The Pellucid Perspective - March 2017 - 5


INDUSTRY
LEADERSHIP

PGA names Easterbrook first
Chief Membership Officer
By Jim Dunlap

W

hen the PGA of America created a new Chief Membership Officer position, they certainly didn't tap a
golf industry newbie to debut the office. If their ideal
candidate profile listed qualifications including a long history of
involvement and support for the PGA and its members, a distinguished and successful track record in golf course management
and operations and proven ability to communicate with both
golf course owners and their professional staff members, former
Troon Golf Chief Operations Officer John Easterbrook checked
all the boxes.
Easterbrook's ties to the PGA of America are, in a sense,
lifelong. When Easterbrook walked into his new office at PGA
headquarters on March 9, he did so knowing that his grandfather, himself a PGA professional, was undoubtedly looking down
proudly and applauding his grandson's decision to apply the skills
that helped Troon Golf become the world's largest golf course
operator to growing the ranks and enhancing the professional
lives of their fellow PGA members.
Asked why he would move on after a spectacularly successful
20-year run with Troon, Easterbrook said, "It's long been my passion to create opportunities and enhance PGA professional lives.
Seventy-five percent of Troon professionals are PGA professionals and I've always held the PGA in high regard. My new job will
be focused on education and enhancing programs and the PGA
brand."
Understanding that while the PGA's headquarters are in Palm
Beach Gardens, Fla., the organization's 28,000-plus members
are more closely connected to whichever of the 41 PGA sec-

tions they belong to, Easterbrook will devote significant energy
to ensuring that regardless of where they ply their trade, PGA
members will be aware of, and have access to, the professional
education, career development and opportunity benefits offered
by the parent organization.
"My job description includes overseeing the strategic alignment of all PGA sections and functions," Easterbrook said. "Although we do a lot already, we need to improve the message and
communications both externally and internally. In the case of
owners, we need to let them know that there are tools out there
to hire PGA professionals, and we need to let our 28,000 PGA
pros know there is a database out there with ways to educate
and promote themselves. Education has always been a passion
of mine. It's one of the things I'm super excited to work with the
incoming Board on to get people introduced to and excited about
a sport of a lifetime."
Easterbrook is well aware of the declining participation trend
in golf, and equally cognizant of the critical role that the teaching
pros and golf course staffers play in those critical touch points
with both new players and those who may be becoming frustrated
with the game to the point that they're at risk of abandoning it.
"We want to become the Pied Piper of golf, and we're lucky
enough to have 28,000 people teaching the game," he said. "It's
critically important to have the right teacher, and I hope owners
understand that the more people they can hook on the game, the
better their P&L will look going forward."
While looking forward to the challenge and opportunities
presented by his new position, Easterbrook remains grateful for

"My job description includes
overseeing the strategic
alignment of all PGA sections
and functions. Although we
do a lot already, we need
to improve the message
and communications both
externally and internally."
JOHN EASTERBROOK
CHIEF MEMBERSHIP OFFICER, PGA

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