Bill Hook, Head Golf Professional at Knickerbocker Country Club and last year’s 2024 NJPGA Golf Professional of the Year, joins the show as he finishes his 15th season at one of New Jersey’s most historic Donald Ross clubs. The latest in a 70-year lineage of respected head professionals, Bill has helped guide Knickerbocker through a major restoration that modernized the course while protecting its classic Ross/Strong identity. He breaks down what that process taught him about leadership, member culture, and what it actually takes to run a top-level golf operation in 2025 and how his years under Dave Reasoner at Ridgewood CC shaped the standard he still carries.

We dig into how the role of Head Golf Professional has evolved, why mentorship still matters, and the difference between running the shop and building a golf culture. From staff management to member expectations to the unseen pressure of being “the face of the club,” this is the side of the profession most golfers never get to hear about and the reason Bill earned the highest professional honor in the state.

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