Jennifer Hudson, the 2019 New England PGA Teacher of the Year, is the Owner of LifeLong Golf and PGA/LPGA Director of Instruction at Sankaty Head Golf Club in Siasconset, Massachusetts.

Jennifer Hudson on the importance of arriving early and asking lots of questions to unlock the best trip possible:

Between trips with Sankaty Head and through my own business, LifeLong Golf, I’ve picked up two main travel keys. First, if you are the PGA of America Golf Professional leading the trip, arrive one day early. Second, ask a lot of questions. Especially if you’ve never been to a facility, begin creating relationships with your “support team” in the months leading up to your trip. Your support team includes the Head Professional, Director of Instruction, food & beverage contacts, hospitality contacts and your destination’s concierge/group coordinator. Then arrive one day earlier than everyone else on your trip to personally connect with your support team and learn the layout of your destination. You don’t want to be figuring things out at the same time as your golfers. You should be the expert on your trip and the entire facility by the time your paying customers arrive. I think of travel like hosting a small member-guest, where you want to have all the details set and where you want to wow your golfers every single day. I can see where a professional might take a group of members to a resort and think it could be a mini-vacation, but you cannot look at it as a vacation at all – you’re on stage the whole time.

Jennifer Hudson on the business impact of arriving early and asking lots of questions to unlock the best trip possible:

If you run your trip with a business plan, a member-event mentality and with clear goals, you will create a sought-after golf travel program with the ability to take group trips year after year. It sounds obvious that doing your research ahead of time leads to a smooth golf trip. But go deeper and envision your “golf trip” as a part of an entire travel experience. The golf part is pretty easy for us as PGA of America Golf Professionals. But when the round ends, then what? Where is breakfast? Is there a chance to do a non-golf activity if there’s free time? Ask every question you can think of that might come up during the trip. If you know everything the resort offers and where everything is, then you become even more important, and you look like even more of an expert because you were two steps ahead. The support team you meet with the day before are the people who are going to help you make the experience special. Research the heck out of the destination, and become the conduit between the resort and your golfers. This will help you go beyond troubleshooting possible negative scenarios to becoming your golfers’ connection to incredible memories.

If you would like to email the author of this Best Practice directly, please email jhudson@lifelonggolf.com.