After working as a golf course manager for 20 years, two key factors have moved. Jeremiah Ergenindoor career. Ergen’s move from outdoors to indoors was prompted by major health issues and his fascination with the burgeoning golf simulator industry.

In 2019, after two years of comparing simulator equipment, Ergen installed four Uneekor QED launch monitors at the Monticello Country Club in Monticello, Minnesota. This was shortly after he was working as a manager at the Como Golf Course in St. Paul. During that time he experienced shortness of breath and chronic fatigue.

Ergen and Monticello Country Club took a wait-and-see approach to their golf simulator partnership. Their idea was, ‘Let’s see how the average golfer reacts to playing indoors’. Timing is everything. COVID-19 came months later.

The pandemic has proven to be a catalyst for soaring golf participation and earnings. Just when the prospect of sports and his Ergen simulator business was on the horizon, the father of two boys arrived at the hospital. “In May 2020, I was admitted to Mercy Hospital with his 105-degree fever,” he recalls. “My heart was beating like crazy.”

While in the hospital, Ergen received the following email. Jay Laskoa YouTube entrepreneur with nearly 30,000 subscribers His Golf Simulator Videos ChannelErgen reached out to Lasco with the idea of ​​creating a partnership so he could reach out to golf simulator enthusiasts who contacted Lasco’s YouTube channel. “I explained to Jay that I was pretty sick,” Ergen says.

The bedridden Ergen took action. Fever or not, he knew he needed to take action. The current superintendent grabbed a laptop and cell phone and started making calls. “While in a hospital bed, he launched Uneekor from a lead provided by Jay and he sold four monitors,” Ergen says. “After researching many launch monitors and golf simulation brands, he was confident that Uneekor provided the highest quality data and price points.”

Ergen’s hospitalization was a precursor to learning he had congestive heart failure. This diagnosis meant he could no longer continue his physical demands as superintendent. Ergen decided there was no turning back to dedicating himself to selling his simulator full time golf.

After securing his first commercial golf simulator partnership with Monticello Country Club, Ergen purchased the Uneekor Eye XO launch monitor and credited his credit card. Feedback on the course was positive from the start and Ergen paid off his credit card bill within a year.

Since focusing on selling full-time simulators, Ergen has continued to battle the lingering effects of heart disease. When it comes to business, his partnership with Lasco’s YouTube channel has proven lucrative. Ergen also has his own successful referral from his Green Pro Golf Simulators website. His annual gross sales are hitting his seven figures.

The majority of Ergen sales are to individual buyers looking to set up the simulator in a basement, garage, or detached housing facility. “As a client mentor, I really enjoy working with installations, technology, and best-case scenarios,” he says.

He added partnerships with Breezy Point Resort and Faren Park Golf Course. Both commercial simulator clients realized their initial investment in less than a year.

What are the common simulator threads among 45 year old Ergen residential customers?

“First, ask about the dimensions of the space they utilize,” he says. “Then we decide on a budget. Once we have a budget, we discuss launch monitors, software, computer needs, custom enclosures, landing turf, hitting mats, LCD projectors, ceiling mounts, and accessories. We also sell them individually, each situation is unique.”

Ergen still looks back on his time as superintendent. “I miss being outside,” he says. I love my new business. Allows us to spend more time with our 8 year old and his 9 year old sons. I still get up early, but now I work from home. My mind tells me that my life is much less stressful. ”

Tim Cotroneo is a travel, golf and business writer based in Minnesota. This is his first golf contribution to the course industry.

tartan talk 79

John Lafoy Decades before it became an integral part of other architects’ businesses, it specialized in golf course renovations.

“I loved it,” he said on the Tartan Talk podcast.

Lafoy’s passion for working with people who are passionate about the golf course began when he was working as an apprentice. George Cobb, its renovation workload included a project at the Augusta National Golf Club. LaFoy says Cobb taught him “everything” about the industry. LaFoy has owned and operated his own company since his early 1980s, doing most of the renovation work in the Southeast.

LaFoy has grown to become one of the industry’s go-to renovation experts, providing many insights throughout the podcast on the modern evolution of course enhancement projects. His best lessons relate to dealing with people, especially those who are vocally negative.

“In nearly every project I’ve worked on, I’ve found that those who are against the project are always more vocal than those who are for it,” he says. “I always tell clubs that the[individuals]who support it need to be organized and have a voice as strong as the opponents.”

The podcast can be found on the Superintendent Radio Network page of the popular podcast distribution platform.

course news

Pinehurst Resort selected Tom Doak For the first time in nearly 30 years, we have designed a new 18-hole course. Located four miles south of the resort’s main clubhouse, the course is scheduled to open in late spring 2024, coinciding with the return of the US Open to Pinehurst No. 2. His 10th new course at the resort will incorporate rugged sand dunes mined around turns. Accented with natural sand and wire glass from the 20th century. … Bobby Weed Golf Design has completed a multi-year modernization project for a championship course. Grandfather Golf & Country Club Eastern North Carolina. The work will run from 2019 to 2022 and will include tee changes on the 11th and his 16th holes, fairway bunker rebuilds on the 8th, 10th, 11th and 18th holes, and several other holes. It included re-installing the commutation on the high side to reduce surface runoff. A herringbone drainage system was also installed on all fairways to enhance surface and subterranean drainage to maintain solid playing conditions. … Landscapes Unlimited has completed multiple expansion projects at two golf courses. Desert Mountain Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. Working with Nicklaus Design, Marvin Mills Irrigation Consulting, and the Desert Mountain agronomy team, Landscape Unlimited’s work on the Renegade Course included the construction of a new driving range to accommodate the construction of the new clubhouse, and the construction of a new driving range from bentgrass to ryegrass. It included resurfacing and reseeding of fairways and tees. And some changes to the first hole. The company has also expanded and enhanced the driving range tee area of ​​the Apache course. … the USGA chose the West Course Winged Foot Golf Club It will host the 2028 US Open. The championship will be his seventh U.S. Open at the club in Westchester County, New York, the most recent he will be in 2020.