Golf With Jean, LLC

Concord Monitor Online
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Passion becomes business

Author(s): BARBARA JOHNSON / Date: June 13, 2005
Page: 01 / Section: Sports

It isn't often that a 60-year-old woman decides to make a career out of golf. But Jean Johnston isn't your ordinary woman, though she married and raised a family the traditional way. Then, newly single, she went to work outside her home.

Sixteen years later, Johnston had risen to sales territory manager for a large industrial manufacturer when she and several other long-timers were urged to take early retirement. That left her with more than enough free time for her favorite recreation -golf. And that's when she decided to make it her business.

Johnston had been an outstanding amateur from the get-go six years earlier, when she first joined Plausawa Valley Country Club in Pembroke as a raw beginner. How talented she was quickly became clear in our first outing together -a point-quota where she was assigned a beginner's 40-handicap as the base for her final score. And though powerfully built, she did look like a beginner - especially putting - on that first hole. And then she drove the second green (a par-4) from the tee, parking the ball about 10 feet from the cup. And parred the hole. And when the round was over, Johnston had won the overall men and women's championship and a new set of golf clubs.

Johnston continued to succeed in tournaments on the club and state amateur level, so teaching seemed a natural next step. After a year of classes, players' exams and written exams, she was awarded a Class A Masters License from the Professional Golf Teachers Association of America. (The full PGA program takes four years to complete and allows a professional to run a golf course, but Johnston was only interested in the teaching part, with time off to play golf herself.)

"I really wanted to teach," she said. "But I quickly realized that if I did, I would have to give up my amateur status in tournaments. And I love playing competitive golf.

"I'm never going to be good enough to play at the professional level," Johnston continued, "especially at my age. But I have a lot of fun at the amateur level. So I decided to change direction. My whole life had been in sales and my passion is golf. So why not combine the two and become a manufacturer's rep for golf products? That seemed to be a really natural thing to do."

Having a Masters Teaching License was a very large advantage because it showed the depth of her knowledge about the equipment she would be selling to golf shops. When Johnston attended the annual PGA show in Florida last winter, she was welcomed by the various manufacturers and easily signed on to represent them in New England. Her territory includes Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, with an occasional trip to Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Johnston sells to pro shops -called "green grass" in industry terminology - as well as retail establishments and chain stores. She carries the basics, she says, "but then I get into some unique things because so much of the stuff sold at golf courses is boring."

One of her favorites is the "Chix with Stix" collection from a woman-owned company that makes an eclectic combination of clothing and jewelry. And therein lies an interesting tale of its own. The story (as told on the company website) began a few years ago when four women went out early one day for a round of golf, and found themselves waiting to tee off just ahead of a group of men who immediately began grumbling loudly about being stuck behind women and how their day was going to be really long and slow.

To add insult to injury, the starter encouraged the women to step up to the red tees and begin, when the group in front of them hadn't yet hit their second shots. The women told the starter that since the golf course wasn't overly long, and they were reasonably good golfers, they would use the men's tees.

The golf gods smiled on them: the women had stellar drives and parred the hole. And as they were about to tee off on the second hole (running parallel to the first), who do they see on their fairway but the entire foursome of men who had been behind them, all having miss-hit their opening drives.

The men didn't step out of the way for the first woman to tee off on the second hole, either, so she hit the ball well over their heads and then made the comment aloud as the two groups passed each other that men should "watch out for chicks with sticks." And that phrase turned into the name for a very successful business, Johnston said, with the four original women still playing quality golf.

Another unusual line that Johnston carries is from One World Golf, a Vermont company licensed by the LPGA that offers golf clubs for girls ages 3-14. The sets are absolutely adorable, in a choice of pink or blue. There's a driver-fairway wood that's extremely easy to hit, 5-iron, 7-iron, pitching wedge and mallet-type putter. Everything is color-coordinated with matching bag, club shafts and head covers. "Kids love them, "Johnston said. "There's nothing else like them out there."

Johnston also carries men's and boys' sets called "hippo," in oversized bags with the big logo "Hippo" decorating them.

Another unusual accessory she sells is the "Club Minder," a stainless steel stake about 2½ feet tall, covered in plastic, that keeps any extra golf clubs you carry from cart to fairway from getting wet or dirty on the ground. Or "Brush Tees, "plastic tees with brush heads on them that offer more consistency when hitting and last much longer than regular wooden tees.

Johnston puts in a long day on the road in her sales job - usually 250-300 miles of travel, but she does manage to work in enough golf for herself. It's very important that she be able to play golf, she said, and in a way, she's an ambassador for the products she carries when she's out on the course.

"I'm finally doing something that I really love to do," she said. "I'm calling on people that I enjoy talking to about a subject that I'm passionate about in a beautiful environment. It sure beats the smoke stacks of my former career."