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Editor's Last Word
Porter still aiming to be a champion
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Paul Ramsdell
Editor |
Professional athletes, in order to be successful, generally need to put their entire heart and soul into trying to be the very best they can be.
When that athlete is on the PGA Tour, it can be a monumental task trying to be at the top of their game each week in order to make a cut, and then cash a paycheck.
Bill Porter knows all about trying to keep the competitive juices flowing day after day, week after week.
He spent a year on the PGA Tour and several years on its minor league circuit, called the Nike Tour at the time. And when he wasn't busy nationally, he was competitive locally, winning seven titles in the top Northwest professional tournaments.
Now, at age 45, Porter's name is rarely listed in tournament results, not even in the bigger club pro events.
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| Bill Porter has set his competitive golf aside to put all his energy into running Moses Pointe. |
Have the competitive juices dried up? Has the determination escape him?
He's quick to answer no, and just as quick to reassure everyone those competitive juices are flowing toward his new ambition - to be the best club pro he can be at The Links at Moses Pointe.
And at this point, competitive golf would be a distraction.
"I just felt like because I did have a lot to learn about the business and I wanted to give it a 100-percent effort here, that the best thing to do was to concentrate completely on the golf business," Porter said.
It might not be as glamorous as teeing it up every week with the best golfers in the world, but there are advantages and drawbacks to everything, and there's a lot about being a touring professional he doesn't miss.
"Oh, the travel for sure," he said. "I didn't enjoy that."
It's different now, anchored at Moses Pointe and at home much more often with his wife, Liz, and their four sons.
And learning golf from a business standpoint.
"I totally, totally enjoy this," he said.
There are aspects of the PGA Tour world that still come in handy when trying to be a better club pro.
"The ability to network has been an asset for sure," Porter said.
"The ability to network, knowing 'Hey, it's OK not to know it all.' But somebody does and there's a lot of people out there who are more than happy to share their expertise with you."
And through Porter, that can get passed along to the customer at Moses Pointe.
One example of that is that one of his best friends on tour, Dudley Logan, who produced some of the best yardage books for tour courses, is going to do a yardage book for Moses Pointe in preparation for the Washington State Golf Association's Men's Amateur in June. Logan has done three U.S. Open books.
Porter is certain the players in the Washington State Amateur have never been exposed to a yardage book with the type of detail that will be available to them for Moses Pointe. Regular customers will feel the same way.
Porter remembers vividly the way PGA Tour players are treated royally, almost pampered, by the host courses and sponsors at the various tournaments.
While there probably won't be a line of Cadillac courtesy cars waiting for the players in the Washington State Amateur, those players won't get the feeling that they're a burden to the course.
"We want to take the opposite approach," Porter said. "We want everyone playing in the tournament to feel like, 'Gosh, they want to do this. They're not going to charge us for a practice round. They're going to treat us as something special.'
"So, having those experiences as a player, hopefully, carries over to the way we treat any tournament group that comes in here."
In other words, still trying to be the best that he can be.
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