A Conversation With … Rick Neal

You recently were named PGA Golf Professional of the Year for the Midwest Section. Tell me more about it.
There are 41 sections in the United States and our section covers Missouri and part of Kansas. There about 280 members in this section, and you get nominated by one of your peers. There is a panel of about 10 people who go through each and every one of these nominations. I was lucky enough to get picked. This is the highest award you can get in our section.

What does the award mean to you?
My speech was pretty emotional. It was nothing I ever thought I would get. I just do my job and work very hard. When I got that phone call, it was pretty emotional for me.

To become a member of the organization, to become a PGA member is quite an ordeal. You go though schooling and take tests. I had a difficult time with it at first. You have to pass a playing test and I had no problem with that, but you have to take a 150-question test that took like six hours.

This isn’t the first award you’ve won. You also were voted No. 1 Best Teacher in the State by Golf Digest, right?
Again, that was voted on by the peers. It was just fantastic. I love teaching; it’s one of my first passions. I’ve been lucky enough to get PGA Teacher of the Year in the section. I’ve also been Teacher of the Year in the south-central section, in Oklahoma when I was there. I have anywhere from 30 to 60 youngsters in our junior group each summer. That’s what golf is all about, the future of the game and the evolution of these youngsters.

The National Golf Foundation recently released a report saying more golf courses would close than open this year. Do you see that in southwest Missouri?
I heard three years ago, there were 175 clubs closed one year and six opened. That’s tragic. I think they are hunkering down here, trying to maintain, but I can see courses continuing to close down. I think back in the prime, in the 1980s and early ’90s, we overbuilt golf. It’s not so much of a decline as a correction.

Overall, the nation is seeing a decline in golfers. Why do you think that is?
The economy is No. 1. Back about six or seven years ago when things hit, this was one of the first things they look at. This is something for their leisure and they are paying quite a bit of money to do it, so a lot of people just backed off.

Our business in the last two years is starting to get better, rounds are picking up and we’re getting new members.

We have over 600 members, but our regular golfing members are at about 330 and growing. It’s down from a few years back, but we have held our own and it’s starting to increase. The last three years have been break even.

As the club’s golf director, I would assume you play a lot, but I’ve heard that’s a misconception.
If you are in the business, really in the business, you probably don’t golf that much, despite what people think. Our season is now through October and during the season, I feel like I need to be around my business. I love coming here each and every day. I get here by 6:30 a.m. and get home by around 7:30 p.m., seven days a week during the season.
 
I always tell the youngsters trying to get into the business, it’s a great business to get into if you like working a lot of hours and not making much money.

When was the last time you played a round of golf?
You hit me at a good time. I play quite a bit in the spring early and in the fall. Once I get into the summer months, the season, I bet I won’t even play once a month. I just got back from a trip to Texas with 15 other members. We played 12 rounds of golf in six days. It’s not very smart really. That’s 216 holes. We actually played three holes of night golf with glow-in-the-dark balls. It’s crazy, but it’s a blast.