Quail Hollow’s Director of Professional golf is a unique position. A normal club would not have room for it on their organizational chart.
The PGA Tour’s Wells Fargo Championship has been held at the Charlotte club since 2003. It is now hosting the 2025 PGA Championship.
The club saw the opportunity to grow its presence in the sport and create a new position.
Adam Sperling, who is a self-deprecating golfer, still laughs at his new title.
“I thought the most important thing about the title was to make sure that no one can confuse me as a director or head professional,” said Sperling. He was appointed for the position in 2023 on January 31, following his successful tenure as the PGA Tour’s executive director for 2022 Presidents Cup held at Quail Hole Club last fall.
Sperling led the event to record sales of tickets, hospitality, and sponsorships. The 41-year old will now chart the future of professional golf at the club.
How can you improve on what is already the best?
John J. Harris opened Quail Hollow in 1961, after being encouraged by his friend Arnold Palmer. Quail Hollow was the host of the PGA Tour Kemper Open in Charlotte for less than two years following the opening of the clubhouse in 1967. The club hosted the World Seniors Invitational between 1980-1989, before the PGA Tour returned with the Wachovia Championship in 2003.
This week’s annual Tour Stop in Charlotte is special because it is one of 17 designated tournaments on the 2022-2023 PGA Tour Schedule. The purse will be $20 million, and PGA Tour stars like defending champion Max Homa and Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth are expected to attend. Quail Hollow has a contract to host the tournament through 2024. The PGA Championship will be held there from May 15-18, 2020.
Quail Hollow’s motto is Better to Best. Events at the club are riding high since the Tour returned in 2003. The PGA Championship of 2017 benefited from 15 years’ growth for the Tour in Charlotte and the Wells Fargo expanded on the PGA Championship. The Presidents Cup last year capitalized on both. With Sperling at its helm, Sperling hopes to grow the Wells Fargo once again.
If you keep changing people, it becomes difficult to connect the dots. Sperling said that it costs a lot to join a club. Since I arrived here, I’ve joked that you can’t get the best because you always go back to being better. How can you improve on the best? “I think the club has to be committed to having someone thinking about tournament golf 24 hours a day.”
Utility club
Sperling worked at Quail Hole for nine years before that. He was previously the director of operations for Monterey Peninsula Foundation where he managed the AT&T Pebble beach Pro-Am, the Pure Insurance Championship for PGA Tour Champions and a two-year stint in the Tour’s operations department.
It’s not by accident that no two days will be the same at his new job. Sperling’s experience in the past few months has been a challenge, but he is grateful for his prior experiences.
Sperling said, “If I had to compare it to anything, it was probably what brought my to the industry. It’s getting to work with so many different people, in so many different roles.” In my new role, I’m going to be asking everyone involved, “How can you help me? What can I make easier for you? What can I make your goals more achievable?
Sperling, in other words is a utility player. The same goes for the day-to-day routine of Sperling.
Sperling describes himself as someone who is driven and will always admit that he could have done more or better in any job. Like a high-school football coach, Sperling loves to read motivational quotes.
“Go alone if you want to move fast.” “If you want to go fast, go alone.” Sperling said, “I want to go faster and farther.” “If we continue to play golf month after month, week after week, and day after day, I would like to inspire everyone to do more than they ever thought possible at Quail hollow.”
Good to better and better to best.
