hillsboro and a more transient membership in Florida with rooms at the inn as part of the club, he feels that the trend will soon arrive in Florida too. It may already have. He is packing all courts at both clubs each morning with Cardio, Liveball and 105 and attendance over 40 on a daily basis. Tournament entries are weaker each year, and he explains his thinking as to why pro-fed clinics are here to stay as the leading weekend entertainment. Have a listen to perhaps one of the best seasonal directors in the country. He says he's happy where he is now. We aren't surprised: he has two of the best seasonal jobs in the nation. Brett Gaede on the Beyond The Baselines Podcast.

It's not easy to engage members twelve months a year in the cold, frigid air of Canada when your only amenity is golf. Ash Chadha, general manager at Glencoe Golf And Country Club, is bringing members to the club in bigger and bigger numbers through various methods, even in the dark winter months. Offering a warm welcome through a cold winter is just how he does it. Glencoe, established in 1984, was an outlier of its sister club, the downtown city club, Glencoe, in Alberta, Calgary. The idea of being open twelve months a year had started just before Covid. As the city boundaries grew toward the 45 holes of golf – the club boasts just golf and food and beverage – and Covid created a bigger demand, opening in the heart of winter was different. Ash speaks with the experience of being a long-serving club manager with over 15 years of senior management work under his belt. For eight years he was a department head – a food and beverage manager - and his work as a general manager is often seen through the lens of his department heads, a position in which he personally learned to thrash out ideas before presenting them to upper management. Chadha has brought in comfort food – burgers, chili, and fish and chips – for the membership throughout the winter and with the ever-popular NFL, even in Canada, on the televisions and fires lit in the fireplaces, he keeps his membership engaged. He's brough in hiking, ice skating and other wintry events to keep the members engaged. “That's all we really want as managers, isn't it?,” asks Chadha. Then he answers his own question: “Members using the club in some capacity.” Even in the cold of a Canadian winter at a golf-only country club. Visibility Is Crucial For Management Chadha admits that the year-round effort does put pressure on the staff. Ash holds weekly staff meetings, along with one-on-one meetings with the department heads on a regular basis. Visibility, he says, is just as important for senior management with the team as it is with membership. However, the key objective, he says, is not to interfere with their specialty or their side of business, and as a general manager the main task is to provide support and be available to staff and membership. Club Governance Can Easily Be Inherently Conflicted Nominating committees at Glencoe have largely filled an administrative role in the past. More and more, many clubs are moving to nominating committees that are actually soliciting for members to fill voids on the board. A shift to this more business like practice might take a generational shift, says Chadha. It takes trust and transparency, Chadha believes, as members aren't always trusting of the board to choose their own successors, or even a nominating committee to perform that role. Chadha says it may be easier and wiser at this point if a group of members from outside club governance bodies nominate a particular individual. Bylaws and policies also present a big challenge in that the member perception is that the board really owns the opportunity to choose their replacements, and that makes it rather hard for the membership to accept a nomination. “I know the big firms like KKW and GGA are promoting that clubs be run like a business, but from a corporate governance standpoint, the challenge in our business is there is an inherent conflict between the boards, and the membership, and the non-for-profit institutions they are responsible for.” Learn at both the day-to-day and the long-term strategic levels from this industry leader who caters to over one thousand principal members and 3,200 individuals at Glencoe Golf and Country Club.

This could be the best conference in our industry. It may be the biggest. It was the largest, according to the organizers, in over twenty years. The PGA Merchandise Show reached new heights this last week of January, 2024 with more vendors, more club managers and more industry leaders. And, we at BeyondTheBaselines.com were there to cover it all: the conference, the speakers, and the vendors. From new releases on the golf, tennis, pickleball, and the retail fashion side, the conference offers those in the club management and private members club industry a chance to meet, greet and learn from each other in ways that were probably unimaginable twenty years ago. With educational seminars, social gatherings both inside and outside Orlando's Orange County Convention Center, and vendors lining up to sell to the industry's buyers, the PGA Show is second to none in the industry. We sat down with Jennifer Gelhaus, the newly appointed Director of Racquets at the famed Oyster Harbors Club in Osterville, MA and discussed just how the golf and tennis industries are similar but, also, quite different in respect to marketing, communication and retail. Join us as we have a coffee in the lounge just outside the enormous exhibition halls which had hundreds of rows and thousands of vendors. Where will this growth in fashion and retail, pushing the booths of the tools of golf and the nine irons to the side, leave the industry? Live at The PGA Merchandise Show - we have it, and you, covered.

Already a Top 100 course in the nation, The Tree Farm was a vision of a PGA Tour Player back when it was a deep, dark and dense tree farm owned by a timber company. Looking to fully open its doors in September 2024, The Tree Farm is hoping to become not only a destination, but is also hoping to change how we might envision a golfing experience. The dream of PGA Tour player Zac Blair, The Tree Farm, a private club in Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina, is just twenty-five minutes away from the revered Augusta National. Although Blair may have had some of the same desires as Bobby Jones had when he designed Augusta, Blair does not envision a major championship at The Tree Farm - he just wants the members to have fun and enjoy their game of golf. Simple. Just like the club's logo. Zac's dream started back in his native Utah, but when he was down in South Carolina with friends, he saw the property and started digging in - not earth - but his heels. He and renowned club manager, Eric Dietz, have set up a club to fully open in September, 2024. And, they have both gotten their hands dirty in creating a project that is cutting edge for the golf and club industries. Tom Doak, famed for his minimalist style, was perhaps the perfect choice to route the holes on the property that Blair wants to keep as the focus. Doak already had six courses in the Top 100 and studied under Pete Dye, while perhaps his biggest influencer was Alistair McKenzie. McKenzie of course studied under Bobby Jones. Blair then brought in his good friend Kye Goalby to finish the design - Kye had worked with Doak previously on several projects and was the best choice for finishing the ultimate design, says Blair. With 70 founding members, raising $35 million to help jump-start the project, Dietz and Blair know all 320 members. The two men are already well on their way to filling the 370 memberships at what will surely become one of golf's most desirable destinations. Blair has interviewed each and every member while Dietz welcomes them to the club, a club that is not steeped in tradition like past clubs he has managed, but is warm and welcoming to all levels of golfer. The Tree Farm revolves just around golf - there's no other real amenity. The clubhouse - the architect is a personal friend of Blair - is being designed and outfitted with the surroundings and natural, local environment in mind. The lodging is being built around an idea - Blair and Dietz call it "a lunch to lunch experience" - 24 hours, 2 rounds, 2 lunches, and 1 dinner to be enjoyed before departure. This idea of a course as a destination drawing members from miles away for a day or two, or even more, is a growing trend in the industry. With Streamsong outside of Tampa perhaps as the first of this kind, developers and financiers are finding large tracts of interesting land and building courses as destinations for day-trippers through to those looking for weekend getaways and week-long stays. Golf in Scotland, say at a Machrihanish or even further out like a Machrie, may have long before been destinations - and Blair and Dietz are using that model created long ago here in South Carolina, about as far from the Isle of Islay as one can get. "The course should be the star," says Blair. It's the course as to why people will want to come and visit. At a full-length of 6,900 yards and par 71 from the back tees, it's open and accessible for every level of golfer to enjoy and play. Listen in as Eric and Zac take us through their initial conversations and how they are creating a global destination from the land of an old timber company.

Isabella Graf moved to the United States from her native Germany early in life. She may be a shining example not only of proverbial "American Dream," but also of the experience and education available in the private club industry, where she is fast becoming one of its leaders. Chosen to be a regional leader for the United States Professional Tennis Association and Head Professional at The Landings in Fort Myers, Florida, Graf is looking to become a mentor in her own right after learning from so many. As a graduate of the Professional Tennis Management (PTM) program at Methodist University, and with three internships under her belt, one for each summer through her collegiate years, Graf believed, she was well prepared for the industry. That was until she realized that member relations, not teaching, is at the heart of our industry. Those internships at the clubs, she says, were crucial to her development just as much as her work in the classroom and understanding stringing techniques. Standards and character are what Isabella looks for when hiring. She realized early in her career that these were the two traits required of a leader in the hospitality business, and through her own self-reflection and discipline, raised the bar for herself, personally. And now, she looks to these traits when raising the bar for a racquets program and while hiring to fill positions to bring that program to a "best-in-class" status. Graf is going places and understands the industry far better than many of her more senior colleagues. Listen in as she explains how she looks to be a mentor in her own way, not just to other female teaching professionals, but to all in the business of member relations.

by Ed Shanaphy, CMAA We welcome in 2024 here at BeyondTheBaselines.com with a renewed vigor and an eye to a bright future in the private members club industry. Although 2024 will have its challenges as we head toward an election the likes of which we may have never or will never see again, we can take solace in that the private club industry is in a strong position to move forward, with both member and private funding readily available. Post-pandemic normality has returned and waiting lists are shrinking across the industry as clubs look to renew their relationships with their current membership. This new normality will require innovation in connection with new programming, technology and communication with both members and staff. Marketing, through top-notch hospitality, and branding along with brand loyalty, will have to be at the top of the agenda to attract new members and younger families to the membership rolls. Legacy memberships and reaching out to the community will be imperative. Recharging Membership Through Charity, Reinventing Tournaments and Events Clubs will have to reinvent themselves within the community, possibly breaking that barrier where they are viewed as elite and privileged. Through community outreach, charitable giving and strategic fundraising and well-chosen business outings, clubs will use many methods to serve a need to source possible new members. Tournaments and events might have to be reworked over the next few years As families travel more, having lost those Covid years to travel the globe, tournaments such as three-day golf member-guests and club championships might have to be shortened, in both time and formats. As we watch tennis changing formats and pickleball matches short and fast, we might want to think about how we can get through events in hours rather than days. Communications Are Critical As an industry, we will have to look at upgrading and prioritizing daily communication with members to bring them back to the clubs, clubs where they spent much of their time during the pandemic. We can't allow members to feel blasé, or even bored, with what in effect was their "home away from home" during the pandemic. Daily text messages, or pushes from the club's cellphone app, or even an email with course and court conditions might have to be conjoined with an anecdote about the club or one of it's member or staff, will be a necessity. Thank You As We Head Into The New Year As we head into January, 2024, I would like to thank all my guests on the Beyond The Baselines Podcast over the past years. We were just awarded our 50th episode badge and I couldn't have fathomed that we would have over 1,000 downloads for episodes and over 12,000 listeners. Please have a listen as I thank our team and partner clubs, and the road our work and consultancy has paved for me. As we look to the future, it's always important to learn the lessons from the past. What have I personally learned from doing our company's podcast? I discuss why we established Beyond The Baselines and where we feel the industry is heading and where we have come as an industry over the past fifteen years. I'd love to hear from any and all of you in 2024. Feel free to reach out to me via email at consultants@beyondthebaselines.com and please let us know your thoughts on the podcast and the industry. To all our friends, colleagues, partners and staff, Happy New Year! Ed Shanaphy is the President of SBW Associates, Inc. Through its management consultancy arm, BeyondTheBaselines.com, Ed has worked with clubs on both sides of the Atlantic, including Wianno Club in Osterville, MA and The Beach Club in Palm Beach, FL. He's served as President of Blackheath Rugby and Lawn Tennis Club in London, England and is and has been a member of over a dozen private members clubs. Before his entrance into the private members club industry, Ed served as CEO and Managing Director for nineteen years for Haysbridg...

Colin Burns had only 4.5 years of experience in hospitality when he applied for the club manager's position at Winged Foot, one of the most storied private golf clubs in the nation, if not the world. And, after an eight-month search process, he was selected as the club's next general manager – all 31 years ago when Colin had just crossed the line into his thirties. He recalls the president of the club asking him if Colin weren't a tad young for the job. Colin replied: It's not a permanent condition. As we watch a generation of these long-serving club managers move into retirement or consulting – in addition to Colin, we lost Brian Kroh just this month at John's Island Club in Vero Beach, Florida – we are left with a legacy from which we can all learn. Colin's experience is second to none. He managed the US Open during the height of Covid. Five full years of planning all going down the drain as he had to work with the Governor of New York and plan the tournament without spectators as Bryson DeChambeau put his indelible mark on the sport. Now as he joins executive search firm GGA, Colin discusses how every club has a different environment and that search committees, managers and search firms should understand the club's culture first before trying to match a candidate to the club. Do Things with People, Not to Them If you really desire a quality organization you should do things with people, not to them. Burns has put this as his central motif throughout his career. And, with that teamwork sentiment, Colin points out that the hierarchy of a private members club staff doesn't always equate to salary levels. The director of golf, tennis, squash, or even agronomy, may indeed be the highest paid member of staff at many clubs. And what's even more meaningful to club staff members than base compensation? Housing is top of Colin's list and finds it the top of his staff members' list as well. Retiring To a Zenith at Apogee And finally, Apogee means zenith or the highest point of development – and Colin's new project is certainly a zenith of physical land development and a highlight of a continuing, outstanding career. Originally named COO for an incredible project based in Hobe Sound, Florida, now senior advisor, Colin is truly excited about Apogee. It's a three-course extravaganza – or as he calls it “Streamsong on Steroids.” Designers Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner, Mike Davis and Tom Fazio and Kyle Phillips have teamed up with financial backing from Dolphins owner Steve Ross. Colin takes us through the plans and the vastness of this incredible project, and how this team is betting on South Florida moving up to Martin County in the very near future beyond Jupiter and toward sleepy Stuart.

Our first in a series of live podcasts, celebrated ATP Tour coach and director of racquets, known to his intimates as Van, our colleague and friend Allan Van Nostrand joins the BeyondTheBaselines.com podcast. You Might As Well Win Van Nostrand says, "If you're going to be on court, you might as well win." He took that coaching mentality to his students and he brought it to, what is really his third career, the country club setting. As a beloved director of tennis at his childhood club Southward Ho, where his father had been director before him, he served that membership loyally for over 15 years on the South Shore of Long Island. Now, serving on the North Shore as director of racquets at Huntington Crescent Club, Van Nostrand lets his management skills, rather than his playing skills, win. A highly skilled player, Allan this year, for the first time in six years, played in front of his membership. He takes pride in his tennis game, but he might take even more pride in how he manages his department and how he is a part of the fabric of the club and his membership. Transparency and Flexibility Help With A Club's Personality Van Nostrand realizes there are daily challenges from an elite membership. He monitors his professionals daily as he serves up to seven or eight courts across a clinic. Allan feels that expectations have changed in the private members club industry over the past 30 years, both for the staff and the membership. Membership wants more, whether it's in regard to the new racquet sports like pickleball and padel, or simply in terms of service levels. Transparency in dealing with professionals is key: managing your staff's expectations, their revenues, their work, all helps in the long run through a seasonal or year-round program. Van Nostrand may have learned his trade at elite clubs and here in the podcast shares some of his experiences at the famed Jupiter Island Club, but he came back to tennis from a position on Wall Street when Patrick McEnroe asked him to be his coach on the ATP Tour. Ten years later and after Allan asked Patrick to be his best man who ended up being on the road with the Davis Cup, Allan moved into the private members club arena and Patrick took his talents to the captaincy of the Davis Cup team and to TV commentary. Join us in the lobby of the PGA Resort with famed director of racquets, Allan Van Nostrand.

How do you make a private members club a destination? Aaron James, one of the leading club managers in our industry, believes it's all about creating a sense of community. His experience at facilities from the global Club Med to Atlanta's Cherokee Town and Country Club forced him to realize that member service is key to creating a destination. The Country Club of Asheville, one of the oldest and most established clubs in North Carolina and the nation, is now the focus of James's efforts, where he has been general manager for the past year. With 650 members and $1.3 million in food and beverage and 25,000 rounds of golf per annum, Country Club of Asheville is a large club. Owned by McConnell Golf, an active holding company with sixteen properties in its portfolio, the Country Club of Asheville is a leading club in terms of golf and hospitality. McConnell Golf, although based upon an initial love for golf courses and Donald Ross's final design in North Carolina at Raleigh Country Club, has created a stable of elite country clubs based on hospitality. Their quarterly magazine, located here, shows a passion for golf and private members clubs rarely seen at such a high level. McConnell golf hosts the PGA Tour's tournament The Wyndham but focuses on its members and families. A member of Asheville has reciprocity with 16 clubs and courses across the Southeastern United States. The Statistic Behind Community Seventy percent of members who resign from a club are not engaged, whether it's LA Fitness or an elite golf clubs says the young general manager. James spends time in the restaurant introducing members to each other and says the bar is a tool for maintaining a social connection and is the most social part of the entire club. You could almost say the club's bar is like the TV Show, Cheers, where "Everybody Knows Your Name." Just like Sam behind the bar in the fictional Cheers knew every regular, so should the club manager who is key: he or she is at the center of building a community. James is still working on how he will grow a program introducing new members into the coterie of friendships that comprise the current and established membership. Quarterly new member events are on his agenda, even though he already has an onboarding program for every new member. A Changing Menu Every Two Weeks Asheville's head chef changes the menu twice a month. Every two weeks James faces a new menu, with the best-selling regular items but adding new items. That's quite a challenge for any food and beverage staff, but James says both his membership and the staff are attuned to the bi-monthly change. From his background in and love for health and fitness to his passion for member service, James is creating a destination at Country Club of Asheville, where everybody knows your name. "You've got to have that type of personality that brings people together," says James in summary. Come and have a listen to better understand his philosophy and some of his secrets behind his success.

Imagine forming a global conference from the ground up. And a new breed of conference at that. One which encompasses what we know as the entire racquet sport industry, not just tennis, but pickleball, padel, racquetball, squash and even ping pong! "The player of the future might have a racquet in one hand and a paddle in the other,"states Robyn Duda, chief executive and co-founder behind RacquetX, the racquet conference to be held in Miami in late March. Duda's entrepreneurship and marketing experience has brought new headlines to the industry: "Nothing Can Squash The Popularity Of Squash" and "The Anatomy of Experience." How do you start a brand new conference? Duda goes through a list of ideas that she “throws against a wall to see if they stick.” From creating and then “gating” an industry trends report, to organically creating mailing lists, she's trying them all. Duda has gone out and networked and formed industry partnerships between her creation, RacquetX, and professional associations and companies. With those connections, Duda is pushing TheRacquetX in front of people through content, advertising, and social media channels. The Anatomy Of Experience Creating an experience that is over the top to create a memorable experience is something that Duda believes that The Masters in Augusta possesses. Duda desires TheRacquetX to be a similar experience and memory. She believes there is profit in loyalty and that many for-profit businesses often neglect that the experience creates loyalty, which in turn keeps prices low for the consumer and creates profit. Comparing the experience to The Masters in Augusta, known for its grandeur and tradition, suggests a high standard that TheRacquetX aims to achieve. This level of ambition can indeed set the conference apart and create a memorable and valuable experience for all attendees. TheRacquetX can be found at TheRacquetX.com and is slated for March 24 through March 26, 2024 in Miami, Florida. Duda has formed a partnership with the Miami Open, and Monday night at the Open will be RacquetX Night. All tickets are merged and consumers can visit both the stadium and the conference hall in South Beach. Get ready for an inauguration that will see consumers meeting industry executives, and interesting and rare occurrence.

Eric Loftus was there as a businessman through the past decade as tennis grew in the Northeast, and in New England, in particular. He's been building pickleball courts throughout the region and has seen that sport rise almost as fast as slam of a whiffle ball. Now, he is hoping to be there for the boom that will be the new sport invading our shores from Europe: Padel. He believes the sun is only just rising over the future growth of padel. With his high school mate, Loftus built an empire through tennis court construction. Working with country and tennis clubs and private residences, Loftus has crisscrossed New England and the northeast in search of new spaces for tennis, and running tracks, provided for the other segment of his clientele: educational institutions and public facilities. He knows the market for courts and tracks, from the clay courts of Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, to the tracks and concrete of Providence and Springfield. Padel Is Far Different From Pickleball But now, he's looking at Padel. Loftus believes that, long term, padel rather than pickleball may be the sport to usurp the grip that tennis has on its racquet competitors. He even sees a possibility of padel joining forces with tennis, say, at the US Open in Flushing Meadows. What's interesting about his view is that, unlike how many regard pickleball, he doesn't view padel as an opponent trying to take replace tennis courts and kill off his main business of building tennis courts. He sees padel as an addition. Country clubs are going in circles, says Loftus. He calls it the "wild wild west" is the current state of play with padel court construction. Clubs are watching what investors are doing with the sport and promotion. While private equity team up with racquet sport enthusiasts to join forces and investigate various ways to house and build padel courts, Loftus is left holding the figurative shovel until the nod is given. Once he receives the "ok" he can import the structures from Spain and start to add to the 350 courts already here in the States. Finally, it might be time to invest in those old red-brick mercantile and textile factory buildings in New England from New Bedford to New London and inland along the rivers like the Housatonic and the Connecticut. Loftus is always looking up, as he has to find ceilings over 24 feet. Come and have a listen and maybe you'll be raising the roof!

Tennis and golf are two sports central to all country clubs. With such a concentration of players and spectators emanating from the private members clubs, is it that tennis is still inaccessible to many? We ask this question with famed writer Amisha Savani, the co-author to The People's Wimbledon. How the media and contributors views tennis, both at the major tournaments and at the private members club, is so important to our club industry. Last year we brought on the podcast the publisher of Racquet Magazine and this summer we recorded a conversation with one of the leading British writers covering tennis: Amisha Savani. As this is a rather timeless piece, we thought we'd bring it out as we head into Autumn with the memories of Summer 2023 in our mind's eye. Amisha is a regular contributor to Courts Magazine, and recently has written a book, The People's Wimbledon – a coffee table book. "It's aimed at 'the people' " she says, priced right for all to enjoy. She believes that Wimbledon is for the people. Discussed are the differences between the four major tournaments – the romance of the French Open, the tradition of Wimbledon, and the exuberance of New York's US Open. There have been so many changes to the the majors: roofs, ticket prices, alcohol policies, and where we position tournament play within the tennis and private members club industry.

Jesse Gotlib, having served as Director of Junior Tennis at one of New England's most elite clubs, has brought his learnings to the public sector and the inner cities of Eastern Massachusetts. After five years in the private club industry at Sippican Tennis Club in Marion, Massachusetts, Gotlib set out on his own to bring tennis to the inner cities of the port towns on Buzzards Bay along the South Coast of Massachusetts. Jesse Gotlib took what he learned in the club business to the youth in the inner cities along Massachusetts South Coast. His program, which started in just a single town, has grown to three municipalities. He works with a core group of juniors throughout the year, serving not only as their tennis coach, but also as a mentor as they grow through elementary and middle school years. Gotlib takes us through his offerings and marketing materials. He realized long before that communication with the the kids on and off the court is imperative, but even more importantly, communication with the parents is truly essential. As a special education mathematics teacher, Jesse realizes the importance of maintaining relationships with both the juniors and the parents. His marketing, mainly on social media, keeps him in front of the juniors and allows his program to grow across the three towns he now serves. Please join Jesse on the podcast with our sister website, www.theinstututeofclubdirectors.com, which will launch in May 2023 as we look to work more with the governors and decision-makers in the club industry.

Before Breaking Ground, New Club Has Hundreds Of Applicants Patricio Misitrano has been a Director of Racquets at some of the best-known clubs in the country. From the hallowed clay courts at both Wee Burn and Greenwich Country Clubs through to the tennis courts at New Canaan Field Club, Patricio has served elite memberships across both Westchester and Fairfield counties for decades. But now not only will he be a service provider, he'll also be a stockholder and shareholder of his new club. The Sports Haus, which will open its doors this coming summer, is a new, energized method of bringing pickleball, padel and golf to one space. Three sports, one enormous warehouse. With three partners, each with a focus on racquet sports in their own way, and a bravado and entrepreneurial instinct rarely seen, Patricio Misitrano has moved into the ownership category in the industry. He's only sent the blueprints to the city of Norwalk, but he already has over six hundred applications for membership. Applications For Membership Outpacing Building Of Facility It's a great way to build a club - building to suit the waiting membership. With approximately 70 percent of the pre-signed up members being individuals, the rest of the club's membership will be comprised of families and, here's a great new idea, local teaching racquets and golf professionals. The Sport Haus will offer a club professional membership, created to welcome those local pros inside the walls, both to better understand these new-to-market racquet sports and with the hope that these professionals bring and teach the sports back at their respective clubs. Rain days might no longer be lost revenue days as pros will be able to bring their members and guests inside. Patricio has brought together a  veritable think tank as the team behind this new venture: Juan Arraya, Director of Racquets at Greenwich Country Club and Mark Parsons, a fellow director from Weston, Connecticut's Aspetuck Valley Country Club, and Mark Fischl known to most of us as the voice behind platform tennis broadcasts and former president of the APTA. These four industry leaders have teamed up to create a literal think tank to blaze a new road in the industry. Creating a marketing plan focused on their email newsletter and website at www.sports.haus, this team found a vacant warehouse located in the downtown district of Norwalk, CT. Bringing air-conditioning to a 35,244 square foot warehouse is just one of the obstacles that they have overcome as they are bringing excitement and members from the affluent areas of Greenwich, Darien and New Canaan to South Norwalk, once a no-go area, but now a bustling hive of streets with restaurants, cafes and young people. The Sports Haus will have its own café with beer and wine where one can watch action across five padel and four pickleball courts and two golf simulators. Armed with the knowledge of who is ready to apply, Misitrano has both the professional and social side of the business wrapped up in one giant warehouse. Join us on the podcast this week with Patricio Misitrano, a former Argentine padel player who has brought his love for that sport and all racquet sports to SoNo – South Norwalk – as he builds his dream, The Sports Haus.

Princeton University is known for its eating clubs: Cap and Gown, Charter, Ivy and Colonial. But this private members club isn't associated with the university and doesn't hold open houses to find new members. The Nassau Club was founded by Woodrow Wilson to bring the townsfolk and the University together. It now stands as one of the most elite dining clubs in the nation and Nathalie Wilson is its Director of Food and Beverage. Nassau Club's Food and Beverage Director Nathalie Wilson Wilson has served elite memberships across the country. As General Manager at Suburban Golf Club to Restaurant Manager at Greenwich Connecticut's Stanwich Club, Wilson has seen the scenes behind the iron gates at the highest levels of private members clubs. But Nassau Club is different. Wilson takes us through a day in the life of the club, from its guest rooms upstairs to its breakfast service through to dinner service. With just a dozen staff in the restaurant, Wilson takes care of each and every member, of which there are 1,100. Although membership seems heavy, half the membership is rarely seen but just continues to hold the membership for nostalgic reasons and perhaps their once-a-year trip to Princeton. Search Firms Are In Bed With Private Clubs The podcast turns toward finding talent post-Covid and how Nathalie believes executive search firms are not always finding talent but are more inspired to ensure they get the nod for the next search rather than find the right candidate for the search at hand. With a consolidation of executive search in the industry, Wilson is concerned that candidates are not being found and compensation packages are being artificially restrained. The Wait Staff Olympics Although Princeton might be a bit stodgy, the wait staff at various restaurants and clubs is not. The town holds the Wait Staff Olympics annually, in which waiters and waitresses might be seen trudging through Palmer Square with trays full of drinks and trying to gain the fastest time with the least droppings amidst cheering colleagues. Bonding for a service staff in a university town that is heaving full of people servicing the students, faculty and university dignitaries.

The Grass Court Cutting King Maurice Gardner gives us the secrets to what makes great courts… and that's grass courts. Former Head Groundskeeper at Wessen Lawn Tennis Club in Pontiac, Michigan, Gardner takes us through a day in the life of a groundskeeper as well as the cost of the maintaining such a high standard of grass courts. The cost of keeping grass courts appears to be often too high, and in the case it may have been too high for Wessen which went out of business after boasting itself to be the first grass court club built in the USA in over a century. Country Clubs Have The Equipment Gardner, who studied agronomy after working at Wessen, mentions that country clubs already have much of the equipment required for keeping the grass courts. “All you really need beside what the course superintendent has is a painter for the lines,” says Gardner. Is The Allure Of Grass Still There? Randy Walker hosts this week's podcast here at BeyondTheBaselines.com and wonders if people will still want to play on grass, as grass courts are so elusive. “People travel to Newport” just to play on grass, says Walker. “Grass courts can add value to any club.” And he muses, throughout the podcast, if grass court play will grow once again in the United States. It's a dream that, one never knows, might become a reality.

Not the Swing, but Visibility, Member Service and Access is Paramount for any Department Head Visibility is crucial for a Director of Golf and Pat Gunning understands that. His daily ritual as Director of Golf at the famed Noyac Golf Club takes him to the club to greet the members teeing off at 6.30am. His day is basically set up to make himself as visible to the members as possible. Although at the club most of the day, he limits the number of hours he teaches, so he remains available to the membership, and sometimes more importantly, to his staff. Tee Times for Management Flow “Starting times, tee times, it really allows you to anticipate what is going to happen better. It makes the flow of the day that much easier,” says Gunning who has worked at clubs with and without tee times. Covid, says Gunning, really ended the "Caddy Yard" – and with Covid and starting times changing people's thought processes on tee times, it allow caddies to be reserved and also get on with their work and with their day too rather than just hanging at the caddy barn. “The Little Things Take Care of the Big Things” Pat Gunning, Director of Golf at Noyac Golf Club, Sag Harbor, NY Pat realizes that golf and tennis professionals, and really anyone in the club business, are in the hospitality business. He learned the above quote from one of his mentors, Jack Druga, who is Director of Golf at Shinnecock Hills.  And, recently retired Bob Ford who served as Director of Golf at both Oakmont and Seminole, always told Pat to treat members as if they were guests in your own home. Pat says keeping these two thoughts in his mind during a fast-paced summer season allows him to succeed. Is it the Era of Reconstruction for Golf Courses? Clubs want to create a better and more memorable experience and the design of the golf course falls into making that playing experience better. Having viewed changes across the nation by some of the best golf course architects, Gunning believes that the best changes are tweaks and modifications which make the golf course harder for the A and B player but slightly easier for the C and D player. The architects, Gunning says, are masters at making holes playable for all level of players. Golf course design and modification is part of a long-term strategy. Gunning adds that long-term strategic planning is really all about idea creation. Timelines may be either adopted or changed or completely shelved by the Board, but it's imperative to keep new ideas flowing through the strategic plan, believes Gunning. Planning for next year is essential and reviewing the calendar, event by event, is a crucial exercise to do post-season. It helps keep the season flowing and allows to avoid staff burnout and member boredom. Pat Gunning joins the BeyondTheBaselines.com podcast as one of the leading Directors of Golf in the country.

Here at Beyond the Baselines we're excited to catch up with the co-founder and publisher of Racquet Magazine, Caitlin Thompson, for our latest podcast.   Caitlin Thompson, former D1 player for University of Missouri, and editor of Racquet Magazine Caitlin offers wise and salient observations on the state of tennis, both on the court and in the media, just as getting on the court and socializing with like-minded friends remains as important to Caitlin as is scheduling a business meeting in an office, In fact, she seems to enjoy the court more as an office! A former Division 1 player at Mizzou, Caitlin's media career has included time at the The Washington Post, Time Magazine, and The New York Times before Racquet exploded onto the scene in 2016. This boutique magazine aimed at an aspirational leadership embraces yesterday's culture and moves forward to attract new and returning tennis fans. The roots of Racquet? Nostalgia for tennis's past culture with a flair toward the future. Caitlin was keen to revive an image of tennis that is more approachable and immersed in culture. We recall a heady blend of nostalgia and style that was both wild and exciting which in turn has become a celebration and homage to the stylish days of tennis in the  '70s and '80s. Racquet Magazine recalls the characters, flair and style that epitomizes the golden age and ethos of the sport.  Tennis, Twitter, and Time - How Tennis Can and Should Transcend Media and Centuries In conversation with Ed, Caitlin draws upon a wealth of experience to give us her observations on a variety of eclectic topics: Twitter may be a giant platform for celebrities to air their views, and for fans to respond, but will the social media platform become a dusty relic in a changing, more closely regulated culture within social media? Caitlin is immersed in marketing and publishing and we query with her how important is the written word in a world of brisk social media. On a light-hearted note we talk about those behind the microphones - who holds the microphone today and who should hold it in the future for tennis commentary? Maybe this podcast offers a couple of suggestions for the changing of the guard for the CBS and NBC commentary boxes! JP and Martina watch this space! We talk about how politics is currently transcending sport and its positive and negative impact on tennis and its image. Outspoken players have existed in the past but new social platforms with outspoken players today might not always be enhancing the image of our sport? Politics influences sport in multi-faceted ways. Maybe the stories that hit the headlines aren't always properly contextualized and challenged. It's a discussion that will go on for years, we believe. Our regular business-sided listeners will be keen to hear Caitlin's views on the need to attract dynamic investors to the sport and media surrounding the sport as she ponders some of the best kept secrets in NYC - both courtwise and foodwise! courts and an appetite for a narrative and tradition in tennis. Finally, in whimsical mood we explore a sense that the halcyon days of tennis appeals to a large group of people who remember an era. However do missed opportunities mean tennis has not capitalized on its strengths by adding new fans? In fact could it have marginalized itself through a boring narrative and brand dominance. Caitlin cites NBA vigor while tennis may be seen to suffer from a bland corporate narrative. Truly a breath of fresh air in a somewhat stagnant post-Covid environment, Caitlin continues to create a space that invites exciting, influential and vibrant personalities in to the world of tennis. Tune in to the podcast to find out even more!

Shaun Boyce is a gifted junior instructor. He and his wife, Geovanna, have taken his tennisforchildren.com and tennis for hundreds of kids in the Atlanta area to new heights, year after year. From preschools to home owners associations, Shaun has taken his love and passion for instructing the younger players in our sport on the road across the metropolis that is Atlanta. Shaun and his wife, Geovanna, are the team behind tennisforchildren.com Teaching juniors is a distinct talent. It's never easy and it's always a challenge. The challenge to keep the attention of juniors with, say 5 or 8 on a court, and leave them with having learned something not just about tennis and a racquet path, but also about life and sport, is one of the biggest we face as teachers. Whether you are a golf, ski, tennis, or swim instructor, or a grade school teacher, or just mom and dad, you know how hard it is to teach juniors. Shaun, with his lesson plans, his color-coordinated dots on the courts, and his idea that the longer you keep your juniors from playing competitively, the better the stroke and learning techniques, has made his mark in the Atlanta region. Atlanta is a town of planned communities in a large part. Home Owner Associations dot the city from East to West and now are moving Northward as the city pushes the Northern boundary. HOA's have tennis courts. "There's a court literally on every corner," says Shaun. Shaun and I discuss how amenities such as pickleball and tennis courts are affecting HOA dues and home resale prices. Upside-Down Pricing Shaun brings to the table a new look to pricing. With his programming, he charges more, against the trend of the industry, for the little ones. The younger the players, he says, the harder he and his staff have to work to keep their attention and create a learning environment. So, Shaun charges more for the 5 year old than the 15 year old. It's a new way to look at junior clinics and pricing, and it's a breath of fresh air to listen to how he describes the many changes, in addition to this pricing structure, that he has made as his program has grown. Shaun is at the cutting edge of teaching juniors in one of the biggest tennis towns in America. Tune in and find out just what makes him tick and what keeps his kids from Tik-Tok while on the courts.

The Club Manager. We think we know the role as members, as boards and governors. Growing up in Stowe, Vermont Elle Anderson thought she knew all about the club up there too, especially as she returned to her home town after a career as an elite athlete. Anderson returned home in 2020 and wanting to start a family. Well, she not only started a family. She also started the ball rolling at Stowe Tennis Club, one of the best-known tennis clubs in New England, as she now heads into her third season as the club's General Manager. Elle Anderson, General Manager of Stowe Tennis Club “You can click on our website and pay dues in about 30 seconds,” says Anderson, and most members don't realize how much time structuring and offering dues payments takes behind the scenes. "Software is great but you have to invest manpower" to make member services and hospitality to keep up with the new demands from members. Anderson feels that most clubs, established as non-profits, just dont pay enough attention to operating as an actual business. A Club Manager Needs To Be A Visionary She's seeing her role, entering her third summer at a seasonal club, evolving into a keynote speaker as well as a listener. "I want to understand the new members and what they want," she says. We, as club managers, need to create that time to see what other clubs are doing and how other memberships are evolving, outside our own clubs. The Appointee From An Elected Board “I look at my members sort of as constituents,” states the youthful Anderson. As a leader, Elle wants to offer space for discussion and understand various viewpoints while remaining patient, but then demonstrating and educating the board as to show how we can make the club better. At the bottom of Stowe's ski slopes, join the BeyondTheBaselines.com podcast and one of the most thoughtful and insightful leaders, Elle Anderson, as she snow plows into the role of Club Manager at one of the most elite tennis clubs in America.

After graduating from Arizona State, a young woman who loved to travel had one thing in mind: wanting to work at Club Med. She began to teach tennis there on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. It was there, she realized that adult programming can be the secret behind a greater and bigger club and program. Michele Krause, the Queen of Cardio, joins the Beyond The Baselines Podcast. Michele Krause saw an opportunity way back in 2004 to help the Tennis Industry Association launch Cardio Tennis. And since that hurricane-ravaged year in Florida, Michele has never looked back. How To Double Court Usage and Food and Beverage Revenues "We see pictures of tennis with one or two people on a court. It's not really a great image. We have this ability to be social... I want to see 6 or 8 or 24 people. I can get up to 24 people on a court... I have a D1 player with 24 people on a court burning 800 calories. Why is group fitness so popular?" asks Michele. Michele looks at why some tennis courts might be being replaced by a condo or a pickleball court. "We replace courts when they are empty, and we have the tools to build our revenue and keep our tennis courts and build even more tennis court." Live Ball Games Is Cardio, But There Is A History As live ball drills make inroads to clubs and tennis facilities, Michele reminds us that the majority of time on the court is competitive games after a drill-based warmup. "There's a lot of mystery about live ball across the country. It means different things depending on which facility you are teaching." There is a history to liveball, says Michele. "Live ball was born in Southern California." It was established around 2 vs 2 with champs and challengers - and that's very different from Cardio Tennis," says Krause. "Live Ball should be normal tennis instruction... we don't like lines" of people waiting to hit. Michele notes that Cardio Tennis can be played, because it's with orange balls, by beginners to higher level players. Triples Is The Greatest Game In Tennis "Triples is the best game you can play on a tennis court," says Krause. Triples has to be last for every Cardio Tennis. "The main act of Cardio Tennis is Triples, and it has to be saved until last." Michele is set on creating a Triples movement in the USA. "Triples is an event unto itself... and I am going to push out Triples even before Cardio Tennis." Krause plans on holding the largest Triples event ever at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona on April 24th to kick off her marketing awareness for the game. But Krause points to that Triples doesn't require a separation of ability levels and allows more players across different levels to be social together on a triples court... and after in a larger social circle. Michele, with this statement, proves why she is at the cutting edge of our industry. Profitability, court usage, member experience... they are all served by Triples and Cardio Tennis. She's known this before 2004... she's known this since her years way back when at Club Med in the Bahamas.

Andres Robelo loves tennis. He grew up with tennis. His parents played tennis. But he couldn't find a game in Miami. "I could run a business with technology. I could book a table at a restaurant or order a car with software. I couldn't order a tennis game," and behind this came the fruition of Play By Point and PlayByPoint.com. But during his journey, he's found an interesting tidbit of information. Private members clubs have decision makers, but those decision makers are rarely the operators of the facilities. Play By Court, Manage By Committee He was shocked when he first realized how hard it was for a department head with a major disconnect between boards and committees. Committees may have wanted a lottery system, a patchwork, or set times for all courts. Whatever the committee wanted, Andres would create the software. However, Andres would find that the expert was the department head, and that department head wasn't making the ultimate decision. Education and awareness was the discussion at the beginning. We learned quickly that every club is different" and we had to slowly educate the decision makers how technology could be customized to a club's needs. But, even with that patience and only four clubs in his first year, it's been difficult. Now boasting a plethora of clients, Robelo can comment on the private members club and home owner association industries. "It's how private members clubs are structured. The decision makers are not often the operators. The person who makes the key decision, I can assure you, doesn't realize the impact or consequences that any decision will have." The challenge is communicating how technology can help to the board of the club or the HOA.. "Its not their time or their sweat that the technology saves," says Robelo. They don't see the added values of having a second software, separate from golf or whatever software they may be using. Boards, says Robelo, are getting better at trusting the system and the department heads they employ. Robelo has seen this more in the past two years during Covid and the rush on the courts. "As more people move to Florida, members are seeing their courts packed" and are using technology to maximize and optimize court usage, states Robelo. As board members skew younger, the younger members more often realize the impact of technology, and perhaps Covid was a catalyst for this shift. Change Is Difficult The industry has seen a move toward tee times across almost all golf courses in the nation as play on the course is up as well. Robelo points to other businesses outside the country club industry. "When you go to a movie theatre, do you tell the movie theatre when you want to see the movie? No, the business sets the rules." Clubs need to understand that they are businesses in a competitive environment. There are directors who also dislike change. Directors, left in the dust, are still using dusting off their paper-based systems for lessons and reservations. Robelo realizes that change is different, especially for these static and staid directors.. We think it might be that these directors rather not having members and committees know their schedule and incomes. Whatever the reason, the number of directors that are paper-based is being whittled down. Clubs are looking, these days, for transparency and are slowly realizing they are businesses.

By Ed Shanaphy, CMAA As 2022 brings in a new breath of life to so many in our industry as we battle a virus, so too does the job market show even more signs of life and recovery. As we look to either expand club offerings or find a new, dynamic club manager or department head, we must consider the pathway to success. Far too often, it's been years since a governing club board has had to fill a major role. This usually means these governing bodies are out of practice in terms of communication and out of the practice of hiring. And in these times, finding candidates can be an a seemingly impossible task. As boards nominate search committees, and search committees nominate candidates and finalists, the pathway becomes cloudy. As a hiring force, search committees and hiring bodies should not only investigate the candidates thoroughly, but also look at the committee's own composition and desires and continually monitor that not one particular voice or objective becomes overbearing. The five mistakes that committees can often make when hiring all lead back to just that: Maintain an objective viewpoint and listen to all the voices as you narrow the field of candidates to just that one, special person who fits the job. Easier said than done! Have a listen and find out where your five major pitfalls might darkly lurk. Ed Shanaphy is President of BeyondTheBaselines.com which is a subsidiary of SBW Associates, Inc. With his experience in hiring internationally as Managing Director of two London-based conglomerates, he brings to the search committee a viewpoint gained from completing hundreds of searches for his own entities and, more recently, private members clubs.

by Ed Shanaphy, USPTA, CMAA Kate Cole and Laura Fox are the Instagram influencers creating a social media storm for women tennis players. Kate's Instagram account, which focuses on tennis, cocktails, fitness and how she makes time for all that around motherhood, has over 1,600 followers. Laura Fox, known as The Tennis Fox, is renowned for her outfits and has been entertaining the enormous group of tennis-playing women and mothers across the country and around the globe with her daily posts on social media. Laura Fox is The Tennis Fox on Instagram. Both have been approached by brands to influence their clubs, their facilities, their teammates and their followers. Laura, having been approached by major brands, has found paid influencing unfulfilling, But both women have found the conversations, through comments and direct messages on Instagram, as a wonderful addition to their play and have enjoyed building a community around their tennis games through Instagram. Setting Goals Through Adult Tennis Once in motherhood, you don't have business goals, and these women are setting goals for themselves as they would have done had they remained in the working world rather than taking on the enormous task of motherhood. “When you have kids, you're not going to see the fruits of your labors for years…” and Laura says that she has found a way to replace those work goals with her tennis game. Kate, moving often as her husband is in the Navy, uses tennis as an outlet for her hectic lifestyle. As a ranked junior, she is now experiencing what she feels the game is all about – being social. Unfortunately, as a junior tournament player, she hadn't truly enjoyed the game, looking at it more as a task on the weekends, rather than a sport for a lifetime. Team Tennis: Upfront Financial Commitment or Pay-As-You-Go? Which Methods Works Best For Women's Teams? Kate Cole is tenniscocktailsandmotherhood on Instagram These two women face the challenges that most amateur players face - how to raise their USTA NTRP rating and how to deal with team polics. Clubs and facilities struggle with team selection and how to best monetize interclub play. Laura, who has played under two varied versions of team play at two different facilities, noticed that the higher ranked the player, the less often show up for clinic. Is it because they can keep their position by not showing up and hiding their true level of play? We shall never know, as Laura has moved on from that club to a facility that requires prepayment for the entire season. Every Club Should Have A Nineteenth Hole Golfers are famous for re-living, stroke-by-stroke, their round in the clubhouse after walking off the eighteenth green. Laura bemoans that this is not always the case in tennis. Instagram provides that opportunity to Laura to publicize her match and serves as her post-match debriefing. Unlike at her previous club, her present facility is focused more on tennis than on the social side, and she has turned to Instagram to bring together a community of people. As an influencer through her clothes and tennis outfits, Laura was influencing long before she was an Instagram influencer. But it's truly interesting to understand how she relives her winners and her unforced errors on Instagram on a daily basis. Perhaps Instagram is the new Nineteenth Hole Café. Kate simply hopes that her Instagram page inspires others to get fit and play tennis. It's a social sounding board for her as she moves around the world as the matron of a service family. But, somehow she finds the time to make her reels engaging, educational and just plain fun. "I like to hope that I can inspire others to get more fit." Well, Kate and Laura are inspirational and educational for all of us in the country club and tennis industry. Their views, their dislikes, their loves and their fears are all shared on Instagram and those are born on the courts and on the gym floor every day.

by Jennifer Gelhaus, USPTA and Director of Tennis In our sports-hungry culture, we watch the NHL, MLB, NFL, the ATP. Finally, we are receiving coverage of the WNBA more often and watching the LPGA and the WTA. In this age of inclusion and diversity, women's sports are, perhaps, finally gaining some ground in terms of public viewing on a national television basis. But our perception of "coach" isn't changing one bit, according to a professor of sport management. Fomer college student-athlete and now world acclaimed professor, Dr. B Nalani Butler, Ph.D. joins the BTB Podcast. Dr. B. Nalani Butler, Assistant Professor of Sport Management at Kennesaw University, joins host Jennifer Gelhaus on the Beyond The Baselines Podcast to discuss how from childhood we view "coach" as a man. The movies and television shows - we think of "Coach" as a male and that perpetuates the idea that coaching is typically a male activity. Butler borrows her experience from playing sport herself and has compiled research and studied with some of the most revered names in the field. "You see men coaching both men's and women's sports," but you rarely see a woman coaching a men's sport. "Ideologies about coaching in our culture," is that a coach should be a male figure. Dr Butler points to Title IX and remarks that it is uniquely American and similar legislation does not truly exist anywhere else in the world. And, although passed as federal law in the 1970s, it wasn't truly enforced until the mid 1980s. Pat Summit was one of the champions of the legislation. Butler points out that she and her podcast host, Jennifer, were really just the second wave of Title IX athletes - "I couldn't find women's cleats or jerseys at the time," says Butler. "Mia Hamm still roles up her sleeves," something Butler believes is a habitual leftover from a time when it was only men's jerseys for women players, a time not so long ago. Butler, a former NCAA athlete, has more recently co-authored the fourth edition of Social Issues in Sport, a textbook which introduces students to the study of sport as a social phenomenon. The book explores current trends in sport and examines complex connections between sport and politics, economics, religion, race, gender, youth and more. Having worked with professional teams such as Cincinnati Reds to the International Olympic Academy's International Session for Educators, Butler is well-versed to discuss the mistakes we, as a society, make when trying to diversify sport in an age of inclusion. Join her on the BTB podcast today and find out why the Coach, even in the TV sitcom Cheers, always seems to be a man in our mind's eye.

Angela Wilson was fortunate enough to have really good coaches who were in the game of coaching. That made the difference for her growing up playing junior tennis and into her college career at the University of Indiana. Her foundation really helped her to become a great coach long before she became Club Manager. But, it was also a driver. Her love of coaching battled with the time she needed to devote to club management. Angela Wilson, General Manager, Western Athletic Club With her accounting background, Angela realizes how difficult it is for some coaches, who stay in coaching and on the court for a long career, to become a manager. She was thrust into the management of a tennis club at the age of just 25. And to this day, through her love of tennis, she finds it hard to stay off the court. Angela readily admits she has to limit her time teaching on court to just 10 to 15 hours per week. She admits it's tough to see a Director of Tennis out there instead of herself. "I love teaching from little kids to beginners to adults, but right now I'm just doing payroll!" With a new court reservation system at Western Athletic Club in Cincinnati, Ohio, Angela realizes that she has to first understand the entire software system before tutoring and helping front desk staff and members as they switch over to the new system. "It doesn't leave me a lot of time to get back on the court. "My back end has to be really good to allow me time on the court. I love teaching, but at some point I had to do the PPP loan application." Pickleball Slowly Progressing From Open Play At The Parks When asked about monetizing indoor pickleball courts, Angela believes that pickleball is travelling the same path that tennis travelled. She sees pickleball players starting to pay for court time. "They are down for it and ready to play with their friends and ready to pay for it . Angela foresees growth into the indoor arena. She harks back to the 1970s when players played tennis mainly at the public recreational courts and left a racquet at the court's door to notate that they were waiting, much like the quarters on a pool table marking the next game. Pickleball, she believes, is at the same place and will mature and progress into clubs and indoor facilities. Like tennis did in the 70s, pickleball players are starting to note levels and play within levels. Whereas everyone at first was playing with everyone, now, just like tennis did when the USTA brought out NTRP ratings, Angela sees pickleball players looking to play with players of their level. With that growth and maturity, Angela has just converted two indoor tennis courts into six pickleball courts citing the demand at her own club Angela Wilson sees the monetization of pickleball in the not too distant future. Her club just removed two indoor courts to create six pickleball courts. Hospitality and Wellness "I'm in the wellness business. We want to provide a place where people can move and have fun. I am trying to make the club like Club Med. If you want to do something special you'll have to pay, but fitness is always free with dues." The strategic plan must be working, as Western Athletic Club has recently added not only a full-time Director of Tennis but also a sales manager. "We needed more spokes on the wheel (in terms of adding personnel), and tennis is growing at the club. How to avoid member pitfalls? Angela says your members need to know "that you care and that we try. We're not always perfect, but we try to make the club a very nice place." Whatever Angela is doing at Western Athletic Club, it's working. Boating over 700 tennis players, the club is certainly making its mark within the indoor tennis industry nation-wide.

Tennis has a beautiful history, and Jim McCready is at the forefront of keeping that history alive and in front of tennis and sport fans across the world. Former Director of The APTA and a legend both on the tennis and platform tennis courts, Jim states that "tennis has been his life." His collection subtitled, Tennis At The Turn, started at The Belle Haven Club in Greenwich, Connecticut with a couple of 19th Century beautifully crafted wooden racquets. 40 years later, Jim is still accumulating racquets, memorabilia and art all connected to the history of tennis and sport. Jim was way ahead of his time, doing the "year-round gig" teaching paddle and tennis at not only the Belle Haven Club, but also at Armonk Tennis Club (NY), Montclair Golf Club (NJ), and Spring Brook Country Club (Morristown, NJ). As a paddle and tennis instructor, Jim was well placed to become a historian of racquet sports. His love for the game pours over into his curatorial power over a dynamic, historic collection. Jim believes that racquet sports are unmatched in teaching life's lessons. Whether part of the industry or just a player, racquet sports teach that individualism required as we tread the floorboards of life. Belle Haven Club, Greenwich CT - where The Driftway Collection was born. In regard to the collection, "trying to find a pristine racquet from the turn of the century is getting harder and harder." Having exhibited the collection around the world including in London, the former Family Circle stadium in Charleston, SC, and elsewhere, Jim is looking to possibly find a permanent locale and gallery for his tremendous trove of tennis treasures. Jim takes us through the evolution of tennis from the Royal Game, otherwise known as Real or Court Tennis and how the racquets changed from angled and small heads to where the head straightened out and were enlarged for lawn tennis and those early Wimbledon competitors. Where did the scoring come from? Jim is the man to take us through the evolution of tennis just prior to the first Wimbledon in 1877. The game hasn't changed much - a slightly lower net and the composition of the racquets, but much has not changed since those lofty days in the English countryside. You can find out all about Jim and his collection at The Driftway Collection online or check out his Instagram and Facebook pages of the same name.

Jennifer Gelhaus has always been before her time. She started college early at the tender age of 16, after being recruited from her native Venezuela to play Division II tennis here in the United States. She left home and took a chance. She took a step into college coaching before moving to Long Island and serving as Director of Juniors at one of the most prestigious clubs in the nation, Maidstone Club. Now, she's taken a leap once again, and has moved on to become Director of Tennis at East Chop on Martha's Vineyard. In her second year, she shares with us some of her secrets of success. Jennifer Gelhaus, Director of Tennis at East Chop on Martha's Vineyard. Success In Business Is Crucial For Tennis Directors Her success lies not only in her forehand and instruction, but, perhaps even more so, in her acumen as a business woman. "This is the thing. People don't really view the club tennis industry as a business. That's a problem. This is one of the reasons, too, that I didn't envision this for myself growing up. People don't understand what we do. We are not just teaching tennis all day. There's a lot that goes going into running a club. Its very different to be on a court teaching forehands all day." We are not sure anyone could better educate a board or a membership than Ms. Gelhaus. How To Build A Program? Communication For Jennifer, it's not about being on the court. It's all about communicating to your members. Servicing the many different needs of a membership is a top priority. "But if you don't communicate your business you're not promoting your programs, and if you are not promoting your business, you will not get people on the court," says one of the leading Tennis Directors in New England, if not the nation. From texting to emails to newsletters, Jennifer is in constant touch with her East Chop membership. With every club-wide newsletter or communication, Jennifer receives up to 10 lesson requests. Availability To Members Is Essential "I love tennis, but I don't love being on court all day. I don't have any desire to do that," remarks Gelhaus. She wisely discusses how hours on the court stop her from engaging with her members. If she has 10 hours on court maybe she influenced a dozen, she says. "If you don't have that contact off court with your members, you are only influencing 6 people in a clinic or a few during privates," but you are not working with the other 600 members of your club, she believes.

Simon Gale, Director of Racquets, USTA National Campus Simon Gale is at the top of our industry. As the Director of Racquets at the USTA National Tennis Center in Lake Nona, Florida, Simon oversees four head professionals and nearly one hundred courts across the campus. From hosting national USTA league finals to teaching locals on a daily and weekly basis, Simon has taken the USTA National Campus to new heights. And this month, he's taking it to new sports. Padel and Pickleball are set to be a part of the scene at the Lake Nona facility, which houses also the USTA National Junior Development program. Add this to all the events that the campus hosts, it's one bustling place and Simon supervises all of it. He's excited to see where the two new racquet sports being offered might take tennis in the future. He sees the various racquet sports aligning to help build participation in each. We catch Simon at an interesting time. Coming out of the pandemic, the National Campus will be able to host travelling tennis players once again. Although there is a healthy number of locals, both adults and juniors, who use the facility, upwards of 40 percent of usage is from players not from the Orlando area. Simon is readying his staff of approximately 40 certified teaching professionals for the task of seeing more players and more hours on the court. People Management Simon's philosophy and his experience up and down the East Coast of the United States from Connecticut to Brooklyn and now down to Florida has led him to ask the question when hiring a member of staff: "How's your people management? Can you build a team?" Simon has been forced to build an enormous team of instructors, with four head professionals alone, on staff at Lake Nona. He wonders if the pathway for teaching professionals might be too simple and asks what we as an industry can do to change that so we broaden the experience of up and coming professionals. He points to the need for people management not only while working with his own staff, but also dealing with the hundreds of events that the National Campus hosts each year. The team of event planners at Lake Nona is quite large and working with them and visiting groups, companies and teams all force Gale to manage people more often than he gets to teach tennis. "Being a good instructor should be a given at our level." But being a good manager of staff and clients is a constant learning process.

Denise Duda, one of the leading Directors of Fitness in the country, is this week's guest on the BTB Podcast. Denise Duda recently retired as Director of Fitness and Wellness at Orchid Island Golf and Beach Club in Orchid, FL. Having accepted a new challenge up in New York for just a few months a year, Denise now being semi-retired opened up to us about her work, her programming and her secrets behind her incredible success at one of the leading Platinum Clubs of America. What Denise never neglected was her time within the corporate hospitality industry. She brought that education and those member-centric ideas with her to her roles in fitness. Doing so paid dividends as Denise is viewed as one of the leading fitness directors in the country. From her method of welcoming new members and getting them involved in the program, to her supervising what are in effect three different departments - fitness, wellness and the spa - Duda created a beloved team of experienced instructors and a program that included one of the best-attended group exercise programs in Florida, if not in the country. Telephone, Telegram, Tell A Grandmother... Word Of Mouth Is Your Marketing Tool Denise believes that once you hook a client, word of mouth around the club or facility is by far the best marketing tool available to any director of tennis or fitness. Building a group excercise program relies not only on the strength of your instructors, but also how you time the classes so that people stick around the facility and "double-up" on classes with one visit to the fitness studio. Fitness, Wellness and Spa - three hats, one director Pilates Is The New Star Throughout Covid and even now, as we as an industry come out of the pandemic, it appears that Pilates is the new star within the fitness arena. Although group exercise is making a comeback, Pilates really never lost traction. Slower to come back, says Duda, will be the spa side of the business - massage and facials - as clients are still somewhat apprehensive about those services and the level of social distancing possible. In terms of her own teaching on the floor? She says that most fitness-lovers see only what is in front of them in the mirror - their front! Remember the posterior and that most of our strength for posture and sport comes from the back. "Don't neglect your back!" Please join us as we reflect on a career that will be hard to match within fitness. Denise Duda joins the BTB podcast.

A Podcast in our Series: Women in our Industry Cari Buck grew up at one of the elite clubs in Massachusetts, The Wianno Club.. Her father was the director of tennis at the summer club in Osterville, Massachusetts. She's never forgotten those days, and from those childhood summers and watching her father managing and marketing a tennis department she knew what she wanted to do. Cari, did just that, and is one of those rare finds: a female director of tennis. Cari is well-versed in our industry, having worked as a general manager for World Team Tennis, as a USTA coordinator and marketer, at the Tennis Channel, and, most recently, as a department head - a Director of Tennis. And as the latter, she believes the future is bright for women in the industry. Cari Buck is one of those rare finds, a female director of tennis. Tennis Is the Vehicle, But It's Really About Service and Marketing Cari believes that we often neglect our calling as directors. We are not only in the tennis industry, we are also in the business of hospitality, Being a pro, a director or any department head "is all about customer relations." Keeping social media up to date, engaged and working with your members and students on a day-to-day basis is instrumental. When a pro is on the court all the time, they never have the time to look at the big picture. Income is from time on the court, but the time off the court is invaluable to build business and customer relations skills. "Making sure your management, your staff, your members - all of them are getting what they want." Confidence Without Arrogance As a director of tennis, the dedication to the role and the club - the director needs to be invested with the members - is a way to show the added value of a great director. "Members want to see you off the court and have time with you to discuss ideas off the court." As we at BTB have been saying for years, Cari realizes that listening to members is just as important as building a forehand. We can take what we learn as a singles player and how we have had to coach ourselves to a director's role, which at times can be quite lonely. What To Look For In a Director Clubs run searches, with search consultants and executive search firms, far too often without really understanding what that club should be looking for in a new director of tennis. "You can't teach personality," says Cari, and we have to understand that a director is always on show. Too often, she believes, clubs look at the candidate too much on the court and too often don't look deeply enough at matching the values of the club to the suitable candidate.

Doug Cash Joins the BTB Podcast Doug Cash, founder of CashFlow Tennis, joins the BTB Podcast and discusses how Covid has changed the club industry and what to expect as we head through 2021. Nothing will remain untouched by the virus, says Doug. From the large fitness national chains which have lost up to 70 percent of their monthly dues revenues, through to country clubs which, on the other hand, have been seen as sanctuaries and have raised dues. Every facet of club membership is evolving as Covid declines. Doug Cash, owner of CashFlowTennis.com, joins the BTB Podcast this month. Doug escaped the on-court grind of the industry and moved in to management in which he has worked with over 50 clubs. He received a few calls asking for help back at a time when there were few who knew how large clubs could operate profitably and has never looked back. Moving into the arena of growing the game, Doug has worked with the USTA and the Tennis Industry Association. Cash, like most management consultancies in the business, recommends that dues and initiation fees should go up on an annual basis. If not, over time, the club will find itself in dire financial straits. A Pro On Every Court Doug relates how some clubs in the Northeast are requiring a professional on every court. "You can't make a court reservation without a pro," says Doug. Doug sees this as the way forward and will be a function of tennis clubs in the future. "The pro-led hour of court time is so much better in the long run. You hit more balls, you have more fun, you learn a little bit, the pro is a ringmaster... you get more exercise and you don't have to worry if your fourth shows up." Antiquated Compensation Packages Need Revision For This Century Doug dislikes the antiquated payment and compensation models that currently exist n the tennis industry. As is said widely, the house always wins. If paid through a percentage, an instructor is always hampered by the club's cut which remains the same percentage, even as lesson and clinic prices go up. Doug believes because of this, there is a scarcity of teaching professionals, with clubs now across the country clamoring for new professionals to meet current and much higher demand. Although compensation is going up slowly due to the lack of supply, Doug feels that raising club dues and initiation fees over the long term can inhibit raises in lesson and clinic rates. Doug notes that a starting truck driver for Walmart makes $82,000 per annum starting out as a brand new driver. "Very few starting tennis professionals start out at that level," says Cash who feels that compensation simply starts out too low right from the outset. Our bi-weekly BTB Podcast has over 10,000 listeners. Please subsribe on Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Doug is a specialist in creating cash flow within a department. And he gives us a couple of his secrets along the way on the podcast. So click above and have a listen as he discusses how we, as an industry, will need to adjust even more than we have post-Covid. And, if you like our podcast series, please subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

CNN and Fox News Contributor Vero Gibbons joins the BTB Podcast! Vera Gibbons joins the podcast today for a discussion of all things tennis, Presidents and the steady migration of Americans to Southern States and what that might mean for tennis and court availability next winter, dinner reservations and traffic up and down the Florida peninsula. Vera, a heralded newscaster, started her career on the financial side of journalism at the Kiplinger Report. She moved on to CNBC and the show "High Net Worth" and was a part of CBS’s financial team at "The Early Show." Many of you will know her, more recently, as a contribute to both CNN and Fox News. Vera Gibbons has been in all the New York news studios but now discusses why home is where the mic is. But a few years ago, Vero took a career life leap and changed it all up and started her "NoPo" (No Politics) newsletter. The news digest daily email woke its readers up with all non-political - from finance to fitness, from dining to travel. Vera sold "NoPo" in 2020. But, like many during a Pandemic, she started a "NoPo" podcast and is now in five local radio regions. Gibbons' No Po Podcast is her new, unlikely medium and she discusses how it is different from being on a 3-minute segment on CNBC, Fox, or CNN compared to a 30-minute podcast. We discuss all things tennis and why she has left New York City and moved to the Sunshine State. How will the courts in Florida deal with the onslaught of northern migratory players, especially once the large leagues start to play again? She feels as if her new home in Palm Beach is starting to feel a bit like New York as the money managers and New York companies start to allow their employees to move here and work remotely. Vera doesn’t see a way back to a normal 9 to 5 work week for some industries. That lifestyle could be "toast", says Gibbons. Vera has played on historic courts up and down the East Coast of Florida from her native South Coast, Massachusetts and courts that still defy Har-Tru and are greenish clay from the Berkshires. to the hallowed, green grounds of the Tennis Hall of Fameand to the blustery courts on private estates and clubs on the bluffs in Newport. Her new Palm Beach home has brought her to the courts buffeted by the South Atlantic from Palm Beach Gardens and Palm Beach down through Lantana and Manalapan. Vera Gibbins likes to wear white not just on the tennis courts. The US Open was truly missed, she says. As one of the sporting and calendar gems in New York Vera can't wait for the lights to switch back on in Flushing Meadows so the tournament can regain its regal normality at the end of this summer.. We talk about Joe Biden and his golf game and how the media might report on his sporting endeavors and bemoan the fact that Presidents really just play golf… although a few do quietly play tennis!

Butch Buchholz had an idea. He had an idea as to what professional tennis should look like. He had a dream and he played and toured the world with a vision. And in August of 1967 he played in front of a packed Centre Court at Wimbledon and guaranteed the presence of paid professional players returning to Wimbledon in June of 1968 and the beginning of the Open Era. Wimbledon, in 1967, had invited 8 of the touring pros - back before pros were allowed to play at all the Grand Slams. The pros were a group of "vagabonds" and the chairman of the club Herman David, said if you fill Centre Court, I don't care what the ITF says, you're invited to come play as pros at Wimbledon. They filled Centre Court. Buchholz is the man behind what we know as today's ATP and WTA Tours. In his own words he admits he turned pro too early - but he got what he wanted in the end. A tour, a tournament and a tennis life. As Executive Director of the ATP Tour, Buchholz has always worked hard on behalf of the players. He founded, almost singlehandedly, the Lipton Championships, first held in Delray Beach and now known as The Miami Open. "Golf has The Players, and we always wanted something like that for our tennis professionals." The Lipton, which began as the professionals' tournament, was the first tournament stop that had both the men and the women playing together. Butch fought the tour and demanded that the paying spectators really wanted to see the men and women compete at the same venue. And, basically, that's what we have today at Indian Wells, The Miami Open and all the Grand Slams. Butch was, and still is, ahead of his time. Andy Roddick accepts the NASDAQ trophy from Butch Buchholz He fought the neighbors of Crandon Park at the zoning board and battled the powers of Miami-Dade County to build what many players have called the best arena in the sport. His love and passion for the game and his fellow players led Buchholz to establish a fund which acted as a pension for all the professional players, which exists to this day. When journalists would rank the players long before the points system, Buchholz was ranked as high as number five in the world and was continually named the best American player. Holding the career Grand Slam as a junior long before the pros were allowed in the main draws, Buchholz travelled the world and tried to time his entry to the pro level. He looks with great fondness back on his years traveling the world as one of the Handsome Eight, and laughs when he tries to compare today's tour with the tour back in the last 60s. Junior, Be Aware Of Your Surroundings.Butch Buchholz Butch takes us through how he built his first 10-court club, Town and Tennis in St. Louis, and how he quickly realized there was so much more to the tennis industry than chasing yellow fuzzy tennis balls around a court. He had no idea the meaning of "cashflow" He met a businessman in the St Louis area, Solon Gerhman, who went on to lead one of the leading real estate firms in the country. Solon took a tennis lesson three times a week with Butch. But, as Butch states, "I got the real lesson and training and in reality received an MBA from my student." The lesson learned? "It's all about knowing your surroundings and who you are meeting and speaking with." The last time Butch hit a tennis ball was at Centre Court three years ago and Wimbledon, for Butch, is still the greatest arena holding his best-loved memories. He'll be happy if that will be the last tennis ball he hits as he sets out to keep his score on the golf links under his age!

Margit Bannon Joins The Podcast In Our Series On Women In Our Industry Magit Bannon, USPTA instructor, yoga teacher and now entrepreneur takes us through her jump into self-employment. Having a court in her backyard and looking at her 30 minute commute for many years, she has jumped into business for herself with her Play Tennis, Practice Yoga brand, based in Punta Gorda, Florida. What she didn't realize? The amount of time she would be spending on marketing and social media along with the communication. But Margit is happy to be crerating new relationships in the industry and looking to move forward with her business once travel is safely back to a sense of normality. After working in Columbus, Ohio at the Olympia Club and then another 12 years at a yacht club in Florida, Margit decided to step out and use her childhood court as her foundation for a new idea - Yoga for Tennis. Her YouTube Channel has just reached 200 subscribers but her zeal for what she does on and off the court shows through on her videos, her Instagram account and her work with her clients and colleagues in the industry. Play Tennis, Practice Yoga Founder Margit Bannon. Is it us or does that Wilson Blade head size look a bit too big? Through social media and building her YouTube channel, Margit has built a booming business and sees herself traveling with her Yoga for Tennis methods. Margit, through her entrepreneurial spirit, is now an internet star boasting just an IPhone and a tripod - not much needed these days to gain followers and gain a following on social media if you have a great idea and the discipline and diligence to follow through - which Margit does. Having played tennis at a Division 1 level and competed at the highest levels in American junior tennis at events such as the Orange Bowl while training under the eyes of Nick Bolletieri, Margit understands the pressures on the court. The idea of calming one's self and getting outside and beyond the pressure of, say, a college tennis match - well it can make the difference between winning and losing. Everyone and every coach is looking to strengthen the mental game just as much as the physical game. And Margit is at the cutting edge through her mindful work and her yoga practices. Please visit her YouTube Channel: Play Tennis, Practice Yoga!

Kelsey Waite, Head Professional at Bethesda Country Club Joins the BTB Podcast She once heard the term unicorn used to describe a female teaching tennis pro, and that picqued her interest. Kelsey Waite had completed her college degree and was figuring out how to apply her newly found skills in science and French when someone asked her to help teach tennis. She's now a Head Pro at one of the country's most elite clubs. Kelsey Waite - from waitress to head professional. Coming to the industry unexpectedly, Kelsey has used her outside influences from college and life to help create her persona on the court. As a "theater geek" she realizes that running a clinic or being at the helm of a program is a production and is, in a way, theater in its own. She loves being on show. On-Court Programming Is Taking Over at the Private Clubs Not sure the reason behind it, but her members are passing up their doubles game for tennis programming with the pros. "They're giving up their spot times for doubles," says Waite who teaches on average two to three hours of live-ball clinics every day to her membership. She's not complaining but is noticing the change and how she and her team are adapting to it. She's also noted that the teenage female members are more likely to come out to programming, especially if she's the instructor. Juniors and adults, alike, are flocking toward the hour and a half "workout" of live-ball clinics rather than play their weekly doubles games. Being a Female in the Industry Is an Advantage Rather than feeling isolated or excluded from the inferred "men's club" of male tennis instructors, Kelsey feels she breathes new life into the industry and sees being a woman as an advantage. She believes her career and her rise up the ladder of success could be partly due to she being a "unicorn" - something she giggles at while she takes names and pushes out the programming barriers at Bethesda. Following her nerve-racking certification test and not having taught that much, Kelsey believes that the new mentoring requirement for incoming instructors through the USPTA and PTR is a long overdue requisite. Kelsey realizes how lucky she has been in the industry by being able to experience working and teaching at both resorts and public facilities, along with the past five years at Bethesda Country Club. Her comparisons between work and teaching styles at resorts and country clubs is extremely interesting, and her ideas as to how she would like to progress are inspiring, for females and males alike. There's so much more on her podcast, make sure you subscribe!

Harry Gilbert really does direct an orchestra, an orchestra of well-trained staff members, junior players and adult club members. He does it with aplomb and always with a smile on his face as he has waved his racquet and baton at clubs up and down the East Coast and on the islands for the past 40 years. Director of Tennis for the last 23 years at Waccabuc Country Club, located in the hills on the Westchester and Putnam county line in New York State, Harry has built an engaging and enormous program at a small, family club with just six Har-Tru courts. Stressing that staffing, budgeting, and communicating are all part of his role at Waccabuc as one of the leading directors in the country, he says he still does love his time on court. He's helped to create a family-centered program with fantastic results at Waccabuc. But, he's done that at each and every club he has ever served. Here are a few of his secrets. The Timeline of a Season Staffing by December 1, and certainly no later than the first week of January is crucial for a summer program. And in terms of programming and the calendar? That should be done by February 15th with notes from the staff exit interviews from the season before. "Ask your staff which events worked and which didn't," Gilbert adds. Sometimes they have a different view than you do! Harry's winter season in Florida, where Harry was Director at Hammock Beach Resort in Palm City for many years, and the islands are certainly different from New England. Preparation is key yet again. With his time during recent winters spent at the elite and exclusive Albany Resort, on Providence Island in the Bahamas, Harry discusses how the various demographics at resorts can make his work a bit more demanding than perhaps a year-round position. There are more peaks and valleys with time on court given the holiday season and spring break period through the winter. Gear up and get ready to lead a team aimed at full member satisfaction, says Gilbert. The Tennis Business Looking Back and Going Forward Harry recounts his time as USPTA President and the issues he faced at the national office. He believes the issues he faced during his tenure from 2007 to 2009 are really the same issues facing the USPTA today. And, although he realizes the accomplishments of both the USPTA and PTR, he bemoans the fact that there isn't just one industry body focused on the instructors and professionals. He applauds the work that both organizations have accomplished. The Secret to a Good Coach? There is an equation, according to Gilbert, which allows a good instructor to become a great pro. A good instructor needs to hone in on the one or two factors that are holding back the student the most. But, part of that equation, is to how much time will that coach have with the student. The shorter the time, the sooner the instructor must find these factors and the sooner those factors should be addressed. It's all here in this exclusive interview from our newest consultant to join our team, Harry Gilbert.

Patrick Kearns, Executive Director of 4-Star Camps, joins the BeyondTheBaselines.com Podcast in the third of our series "From The Director's Desk." Patrick Kearns, former Director of Tennis at Farmington Country Club and The Country Club of Darien, joins us as the Executive Director of 4-Star Camps based at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Although this past summer he had to cancel camp, this summer he is also looking to possibly defer camp for another year. He explains that Covid-19 really is acting as a catalyst to what might have been happening in the industry prior to 2020. Camps and Clubs are big business. With a family's average spend between $13,000 to $15,000 per summer for camp, it's an industry that accounts for millions of dollars over the summer months. The number of camps, due to Covid-19, will be reduced over the next two summers. From a facility standpoint the courts might not be fully available due to the virus. Camps have to have a niche says Kearns, and he relates to us how he would have liked to stay a bit smaller in the beginning while really creating, very early, a tight niche in the camp industry. When he reopens in 2022, he believes he can run a more profitable camp in a reduced industry with a tighter focus after pivoting to a tighter niche. The Top 3 Requisites For Being A Director Of Tennis Patrick has always taken the role of Director of Tennis, and now Director of Racquets, to new heights - both as a Director himself and now in his new role as owner of Tennis Mavericks. His new business venture is aimed at supporting and aiding tennis professionals to grow their programs and look through the filtering wind screens and fences. In our podcast, Kearns takes us through what he sees as the three pre-requisites for an excellent Director of Tennis and Department Head. How Can We Build On The Growth Through Covid Patrick was one of the industry leaders at the beginning and peak of the pandemic. Following an example he saw from his wife's work in the medical industry, Patrick, with the approval of the USPTA, built the single biggest industry support group on Facebook. With information being fed to him from the the tennis, golf, fitness, medical and camp industries, Patrick supplied the country club industry with an unrivalled source of information. In looking forward to 2021, Patrick points out that outside courts below the Mason-Dixon line might open earlier this year. Due to "cabin fever" Patrick sees a possibility of clubs opening in Virginia in late February, depending on weather. An end of March opening might be a real possibility to extend the season and bring people back on to the courts earlier than ever in New England and build upon the growth we saw in tennis in 2020. Listen in on one of the leaders of our industry.

Wick Simmons, former CEO of NASDAQ and Chairman of The Tennis Hall of Fame, Newport, Joins The Podcast Hardwick Simmons has been in the financial world for over 45 years. He's played tennis since the age of 8 and the first job he held was rolling courts at his beloved club in Marion, MA. He still plays tennis there at the club and remains active in finance and the business world. Just how did this Wall Street financier combine his work life with his love of tennis and help to bring the ATP to fruition and the WTA major growth? Find out as he joins the BTB Podcast. Wick Simmons, former CEO of NASDAQ and Prudential and Chairman of the Board at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Newport, RI Wick, as he's better known in the industry, has run or been a part of executive searches for international firms including Prudential, NASDAQ, Shearson Lehman Brothers and American Express where he served as CEO or President, as well as Lionsgate Films and Groton School. But with tennis his first sport and love, he's also one of the leading search consultants in the tennis world and was in charge of the search for Newport's International Tennis Hall of Fame, where he also served as Chairman of the Board. Wick hired Todd Martin and both he and Todd have never looked back. Wick was there at the birth of the ATP Tour with friend and business associate Butch Buchholz. Wick later brought full sponsorship to the "fifth major" while he served as CEO of NASDAQ. Wick was also instrumental in the growth of the WTA, as personal friend Larry Scott asked for advice and support in 2003 when he ascended to CEO at the WTA. Together they added major sponsorship through the relationship with Sony Ericsson. A CEO's Secrets To Finding The Right Candidate In Tennis and Finance In terms of running a search in the tennis world, "it all starts with the quality of the pool of candidates, which is the hardest part," says Wick. "I think the key to any search is to find someone who culturally matches up with what you're representing. That fit is extremely important to start. That first year and a half or two years is what's critical, and if you've made the right fit, it doesn't always work perfectly, but nonetheless both sides find a way to make it work." Reflecting back on his tenure at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Wick says there was an ulterior motive in hiring Todd Martin in 2014. "The Hall Of Fame really rests on the laurels of the members who are in it. At that time, what we didn't have was the support needed from the current handful of players. What the Hall needed was someone who could reach out to the younger, more current players. Wick has found a similar issue not only at the Hall of Fame, where he stepped down and said he wouldn't remain on the board after several years, but at clubs and major firms at which he has worked across the nation, either as a board member or consultant. "It's so often that clubs or organizations stick with leadership far longer than they should." He discusses how programming can get old, and that boards must look at themselves and re-evaluate the needs of the club and review often the administrative leadership. Hints For Today's Job Seekers "Find something you're really interested in and pay your dues at the start and see what doors open for you." Wick looks back at his career, proud of his work and the legacy he has left at some of Wall Street's major firms. Commenting on the past year, Wick believes Wall Street firms will return to a new normality with office hours back on the cards. Working from home all the time, he believes, creates issues and many have found it more difficult than we are realizing at this time. Harking back to JFK's "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country," Simmons points to the major difference between when he began his career in the workplace and today's millennials, looking to be hired.

Chris Gale, Director of Tennis at River Oaks Country Club, joins the BeyondTheBaselines.com and our "From The Desk of The Director" Podcast Series From his Australian birth, to the roots he set in New York, through to his work at some of the most elite New England Clubs, Chris Gale now finds himself at the esteemed River Oaks Country Club in Houston, Texas. Chris discusses how his personal growth and business experience in the industry allowed him to follow his path to a club with 4,500 members and 15 teaching professionals. River Oaks, with a net asset value of close to $50 million and an annual turnover hovering at $35 million, is a behemoth among clubs. Chris manages the 16-court facility, which sees all courts booked at the ungodly hour of 6am almost every morning. He shares with us a few insights just as to how he built a well-oiled machine through staffing, member communication, and simply, energy. Although Chris loves to be on the court, he realizes the importance of the administrative and business-side of the role and discusses the evolution of the Director of Tennis position. "When on court, ensure it's not just private lessons!" He looks to the future of the Director of Tennis position and notes that it has morphed in reality to a Director of Racquets. He believes soon that it could be called the CEO of the Racquets Department - a chief executive officer in the office and an instructional leader on the court. In offering advice to up and coming professionals and guiding club boards and search committees, Chris says the number one characteristic, which is a recurring theme, is that a good professional and future director should be able to listen and learn. Having a mentor is inspirational and educational, and even just hashing out an issue with one's mentor makes for a better, wiser, and more disciplined leader. His second bit of advice? Whether at a seasonal or year-round club, "never let your guard down." Leadership again is a current theme and Chris's leadership at all his positions, from his fragile start straight off a boat from Australia, to now leading one of the finest and most comprehensive programs in the country, is clearly evident and truly remarkable. He rotates his professionals so they don't burn out, he offers on-property mentoring and continuing education, and he looks to communicate better each day with both his equity members and staff. Chris earned his stripes long before River Oaks Country Club at the Duxbury Yacht Club on the Massachusetts's coast about an hour outside Boston. Chris made one of New England’s finest yacht clubs a destination where memories were created and summers full of fun and great tennis. And then instead of teaching poaching one day over looking the golf course in Duxbury, he got poached by the Texans. Here's the story.