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A Conversation with Head Golf Pro Ashley Zibrik

Ashley Zibrik is the head pro at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club in Vancouver. It is a premier club with a big membership and a historic golf tradition. Established in 1911, the club has had only eight head professionals over its storied past. Zibrik is the first women to hold that position. She is a Canadian by birth and grew up in the Vancouver area. She played collegiate golf at Boise State University and then turned pro in 2007. She became an associate pro at Shaughnessy in 2012 and assumed her present position this past May. Club Trends conducted this interview in November. These are edited excerpts from that conversation.

Club Trends (CT): How did you get started in golf?

Ashley Zibrik (AZ) – I was born in Vancouver and grew up in Squamish, British Columbia, which is in between Vancouver and Whistler. All the men in my family played golf and I just loved playing sports. I started playing junior golf at 12 years old. Having a competitive nature, the more I improved, the more I fell in love with the game. 

CT –  Did you have any club affiliation back then?

AZ – Yes, my dad, brother and I were members at Squamish Valley Golf Club. My brother and I worked at the club. He worked in the golf shop and I started picking the range and then in the summer worked on the grounds crew. My 5:30 a.m.- 130 p.m. shift included raking all the bunkers on course followed by working on all the garden areas. The club was a big part of our lives.

My grandpa, Barry McKenzie, was a 13-time Willingdon Cup team player in Canada. He’s passed away, but he’s in the Manitoba Golf Hall of Fame. He was the main golfer in my family’s past that led my dad, my brother and myself into the game.

CT – Tell us a little bit more about Shaughnessy.

AZ – We are a very active club with a membership of around 1,700 which includes golf, tennis, social and clubhouse members. We have hosted four Men’s Canadian Opens (1948, 1966, 2005, 2011) and will be hosting our first LPGA event (Canadian Women’s Open) next season. Our staff and members are very proud of our facilities and our championship golf course. It is a beautiful tree lined course with ocean views and small, tricky greens.

CT – Is golf growing at Shaughnessy?

AZ – Yes, the club currently has a waitlist. Our lesson programs seem to grow every season, and sales continue to grow as our members strongly support the pro shop. Our rounds of golf are obviously weather dependent in the winter, but we are a year-round facility. Roughly 36,000 rounds are played at the club each year, with the bulk being from March to October.

CT – How about golf fitness?

AZ – We’re fortunate to have a fitness facility and a team of fitness professionals. As a golf instructor, it is great if I can talk to one of the fitness professionals about a physical limitation a student may have. I can ask, “Is there any way that you can work on this area?” They are the experts in that area and we can work off one another and share ideas and hopefully make improvements for our golfers.

CT – What about your participation from juniors? And maybe women as well?

AZ – We have a great junior program and a highlight this season was one of our junior girls, Michelle Liu, was the youngest player to compete in the Canadian Women’s Open this year at 12 years old. We have more junior boys than junior girls which probably reflects the norm but I hope to see the number grow.

We’ve had success the past couple of years with Operation 36. Our juniors will start playing the course from 25 yards, and they’ll play 9 holes until they can shoot a score of 36. Then they graduate to 50 yards and play 9 holes until they can again shoot 36. The process continues until they are playing a full set of tees. I know some clubs in our area that have offered this program to women and it was a way for female beginner golfers to have some success and enjoy the game. They have no pressure, but just start working their way up to longer yardages. 

CT – Any other obstacles we need to lower or bring down?

AZ – One area that is intriguing to me is teeing it forward. Shaughnessy is not an easy course to score on and part of players having success and enjoyment is playing the right tees. On many instances, some of our members have zero chance of hitting a par 4 in regulation. Giving people a chance to hit the green in regulation is a good thing and something I have worked on with our Women’s Division. Just this past season, our club introduced a set of yellow tees that are about 4,500 yards to offer players with slower swing speeds a chance to improve their scores. I like the direction golf is going because many more people in the sport are paying attention to this and courses are starting to introduce shorter tees.

CT – Should shorter tees be more commonplace?

AZ – It’s certainly more of a consideration these days. I recently played in a Pro-am in Maui with three female members and we had four rounds together. The courses we played had some long uphill par 4’s that they struggled to reach in 3 shots (they were playing the forward tees.) During our round, we were talking about if an average male golfer had to hit his driver, then a fairway wood, and then an iron to a par 4, then that par 4 would probably be closer to around 500 yards. I was trying to give them an example of how they are playing courses that are just too long sometimes even from the forward tees.

CT – Any thoughts about your role and that of women, more generally, in the golf profession or in the club industry?

AZ – I’m a golf professional and I was hired and recognized for my work. I don’t believe gender was a concern with the individuals who hired me. Women are going to play an important role going forward in the industry as currently women’s golf is probably the largest untapped market that there is in North America. There are a lot of barriers to overcome  play a game that is perceived to be very male dominated. Hopefully the tides are starting to shift and women who deserve to be in prominent positions are rewarded with them. 

CT – How does gender sometimes come into play?

AZ – I’ll give you one example. In the next couple of weeks, I am going to be playing in our PGA of Canada Head-Pro Championship in Arizona. I had emailed our PGA of Canada just to inquire about playing a different set of tees because the men typically play from about 6700 yards. It was interesting to me that they hadn’t been asked the question before. So, I think I am the first female to ever play in this particular championship. They are allowing me to play a different set of tees because that’s fair. I mean, the PGA Tour doesn’t play events at the same yardage as the LPGA Tour. 

CT – What are some things to consider as a head golf pro?

AZ – ITypically your head golf professional is the face of the club. My face to face interactions with our members is very important. I try to be present and visible so I am able to engage with people everyday at the club. Our professional staff want our members and their invited guests to enjoy their experience each time they come to Shaughnessy. 

A golf professional plays a lot of roles and I believe that should include playing with members, teaching, club fitting, running events, etc. I make an effort to do loops around the golf course as often as I possibly can to see how everybody is doing and to check out the course. Sometimes the best conversations I have with members is during their round to get their feedback on things. I want to be out there, learning from them and understanding what they want from their club and from their staff.

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