"It's all fairway when you put in the work!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
If you golf, you know instantly when you hit a great tee shot. And as a speaker, you know instantly when one moment has suddenly changed some lives and an industry. As a golfer and speaker, I've had both moments.
Let's start with golf. In my last few rounds - including yesterday - I've been hitting 100% of fairways consistently. This is a good thing, but it's only happening because I've put in the work. My irons are also, as the vernacular goes, 'dialled in,' pretty consistently hitting within 10 or 20 percent of my target. Golfers obsess over stuff like this.
As a futurist and innovation speaker, I also obsess over the quality of my work.
If you golf, you will know that today is the opening round of the PGA of America golf tournament. It's the one where the world's #1 champion, Scottie Scheffler, was arrested last year for making a wrong turn in a parking lot. Not one to miss an opportunity for a bit of humor, he showed up yesterday for his practice round in an orange-prison-colored shirt. LOL.
I digress.
One of my career highlights was back in 2010 when I keynoted the annual general meeting of the PGA of America, the organization that hosts this tournament. Most folks don't understand who the real 'PGA' golfer is who would be a member of this association, and who were at my talk. The folks in the room were not the Rorys and Brysons and Xanders- it was the hard-working local club pro at your golf club. The one who teaches lessons and runs the pro shop, who joins you on Mens Day or Ladies Day, manages the golf course, and hires all the other professional golf staff. Some of them might have competed on tour as a PGA Tour player (a different association!), but many simply love the game of golf and have built a career out of successfully running your local golf club.
And back in 2010, unlike today, the industry they were working in was facing a reckoning. The global financial crisis two years prior hit the core of the game hard as spending pulled back significantly. The industry, with costly memberships and luxury positioning, took a big hit! Clubs lost members. Rounds played dropped. Corporate outings evaporated. Golf wasn’t essential—it was expendable. They were also impacted by course overbuilding - a boom in the industry led to too many courses, and not enough demand. Developers believed the growth would last forever. It didn’t. What followed were course closures, debt defaults, and a painful market correction.
Then came the demographic challenge. The industry had failed to capture the next generation - it was viewed as an old man's sport, remaining as an expensive, elitist game. Younger players weren’t coming in fast enough to replace the aging demographic base. And let’s not forget the lifestyle shift - golf demanded five hours of your day as the future was speeding up. Families were busier. Attention spans were shorter. People were craving experiences that were quick, social, and flexible.
Golf, in its traditional form, didn’t fit.
The industry was not in a good place.
And somehow or other, I was selected to be the opening keynote speaker for their AGM. My job was to come in and provide insight into the trends that might provide them with opportunities for growth in the future. And that was the entire focus of this AGM - the meeting tagline was 'Grow the Game.' Not only that, my marching orders were to help shake them out of their complacency and encourage them to make innovative thinking the core of what they do.
I did the homework to cover the issues that would define the opportunities for growth in the future, including the arrival of new technology with the digital native generation (such as mobile phone-based shot trackers and GPS devices on clubs), the HUGE impact of social media and 'influencers', the rapid evolution of golf gear, changing market demographics, and the wellness and fitness movement, among many other trends. One of my favorite moments came about as I explained that the mom who was booking summer camps was no longer asking their neighbor for advice over the fence - she was going on Facebook or Instagram and asking there. That being the case, the Pro and the Club needed to have a presence there, and fast!
I spoke about the “innovation killers,” the danger of nostalgia and routine, and was instead, pushing hard or bold thinking, small experiments, and rapid scaling of new ideas (such as social media.) My message: growth will come to those who observe, adapt, and act—fast. Walking off stage - after a Q&A - I instinctively knew I hit a drive straight down the fairway with my keynote. That was confirmed to me in the months or years to come as I built lasting connections with various PGA professionals throughout North America - and as they invited me back to open the 2016 PGA Merchandise show in Orlando (where I was bookended on stage by Lee Trevino and Bubba Watson.)
The fact is, I'm still told by many a PGA Pro to this day that my keynote had a HUGE impact on their thinking, their approach to club and course management, and the growth of the game - 15 years on. The industry today? Stable, growing, demographically aligned, social media influenced, technologically accelerating - all the trends I covered in my keynote.
All of which brings me to the metaphor of today's quote - when you put in the work, it's all fairway!
And today, I still get the occasional golf-oriented keynote gig for a leadership team meeting held at a fabulous golf resort, based on my golf keynote theme:
KEYNOTE:
Driving the Future – Linking the Acceleration of Golf to The Speed of Business
Is your corporate leadership meeting at a resort, with a little bit of networking on the side?As part of the event, do you need some unique business insight that will align with your overall theme? In Jim Carroll, you’ve found the perfect playing partner!Jim will provide you with a fascinating golf-themed leadership keynote that will help your team or clients understand the accelerated future of disruption, challenge, and opportunity - all in the context of the networking golf event that you are also likely hosting!And as a 15 handicap with a passion for the game, he can share his thoughts with you during your networking time!
Which can be found, of course, at the domain jimcarroll.golf
Futurist Jim Carroll got out for 108 rounds of golf last year. He hopes to improve upon this number this year.