So, 2012 is the year you want to get into the golf business.

Fresh air, green grass, quality people, positive vibe – who wouldn't?

Sure, times are tough in golf, as they are most everywhere, but there's good news. The sport, around for 500 years, figures to be around awhile longer. And there are as many ways to begin and build a career in golf as there are ways to swing a 5-iron.

Whether you start cleaning carts while in high school, pursue a golf-specific or general college education, or have spent 20 years as a touring pro or electrician, the best people rise to the top, say those in the industry.

Still, there are a few absolutes. Gauge your suitability by first asking yourself two simple questions.

Do you love golf? If so, you may have a future in the game.

Or do you just love to play golf? If so, you may want to consider bartending.

A passion for the game and the ability to put its enjoyment by others ahead of your own is non-negotiable, say those who hire. Everything else – education, experience, playing ability, golf knowledge – can be gained or worked around.

"There's a lot of opportunity in this business if you're a go-getter and have stick-to-itiveness, but we're definitely moving toward a more professional workforce than there was 15-20 years ago," said ClubCorp Golf's Brent Cohen, who oversees 100 or so employees as manager of Turkey Creek and Empire Ranch.

Schooling has many forms

Ben Hanson and Kellen Arceo have a lot in common.

Though both were good junior golfers, neither held any illusion of playing for a living, but both concluded while in high school that they wanted to be professionally associated with the game. They work in the Sacramento area and are seen as rising stars by their employers.

Hanson, 27, is the head pro at Empire Ranch. He's a graduate of North Carolina's Methodist University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in the PGA Golf Management University Program. Methodist is one of 20 universities offering such a program, and their graduates leave with a business degree and full PGA certification.

"I'm in the position I'm in because I decided at an early age this is what I wanted," said Hanson, who grew up in Ohio but interned locally during college and worked as the head pro at Bing Maloney before taking the Empire Ranch job.

Hanson manages a staff that includes know-it-all teenagers, retired professionals with Type-A personalities and aspiring pros. He gives lessons, but he's also involved in balance sheets, budgets and driving revenue.

Arceo, 23, is an apprentice club-fitter at Haggin Oaks, his fourth job at the course since starting as a cashier four years ago. Although Arceo doesn't have a college degree and started at the bottom of Haggin Oaks' employment ladder, he has the potential to ascend as high as anyone within Morton Golf, which operates the course and its retail store, said head pro Mike Woods.

Arceo's willingness to learn, trustworthiness, hard work, positive interaction with customers and emotional intelligence portend a bright future, despite a lack of a diploma.

"Once we get to know a guy like Kellen, it's who he is that's important," Woods said. "Although we are big proponents of education, (a lack of one) wouldn't hold him back."

Arceo wants to be a head pro someday, a goal he outlined in a senior-year research paper at El Camino High School. He's preparing to embark on an online PGA credentialing program that is estimated to take three to six years to complete. Enrollees need to be working in a pro shop or under the supervision of a PGA member, and graduates will need to pass a playing-ability test that requires a 36-hole score of about 150.

Arceo contemplated attending one of the two-year golf colleges that are a staple of Golf Channel advertising, but Sacramento-area managers expressed little enthusiasm for that option.

The bottom line – it varies

Of the 300 or so employees of Morton Golf – which operates Haggin Oaks, Bing Maloney, Bartley Cavanaugh and Land Park – about 25 percent make a living wage (a minimum of $27,000 a year without benefits, as defined by the city of Sacramento with which Morton contracts), Woods said.

Of ClubCorp's 150 or so area public-course employees at Teal Bend, Turkey Creek and Empire Ranch, a similar 25 percent earn above that threshold, Cohen said.

Breaking it down further, of the skilled golfers capable of teaching in both workforces (15 percent with Morton, 5 percent with ClubCorp), the vast majority of those make a living wage, the bosses said.

"The ability to teach is often more relevant to earnings than a college degree, especially early in a career," Cohen said. "It's when you want to move into a position of general manger or above that the college degree becomes a necessity."

At private clubs, the ability to teach is even more important, said Mike Green, who oversees a staff of 11 at Del Paso.

"If you really want to be successful and make a living, it boils down to how good of an instructor you are," Green said. "That's where the most reliable income comes."

The golf industry, largely dependent on discretionary spending, has been pounded by the economic downturn. Head pros are being asked to run tournaments and be more involved in merchandising, responsibilities that used to fall to assistants. Whereas a club used to have one person do marketing and another promote membership, those jobs and many others have often been consolidated.

Of the 879 respondents to the National Golf Course Owners Association 2010 golf industry compensation and benefits report, 70 percent reported that they froze salaries and 70 percent made staff reductions.

And things didn't get better in 2011.

The majority of employees at most courses are young adults in high school or college, or retirees working part time. Their primary motivation is to earn spending money and/or playing perks.

Career-oriented jobs that pay career wages are tougher to secure. But they're out there. They go to the person with the best combination of education, experience and social skills.

Woods was hired as a part-time starter at Haggin Oaks. Cohen started in the cart barn at Teal Bend. Green began in outside services at Del Paso. Each has risen from the bottom to the top at their company or course, so when they're hiring, they're looking for that gleam in a candidate's eye as much as at the résumé.

"First and foremost, I'm looking for a candidate that fits our core value system," Woods said.

"I'm looking for personality and attitude, somebody that's outgoing and service-oriented," Cohen said.

"Selfishly, I want to do a lot of the molding," Green said.

Still interested? Or ready for bartending school?

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Call The Bee's Steve Pajak, (916) 326-5526.

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