Back Where He Belongs: Bearspaw Golf Club Head Professional Mike Matuch
Titleist/FootJoy Training Academy Member Spotlight
By: Brendan Stasiewich, PGA of Canada
The Alberta Rockies are a special place.
When the leaves return each spring, and the towering pines accept their first drops from the snow-capped mountains, and the sound of the nearby rivers travel through the gentle Kananaskis breeze; Noah Kahan illustrated this kind of feeling eloquently, ‘For a minute the world seems so simple.’
For visitors, it can be hard to leave.
Mike Matuch grew up learning the game at Sawmill Golf Club in Ontario’s Niagara region. It was there that the Julie family, who own the club, offered Matuch his first job in the industry in the golf shop.
Not long after, Matuch entered the Professional Golf Management program at Niagara College. Though he was still unsure what path he would ultimately follow within the industry, he, alongside several other bright-eyed, enthusiastic soon-to-be golf professionals needed to decide on a co-op location for the summer of 2006.
It wasn’t long after stumbling upon the Kananaskis Golf Club website that the group decided it had to be their destination.
“Five of us from the program went out to Kananaskis together,” reminisced Matuch. “We had a blast out there. I just fell in love with Alberta. It’s hard not to go to Kananaskis and fall in love with the mountains and everything Alberta has to offer.”
Matuch decided to stay, making it his permanent home for almost the entirety of the past 17 years.
It was during his time at Kananaskis, where Matuch began as an Assistant Golf Pro and became an Associate Pro in 2010, that he met one of the most influential figures of his (and many other’s) career: Bob Paley, the Executive Professional at the club.
“I wasn't sure what I wanted to do and then just doing one season under (Paley) kind of flipped that switch in my brain – ‘oh, that's what I want to do!’ said Matuch.
With the ultimate golf experience for guests at the top of Paley’s mind on a day-to-day basis, according to Matuch, the group of young professionals were like sponges, soaking up knowledge each day.
“When you look at the high-end resort courses: the Stewart Creeks, Kananaskis, the Fairmont properties, the level of service they provide is something you can take anywhere, be it semi-private, private, municipal city courses, you can take that anywhere and run with it,” said Matuch. “Kananaskis is great at that ‘how was your experience today?’ question. Let's get that feedback. I’ve taken that now to a private club where if you have busy guest days, you want that feedback on the fly.”
“Paley made sure his teams were so great at the little things, that’s what he focused on,” continued Matuch. “Those little touches to make sure a guest walks away going, ‘Wow, that was amazing. That person raked my bunker for me. That person found my ball. The marshal got us drinks on course.’ It’s important to try and find those things that we can do to differentiate ourselves and create that ultimate experience.”
Matuch has brought those learnings with him to Bearspaw Golf Club, where he began as an Associate Professional in 2013 before being promoted to Head Professional in 2016.
The ‘low-hanging fruit’, as Matuch calls it, are the little things a club can do to differentiate itself. For Bearspaw, on top of the golf-related aspects like greeting members and guests, getting bags loaded and making sure players start their day on the right foot, are things like drafting their own specialty beer and applying a Bearspaw stamp to the top of their burger buns.
The little things that people notice, as Paley engrained at Kananaskis.
Sometimes in life, though, things happen that are out of your control.
In 2019, the club had difficulties with a new clubhouse and the property was put into receivership. The club’s golf professionals had to find a new place to call home.
Thankfully, later that year, a group of members joined together and bought the club out of receivership. They are stronger than ever and, after moving around from club-to-club for a few years, Matuch was again offered the Head Professional role at Bearspaw.
“When I had the opportunity to return to Bearspaw, it was a no brainer, I always say I felt like I had unfinished business here,” said Matuch. “It's a job that I never wanted to leave, and I just think the sky is the limit for what we can do.”
That feeling is mutual between the members and the staff at Bearspaw.
“I think there are about almost 200 of the same members back and the new members that joined us are extremely supportive and they're excited to be here,” said Matuch. “Everyone that came back, came back for a reason. They had the choice to leave. They had the choice to go to another club, but they chose to come back. And there's a real sense of community here.”
“It's really exciting to come to work every day. It’s really exciting to have these people support you from the ground up from, literally a clubhouse that was, you know, 60-percent built when the group took over to finished now, it's exciting to continue to grow and continue to offer that private club feel again as we get to that point, hopefully in the next couple of years,” continued Matuch.
That sense of family is also something that Matuch has felt being a Titleist staff player throughout his career, as he praised both the product and the Titleist/FootJoy Training Academy on PGAofCanada.com.
“I've always felt like family with Titleist. They treat their professional staff just like TOUR staff,” said Matuch. “I feel like we get the love and care that TOUR players get when it comes to new equipment, doing special days, having special events for us and I think the equipment speaks for itself.”
During this past off-season, Matuch became fully specialized in golf operations through the training academy, something he believes more PGA of Canada professionals can take advantage of in their off-season.
“I think the value you get out of that as a PGA of Canada professional is huge. Especially so that you can say, ‘Hey, I have a specialization in golf operations and teaching.’ Those specializations are going to become more and more valuable as others go through the program and think, ‘Oh, I know what this professional did to get the golf operations specialization,’” said Matuch.
“So, when somebody is hiring and looking at resumes and looking at career paths for assistants, what are the little things? For Bearspaw, we have a generous education allowance that we make sure pros are using on training academy, on PGA of Alberta opportunities that pop up. I think it's extremely important to do as much as you can,” continued Matuch.
The biggest thing, Matuch says, is being as well-rounded as a professional as possible and willing to learn.
“If you're not comfortable with a part of the job, try to become comfortable being uncomfortable. Create some lesson programs if you haven't taught a lot in your first couple years as a PGA Pro. Become comfortable teaching, whether that's short game, whether that's juniors, high handicaps, you don't have to go teach the zero handicap at your club, but you should give yourself teaching experience,” said Matuch. “I think the more you can be an all-around pro, the more opportunities are going to show up that someone's going to say, ‘Well this person can not only run my retail operation, but they can also run clinics and lead the back shop.’ I think the more you can do that, the more you can change your responsibilities up every year.”
In terms of opportunity in the golf industry today, both for clubs and professionals, Matuch put it best: “the sky is the limit.”