Straight Shot Solutions

As a ski instructor working my way toward a journalism degree at the University of Colorado, I developed an allergy to conventional jobs and dedicated myself to a career of avoiding them. Thus did I follow a path as a sportscaster in Chico, CA and Missoula, MT before settling in for an eight-year stint as the sports anchor at KTVB in Boise, ID.

My passion for golf, and the fact that I was on the air five days a week, made me a bit of celebrity among Idaho golfers – which, I often noted, carried roughly the same cache as being a celebrity Nordic skier in Alabama.

Nonetheless, my visibility gave me access to the opinions of thousands of golfers and hundreds of golf pros and general managers throughout the Northwest – opinions I compiled for nearly 10 years with the intention of writing a book. Another book, actually; in 2001 I began publishing Golf South Idaho, the most comprehensive list of courses and amenities in, well, South Idaho. The eighth edition comes out this year.

In any case, two themes surfaced over and over during my countless discussions with folks associated with the game: a regret among golfers that they hadn’t logged all the courses and rounds they’d played over the years; and a general disgruntlement that the golfing experience had become de-personalized as courses became crowded and new coursed popped up to meet the ever-increasing demand for the sport.

From the management side came a common refrain, as well: With the popularity of the sport at an all-time high, it was becomingly increasingly harder for golf pros, GMs and pro-shot staff to keep track of their guests – and to keep them from spending their money on newer courses (and there was always a newer course).

So when Brady Roberts threw out the idea of rewards points for golfers during a particularly horrendous round in 2002, the significance of all my research suddenly became crystal clear: Straight Shot Solutions.

The other book never came about – oddly, the literary world didn’t seem to miss a beat. But I’m confident that Straight Shot Solutions has come to serve a higher purpose in the world: Revolutionizing customer satisfaction in the golfing industry … one course at a time.