At 22 years old, Colin Thomey manages staff members twice his age while running his own golf performance business on the side. His journey from retail frustration to golf course general manager reveals what happens when Gen Z enters leadership roles in family businesses.

Colin learned early on in his career that coming on too strong with new ideas instead of taking time to understand the family business, their margins, memberships, and existing staff dynamics.

The turning point came when Colin asked for one shot to prove his value through a single event. That quick win built trust and opened doors for future innovations. His approach offers lessons for any young person stepping into management roles where experience gaps create natural skepticism.

Colin earned credibility with his older team through consistent respect and honest communication. He stays available, admits when he's wrong, and treats everyone the same regardless of age.

His golf instruction stands apart from traditional swing coaches. Colin focuses on the mental game, tracking multiple performance metrics to help golfers understand what's really happening beyond their scorecard.

• Quick wins build trust faster than comprehensive plans when starting new roles.
• Respect through language matters regardless of age differences.
• Constant communication prevents issues before they escalate into problems.
• Admitting mistakes immediately earns more respect than defensive justification.
• Track multiple metrics, not just primary outcomes for complete performance understanding.
• Side businesses provide security and creative freedom corporate environments restrict.

Leading people older than you or starting your own business while working full-time? Learn from those navigating these challenges successfully.

Subscribe to Blue Collar BS for more conversations with young leaders building careers and businesses across industries. Share this episode with anyone who needs perspective on earning respect when age works against them.

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Welcome back to BlueCaller BS, Brad. How you doing today, my friend?

and fantastic Mr. Stephen Doyle and how is the Detroit Motor City treating you today?

Detroit Motor City. It is nice. It is a balmy 50 degrees outside. It is great. We love it. We love it. How is the greater Milwaukee area treating you?

It is according to my watch, 67 degrees outside right now. Would rather be golfing than sitting here right now recording this this afternoon, which brings into a lot of other things we're going to get through today. But yes, it is. It is full spring full on pool opening next week. Lots of summer is here.

yeah.

nice. No, not yet. Don't rush. Don't rush the great season of spring because it is a phenomenal season. It's not hot. It's not cold. Exactly. So, Brad, who do we have on the show today?

Yeah, but it's like three days. It's you know better than that. It's like three days. Enjoy them.

Today we have a young gentleman, another Gen Z, has crossed paths in life because of the game of golf. He worked at the club that we affectionately call here locally Bushwood, otherwise known as Fairways of Woodside. He got to see me in my great attire here at 6.30 in the morning on a Saturday after he came in all hung over and ready to go and why you guys here so early to ruin his mornings. He is now the...

You

Golf head professional out at Castle Rock here in Wisconsin. And he started his own CT golf performance LLC to help golfers be better at the game and enjoy the game. Mr. Colin told me.

Brad, Steve, thank you for letting me on the show today. Super excited to of dive in and into the golf business.

Welcome.

So it was the barrier to entry pretty high to get on this show.

Yeah, yeah it is. Hang out with you too, y'all. Yup.

Absolutely. So I know Brad already answered this question with his introduction, but for the sake of asking the only question we have formalized on the show, which generation do you identify with, Kellen?

I'm even part of Gen Z.

That's that is fantastic with the business acumen and Gen Z. This is going to be a phenomenal conversation today, Brad.

This is gonna be a great conversation because he's starting up his own gig. He's part of a family business entity at the place he's at right now. He gets to do hiring and firing now. He gets all those things. So he's got the power. So how does it feel to have power as a young Gen Z-er in the golf industry?

Yep. Ooh.

it's great. It puts a lot of pressure though, only being 22 years old and hey, hiring, firing 30, 40 year olds. It's a different look. It's not something you see every day.

no.

So how are you handling that situation and what support are you getting from the owners of the course, so to speak?

Yeah. So honestly, right now, I obviously, transitioned from the Milwaukee area all the way out to, Boston, Wisconsin, and working for a family business. And when I basically transitioned, my goal was to understand what the family wanted, right? I need to understand their staff. I need to understand their margins. I need to understand the memberships, the members need to kind of really just sit tight and understand those things for the first, you know, few months as I'm out here.

When I came into here, came out to Castle Rock, you know, I super excited, right? I wanted to bring all these new ideas to the table, you know, hire new people, right? Wanted to do all those things, right? And being young, being part of the Gen Z, you know, you just want to, you want to go. But that was kind of the mistake that I made. I was like, okay, Kyle, you need to, you need to slow down a little bit. You need to, you know, analyze the market, analyze what you're dealing with, with the family and kind of understand what is transpiring on a day-to-day basis.

You

So help our audience understand the feeling of coming in gung-ho with all these new ideas. Kind of let us know what were those new ideas that you had before the kind of pulling back a little bit.

Yeah, that's a great question. obviously, like I said, I'm from the Milwaukee market, And obviously kind of west of Wisconsin Dells, people don't think there's much going on and they have a point. what I bring to the table though is a bunch of fun events, coordinated outings, coordinated events for many golfers.

That's what we do here, Colin. We ask great questions.

I'm

Yeah.

And my goal is to try to bring that to Castle Rock. Obviously I can't jump the gun. So my first month into working out of the golf course out of Castle Rock, basically ran one event. I was like, hey, Jody, Molly, here's a deal. I know that you guys don't want me to jump the gun, but let me just run one event and let me, you know, let me just run it my way and give me some feedback as we kind of go. Ran the event, was very successful.

and they like what they saw and we kind of build from there. So what I like to call that is a quick win right there. Get a little taste of what Colin brings to the table and then from there build that trust, build those relationships.

we're talking first person. my gosh.

Wow. Yeah, wow. Okay. Okay. How was the initial reception of you with the idea received?

challenging because it goes back to being part of Gen Z, goes back to being 22 years old and you know, only being in the golf business for five to six years, you know, so it's, you have that little chip on your shoulder right off the bat, but that's why, you know, I went up to the owners, I said, hey, give me one of that, give me one shot at this and then give me as much feedback as you can.

Mm-hmm.

Okay, so let's go into, so you had to figure out how to go out and earn their trust, right? So let's talk about trust for a minute. Did you go into the relationship fully trusting the family, or did you believe that you needed to, they needed to gain trust from you, right? Did you come in?

100 % all in, we trust what the family is doing? Or did you come in skeptical along the way?

skeptical along the way because you know they were not familiar about what I've done previously you know at Fairways at Woodside or what my previous experience was so you know skeptical at the start but like like I said earlier you know if you get those quick wins and you know you start showing a little success you know with the revenue even with seasonal constraints right off the bat they start you know looking at the numbers then you know you start to gain trust.

Okay, good. And then so how are you gaining trust within the staff members who are most likely older than you and may have great relationships with the family?

Yeah, using sir and ma'am starting off with, right? Hey, can you help me with this, sir? Can you help me with this, ma'am? know, even though they're part, you know, even though they're employee, right? I'm going to still treat them as, you know, any other individual as I would. That's how I kind of treat my members and that's how I treat my staff. And, you know, everyone's going to get treated the same.

Interesting. The reason I'm saying interesting, one, use of sir and ma'am didn't offend anyone.

No, no, but I mean, on the age side, sure. A little bit like, you call me ma'am? you know, are you insulting me a little bit for calling me old? But, you know, that's, but that's the background I came in from, you know, it's the sirs, it's the ma'ams, it's the respect. And like I said, I come from Gen Z and not many, you know, not many Gen Zers, you know, use those phrases. And to me, that's a sign of respect.

Yeah.

Yes. Yes, it is. Very. So there's so many team dynamic. There's so many dynamics here. I want to I want to peel back the onion on. just like it's like, which direction are we going to go? I'm looking at Brad going just just. All right. So let's talk. Let's break it down a little bit more. Obviously, Gen Z.

Just go. Just go.

Next closest in age with, actually let's not go next closest in age. On average, how much older is everybody than you? That's where you're

At that golf course, there's a big gap. I'd probably say on average close to 20 years. Yeah, so we're talking, you know, mid 40s, early 50s.

Mm hmm. Yep. And.

old fuckers like you, Steve.

Really, we're gonna go down. We're gonna go down that path, I mean, yeah, comparatively, I'm in that group. perceptions, perceptions are everything, right? Especially with the older, somebody that quote unquote is more experienced than a Gen Z. What do you what did they feel? Or do you know what they felt or

comparatively, right? It's all about.

And I'm looking at it through the lens of was there some animosity or like, not me type scenarios coming in when you first came in into that kind of like management role.

Yeah.

Yeah, for sure. And you can also think of that as a little selfish, You know, only being 22 years old and having this opportunity, not many people get that. So, right. So there's a lot of pressure, you know, with that, but, you know, it keeps me disciplined, you know, it keeps me disciplined throughout the day. And, you know, I'm a very communicated person. you know, if I'm, you know, if I'm not there.

Nope, it's a massive opportunity.

Correct. It is.

I still got to be communicating with them, whether that's via phone, answering all these phone calls, everything. You always have to be communicative in business.

So do you communicate through them with like MySpace or Facebook or things like that? Just curious.

What a dick.

I'm just sorry. I had to throw that out there. Just it's a generational thing. Like, you know, Brad used to use my space. So clearly.

No, no, no, we don't get on that personal level, Steve.

No, I used to use a telephone and actually meet in person and actually show up at a spot when he said, hey, we'll be there at 6.30. And I didn't have to call and text everybody to make sure they were going to be there because you know what? They showed up.

WHAAAAT

You

Right, because they just showed up. So. yeah. yeah.

So Colin, as you are also entering that entrepreneur side of things with your own CT performance LLC of mental stability for golf, which is a lifetime of right. That's just money mailbox money because it is the most mentalist games of all that are out there. So what gave where that word that entrepreneurial piece come from? Where what made you decide to go down that path to say I'm going to do this as well?

Funny enough, it came back from my two previous jobs. I worked at a retail store called PJ Superstore and my issue there was... Right, yeah, it's a great place to lose your wallet, right? But my issue was learning at a young age was I needed to have a little bit control and say about what I wanted to do in life.

I spend money there quite a bit.

If I'm working at a retail store, right, I got to deal with corporate, I got to deal with regional managers, I got to deal with all this. Right, I got to deal with all this crap. So when I got, you know, new ideas to the table, it's like, I got to go through this person, I got to go through this person and then it's got to get approval. You know, that's just a whole line that you have to get through compared to, Hey, here's an idea, let's go, let's do it. And so that's kind of where my entrepreneur side kind of came from. That's, that's kind of what motivated me where.

my gosh, corporate. my god.

hey, I need a little say, I need a little bit more control. And the other thing too is, it's nice to have that second source of income. If one thing kind of goes bad, it's nice to have something that's there for a little security.

Okay. So as, as you indicated, okay, corporate this got this, got a regional sales manager, we've got these targets to hit, we got different things. So what are you taking away from that experience to bring into your business?

Mm-hmm.

That's a very great question.

Again, it's what we do here.

You know, I don't have a best answer for that because I think it for me was just more selfishness honestly because You know I felt like I had a lot of great ideas and I wanted to use them and I wanted to try them and So that's why I came up with CT golf performance where hey, you know, this is my little factory This is where hey, you know, I can try all these different things and hey if it fails it fails if it succeeds it succeeds You know and being in business for only you know a year now, you know, you just got to keep trying new things. So

OK. Go, Steve. I can see the wheels turning.

Mm-hmm.

No, the wheels are still turning, go for it.

So from that perspective, if fails, it fails. it succeeds, it succeeds. What's your expectation? What's your expectation of CT golf performance?

My goal is to help my students more on the mental side than more swain analytics if that makes sense.

1000 % because that is what I'm focusing on for 2025 is eliminating the mental dumbfuckery.

Right. And so, you know, it's going out of the golf course and okay, you got your scorecard, right? It's one thing to write your scores down, right? But it's another thing to write down your putts, your greens or regulations, you know, your fairways hits, right? And that goes the same thing with business, right? Keep track of one thing, but then there's three or four other things that, you know, kind of follow along with that. So, you know, that's what I try to preach on with my business because...

Most of the golf instructors in the state right now, they just, they teach the golf swing, right? This is what you should do. But they don't teach more of the therapeutic side, the mental side of the game.

So, so what are the three or four things for your business that you are tracking?

great question. Right now.

Great question, Brad.

Great, great, yes, again, that's what we do here.

Okay.

you

So what I like to keep track of is, so I basically have this subscription with this app called V1 Golf and that basically helps me communicate with my customers on a daily basis. So I send them a little video of their swing and then, you know, after lesson they have feedback. So if they go on the golf course and they're playing, it's not like, what did Colin say to me two weeks ago? It's, I can pull out my phone, click on this app and I can go through every golf lesson that I had with Colin and I can look back and say,

Okay, that's what he previously stated. So that's one thing I bring to the table, I guess, is direct communication, again, that I talked about earlier. And then just keeping track of results and making sure that my customers are practicing. It's one thing to give them advice, but it's another thing to execute what I teach.

I just really want to know how you're going to work with Brad in getting the ball in the hole. That's all I really want to know. You just got to go home. to take, got to give it a little tap, tap, tap and get in the hole.

Shut up. Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.

Honestly, I think we just take him to the 19th hole and that's just how you get the ball in the hole, right?

You

Tequila. Tequila. Tequila usually works.

I'm

Exactly.

How are you setting expectations, daily expectations with your staff members, particularly the older ones? And then what are your tactics or techniques and advice you might give to younger tradesmen or younger folks that might be in manufacturing or wherever they might be in life that might be leading a team? What are those things you were doing to make sure that the relationships stay intact and that results are still getting met?

Another great question. My goal, right? My goal is, like I go back to it, it comes down to communication with my staff. If they have any issues, especially during out the day, here's my cell phone number.

He's been training. He prepped for this interview, didn't you? He's so respectful, you little fucker.

He did. He must've.

Yeah, gloves off. Just so you know, Colin gloves off. Go for it.

call me if you have an issue, call me directly or if you're struggling with something, ask me. I'm always there to help out and if I do that, I also earn a little bit more respect, especially at a young age, right? It's very difficult to look at a 40 year old and be like, hey, I'm managing you or hey, can you do this for me? It's different. And so you have to make sure that you're respectful.

You got to make sure that your message is very clear and very direct to them. And that to less issues to me is what I've been seeing. And then, for my generation, a lot of people in the trades right now, they're only going to school for two years. Get out there, go explore, go learn, get into the industry that you want to be in and learn as much as possible. Because you're going to learn more about being in the industry if you're working compared to...

spend four years out of school, read out a book.

What leadership advice do you have for Gen Z's?

Oof.

That's another great question. Another great question. You're getting me. You're getting me good. You're getting me good.

Trained.

You

Be honest, be honest. That's the key to, I think that is the biggest key to leading. You have to be honest, even when you're wrong. When you're wrong.

How honest is honest?

Yeah. Yeah.

For me, it's 100%. It's 100%. I know there's a variety of answers to that question, obviously, but I have to be 100 % truthful with my staff. And I also have to admit, hey, if I screwed up, I screwed up. And I have to admit that I screwed up. And if I do that, then that'll get my staff, okay, how I'd admit that he was wrong here. Then I gotta do the same if I get myself into that predicament.

that kind of best answers that question a little bit.

Okay, so general manager that I assume that also means you have food and bath, right?

Yep.

Food and Bev is a opportunity for additional margin and revenue within the industry. We are in Wisconsin. We tend not to follow beverage guidelines in many cases. So if you're going into an organization that has been run the way it's been run forever in a day and somebody's asking for a double tall and they're getting two and a half, three,

Mm-hmm.

you

Yep.

.

for their talls, how are you working to get them back into cadence so that margins and profitability and sustainability can be where it needs to be? How are you working on behavioral changes to also help the business thrive?

Mmm.

Basically, so let's say let's take a bottle of Tito's for a second and the cap basically if I pour pour the drink it basically Measures that shot so it automatically okay pour pour pour and then it stops Pour again if you want to double pour pour pour that stops. So basically What we do is we try to avoid all those situations by executing the little stuff. Here you go It's already measured for you. All you got to do is pour. That's it So that's kind of the piece that

What if they just pop the top off?

That's why we got cameras. You know, the owners will keep an eye on that. And then the other thing too is, when I first, again, transferred from Milwaukee to Boston, my goal was, hey, what's your favorite drink? What do you guys like to drink? What do you guys want on tap? What do you guys like for your liquor? Ask those questions. And the more I ask those questions, you know, make the members happy to come out.

Hahaha!

you

have a beer, have a drink after the round and you know they're drinking their stuff that they want.

Alright, so what are the top three taps up at the club at Castle Rock? What are the top three taps?

You'd be surprised, so we got this brewery in Boston called Gravity Box. So we got like a Hillsboro, we got a bunch of these unknown brands that you would think of, some light leggers on there, which is nice. And then your traditional spot of cow, Coors Light, Miller Light. So yeah.

Okay, cool.

Interesting.

I'm dying to know one question though, Colin.

Have you ever said anything that you wish you could take back?

This morning, honestly, yes, this morning, actually. You got me good. You got me good. I got into a little bit of an argument this morning. we have our staff mowing on the back nine at around like, let's say 9.30, 10 o'clock. And I got tee time started out at 8.30, right? So I get a phone call at 10.45 and Brad, know, pace of play, know golf, right? So I got people turning after nine and headed to.

you

headed towards 10 T-Box and I got my staff giving me a call. They go, WTF Colin, what the hell is this? I'm trying to do my work. And I'm like, boys, it's 10 45 getting close to 11 o'clock. I had people teeing off on one's T-Box at eight 30. They're keeping up with their pace. What are you guys doing? So there was a little bit of an argument this morning that yeah, I had some choiceful words at the moment. I'm like,

I just, you I went up to him like, sir, I gave you two solutions and you're still giving me a complaint. What do want me to do? Uh, you know, Hey, you know, I'm trying to generate revenue. We're trying to pound rounds. Uh, I missed out on four to five weeks of revenue and you're going to complain about this. How about, know, how about we start a little bit earlier in the day? Um, so, you know, some words that I wish I could have taken out this morning, but now it's just like, you know what? Try to send a little bit of direct message. So.

you

So so calm people want to find you they want to maybe get better on the mental side of golf They want to maybe check out what casserole cast offer up in Boston. How do people find you get a hold of you? What do they do? Where do they connect with?

Yeah, go check out ctgolferformance.club. got my Facebook, ctgolferformancellc. And then to contact me, my phone number is 262-391-3921. And contact me if you have any inquiries or any questions, or if you're looking to play around out at Castle Rock Golf Course.

That's spectacular. Colin, thank you. Thank you for sharing all the stuff that you're going through, particularly from a younger person's perspective, because often we are blinded by our own perceptions, our own values. So I appreciate you taking the time to share with our audience today, even though it might be a tangible industry, but it's still an important piece because you are a very young gentleman with a great opportunity in front of you. And I am confident that you will surround yourself with the right people to be successful with it. So congratulations to you.

Excellent.

Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Thank you, Brad, and thank you, Steve, for having me on today.

Yeah, it's great to have you here.

Awesome. Thanks.