Reflections of a Club Manager #7

Achieving the CCM

Since I started in Club Management in January 2003, I had always been looking to educate myself, to be the best manager I could be. My ultimate goal would be to sit and pass my CCM exam and be one of the first in Europe to achieve that designation.

In 2009, I was able sit my CCM exam whilst attending the CMAE European Conference in Benidorm. Sitting the exam was the culmination of 6 years of hard work since my start in Club Management career. 

At that time, I knew that the first part of the exam consisted of a 200 question multiple choice paper on the 10 core competencies of Club Management. 20 questions on each subject. My strategy was to select the subjects which I was strongest in first, reasoning that would give me more time for those I was weakest on. 

I thought I was prepared for the 7 hour exam and the first 4 hour multiple choice part went well, however the 3 hours allocated for the case study flew by and I ran out of time to finish. I had spent too much time reading and analysing the case study and not enough time writing my solutions. I thought I might have done enough to achieve the pass mark of 70% but it was not to be, I had failed.

Not disheartened, I signed up to resit the exam in 2010. I knew what to expect this time and how to manage my time better. This time the exam would be held at Elmwood College in Cupar. Fortunately, I did much better and after a 2 week wait for the result, I became the first Scottish Club Manager, and the 10th Club Manager in Europe to achieve the Certified Club Managers (CCM) certification.

My new club had supported my education with CMAE, and being able to achieve my ambition of becoming a CCM, with their support, was very important to me and I will be eternally grateful to them for that.

The Club also supported my appointment as the President of the Scottish Region of CMAE in 2010, which came with a seat on the European Board. The Board was working towards bringing the education pathway, already well established in the USA, to Europe.

Thanks to the help and support of the Scottish Golf Union, CMAE and CMAA, in 2011 the Scottish Region was able to host the first Management Development Programme (MDP) course in Europe, held on the University of Stirling Campus in Bridge of Allan. As Scottish Region President, I welcomed over 20 club and golf managers from the UK and Europe and we spent the next 5 days together, receiving first class management education during the daytime and making great friends and sharing our club stories over meals and drinks in the evenings. It was a fantastic week.

Delegates at the pilot MDP1 course in Stirling in 2011

From that first MDP in 2011, CMAE education went from strength to strength and now offers a complete educational pathway with MDP's in the UK, Europe and the Middle East. If you are serious about being the best manager you can be, committed to furthering your knowledge and career then this pathway is the best way to achieve your goals and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Try it and you will be hooked!!

As part of my Scottish Region President role, also in 2011, I had the privilege of hosting what my CMAA colleagues refer to as BMI (Business Management Institute) International Conference. This week long course was held in St. Andrews and over 40 club managers, mainly from the USA, attended, many of the bringing their spouses. The purpose of this course is to give those managers an international experience on how clubs and courses are managed overseas.

It was a wonderful week of learning and networking, visiting the historic landmarks of the Home of Golf and getting to play on the Old Course, a major highlight for all those from overseas.

It was especially memorable for Arnaldo Coccuzza, who was the CMAE President at the time and my partner in the "Ryder Cup" match against the CMAA President, Kevin Carroll and CMAA CEO, Jim Singerling. Arnaldo had went for a walk on the morning of the match, a beautiful October morning. It was such a nice morning that he removed his waterproofs from his golf bag to make it lighter. After about 8 holes, the sun disappeared, the wind got up and the rain came down sideways.

Arnaldo, Kevin, myself and Jim on the first tee, when it was dry!!

Thats when Arnaldo found out how cold and wet it can get on the east coast of Scotland!! Kevin, Jim and myself gave him a 2nd wooly hat, rain jacket and mitts but I have never seen anyone so cold and miserable as Arnaldo was on that back nine. He didn't even finish his round and headed straight to his room for a hot shower, followed by a hot bath to thaw out. 

p.s. Europe won.......

Next week, back to the day job, Staff training and more staff issues.

Thanks for reading this article.

Jim Callaghan CCM