As programme lead for the Applied Golf Management Studies (AGMS) BSc, I recently found myself organising a careers event that was delivered by colleagues from The Golf Foundation and the DP World Tour. Whilst this started out as an opportunity to help students on the AGMS course prepare for future employment, it ended up as realisation of the wider appeal the golf industry holds.
There were a very healthy 40 plus people in the room, multi-cultural and representing a diverse array of undergraduate courses from computer science to law, to engineering, sociology, mathematics and of course golf. Following a short, informative presentation, students were presented with a number of real-world case studies and asked to work in small groups to share their ideas. In a very short space of time the room was alive with creative thinking, solutions, suggestions and what had started as a careers talk had become an industry think-tank; Tom and Jack who delivered went away with some great ideas.
From my perspective the session reinforced the value of higher education, it demonstrated that students have enormous choice in how they decide to apply their degree and that industries which may at first appear to be niche and specialist (professional golf), often provide rich opportunities for a range of academic disciplines. Data analytics, event management, marketing, environmental science, agronomy, hospitality, computer science the list goes on. Furthermore, the mixture of people in the room highlighted the possibilities of interdisciplinary working and the kind of objective, outside, even leftfield insight that the golf industry can draw from engaging with a non-traditional audience.
A great event, well delivered and excellently attended.
P.F.Garner@bham.ac.uk