When people who make their living in golf talk about their starts in the game, the stories are often about the parents who put a club in their hands for the first time or the PGA professionals who gave them their first lessons.
But for Genifer Gray, chief operating officer of Global Topgolf Venues, the basis for her rather heady position in the sport comes largely from the times the Georgia native stood on a kitchen stool as a little girl while her grandmother prepared meals for her family and later watched her mom and aunts do the same thing. Gray also set the table and watch dishes afterward.
“I only have one brother,” Gray said. “But my mom was one of 10 kids and my dad one of six. So I had lots of cousins, and there was a pretty big group whenever we gathered for meals.”
Hospitality always has been in her blood, she adds. And in many ways, those repasts – as well as the work Gray undertook later in life in restaurant and bars – fueled her interest in that industry and her rise from server to a COO of Topgolf, a division of Topgolf Callaway Brands that analyst Casey Alexander once described as “an imbedded growth engine,” so impressed was he with its financial performance.
Easygoing and engaging, Gray recently spoke with John Steinbreder about leaving the University of Georgia when she was 21 to start an eatery in Atlanta; her move when that enterprise failed to the restaurant company that then owned the On The Border and Maggiano’s chains; the successes by which she secured top executive positions with that concern before moving to Topgolf in April 2018; her love of cooking, traveling, music and college football; the reasons she considers a butterfly to be her spirit animal; and why she is grateful that she did not have to endure a “playing interview” when she was talking to Topgolf about a job there:
The golf and hospitality industries are very much alike. They’re all about serving and connecting people and making sure everyone is having a good time. That’s what we want to do at Topgolf: create joy and give people more ways to play and enjoy golf.
As kids, we learn everything through play, but when we become adults, the world seems to prevent us from having fun like that. Topgolf gives adults a way to play again. And I find that is great for kids, as well. I cannot tell you how many moms have told me that Topgolf is the only place where they can get their kids to put down their iPhones.
I studied hospitality management at the University of Georgia but left after three years to open a restaurant with two friends in Atlanta. It was called Coastal Café, and we kept it going for three years, even though we had no money and no idea of what we were doing. I learned a lot through that experience, though, and realized that I really enjoyed the hospitality business and liked being an entrepreneur.
I went to work after that as a bartender at On The Border, in 1998. Within a few months, I was opening restaurants for them. I opened about 20 and then moved to Dallas to help get their catering business off the ground. Three years later, I came back to Atlanta to manage a Maggiano’s Little Italy. Brinker International owned both chains, and over time I became something of a turnaround specialist for Maggiano’s. I moved 12 times in 20 years with that company. Eventually I became vice president of operations at Brinker and then COO of Maggiano’s.
Yes, I did move around a lot. I was always looking to take things to the next level and assume new roles. I was also the person who always said yes. But there was still a lot of continuity professionally, and I spent 20 years at one company with two of its brands.
I enjoyed the business, to be sure, and I liked taking care of others. It’s part of the deal growing up in a large Southern family.
I was also enthralled by ways food and drink connect people. Like music, art and sports. And I find it funny that everything I do now at Topgolf is geared around live music, which we have at our venues, as well as food, drink and sports.
I always wanted to do well in my job. That’s just my nature. But I also had a little bit of impostor syndrome for not having graduated from college. But I used it for fuel, to keep working hard and to succeed. What’s good about the restaurant business is that people can prosper in it even if they do not graduate from college.
I really enjoy playing at Topgolf venues. I try to do that once a week, at least. I like that I can play with people of all difficult skill levels and still have fun. Our CEO, Artie Starrs, for example, is a plus-2. But we can play games like Angry Birds and Jewel Jam together and have a great time doing so.
What kind of music do I like? Widespread Panic and REM, having lived in Athens, Georgia, during college, where they came from. The B-52s, too. Also Zac Brown, Jennifer Nettles and Outkast, all from Atlanta. I like hip-hop and R&B, as well.
As for sports, I root hard for the Georgia Bulldogs, especially in college football. And I loved seeing them win the national championship the past two years, live. I am a huge Braves fan and also like watching soccer on television. Golf as well.
I played team sports in school. Basketball and softball. I was also a cheerleader. That’s where I picked up my leadership style, and I try to apply that concept of teamwork to my job at Topgolf today.
I am not much of a golfer. I did not grow up playing. It was expensive. It was not very accessible. And it was an individual sport. But I play golf now. I love being out on a course. I love to walk and hit a few shots. But I am way too competitive to enjoy doing something I do not do very well. And I am not very good. I am much more of a Topgolf golfer than I am a green grass golfer.
And I really enjoy playing at Topgolf venues. I try to do that once a week, at least. I like that I can play with people of all difficult skill levels and still have fun. Our CEO, Artie Starrs, for example, is a plus-2. But we can play games like Angry Birds and Jewel Jam together and have a great time doing so.
I am also married to a golfer. She is a big-time player and just returned from a trip to St. Andrews, where she played all the courses.
I like butterflies. They are like my spirit animal. In life, we all go through changes, and the difficult times we endure often lead to something great and beautiful.
I cannot pick a favorite Topgolf venue, but we do have some really good ones. Like the one in Las Vegas, with 120 hitting bays and two pools. We describe it as being four floors of fun. We opened two new venues in Los Angeles last year, one of which, in El Segundo, has a 10-hole, par-3 grass course next door that is stadium lit and has loud music. You just need a wedge and a putter to play it. It’s a place for people to unpleat their khakis.
We also recently opened in Boise, Idaho, a prototype for smaller markets, with 60 bays and two floors. And it, too, is powered by Toptracer.
Several of our locations have mini-golf, and all of them have designated event spaces, which allows us to host any number of gatherings.
People at Topgolf had been calling me about going to work there for about 18 months before I finally met with them. I was very loyal to Brinker and very grateful with the many opportunities they had given me there. In fact, I did not even have a résumé when I first spoke to Topgolf, but I very quickly fell in love with the concept. And I loved the idea about creating more accessibility to golf while making it more diverse and more fun.
What keeps me going in my work? Bringing joy to the people who come to our venues. Mentoring and watching our employees grow and prosper in their jobs. Getting to lead an organization that is creating more accessibility to golf and bringing more people into the sport. It’s bigger than just providing someone with a burger, a beer and a game of golf.
No, I did not have to play golf with anyone during the interview process, thank God. The state of my game was that poor.
I do like to cook. Part of that comes from growing up in the South, because learning to cook is a rite of passage for girls there. I traveled a lot to Italy when I was at Maggiano’s and cooked all over that country. I also like to cook at Topgolf. Later this month, for example, I am doing a shrimp boil for about 40 members of my team. I’ve cooked at Topgolf venues openings, too, making things like biscuits and sausage gravy and macaroni and cheese.
I am also a bartender and make a pretty good hand-crafted cocktail.
What keeps me going in my work? Bringing joy to the people who come to our venues. Mentoring and watching our employees grow and prosper in their jobs. Getting to lead an organization that is creating more accessibility to golf and bringing more people into the sport. It’s bigger than just providing someone with a burger, a beer and a game of golf.
Those things get me amped up, and I also like how every day is a little bit different.
What has surprised me the most about working at Topgolf? Seeing the traditional golfer who is skeptical about what we have to offer fall in love with the experience. And I also like that people do not have to be a golfer to have fun at Topgolf. Whether kids or grandparents or a parent trying to teach a son or daughter to swing a club or a bunch of twentysomethings out for a night of fun, they always seem to find a way to have a good time with us.