Interview with Ed Pettit, CEO of Carr Golf Services
Ed Pettit is CEO of Carr Golf Services, a division of the Carr Golf Group. Carr Golf Services is an international golf management and consulting business providing golf course owners with a sophisticated, professional and systematic approach to managing their business. The company brings over 20 years of industry expertise and experience to bear on managing golf assets. Carr Golf Services solutions include golf club management, golf course maintenance, golf sales, advisory services and digital marketing. Ed is originally from Cork in the South West of Ireland but spent most of his teenage years in Dublin for education purposes. He currently lives with his family in Kildare, just outside Dublin and still manages to enjoy the odd game of golf.
OGT: What is it that you do exactly? Time you start to work at? How often you get out to facilities?
EP: I am usually in the office for 7.30am but spend much of the time on the road travelling to each facility we manage,
attending clients meetings or exploring new opportunities. Travelling comes as part of the territory. We currently have interests in Italy, Romania, Hungary and the US. Most of my time is dedicated to managing the business, the company’s senior managers, dealing with our clients, developing strategies for the operations we manage while identifying and exploiting new commercial opportunities.
OGT: What do you enjoy most about what you do?
EP: The diversity in what I do is very enjoyable and keeps me on my toes. In the Carr Golf Group we operate across a number of different sectors and while it is challenging it is also very fulfilling. We have a great team and working with them is a real pleasure. When I was 14 years of age I made a decision that I wanted to work in the golf industry. while I may not be doing exactly what I had envisaged back then, the fact that I have managed to work within the industry I love ever since is very satisfying.
OGT: What would you say are the 3 best places you’ve ever stayed?
EP: In no particular order I would say
Doonbeg Lodge ( a special place), JW Marriott Shanghai (great city and great location. Not often you find the Hotel Reception on the 35th floor) and the Bellagio in Las Vegas (for a first timer to Las Vegas, it is an awesome experience)
OGT: What’s been your most memorable dining experience(s) to date?
EP: Gordon Ramsey’s Restaurant in the Claridges in London. It was a relative’s 60th and we enjoyed a 7 course set menu in a private dining room; yum. L’Ecrivan in Dublin – hard to find a better meal. Myself a couple of other members of my family were charged with organising a New Years Eve party for 60 people. We hired a fish and chip van but provided fresh beer battered haddock and freshly cut chips. It was immense!!
OGT: Have you rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous, either through your work or your travels?
EP: Obviously in the golf business, I have met, worked with, played with or been around many well known figures including Padraig Harrington, G Mac, Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia and Nick Faldo. Others would include; Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Michael Smurfit, Dermot Desmond, JP McManus, Denis O’Brien, Brian O’Driscoll, Ronan O’Gara & Mick Jagger
OGT: What currently ranks highest on your travel wish list?
EP: There are three places I have yet to travel which I am dying to visit; New Zealand, South Africa and Peru. Of the three I am most likely to visit South Africa next, most likely sometime later this year or early 2013.
OGT: Thank you for taking part in our interview, Ed and best of luck with getting down to South Africa this year. It’s an amazing place and the golf there is tremendous (I’m reliably informed!)
If you would like to be interviewed for Online Golf Travel’s Blog in order to raise your profile, please contact us.
