Industry Experts Share Knowledge at Bangkok BMI Course

Bangkok, Thailand: A host of high-profile industry experts shared their knowledge at last week’s Business Management Institute [BMI] Course.

Staged at Bangkok’s Thana City Golf and Sports Club, the five-day course was presented by the Asian Golf Industry Federation [AGIF] and the Club Managers Association of America [CMAA].

It was the second course to be offered under the BMI Asia Pacific education programme.

As the official partner, the certification programme powered by CMAA was executed by the AGIF.

Delegates were treated to top-quality presentations covering a wide range of golfing topics by a selection of well-known speakers, headed by Bruce Williams, Past President of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.

Also on the agenda were Tony Taylor, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of Quality Golf Asia, and Kurt Greve, Quality Golf’s Director of Club Operations.

Garia’s Danny Ferguson highlighted Golf Car Management, while Andrew Knott, from the Singha Elite Golf Performance Centre at Thana City, focused on Golf Instruction and Wee Peng Siong, General Manager at Indonesia’s Riverside Golf Club and a Board Member of the AGIF, spoke about Tournament Operations.

Completing the line-up of presenters, Sittiporn ‘Dan’ Raojanasiri, Director of Rules and Decisions at the Thailand Golf Association, addressed the Rules of Golf.

Eric Lynge, the AGIF’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “We were delighted to have such a high quality line-up of presenters.

“Their combined experience and knowledge of the golf industry in Asia and the United States made them ideally suited to delivering this module.

“As Golf Management is the core discipline of the AGIF, the CMAA approved that we could source presenters from our membership and Bruce, Tony, Kurt, Danny and Peng Siong were ideal facilitators.

“Our first BMI course in Singapore in April proved an overwhelming success and underlined the need for this type of education and Certified Club Manager (CCM) certification in Asia.

“Such a link was long overdue and has been welcomed not only by established club managers around Asia but also those who harbour ambitions of carving themselves a career in club management.”

Last year, the CMAA appointed the AGIF to execute the BMI education programme for the Asia Pacific region in partnership with existing CMAA partners in China, Hong Kong, Macau and New Zealand.

The BMI is a professional programme developed and launched by the CMAA in the early 1980s. Noting managers at all phases of their careers need instruction, education or inspiration, the concept of the ‘lifetime professional development programme’ was born.

The vision was realised as a multi campus-based programme that provides tangible career benchmarks by which managers can track their progress and strive for various levels of competency, including a respected certification.

The curriculum is based on 10 competency areas covering every aspect of a club manager’s job.

In the CMAA 2015 Compensation and Benefits Report, it was reported that the head of club’s compensation with CCM designation was 31% higher than a head of club’s compensation without CCM designation.

The BMI programmes are completely endorsed and empowered by CMAA and is equivalent to what one can receive in the United States.