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I love a good metaphor. As someone who gets to tell the story of our industry to the media and other audiences, I love a well-placed, well-delivered metaphor.

Each January in this column, I like to pause and share what the recent 12 months have been like for NGCOA, and allude to what’s coming. Metaphorically speaking, what’s in our rear view mirror, and what do we see in our windshield? And I love that clever piece of optimism about why the rear view mirror is small and the windshield so big. I feel the same about NGCOA and the golf industry in general. Good stuff in the rear view, but so much more in the view ahead of us.

But just because we have a big windshield doesn’t mean we need to drive in every direction.  See what I did there? I kept the metaphor going.

The view in the rear view mirror is excellent:

• We hosted three valuable events for our members: the Golf Business Conference, MCOR (executive retreat for multi-course owners and resort operators) and the Golf Business TechCon. Collectively, nearly 2,000 courses were represented at these functions, all aimed at improving, growing and succeeding.

• The Golf Business Podcast launched in the spring, and we are producing episodes every two weeks.

• The Smart Buy program experienced a large expansion of vendor relationships through our engagement with International Club Suppliers and entegra. In addition, we launched member-benefit offerings with Yamaha, Rain Bird, GM/Cadillac and more.

• Our Advocacy staff produced important resources on critical topics, such as the new tax legislation and disabled-compliant websites.

• We welcomed over 300 new members into NGCOA, demonstrating increasing value in membership and strong partnerships with our local affiliates and corporate partners.

• Our research partnership with ORCA topped 700 participating golf courses, accelerating this amazing benchmarking and insights tool for course operators.

What’s in the windshield?

• A fantastic Golf Business Conference will be held next month in San Diego, and the 2019 MCOR will be back in Monterey, California, in July.  We are giving TechCon a two-year break, and it will be back in the fall of 2020.

• We plan to publish the popular Compensation and Benefits study, so operators can benchmark their HR investments and make informed decisions.

• A new ngcoa.org will be launched, which will allow members to find much-needed resources and communities at the tips of your fingers.

• And we have much more up our sleeve in the areas of technology, hospitality and employment leadership and management.

If you’re reading this and not a member of NGCOA, there’s been no better time to join. Value is ever-increasing, the ranks are growing and 2019 is going to be a great year.  Join today at ngcoa.org/join