Kyaw Htet has a simple test for the ideas he brings to The Nest Golf Club. They don’t necessarily have to start with a member asking for them.
“My goal is to deliver amenities, services and experiences that members may not even know they’re missing,” says Htet, Director of Golf at the Bonita Springs, Fla., club. 
Four seasons into his tenure, that philosophy has taken several forms. Htet has introduced new technology on the practice range, expanded member golf travel, and created a process to better support the club’s roughly 30 memberorganized golf groups. He has also established policies and local rules around situations where the golf staff needs to provide a consistent answer.
Some ideas come from watching how members use the club. Others come from Htet’s previous experience, industry events or conversations with fellow golf professionals.
“Going to trade shows, discovering new things and talking to my colleagues are all opportunities to see what others are doing and what might work for us,” he says.
Working with the golf culture
The Nest has approximately 600 golfing members and two 18-hole courses, with much of its golf organized by members themselves.
About 30 member-organized men’s groups operate within the club. A group leader might have 40 players on a roster and assemble 20 for a particular day. The club tried offering a traditional men’s day for one season, but Htet says there were few takers. Members already had their groups.
“We don’t need to put together a game for 100 people who may or may not want to play it,” Htet says. “The groups organize the golf they want to play.” Htet focused instead on how the golf shop supports them.
Group leaders previously had several ways to submit game information to the golf staff. Htet created an online form that gives them one place to provide what the shop needs to build the game and prepare scorecards. The leaders still organize their players and secure their tee times.
“Once we have the information, the responsibility is on us to deliver what the group needs,” he says. Htet has taken a similarly defined approach to guest access. Accompanied guests generally can play beginning at 10 a.m., preserving the earlier tee-time inventory for members.
In March, The Nest’s busiest month, utilization reaches 87% during the 10 and 11 a.m. hours, when guest rounds are also entering the tee sheet.
There is room for discretion. Htet regularly considers requests from members with visiting family and notes approved exceptions on the tee sheet so his staff knows they were authorized.
“We want to protect access for our members, but we also want to accommodate them when they have family in town or there’s a unique circumstance,” he says.
There is a limit to that flexibility.
“If the same special request is being made every week, then it’s no longer a special request,” Htet says.
That preference for defined parameters also extends onto the course. When crushed shell in certain areas was replaced with screening material, a question arose over whether a ball coming to rest there qualified for free relief. Htet consulted the USGA and other golf professionals before establishing a local rule.
Some members disagreed with the ruling.
“Rules have to be objective, defined and enforceable,” Htet says.
Finding what comes next
Htet also looks for opportunities that are less likely to originate with a member request.
During his first month at The Nest, he introduced GPS technology on the practice range that provides distances to targets based on the golfer’s individual hitting station. The distance can change depending on where the hitting area is positioned, making the system more precise than estimating yardage to a fixed target.
Golf travel came from Htet’s previous experience. He had regularly traveled with members in earlier roles and began adding trips at The Nest after his first year and a half at the club.
Members traveled to South Africa last spring and will travel to Portugal in April, with Florida trips to Longboat Key and Streamsong also planned.
The appeal extends beyond the golf itself.
“Travel creates a different kind of engagement with the membership,” Htet says. “You spend time together in a different environment, and you get to know each other differently.”
It is another place Htet sees an opportunity to give members something they may not have thought to request.
