The Rich Conwell Show - June 7, 2025

Mikala Reed, the head golf professional at Seven Oaks Country Club in Beaver, PA, joins Rich to talk about the intricacies of the golf business, growing junior golf programs, and more.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the rich Conwall Golf Show. I was absent
last week due to some circumstances beyond my control, but
this week we jump right back into it. I am
super excited to have Michaela read on our show this week.
Mikaela is the head golf professional at Seven Oaks Country

(00:24):
Club in Beaver, Pennsylvania, and Michaela is the well, she's very,
very talented golf professional, but she happens to be the
only female head golf professional in the Tri State section.
So we are going to get to know Mikaela and
seven Oaks and a bunch of different things today about

(00:44):
the golf business. But for now, Michaela, I wanted to
say thanks for joining the.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Show, Thanks for having me on.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
You bet you bet okay. So, Michaela, with everybody, like everybody,
we start at the beginning, So tell me how you
got started in the game of golf.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
So I picked up golf mostly because I wanted to
go with my dad and ride in a golf cart
on Sunday afternoons. But then I took it a little
bit more seriously. When I got into middle school. My
high school coach started a club team and I kind
of got the bugs from there and arrested. Pretty much
history at this point.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
That's awesome. So where did you grow up.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
I'm originally from Danville, Indiana. It's on the west side
of Indianapolis. And that's also where I went to college
art school in Indiana at Trine University up in Angola.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yeah, so, okay, so did you so growing up did
were you? Were you pretty good or were you kind
of good? Or were you're really good? I mean, humility
is not required at this point.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
I was not very good when I first started my
freshman year, actually started taking formal lessons for the first
time in high school, and then from there I was
working with one of the local CBA pros who happened
to go to church with us, and his name is
Jamie Broke. He and I were together all during high
school and I dropped my average by thirty five shots

(02:08):
when I was a senior. Nice, so I was pretty
decent by the time I was done, but I was
not very good when I started that.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Okay, And so did you play in college?

Speaker 2 (02:20):
I did. I played at Triin University, at a small
D three school at the northeast corner of Indiana.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
Right, and you had some some college success.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Yeah, I played all four years that I was in
school on the varsity squad. I was usually two or three,
and I was captain my junior and senior year.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Again, see again, humility is not required at this point.
We can just tell the facts because you're a pretty
good player, and that's okay, and so okay, so that
gets us. So that's where you started. So how do Okay,
So in Beaver, Pennsylvania is for those who don't know,
is north of Pittsburgh. So how did you get from

(02:59):
Indiana to western Pennsylvania.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
My husband is originally from Beaver, so he lived here
his whole life. His whole family is from here, and
when we had the opportunity to move back in twenty twenty.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
We did, so okay, So basically we're gonna blame him. Okay,
that's cool. I'm good with that because you know that's okay.
All right. So all right, So then when you came
back to actually when you moved, didn't come back. When
you moved to Pittsburgh, how did you how did you
make the choice to be in the golf business. This

(03:36):
is always interesting time.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, So I actually was a golf management major in college,
and I worked in the business really since high school.
But during college I did a couple of internships at
Fort Wayne Country Club and Fox Golf Club, both of
which are in Indiana. And then my first job out
of college was at Coyote Creek Golf Club in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

(03:59):
And then I got my married and moved to Chicago.
At the time was where my husband was working, and
I worked at Ruth Lake Country Club in Hymnsdale under
Mark Labiac and I loved being there, but you know,
when you get the opportunity to relocate closer to home,
that's something you don't pass up. I was also pregnant
at the time, so I actually got out of the
business in twenty twenty and did not get back in

(04:24):
totally on purpose. It was kind of an accident. But
it's worked out for me. In twenty twenty one, say,
assistant position opened up here and it's ten minutes from
my house, and so I applied and threw my name in,
then got the job and it's been it's been great.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
From scence, that's absolutely awesome. So all right, so let's
talk about the golf business. Well, first of all, how
many children do you have?

Speaker 2 (04:47):
I have two. My son turns five next week and
my daughter is eighteen months old.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
So your son turns five, So you had him when
you were like seven, Is that right, because like you
know so so okay, So let's talk about the golf
business for a little bit. What is what is your
What is your favorite part of being in the golf business.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
My favorite part of being in a business is the relationship.
It's part of why I enjoy being in the private
side so much. You get to really know your members.
Junior golf is one of my favorite things, and like
I get to watch those kids kind of grow up
and become players in their own rights. Just getting to

(05:36):
know those people, being a part of their lives is
something that.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
I really enjoy, Okay, And so basically, and it's interesting
because obviously I know you you didn't have your child
at seven, but you are considerably younger. You are a
younger generation than I am. But it is interesting that
younger people and you would be considered this. I think
it's it's unique to have somebody that because you say relationships,

(06:00):
it means people, like there's people everywhere you go, and
it blows my mind that that young people, younger people
don't really I don't want to say it like this,
but they don't like people, you know, I mean, I mean, yeah,
I mean, and you know I have I have two
children that are you know, ones ones in Austria right now,

(06:23):
married in Austria, and and you know the other one's
gonna move to Washington, d C. And I'm so thankful
that they like people. And it's amazing to me the
amount of people that that will go through life without
like ever really having a conversation with somebody outside of
their little circle. And it's it's fast. And that's why

(06:45):
that's why I like talk about why what got you
into the golf business? Because it is it is relationships,
Because if you don't like people, you'd never be in
a golf business ever. And it's so that's that's interesting
to me. So all right, So I know you mentioned
a couple of people, one person that held two people
that helped you, But but who else has helped you

(07:06):
get to where you are right now in the in
your in your progression towards in the PGA of America.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeah. So I've found the work with some really cool people.
I mentioned market Reflake. I also did one of my
internships with Todd Pierson. He's not Mariadine Hill, but probably
my my biggest influence on my career to date is
my college advisor. Her name is Katherine Benson. She is
also a PGA member. She's currently the president of the

(07:34):
Indiana PGA Section. She's the first female president of the
Indiana Section. She's just not only exceptionally good at what
she does, she pushed the rest of us to meet
those standards or do better than those standards. And she's
just always been very supportive of, you know, my career

(07:55):
and helping me get the places that I want to
be or see some different opportunities that I may not
have considered previously.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
That's a that's awesome. I I would tell you that.
I would tell you that. You know, obviously, I'm sure
that you have conveyed that to her, But but I've
been fortunate enough to have one or two people say
that to my face about some of the things that
I helped them with and and and it means the
world to people that that do that. They don't do
it for that, but they don't. They're not like that

(08:27):
because because they want you to come back to them
one day and say Hey, you know what you did
for me. But it is always nice to know that
your efforts kind of landed landed, and and and that's
really neat. So all right, so all right, so what's
all right? Let me ask you this, Okay, what's the
hardest part of your job? Oh?

Speaker 2 (08:48):
Gosh, the hardest part of this job is the fact
that there's probably half a dozen things going on at
an use point in time, and trying to keep all
of those balls in the air and make sure you
don't drop any Uh. That's that's the hardest part. And
I do my very best to stay very organized. But
there's a lot going on. We pit full season, so

(09:09):
there's never a dull moment. Right now.

Speaker 1 (09:11):
I like that. That's good. That's good because I'll say,
you know what, though, it's interesting because I have because
obviously I'm I'm not at I'm gonna send my private facility,
and not a private facility like seven Oaks, but like
I have, like this weekend, for example, I have a
member of it on Friday, I have I have I
have hotel guests coming for like forty hotel guests coming.

(09:31):
I have, you know, I have I'll probably do five
hundred rounds in two days, and and you talk about
and then I've got to get you know, the food
situated and all that fun stuff. So you talk about
a lot of things going on at once. I I
but you know what, I don't think would you have
it any other way?

Speaker 2 (09:49):
No, I wouldn't, you know.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
Because it's interesting because I I was at Wheeling Country
Club for for five years, and it's it's really interesting
that it was. I look at it now and I'm like,
how how I don't want to say slow, but how
slow it was like if something was happening, like we
all knew it was happening, because it might have been
the only thing happening. But but like you said, you

(10:13):
have seven things happening, you know I have. You know
I have I have seven things happening. So all right,
so what's the easiest part.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
You know, the easiest part for me is just showing up.
I have a really great staff, and they gets fun
to be here, so some of those long days don't
feel quite so long. And then you know, it's nice.
We're getting to the point of the year where like
I get to start sprinkling in some junior golfs and
teaching some weapons and that's a really nice brain break

(10:47):
for me to get out of the office and just
teach for a little while.

Speaker 1 (10:50):
Yeah, I'll tell you. It is neat, isn't it. You
walk out of your office and you can walk out
on the range and like, the phone does not ring
out there, it doesn't.

Speaker 2 (10:57):
Oh it's great.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
You say that you just found fifty dollars. Oh it's great.
Oh it's great. Oh I know, Oh, I know exactly.
I know exactly what you mean. I know exactly what
you mean. So so all right, So obviously this is
your this is your first year in this position. Was
it was it? What's different? What did what did you

(11:25):
think would be a certain type of way that's not
that way or vice versa? What what did you think
would be X? And it's totally why.

Speaker 2 (11:37):
That's a good question. I think it's a lot of
what I expected. I am still my assistance start next week.
So that's kind of been unexpected, is that I've been
running the show solo since I took over in March.
But that's really been the biggest hurdle for me at

(11:59):
this is I'm a two person show with one person, right,
but a lot of the other like the data day
stuff because I was here for four years as the assistant. Like,
I feel like I have a pretty good handle on
most of the curve balls that get thrown my way.
I try to stay on my toes with some of
the audibles as we call them, right, But the day

(12:23):
to day is pretty much what I expected is to be.
So I have to give a shout out to Stas
and Hammill at Greenups. He's my former head pro here.
He let me be involved in everything, so I feel
like I was pretty prepared when he decided to move
on to kind of step into this role and took
my name in and give it a go.

Speaker 1 (12:45):
All right, So so you mentioned your assistant starting who
is it? Are you allowed to tell us?

Speaker 2 (12:50):
His name is Matt King. He's a call you student.
He actually graduates in August, but he'll start here next
week and he was wrapping up an internship for this
bring semesters, so I'm excited to bring him on board.

Speaker 1 (13:03):
That's awesome. That's awesome, So all right, So that's that's
pretty cool. So all right, and then I'm going to
give you an opportunity so to to kind of kind
of patch yourself on the back a little bit. Before
you even start. But tell me what you think the
best thing you can teach teach that young man is.

Speaker 2 (13:21):
I think if I can teach him anything, it's uh,
it's how to handle the unexpected things. You know you
can you can teach pretty much to anybody at this point.
You know how to run a tournament, how to sest
things up in golosking is but teaching people how to
roll with the punches. It's the skill that you have

(13:43):
to practice and work on. And I think that that's
really important in our industry is even if you know
you're super stressed on the inside, that you don't let
it boil over and show it outwards towards the members
and the guts that your facility, because they want to
see that. They want to see you know, they're happy,
old professional who's just ready to roll.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
Right. It's interesting you say that because I worked for
a guy a long time ago and for five years,
and I was a first assistant at Williamsport Country Club
and his name is Tom Chophy. And Tom told me
one time, he says, they don't care if your truck's broke,
your dog died, and your girlfriend left you, because this

(14:26):
show is not about you. This show is about them.
And I'm like, and it was. And it's hard when
you're I think I was twenty three years old when
he told me. When you're twenty three years old and
you hear that, you know, especially and I'm not banging
young people, but especially in this day and age, when
I'm pretty much convinced everybody thinks it's all about them.

(14:49):
That when that happens, when you hear that the first time,
you're like, wow, that hurt. But then you start to go,
you know what, it's true. It's true without them, without
them being happy, nobody gets a paycheck, you know, and
and and so so it's it's it's got to be.
It's got to be, you know, it's got to be

(15:10):
all about them. And and that's a hard that's a
hard that's a hard lesson to learn. But you know,
I guess if you get I'm sure he'll be in
I'm sure coming from California, University of Pennsylvania, I guess
we have to call it penn West now, right, he's
gonna be He'll he'll be just fine. He'll already have
that kind of instilled in him because I'm sure he's

(15:32):
had some good internships. So all right, so MICHAELA, I
I I I gotta tell you that this has been
the first this has been the first segment. This said
went really easy. See I talked, I talked more than you.
I actually got my obligatory one good question. And because
you did say it was a good question, I have one.
I I I have a quota of one per show.

(15:52):
So actually I don't know what we're gonna do for
the next two segments, but when we come back, we're
going to talk a little bit more about the golf
business in general and Seven Oaks in Spacific. This is
the rich comwoll Golf Show. Welcome back to the rich
comwo Golf Show. We are joined this week by MICHAELA.
Reid or with MICHAELA. Reid, I still don't know how
to say that, and it's buyer with I don't know

(16:15):
which it is. But MICHAELA is the head golf professional
at Seven Oaks Country Club in Beaver Pennsylvania, which is
an absolutely gorgeous facility, and we're gonna spend a little
bit of time talking about that facility in a minute.
But for those of you who do not do not
know where it is, it's it's it's north of the
north of the city. It's in Beaver, Pennsylvania, and everybody
knows kind of where Beaver is, and it's it's in

(16:37):
western Pennsylvania. And it's a actually a very very very
difficult golf course. And we're going to talk a little
bit about what challenges that the golf course creates for
for Michaela and the facility. But Michaela, for now, why
don't you, why don't you tell us kind of a
snapshot of of of what seven Oaks, what Seven Oaks

(16:58):
looks like.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
Yeah, so this facility was built in nineteen seventy eight.
It's a hasn't plugged associates design. It's mellowed out over
the years. I believe at one point we were the
third most difficult golf course in the state. Quite as hard.
But right now the rough makes you feel a little
bit like you're going to Oakmont next week. The clubhouse

(17:24):
itself was fully renovated in twenty and eighteen, and then
we actually just finished a brand new pool facility in
twenty twenty three. I will tell you that that pool
makes you forget that you're in Pennsylvania. It's kind of
like being in a resort. It's super super nice. And
then obviously when we built that facility over there, we
added Pickle golf course and we have a tennis course

(17:46):
over there as well. As far as the golf course goes,
we have eighteen holes. We have driving round facility as well.
This golf course is very western Pennsylvania. You don't have
a flat lie hardly anywhere, which was definitely an adjustment
for me coming from Indiana, from the land of flat Yes,

(18:09):
as if we have. Honestly, we have a great facility.
It's an excellent shape right now, a lot of elevated greens,
a lot of older wooded areas that make it a challenge.
And then we also have quite a bit of waters
that runs through the solf course, which you wouldn't think

(18:30):
about over here, but we've got a crease that runs
through four different holes right up by the clubhouse, and
then we've got another one that runs through three holes
on the front side as well, and then some some
ponds throughout. It's a really fun track. It will definitely
test your short games, especially you're putting. It's a difficult,

(18:53):
difficult green complexes, but it's it's a really fun track.
To experience.

Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yeah, I'll tell you mentioned the Western Pennsylvania thing. It
is so western Pennsylvania. I'm not so sure your your
practice facility is flat. Your range isn't flat. I mean
your arrange. It's it's like it's like it's like there's enough,
there's enough hills, there's enough hills to outfit about. But
five different golf courses, is it? It's really busy, correct, Yeah,

(19:23):
we as We're.

Speaker 2 (19:24):
Very busy right now. Our golf membership is almost full.
I think we only have like a handful left. And
then our rec membership has been on a weight list
since we open the new pool. So I've got just
over three hundreds golf members and so there are no
slow days. We have some slow time, but each day
it's pretty busy. Well, we're already up a couple hundred

(19:48):
rounds from last year even with the poor weather this
year so far the spring, and I expect that trend
to continue.

Speaker 1 (19:55):
It's awesome. That's absolutely awesome. So so that is is
and for those of you who have never been there,
and I have been there, it is. It is an
awesome facility and you and it's kind of interesting because
when you when you're driving. When you're driving to it,

(20:16):
it's literally just all of a sudden, it's like bang
there and yeah, and you pull in and you're like wow,
Like if you weren't looking for it, you would never
if you were told to look for a facility of
that size, that magnitude, that activity level, you would never
look for it there, which I think is a testament

(20:38):
to the facility and to the staff and to the amenities,
because you know, it draws a As you said, you know,
you have a nearly full golf membership and you have
a waiting list for recreation social So I don't see
how I just you guys are hitting in all cylinders. Correct,

(21:00):
Yes we are. That's absolutely awesome. That's absolutely awesome. So
so how much do you Okay, so I'm going to
ask the obligatory question and'll let you answer it. How
much do you get to play?

Speaker 2 (21:12):
You know, I've been I've been doing my best to
sneak out at least once a week. Now. With junior
golf starting here next week, We're I'm going to be
hard pressed to hold myself to that, but I try
and get out.

Speaker 1 (21:23):
Once a week. That's awesome, that's awesome. So all right,
so let's talk about let's talk about junior golf because
because you've and it's fine that you mentioned it several times,
tell me about your program.

Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yeah, So we have a very large students program. I
have about one hundred and five kids signed up so far.
This year. We will run kind of like a sort
of Operation thirty six program. Because I have so many kids,
we've had to modify it over the years. So we
do a lesson day on Tuesdays. I break them up
into age group between ages five and sixteen that have

(22:00):
five different classes, and we'll we'll do a lesson for
about forty five minutes. We split them up between putting
and then we'll work on short game and kind of
build that second half on the range throughout the six
weeks that we work together. And then on Wednesdays, we
actually get all of the kids down on a golf
course in different times, but they all get out to
play and kind of learn from the like the etiquette

(22:24):
or try how to sink them think themselves around the
golf course. And then so they will try and graduate
from each yardage. So all the kids start at twenty
five yards and they have to make five fours or
better to graduate back, so because with my older kids,

(22:46):
we don't always get in the same number of both
few shotguns on the front side. Sometimes they get in
eight holes, sometimes they get in six holes, so they
have to make five fourths to graduate back and they'll
move back to fifty yards and then one hundred yards,
kind of following that sort of operations thirty six program there.
It's a lot of fun, and we also run a

(23:06):
PGA junior league. My assistant's actually been taking out over
this year. We have sixteen kids signed up for that,
which I'm really excited about because that's the largest number
we've ever had interested there and it's great. I love
running that junior golf program. I've had the privilege to
be part of some other really big junior golf programs,
like when I was at Ruflake the director of instruction

(23:28):
and again Sheldon ran a Jake Danti junior golf programs,
and that's kind of given me the skills to expand
ours year. I've about an eighty five percent pretention rate,
so about eighty of the kids who participated last year
have signed us again this year, and I think that
that be says a lot. They're having fun, they're learning,

(23:48):
they're all getting better, and that's huge because that's tomorrow's members.
If they have fun doing junior golf when they're here
as a kid, they're going to remember that when their adults,
they're going to come back and want to be part
of this membership.

Speaker 1 (23:59):
Yeah, and you know you mentioned the Operation thirty six.
That's an incredibly, incredibly good idea. It's an incredibly fun
for those of you who don't don't know Operation thirty six. Basically,
everybody starts at twenty five yards and you have to
make you have to make four and and and then
and then if you can do that and shoot, ultimately
the goal would be shoot thirty six. But you got
you have to make they have to make five fours.

(24:21):
But yeah, the ultimately the goal would be to shoot
thirty six from twenty five yards. And people and I've run,
I've run one year of that and and and people
say to me, oh, you know that's easy, go try it,
go try it, you know, take take take it. Take
a thirty five year old guy who's been playing golf
for a long time is a fifteen, eighteen twenty handicap,
and you tell them here's here's a golf ball. Here's

(24:43):
whatever clubs you want, here's twenty five yards. And watch
how difficult, how difficult this gets. And then the really
cool thing is they if they breathe through the twenty
five yards, they'll get smacked at fifty and and and
it's just it's just really it's a genius way of
teaching kids because it actually makes the game easier because

(25:05):
success is right there. You know. You give somebody, you
give somebody, you give it an eight year old kid
a driver. I don't want. I don't want to give
forty eight year old guys a driver, let alone an
eight year old kid, you know. And so it's really, really,
really it's a great that's a great program. Those are
great numbers too. I I I have to tell you that. I.

(25:27):
You know, we're turning you know, four Cherry into a
semi private facility. And you know, I have I have
ninety seven kids in a junior program, and they've never
had a junior program with that facility ever ever, And
and like you are correct, it's it's like it's like
you tomorrow, those kids will be back, you know, and

(25:49):
and and those kids will be back next year and
the year after and the year after. And the really
cool thing is is we we also put out a
in an effort to turn it to send my private
a high school membership, which you know, for two hundred
dollars you can play on limited golf. I mean, and
it's like it's like I have this morning. I had
fourteen kids, fourteen high school kids at my facility by

(26:12):
nine o'clock in the morning, and I'm like.

Speaker 2 (26:15):
I love that.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
That's all right, this is all right, you know. And
and of course you know, and we have our seniors,
and you have your seniors, and you have you know,
your ladies, and I have mine too. But but it's
like it's like that focus. It's like it's only it's
all seed and water. That's all it is. Because tomorrow
that that eight year old will be fourteen and the

(26:35):
fourteen year old is going to be thirty. And it's
it's like it's it's absolutely that's absolutely incredible. And I'll
tell you what, I think, it's awesome with a PGA
Junior league. I can't pull that one off yet. I
don't have enough. I don't I don't have enough history
to do that. But ultimately I would like to do that.

(26:56):
But and I'm sure you have your kids. Some of
your kids are playing in the tour with the Tri
State PGA.

Speaker 2 (27:04):
Yeah, I have a couple of kids that play in
the ISLETU. I have one of our junior members. I
think he's also playing a couple of ajgs this summer.
But like that those age group of kids, like this
year I have I have forty one kids in my
eleven to sixteen year old age group. Of actually just
split them up into two classes because there were so

(27:26):
many of them. Like, I think that that that age
group is probably the most important because like that's when
kids will start focusing on one sport. It seems like
now you know they'll pick like if they're going to
be a baseball player, they start playing travel baseball, right.
But if they've been exposed to golf, golf is a

(27:48):
lifetime sports. You don't have to say like I'm going
to be all golf all the time, right to enjoy
the game. And I think that that's really important and
within that group, you know, I also coach Beaver High
School girls team. I started that program in twenty twenty three,
so you know, selfishly for me as a coach, I

(28:09):
hope I get more girls from that age group, because
then I get them in high school and I know
that they've they've played before, right experience.

Speaker 1 (28:16):
Right, So now you now you have your incoming freshmen.
You don't have to obviously you don't recruit in high school,
but you don't have to. You don't even have to
ask him to sign up. They just walk in and do.

Speaker 2 (28:23):
It, right, They want to be there.

Speaker 1 (28:26):
That's awesome. That's awesome. So I would tell you that
since you mentioned it and you talk about travel baseball
and all that, one of the things, and again I
kid about your age, but I am older than you,
one of the things that I would I would strongly
suggest to you is that you make sure that you
you get all those kids to play as many sports

(28:47):
as they can. You know, because you start, I mean,
you know, you're you're in Pittsburgh now, so you know
who Sidney Crosby is, and you know he played high
school baseball. You know, people don't realize he played high
school and then and then also in your you know,
in your area, Mike Dick get I mean, people don't
know who Might Dick is anymore, but Mike Dick have

(29:08):
played three sports at pitt You know, and it's it's
fascinating to me that that we're now starting to realize
that kids can, kids should not, can should do more
than one sport, you know. And my my dad raised
four boys, and he used to tell us all the time,
play as much as you can for as long as
you can, because one day you're not gonna be able

(29:30):
to play any of them, you know. So you know,
because at some point we all, we all when we're fourteen,
think we're gonna play on the PGA Tour, and then
all of a sudden we're not. And we're all gonna play,
and we're all gonna play in the Yankee Stadium, and
all of a sudden we're not. So it's just awesome
to be able to experience all of them for as
long as you can, because, like he used to say,

(29:50):
one day, they're gonna tell you can't anymore. And so
that that is really I'll tell you. The other thing
is is and you can probably tell you can speak
to this better than I can at this point, because
you have that eighty percent retention rate. Man, Kids kids
can hit it far, can't they. It's amazing to be
how far kids can hit it. Mm hmm you talk

(30:12):
about I know you talk about the definition of no fear.
They're just they don't see anything bad out there. They
just kill it and it's just it's it's fascinating. So
do you so Okay, So let's talk for just a
second about the the girls team at at Beaver High School.

(30:36):
Do you have do you have any do you have
any promising kids? You know?

Speaker 2 (30:41):
I have three returners this year for my varsity slad.
I graduated four seniors, two of which helped me start
the program. One of them is going to play call
you Build in for this fall. See she's what is
my og? She helped me in the waking for two years,
So they stuck it out with the boys for two

(31:03):
years before I had the opportunity to come in and
start their girls programs. So there are big reasons why
we have that team. But this year I've got three sophomores,
well they're sorry, they're gonna be juniors this year returning
for my varsity squad. I have Charlotte Liller, Elena Sirilli,
and Ansley Baker. If you're a Western PA basketball fan,

(31:25):
you probably know Ansley from basketball, but he's also a
pretty good golfer. I'm really excited about that. They've they've got,
you know, a couple of years under their belt competing now,
so it's kind of time to start doing some more
of like that serious, serious golf, which I don't know
if they're going to be super excited about this ball
when I say that, so I am right. And then

(31:48):
I've got uh, let's see, I've got one, two, three.
I have four new sophomores joining the team, which I'm
also happy about. They haven't all played a lot of
golf yet, but they've been showing up and putting in
some work and there's potential there. And then I round
out with two seniors, one of whom was hurt last year,

(32:11):
so I'm really glad that she's actual's probably gonna fall
into my top five as well. She was playing really well.
And then she also is a Cheerleader's a multi sport athlete,
and she got hurt doing cheers, so she was out
unfortunately for all golf season last year. But you know,
I like where we're at. I think we're having another
good season. This will be our second year in a
whippile section. We were a club team the first year

(32:33):
we played in Whippel's. Last year, we're a two eighteen.
We were third, so I was pretty happy with that. Honestly.
For year's Wifield team, you come in the top half
and then I think that this year we can hopefully
make a run at something a little bit better than thirds.

Speaker 1 (32:47):
That's awesome. That's awesome. Okay, So when we come back
from from this commercial break, we are going to we're
going to talk a little bit about about the remaining
still the bulk of the season at seven Oaks, and
then we're going to talk about some some goals for
the facility and some personal goals for Michaela. This is
the Rich Combo Golf Show. Welcome back to the Rich

(33:10):
Combo Golf Show. We are joined this week by MICHAELA Reied.
MICHAELA is the head golf professional at Seven Oaks Country
Club in Beaver, Pennsylvania. Mikayla has one hundred and five
kids in her junior program. She has a very active
golf membership and she has a very active social membership
and recreational membership around her at her facility, as well

(33:33):
as raising two children and coaching a high school golf
team high school golf team at the local High School,
which is Beaver High School. So, MICHAELA, we've heard a
lot about what's going on in your world and about
a lot about what's what's what's coming at you in
the in the in the future. But but for the

(33:55):
immediate future, what big events do you have on the slate?
It'sl and Oaks.

Speaker 2 (34:02):
Yeah, So we take off junior golf next week, and
then the following week is actually our Men's Imitational, our
member guests for the year, so we're going to welcome
seventy two teams of members and guests for that. That's
kind of our big premiere event for the years, one
of my favorites. That will be the nineteenth to the

(34:22):
twenty first out here. And then as we move into July,
we'll have our two man Chatman event for our Men's
Golf Committee, and then we'll do our Men's Member Members
for the first time this year. I'm actually going to
be having a Ladies Member member in July as well,
nice and we're going to do our Ladies Guest Day
we'll fall in the beginning of August as well, and

(34:45):
then we wrap up Men's Golf Committee season with club
championships all throughout the month of August as well as
Ladies Club Championships, and then I also do a Parent
Child Championship at the very end of Junior Golf, which
is a really fun events. A two persons scramble with
a parent, guardian, aunt, uncle, grandpa and grandma out on

(35:06):
the golf course. The kids love it. We have ice
stream and we're done. I think that's their favorite part.

Speaker 1 (35:10):
Oh yeah, that's my favorite part too. And I don't
even play.

Speaker 2 (35:14):
I mean, I just.

Speaker 1 (35:15):
Score for the Icy Troy.

Speaker 2 (35:17):
And then in September we will be doing our Men's
Ball Classics and that really is the final event of
the season for us, will be that Fall Classic. And
so yeah, we've got we rock and roll for the
next four months with a bunch of events I do.
We have Ladies every single week for Ladies Night. What's

(35:41):
going on something every day here?

Speaker 1 (35:43):
That's absolutely awesome. That's absolutely awesome. So since you talked
about the the Aquatic Center being developed and things like that,
I have to ask, is there any discussion about about simulator.

Speaker 2 (35:58):
It's something that I think would be cool. I don't
know that they have anything on the docket since they've
just finished the pool. We do have some area where
the old pool was, but I think it's been They've
been talking about what they're going to do with it
for a couple of years. Now. I can see that

(36:19):
being a choice I personally were selfishly, I guess I
really would like to expand some of our practice facilities
and be a nice short game area go over there somewhere.

Speaker 1 (36:32):
But as of right now, in the simulator, okay, okay,
I was just asked because I you know, I get
those and as you do, you get those those rounds
of golf synopsis and all that stuff, and like nineteen
million people played a non traditional off course, you know,
simulator game, top golf, you know, five iron whatever, you know,

(36:54):
and I just I just think that it's you know,
I talked to Don Ray, the president of the PJ
of America about this once, and he was like, you know,
if the simulator could be the gateway Gateway drugged on
my first tea is, why wouldn't I embrace it?

Speaker 2 (37:07):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (37:08):
I think that's I think that's really really neat. Okay,
So all right, So that's that's a lot of stuff
going on there. So now I'm going to spend a
few minutes and this is not intended to put you
on the spot, but I want to hear about about
your goals, your goals for your professional career.

Speaker 2 (37:32):
Yeah, so the first one is I'm going to finish
up my PPA stuff. I am one of those people
that I had started when we were in Chicago, and
then when we left Chicago, I thought that I was
out of the business. I thought that I was done.
It was going to be mom for a while, and

(37:54):
then yeah, stuck right back in, which I'm very happy about.
I love the business. But you know, at that point
in time, I was twenty five, and to be honest,
I had never seen a female professional in the role

(38:14):
that I wanted to be in with a family. I
love teaching, but I will I'm not a director of
instructions kind of teachers. It's a nice break for me.
I enjoy doing it, but it's not ever something that
I can see myself doing full time. And those are
really the only examples of women in the business who

(38:35):
had families who could do both. So I thought that
I was done and got out and let all of
my PGA stuff expire, and then I've now gotten back
into my PGA stuff. But I need to wrap all
of that up hopefully here in the next My goal
is to finish in the next year and a half
since I had to start back over. But then other

(38:58):
than that, my my other big goals as a professional
alert to you know, really get my high school team
to be that kind of competitive group of ladies. I
have a lot of girls with potential, but I don't
think that high school girls realize how many girls college

(39:21):
golf sellarships there are that are available to them, especially
in this area. And I think that that's I mean,
that's a the service to the girls and not know, like, hey,
I don't have to be the next Nelly Corda to
play college golf and have fun and get a little
bit of money to go to school. College is so expensive.

Speaker 1 (39:47):
I had.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
I had.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
Yeah, it's funny you say that because I one of
the things that when I was and specifically to the
to the women's side. When I was coaching both men's
and women's at Willing University, I was very successful in
recruiting international men I had. I had twelve kids on
the team and only one of them was from the

(40:12):
United States of America. And I'm sorry too word from
the United States of America. But my joke was one
was from Ohio, so he actually wasn't from the United
States of America. But so I mean, I mean, I
had kids from New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, and you know,
I had kids from Indonesia. But I could put on

(40:33):
the on paper, this is the discount, which is basically
what a scholarship is, especially division two, this is this
is the discount you get. And they and they, they
grabbed onto that and basically they paid twenty two thousand
dollars a year to go to a forty two thousand
dollars year school. Now you can make the argument that school,
no school's forth forty two thousand dollars a year, That's fine, whatever,
But that was their model. But when I came to

(40:55):
recruiting the females, I could not get even remotely close
to financially matching what other schools were doing because there
was so much money to give to female golfers. I mean,
I had girls, I had girls that that I'm not

(41:17):
trying to be mean, but had difficulty breaking ninety from
Sweden that went to schools for five thousand dollars a year,
and I'm like, I can't, I can't do that. I
can't do that. I can't match that, so I wish
them well. I'm like, hey, go, you know what I mean. Go,
I mean, because I would too. You know, it's like

(41:38):
the old saying. You know, I can buy this this
driver for one hundred dollars and your selling for three hundred.
We'll go buy it over there then, because guess what
I would too, and and and so I understand exactly
what you're saying. And I also think that and if
you if they're realistic in the fact that Okay, this
is not going to land me on TV, I can

(42:01):
use this too, have a lot of fun, travel a
little bit, maybe take some spring trips that are pretty fun,
and and and help pay for college. Look at mom
and Dad, and go, guess what I saved you one
hundred thousand dollars or four years. Yep, you know I
mean because I play golf. I mean it, it's it's

(42:22):
it's an awesome way to look at it. And I
think that I know, because you played college golf, you
understand how how much fun it can be. But I
also think that you're small enough to understand that, hey,
this is a pretty good avenue for something like this.
And it's a pretty good financial avenue, you know. So
all right, so tell me now you go back to

(42:43):
your PGA stuff, tell me what what are you? Are
you struggling with anything or is it just a time thing?

Speaker 2 (42:50):
Oh? Right now, it's it's massively a time thing, I think,
like for me, like the bookwork is on the portfolio work,
it's not difficult, it's just time consuming and wrapping that
in when we're going full tilt over here, it's been
I've been passing things together, right, But then I think

(43:12):
scheduling seminar has probably been the hardest thing because I
just don't have a week right to do seminar right now,
that's gonna that's going to be you.

Speaker 1 (43:21):
Have to be a fall problem for me, right right,
because they make it because you got to go to
first go right.

Speaker 2 (43:28):
Actually, so for level one it's virtual, okay, Now I
think level two and three you have to go to
first st That part's good. I don't have to worry
about travel, but finding finding a week off as a
professional can be.

Speaker 1 (43:43):
In challenge, as you know, no kidding. And then the
other thing the other thing is is then you have
to turn it. You have to. It has to be
on their schedule too, because it would be easy to
to say, okay, you know what, I'll give you nine
thirty to twelve thirty, you know, and ask your husband, hey, look,
you know what, you got to suck it up and
deal with this. But you can't do that because because
because the other side of that virtual is not going
to be there, you know. It's it's on their schedule,

(44:06):
it's on the other thing is and and I and
this is just a and this is actually a personal
thing with me. But it's extremely expensive.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
Too, and yes it is. I'm lucky that paying for
it for Yeah.

Speaker 1 (44:20):
It's extremely expensive. And and they should, you know. And
obviously we can stand here and and bounce that back
and forth what we want. But it's good that they are,
you know, because it is expensive. It is expensive. So
so you have one, two and three to go, right,
Obviously you're playing ability test is in your rear view mirror?

Speaker 2 (44:41):
Correct, I have to I have to redo one because
my old one is expired. Do it again?

Speaker 1 (44:49):
Really? Yeah? Wow, that's it. It's it seems to me
that okay, well I'm not gonna I'm not gonna. I'm
not gonna delve into that one. It seems like it's
it's that all right. I'll just say this. They wonder
why people don't want to, you know, give their all

(45:09):
to be a PGA member, and because they give you
a reason to say no all the time, all the
time they do. It's true. So well that's cool though.
But but you can obviously you'll handle that. I mean,
that's no big deal. Yeah, that's that's an easy part
because you are actually a really good player. But so
in the book work now it's just a time thing, correct, Okay,

(45:31):
So all right, so let me ask you this question. Uh,
where do you think you're going to be in five years?
Where do you think that you and Seven Oaks are
going to be in five years?

Speaker 2 (45:40):
I still see myself being here in five years at
seven oh ye, you know, my my family is put
down roots here and I do I love this place.
It's you know everywhere you work at Quirks, right, yep,
But like I I love this place. This membership is
really awesome seven Oaks as a whole. I mean I

(46:03):
see us being that full golf membership with a weightlift.
You know, the pool is an excellent facility. I don't
see that the recreation of the social membership weightlift going anywhere.
I think that's going to be pretty popular for a while.
But I see like the women's program here really taking off,

(46:24):
and you know, I've I helped kind of grow that
when I got here. And I think that, you know,
ladies in general gravitate towards a female teacher, you know,
a lot more than a male teacher, just because we
get it, we're familiar. I like to think that I'm
not intimidating.

Speaker 1 (46:45):
You're scaring the living hell out of me right now,
you know, I just tell the by the way you're
talking to me, are you scaring the living hell out
of me?

Speaker 2 (46:53):
I think that I see that program, you know, becoming
a little bit more competitive. Our Ladies night right now
is very social, and I think that's awesome. You know,
they want to come out and have fun with their
friends on the golf course, and they come back in
and they have dinner and drinks on the patio and
they're spending you know, four hours of their time on

(47:13):
a Wednesday night at the club, and I think that's fantastic,
and you know what, they're having fun playing golf. I'm
seeing more ladies play golf now in my couples league
on weekends, you know it would I think that that's
going to continue to the point where maybe we start
having you know, a more competitive and not whole league

(47:33):
on a different night of the week. Or you know,
We've just recently became part of the wga WP, the
Women's Golf Association of Western Pennsylvania, you know, and I
have a handful of ladies who are excited to be
a part of that and go play in some of
their events. But like I see that growing. You know,

(47:55):
they've got the bug. Now, maybe they start playing a
little bit more, course start to go down, they get
a little bit more competitive, They want to play, you know,
some other golf courses in the area. They want to
go see what else is out there with golf besides
just seven.

Speaker 1 (48:12):
That's awesome. That's awesome. So all right, so we only
have a minute left. So I'm going to tell you this.
As I keep telling I keep talking about how young
you are and but how old I am. But you know,
I do need you to know that that, you know,
as a yeah, I guess I'm a certified PG professional

(48:32):
and I'm in the Master Professional program and all that
fun stuff. But I do need you to know that
it's really important for me personally for you to get
your membership, okay, h And I also need you to
know that, and I hope you know this that anybody
that you call, anybody you could think of to call

(48:53):
if you need help, please make sure that you call them.
If it's me, if it's somebody else, I don't care.
But just if you need help, make sure you ask me.
If you get overwhelmed with kids, call me. I'll come
down and help you. You get you know, you get
you get overwhelmed with I don't know, run on anything.
I'll come down and help you. I've got a list
of people that would help you in about five seconds.

(49:15):
So don't think that you're totally on the island by yourself.
And I just want you to know that, okay. And
I also want you to know I greatly appreciate you
being on the show today. I can tell you right
now that it was only fifty two minutes. It felt like,
uh did it feel like a root canal like with
no novacane? Or was it pretty easy? Okay? Good, that's

(49:38):
what I needed to have happened. Okay, So MICHAELA. Reid,
thank you so much. Good luck this season at Seven
Oaks and we will catch up with you in the fall.

Speaker 2 (49:48):
Thank you so much. I appreciate it, you guys having
me on.

Speaker 1 (49:50):
Thank you. This is the Rich Come wal Golf Show.