PROFILE
Title: Franchise owner, Golftec.
Years as a PGA Professional: 18.
Top achievements / honors: Wisconsin PGA Professional Development Award (2021); Wisconsin PGA Bill Starusbaugh Recipient (2018); Wisconsin PGA Teacher of the Year (2012); Golftec Manager of the Year (2010).
SOCIAL MEDIA / ONLINE
Website: Golftec.com
RELATED: PGA Professional Spotlight archive
TAP-INS
What app is a must-have on your phone? Golftec app. It’s a digital yardage book and coach guidance while you play golf.
What books would you recommend? "Trusting God, Even When Life Hurts" by Jerry Bridges.
What is your most memorable round of golf? I met Tiger Woods when I was 15 in Milwaukee before he turned professional. The next day with my dad I got a hole in one.
Q&A
The First Call: What made you want to pursue a career in golf?
Brendan Locke: My dad used to take me when I was little and I always would find myself returning to the course at many different times in my life. I played high school and college golf. My sophomore year in college I transferred to Ferris State University’s PGM program to pursue this as a career.
TFC: What is your favorite instructional tip to share with a golfer?
BL: Club face dictates 90 percent of your direction.
TFC: What advice do you have for someone considering a career in golf?
BL: Make sure you know what you are getting into. Too often I think people think they want a particular job only to find out it’s not what they thought it was. Tenure and client relationships make the job fun and long lasting. Love who you work with.
TFC: What is the best advice you have received on your career path?
BL: The golf industry is a small industry and the relationships you have both good and bad will inevitably cross paths again. Work hard to build strong relationships and they will serve you well in the future.
TFC: Is there a particular area of your job that you find most rewarding?
BL: I really enjoy building a strong bond with those people and businesses that support us the most. The Wisconsin PGA, the WSGA, my team, they all have helped this company grow into what it is today. With them and their support we wouldn’t be here. I also enjoy seeing my staff experience “firsts.” First house, new car, marriages and children.
TFC: What is one challenge you currently see in the industry?
BL: Work-life balance is needed in the industry and it’s important for the golf industry to get a grasp of this on-going issue. We work hard at Golftec to have coaches work no more than 40 hours per week. That is uncommon in the golf business.
I once worked in college on internship in Arizona and on Thanksgiving I closed the shop at 9:30 pm, and at that point I made a promise to myself to find something with normal hours or I [wasn't] going to work in golf.
TFC: Where is there room for growth within the industry?
BL: Adapting to the trends. Golf is becoming more fixated on time commitment and so people find ways to “play” with the time they have. Golftec, Topgolf, X-Golf and the like have done a great job helping golf evolve into what people are willing to commit.
TFC: When you look at your career, in what area(s) do you believe you have evolved for the better? And how so?
BL: We have changed they way people think what golf instruction is about. It’s not a quick fix. It’s a commitment, and from 2018 until 2022 we grew from 18,000 30 minute lessons to 33,000 30 minute lessons. Quite a jump!