Kingsdale Golf Shop Supervisor Joe Aubrey left an engineering job and waited tables in order to break into the career he wanted. Now, after six years in Bella Vista, he's well on his way to becoming a PGA professional.
Aubrey got his engineering training in the military and worked as a geo-technical engineer on the campus of Ohio State, but he found himself hanging out with members of the University's golf team. He had played golf on his high school team and he missed it.
"I decided to work smarter, not harder," he said, "so I moved to Florida."
Florida, he said, is the Mecca of golf.
He still remembers telling his father about his decision to quit a good engineering job and his father's reaction.
"He said, 'Why would you take something you love and turn it into work?'" Aubrey reports. Later, he was able to bring his father to visit Bella Vista and show him that he loves his work.
In Florida, he took a job waiting tables and waited for a chance to get his foot in the door. It happened when he commented on one of the customer's golf shoes and ended up in conversation with a retired golf pro. The next day he got a job waiting tables, but at the Country Club.
Every morning he got up early and went to the club to practice for a couple of hours. Then he changed and served lunch. After lunch more practice and then he changed again and served dinner. After dinner, he practiced some more. He followed that routine six days a week.
When his father got sick, he returned home to West Virginia. He left the golf business for a while, but eventually got on at a hometown club where he worked his way up from the cart barn to first assistant.
It was a relationship that brought him to Bella Vista and within a few months he had a job in the pro shop at the Highlands. When the supervisor job at Kingsdale came open, he applied.
It's the people he likes most about his work, he said, and the camaraderie. Golf takes a lot of collaboration, he added.
Part of the process of becoming a PGA Pro is book work, he said. He has studied everything from the history of golf to the rules of the game. There are also a lot of business principals to learn. Within the PGA there are many specialties and Aubrey is leaning towards tournament director.
"I like the tournaments aspect and I feel like a have a knack," he said. It was the number of tournaments that utilize the Kingsdale complex that drew him to the job.
Every tournament is different, he said, and they all have special needs. Sometimes the course resembles a circus, with tents and gas grills set up. Some tournaments might need a public address system, or extra carts.
He enjoys juggling those needs and he appreciates the work of the central golf office where they have a system in place to keep the golfers organized.
"Golf and life are similar," Aubrey said, "You have to deal with all types of individuals and nobody is happy 365 days a year." He's learned to accept that his customers sometimes have a bad day and he may have to bear the burnt of it.
"I don't let it affect me," he said.
The golf season is long, beginning in February and going strong well into October, but Bella Vista isn't that big and everyone knows each other. He tries to meet everyone with a smile.
Although he no longer has time to practice as much as he used to, Aubrey still plays as much golf as he can.
Sometimes, he can arrange a golf trip with other Property Owners Association staff and get away to play. Other times, he plays the local courses.
"Bella Vista has all the golf you can handle," he said.
Sports on 04/16/2014