Private Club Radio Show
Welcome to the Private Club Radio Show, the industry's weekly source for education, news, trends, and other current developments in the world of private clubs.
Hosted by the talented entertainer and industry expert, Denny Corby,
the podcast offers a unique perspective on the private club industry, featuring expert guests, product spotlights, predictions, and more.
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Private Club Radio Show
389: “Culture Eats Strategy For Breakfast” - Casey Smith Chenal Country Club
How does a strong organizational culture shape the success of a private club?
Join us as we uncover the secrets of thriving club management with Casey Smith, General Manager and PGA Professional of the Year at Chenal Country Club.
Casey takes us through his journey to receiving this prestigious award and shares invaluable insights from the Golf Professional of the Year conference at Bandon Dunes. We explore the critical aspects of adaptability, leadership trust, and the creation of a cohesive team culture, comparing the dynamics of privately owned versus member-owned clubs. Casey’s experiences and wisdom highlight the importance of continuous learning and relationship-building for sustained success.
Discover the transformative power of selfless leadership and the role of culture in driving long-term excellence. We reflect on the journey at Chenal and the importance of team involvement and overcoming staff resistance. Drawing inspiration from John Gordon’s "You Win in the Locker Room First," we emphasize that what is celebrated and tolerated defines an organization’s culture. Personal stories, including an inspiring encounter with Coach Bowden at Florida State, illustrate the profound impact of leaders who prioritize their people. This episode promises a treasure trove of lessons for anyone committed to fostering a culture of excellence in any organization.
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So culture eats strategy for breakfast. Because you know strategy as important as that is, you know your culture, at the end of the day, drives it. Because you know there's going to be times where the winds come and the storms come, the challenges come and you need to be able to pivot, change your strategy. But at the end of the day, your core belief does not change and that's why, for us us as creating memorable experiences we don't ever stray from that, no matter what's going on or comes our way. Hey everybody.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the private club radio show where we give you the scoop on all things private golf and country clubs from mastering leadership and management, food and beverage excellence, member engagement secrets, board governance and everything in between, all while keeping it fun and light. Whether you're a club veteran just getting your feet wet or somewhere in the middle, you are in the right place. I'm your host, denny Corby. Welcome to the show. I'm excited for this episode. I get to chat down with GM PGA Professional of the Year, gm of Chanel Country Club in Arkansas, casey Smith, and it's a fun chat. We talk about his, the process and him receiving the award and honor for PGA of the Year and what that all represents. And weirdly enough, that happened a bunch here in the episodes where there's a lot of really good PGA professionals coming up and becoming very strong general managers. So I'm actually excited.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of that happening here on the episodes here on the channel, totally unintentional. We talk about his journey, his story so far. A lot of it is talking about culture and how to get buy-in from the staff and why that's so important and how the buy-in and the culture drives effective and really good decision-making. If I had to go back and think about the episode. It's emphasizing a lot on adaptability, trust in leadership, trust in your people and putting the right seats on the right bus. We also touch on him working for a privately owned club, not a member owned club. What some of those differences are? There as well, and I think, just with a lot of episodes, a lot of strong leaders and people in leadership management and who want to become something, want to be a person of service, of hospitality, of giving. It's continuous learning and building strong team culture, relationships with your team, with your people as well as in the industry. So really cool, really fun episode.
Speaker 2:Private Club Radio listeners. Let's welcome to the show. General Manager Chanel Country Club PGA Professional of the Year. Casey Smith PGA Professional of the Year. What's the process like to get that? You know what does it take? How many people do you apply?
Speaker 1:Are people recommending you. How does that all work? Yeah, so that's nominated by your peers. You know the PGA of America split up into 41 different sections and at that time I was in what was called the Dixie section. It is now the it's a mouthful. Now it's the Alabama Northwest Florida section. So that's all, it's all of Alabama, and then the Florida Panhandle, and so nominated by your peers and once you're nominated, it's chosen amongst a special award committee, basically. And so in that section, you know, there were, you know, 300 or so or more professionals, and so it was quite an honor to be nominated number one and then to be chosen, and that certainly is. It is the, you know, highest honor you can be bestowed as a PGA golf professional and at the section level.
Speaker 2:Really, that's the creme de la creme.
Speaker 1:It is yes. Quite an honor.
Speaker 2:Do you get to add any extra letters onto your name now?
Speaker 1:letters onto your name now. So, yeah, you know PGA is definitely a badge we wear proudly and put on the email signature, you know, and so forth. So, and it's an incredible association. You know anybody that's a PGA golf professional is in it to grow the game and to inspire others, you know to to pull it, to get into the game.
Speaker 2:It's such a great game because you got that professional of of of the year. Do you get any like additional letters or no? Oh, okay, no but no, that was like, that was like part joke, part like not. Cause I know like every time when you get things like part joke, part like not, because I know like every time when you get things, you can add some.
Speaker 1:So I wasn't sure if there was like a thing that I was missing. I'm like, oh no, is there another?
Speaker 1:no, you know, just uh, just having the honor, you know you get a nice plaque and you know it's to me it's not about the as much about the recognition as it is just to you know, to um, show that what you're doing is making a difference, you know and um. There were some other perks that came with it, though. Like PGA Magazine does a Golf Professional of the Year conference where they invite all the Golf Professional of the Year winners from the past year to come to Bandon Dunes for a week and do a lot of networking and education, and that was a trip of a lifetime getting to play band of dunes. That was incredible.
Speaker 2:What was that feeling like? Like you know the, the the very first hole you are, you are set up for your first swing. What's that feel like?
Speaker 1:Great. I had to just kind of take a deep breath because it's so beautiful and and just you know, thinking about the owners of band of Dunes, how much they had to have the courage to build a golf course like that because it is in the middle of nowhere. It took me 15 hours one way to get there. I could get to. I could go to Scotland quicker than get to Band of Dunes, but it was worth it. It was worth every.
Speaker 2:I flew into.
Speaker 1:Portland had the four and a half hour drive and you know it was quite it, it was worth every uh, except for into Portland had the four and a half hour drive and you know it was quite an effort to get there. But it's incredible, uh, the beauty of the facility and it's. It's really golf in its purest form, because you're walking, there's no car pass and there's nothing else there. You're there to play golf and and have, you know, some fun with some guys and have some dinner and, uh, that's, that's all there is to do there. So it's uh, it's uh, but uh, it's a special place.
Speaker 2:So looking, if you were to look at that group, you know so, if you can see yourself as like a fly on the wall at, you know you're, you're hanging out with, like all of those, all those accomplished people, what would you say are some of like the traits that you see or felt that you had, everybody had in?
Speaker 1:common there. That's a great. I love that question because that's what I look forward to most with that trip. Bandidoos in itself is an incredible place to experience, but to be amongst my peers that have excelled in the industry I went into it just try to be a sponge and learn as much as I can. And you know, the trait that I would say is a common trait is just there's a great group of leaders in that room. You know they realize that it's not about themselves. You know, one of the best leadership traits I've learned throughout my career it's not about you. You know, if you're going to make an impact and make a difference in someone's life, then you've got to. It has to be a selfless of view and and to try to in our industry, you know, try to go the game. And you know, like for us and all our, our team worked together to come up with our why we went to the Salmon Senate book together and it's been a lot of time.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's a great one. Put a lot of time and effort into that. It's been a lot of time. Yes, that's a great one. Put a lot of time and effort into that. And you know you can come to Chanel or go to our website and start with there and see what we do. You know, and you can take a tour and see how we do it. We have a lot of amenities and a special club. But you know we want to boil it down to why are we doing what we do? We came up with creating memorable experiences and our team has that as our core belief and I saw that very evident with the group that abandoned dunes is they're working hard every day to make a memorable experience and and it's great to be amongst guys that you know that they're going through the exact same thing that you're going through, with the challenges that you face and and just be able to bounce ideas off each other. And you know it's a reminder that we're in this together. You know it's great that we can help each other.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you went to start with. Why. What was you know so kind of you know similar setup to you know? The previous question is you know, know, looking back on the beginning of, like, the process, what was it like? You know what? What do you tell another club going through the same things, trying to find their way a bit more? They got a little bit. Whatever they're trying to find their way, what's, what's the first step to developing your and finding your? Why?
Speaker 1:Yeah, great question. I think the first step is involving your team. You know it'd be easy as a leader to think that, oh, I know all the answers, and you know you know a lot of people, a lot of leaders make that mistake, I feel like they want to feel like they have to know all the answers and be the smartest person in the room, when in fact, it's really kind of the opposite opposite. You know, you have a team around you for a reason and uh, so I think the first step is to hear from your team and get their buy-in because, at the end of the day, your why is going to be your core belief, you know, which means it's very important. It's going to drive every decision you make, and so if you're going to do that, then everybody needs to be bought into it. So, so I think the first step is getting everybody's participation and and cause. We had great discussions around it.
Speaker 2:You know we had things that maybe we agree with and maybe some things we had to talk through to make sure we're on the same page, and and, but at the end of the day, yeah, when you say get everyone's like buy-in, so like take me to you, know, you and the executive team, you, you and the gang okay, we're going to start doing this.
Speaker 2:You start now telling it to everybody. What did you start saying? How did you start getting the buy-in and what happened when you met with resistance? What, what was, what was that like? And how did you overcome that Like? Is it one of those? Where were you in the position and did you, you know, almost tell staff like hey, buckle up or get out, like what was you know? Take me back to like that, like moment, because I think that's like the hardest part that everyone like, yeah, we're going to do it, and then they start to try to implement it and it gets difficult. So the fact that you guys went through it and structured it and did it, what, looking back, what was? What was it like after that meeting? What was the process?
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you. That's a great question, because I'm really big on culture and at Chennault, I feel like we've been able to establish a culture that everybody wants to be a part of pretty quickly, and the best definition I've heard of culture is it's what you celebrate and it's what you do not tolerate. That's what it boils down to. It's going to be one of those two things I feel like that we've been able to establish a culture through working, through our why, that we know what we stand for.
Speaker 1:At the end of the day, I want every one of our employees if they were asked the question what do you stand for? They would have the answer our employees if they were asked the question what do you stand for? They would have the answer and we're reading a book with our team right now. Let's call you when in the locker room. First, john Gordon and Mike Smith, nfl coach, love John Gordon. All of this stuff and that's one thing it talks about is knowing what you stand for that if you can have a culture established that drives the decisions you make, whether they're strategic or on the fly, then you will enjoy sustained success at that point, and you know. It also says that culture eats strategy for breakfast, which I think is an interesting statement, you know because Say that one more time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so culture eats strategy for breakfast. Because strategy as important as that is your culture, at the end of the day, drives it. Because there's going to be times where the winds come and the storms come, the challenges come and you need to be able to pivot, change your strategy. But, at the end of the day, your core belief does not change and that's your why. For us, as creating memorable experiences, we don't ever stray from that, no matter what's going on or comes our way, and I think that once you know what you stand for, decisions are pretty easy to make.
Speaker 2:In my opinion, at the end of the day, we know what our core belief is and that's what we stand for Some of the common themes that I've seen among what I would say good, solid leaders is adaptability, working in a bunch of different positions just kind of like pivoting maneuvering, just kind of wherever something comes up, taking it and going, and just almost like trusting the process. It's just like knowing you're going to end up somewhere and it might not be like the best place at the moment but like, oh, this opportunity came, okay, why not? It can't right, like I know it's going to build on what I already have and gonna gonna continue that. Did you always have that like? So, looking, looking back on on your, on your career now? Did you always have that? Did? Was it, was it?
Speaker 1:on your, on your career now did you?
Speaker 2:always have that did? Was it? Was it kind of just like when did you realize maybe that was part of your process? And like just where to go in? Your parents, was it your grandparents? Did you have to learn it was? What was the drive like?
Speaker 1:yeah, great, I love that question because early on in my career I felt like I was really trying to prove myself and, you know, really trying to make a name and trying to get a title and things like that. And you know, I feel like it was at North River Yacht Club in Tuscaloosa, alabama, where and I was working with a guy named Butch Bird and then Mike Ryan, been great mentors of mine and they are really, even though we we had great success there, I really honed in on that. It's, at the end of the day, we shouldn't be so focused on results versus the process, because if you focus on more on the process, then you will end up having success at the end of the process. Because if you focus more on the process, then you will end up having success at the end of the day. And when you get on the highs of the mountaintop, you don't think you've arrived.
Speaker 1:If you're able to focus on the process. You're still trying to get a little bit better every day. You don't allow complacency to set in and then, when you face challenges, you don't let that affect you either. You're sticking with what you know works. I'm a big believer in doing the right thing, the right way, with the right intentions and always operating with high character.
Speaker 2:Are you a Ryan Holiday fan?
Speaker 1:I know who you're talking about. I haven't read a lot of his stuff.
Speaker 2:He's the big stoicism guy and his book that just came out a month or two ago is called the Right Thing, Right Right Now. So you were just doing that. I'm like did you read the book? Oh, I need to get it.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Love it. That's right up my alley, yes. Oh gotcha.
Speaker 1:Oh God. No just saying that was my first job where I had probably the most responsibility and I was really working my way into where that next step was going to be a general manager role, and that's where I felt like I learned the most to be prepared for that when that opportunity came.
Speaker 2:How old were you at this point? How old were you at this point?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so at North River, still fairly young I was just turned 30, and I was there for three years before I made the move as general manager. First true general manager job at Reunion Golf and Country Club in Madison, Mississippi. After that I was 34 at that point.
Speaker 2:And that's where I'm seeing too, is like this like mid-30s-ish point is a lot of people's like all right, like it's where everything kind of all just comes together and it's like it's time to roll. Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:And I can add one other thing to that, if you don't mind. What I've learned through several mentors in my career and I remember specifically at North River is how leaders, my mentors, they no matter what was going on, they made time for their team. You know, and you know we talked a little bit about process, but as far as leadership in general, how they support their team and always made time, because when I look back at it now I think, wow, my schedule fills up pretty quick, but I make a point to make time for our team because I know how important that is now. I learned that from mentors. But do I have time to tell a quick story?
Speaker 1:Please please, yeah, so okay from mentors. But, um, do I have time to tell a quick story? Please, please, yeah, so okay. So I was. I didn't start playing golf till 13 because nobody in my immediate family played golf. Late, started late, exactly, especially today's age. So I, at the age of 14, only year into playing the game, got the boat pretty quick and my family took a vacation to Destin, florida, for a beach vacation and my dad found a golf camp at Florida State. It was a Nike golf camp. So they made the decision to drive me to Tallahassee from Destin. And then this is even crazier A side note, thinking back on it they actually dropped me off. I'm 14 years old and I rode a Greyhound bus back home from Tallahassee, florida, back to Tupelo, mississippi, like a 12 hour bus ride. You know thinking there's no way I have three daughters now that are 13, 11,. If I, there's no way I would drop them off in Tallahassee and ride a bus back home. But different day and age.
Speaker 2:But now now, now parents just put their kids in Ubers. So yeah, you're right, yeah, exactly, right, exactly.
Speaker 1:But uh, so I went to a golf camp there and the golf coach, for whatever reason, just kind of attached to me, pretty quickly saying, was arnie lanford. He knew I was from mississippi. I came a pretty long way to the camp and we stayed pretty close throughout the camp but we had some free time. He asked a few of us hey, would y'all like to come see the new football stadium? They had, florida state at that time had just built a new football stadium. This is back when Florida State was in their heyday and Coach Bowden was coaching.
Speaker 1:So we're going through the stadium, we walk by Coach Bowden's office and our golf coach the golf coach and the camp director at the time said, hey, I'm just going to knock on the door Not sure if he is available or has time and knocks on the door.
Speaker 1:He kind of cracks it open, peeps in, and we were kind of, you know, peeping, trying to, just trying to see him. But we can all see that he's on the phone and uh, we're thinking, all right, we'll probably just keep walking. Well, um, next thing, we know coach Bow Bowden actually, as he's on the phone, waves us in, and so we all walk into his office and quickly he gets off the phone, like he said hey, I've got something came up, I'll call you back. And so he. You know, thinking back on this, you know as busy as Coach Bowden was, especially in the heyday of Florida State, he made time for a few 14-year-olds you know that are going through a golf camp and there's no telling who he was talking to and we sat in his office, talked with him for about 30 minutes and he made time just to Stop it.
Speaker 2:That's so cool.
Speaker 1:Just to get to know us, and you know that resonated with me. You know, thinking back, especially later in life, is uh as busy as he was. He took time and I think people remember that. You know, no matter what's going on, if you uh take time for somebody, uh that alone will resonate with them you, you just took my question, damn it. Uh, no, cause I was going to ask you like, like, like.
Speaker 2:what was one of like your, your big takeaways, but I think that was just it, that is such a cool moment. Yes, yes. Do you? Do you still happen to know who those other kids were, or like what they're doing?
Speaker 1:in life. I wish I did, I wish, I did.
Speaker 2:We got. One was tiger, the other was that would be amazing to tell.
Speaker 1:We got pretty close that week, but I don't remember.
Speaker 2:I just didn't know if you happened to keep in touch with some of those guys. Remember that you guys were all drinking a beer after a round oh, I know That'd be awesome. That is a wonderful story. That is so cool that was amazing.
Speaker 1:That is so cool.
Speaker 2:That is a wonderful story. That is so cool. That is so cool. Uh, and and there's almost a running theme in your background in working for mom and pops and in much smaller groups and organizations- and you know they're having some, some member-owned clubs, but the clubs and situations that you've been in happen to be privately owned, but but like also like mom and pop, so not even like mega or you know, you know capital backed, whatever.
Speaker 2:It's just yeah, that's that and does that happen? Do you think that has happens to shape your leadership? And maybe why you get some of the positions you are is just, you know, do some of those mom and pop operations still have that feel like, do they all have like the same feel? Can you talk about that a little bit?
Speaker 1:I think so. Yeah, I think, at the end of the day, it's important to be able to lead an operation, those that you are responsible for operating. We're challenged and tasked to be good stewards of what we've been given and, at the end of the day, I still treat it like it's my own, like what would I do if I, if I own this and if it's my money? And I want to be fiscally responsible and always do the right thing, but it's important to also get the trust to be able to do that, you know. So I think that these type of opportunities lend itself to. That is, being able to earn.
Speaker 2:And I think trust is earned.
Speaker 1:I think that that takes time to develop, but I think it's important in these type of operations to have that trust and to know that you're always going to have the best interests of the club and the owner and the members in mind and be responsible you know, fiscally and for the operation and for a team. You know we have 160 employees at Chennault, a big operation, you know, 100,000 square foot clubhouse and all the amenities you can think of at a club, and so it's a big responsibility and one I don't take lightly.
Speaker 2:And probably ones that your team doesn't either now, and nor do your members.
Speaker 1:That's right, absolutely yes. Yeah, we've been able to quickly establish a culture that is a team. When I started at Chennault, we have an incredible team and an incredible membership of the department heads. We're operating a little bit in some silos, kind of doing their own thing, and that happens. That can happen at any club, but I feel like quickly been able to establish a common belief, common vision. We're all working, rowing in the same direction now and working together, realizing that we're all in this together. You know, if we succeed, we succeed together. If we fail, we fail together and we'll learn from it and that's one thing.
Speaker 1:I tell our team a lot is either we succeed or we learn. You know we're going to have a lot of successes, but we have a lot of learning opportunities too. You know we're going to have a lot of successes, but we have a lot of learning opportunities too. And one thing I've always told our team is you know we're going to make mistakes, but mistakes will not define us. How we respond to them and how we learn from them will.
Speaker 2:Good stuff. That's real good stuff. Awesome, I got nothing. I got nothing. Do you enjoy working for privately owned over member owned? I mean, at this point in your career I'm sure you can pick and choose stuff and you do what makes you happy, but do you enjoy privately owned over member owned?
Speaker 1:That's a good question. I think there's pros and cons of each one and I do think with my leadership style and with the way my career has progressed and what I've been prepared for and the experience I have does lend itself to that. And you know, we're developer owned hereult and that has worked out really well because, like in our situation, the club's very healthy. We have over 1,200 members now and we have 36 holes, two great golf courses here. The club's in a position where we can fund our capital. We don't do any assessments for our members, their capital. We don't do any assessments for our members, you know. So when a member looks to join the club and we tell them he'll never be assessed and that really resonates and I like being able to tell a member that. You know we don't have any. We don't charge a food minimum, you know, because we're not forcing members to come to the club. You know we want it to be their decision to use the club and that's our responsibility as the team and the staff here at Chenal is to provide reasons to use the club. So I think there's just a lot of really positive things about being a private-owned club and I've enjoyed being a part of that, gotcha.
Speaker 1:Thank you, denny. I really enjoyed being a part of that Gotcha. Thank you, denny. I really enjoyed getting to know you. Denny. I'm glad you're doing this podcast, man. I've enjoyed listening to episodes. I'm glad somebody like you is taking the time to do this, and there's a lot to learn from everybody. You know I I'm I'm going to be a lifelong learner. You know I, I'm going to be a lifelong learner. I've always said I'm never going to think I've ever figured it out, and the day I do that I'll probably need to hang it up. So I want to continue to learn and this platform has been great. So thank you for doing that.
Speaker 2:I appreciate that. Thank you so much for coming on. I really, really appreciate this.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Denny. Yeah, enjoyed meeting you and thanks for the opportunity.
Speaker 2:Hope you all enjoyed that episode. I know I did. If you're enjoying the content like share, subscribe. That's this episode, until next time. Catch you on the flippity flip.
