Doug Goubault

Director of Golf

Predator Ridge Resort

Okanagan Valley, BC

No Place like Home

Doug Goubault knows the secret to success in the golf business is to “define your focus.”

Few have defined it better, or refined it into an art form, than Goubault, a Victoria, B.C. native.

Goubault is the new director of golf at Predator Ridge Resort in B.C.’s beautiful Okanagan Valley.

This June, the resort will open up its second championship 18-holer, The Ridge, designed by Doug Carrick.

Joining its other course, The Predator, which has hosted two Skins Games, it’s an exciting but critical time in the history of one of B.C.’s most popular outdoor playpens.

Goubault was recruited because he’s more than qualified to work from the ground floor to make sure projects succeed.

The resort is one of Western Canada’s finest resorts, with 1,200 acres of immaculately groomed fairways, natural lakes and streams, rugged pine covered ridges and wheatgrass meadows. It’s spectacular in every sense.

You could say the same about Goubault’s rising career.

A business major (commerce), he is one of those rarities in the industry – a director of golf who isn’t a golf professional.

A first-rate amateur player, and captain of Team Canada at the World University Championships in North Ireland over a decade ago, he never felt the need to grab his pro card.

In fact, he may be part of a new breed – a businessman who works in the golf industry.

He was all business with Fairmont Hotels while in Mexico for the past eight years.

He started at the Princess Acapulco, before settling in at the Fairmont Mayakoba near Cancun.

The latter job began before the resort was even built, and the highlight was the organization and running of the Mayakoba Classic, the first PGA Tour stop played outside of the U.S. and Canada.

The event was first held in 2007, and Goubault was the go-to guy who brought the resort, the community of Cancun, and the PGA Tour together.

He remembers flying to PGA headquarters to sit in on secret meetings to discuss the possibilities of holding the event outside of the U.S.

Greg Norman, the course designer was also in on the planning, and his company, Greg Norman Productions, became a key player in organizing the tournament.

It was a thrilling time, said Goubault, who uses the world of experience he gained there for his new challenge in the B.C. interior.

He’s buzzed about this summer’s opening.

Recruited for the B.C. job has allowed him to come home and face the challenge of running a resort with big lodging, residential, and golf components.

He’ll operate Predator Ridge Resort under “the dual course model,” which is in keeping with his business training, put into practice over a decade with Fairmont Hotels.

“I love this kind of a challenge and I love new ideas,” he says.

Creating a memorable experience for each visitor to a resort is the key element to his job, he says. He learned that from his mentor Murray Blair, a former Fairmont executive, now with Global Golf Advisors.

Resort have one chance to “wow” their customers, he says.

A TaylorMade staffer for the past decade, he’s thrilled with the new equipment provided by the manufacturer. A big percentage of Predator Ridge’s pro shop business is TaylorMade. He very much likes the R9 driver, and has always been a fan of TaylorMade’s rentals clubs. He used them in Mexico and will do the same at Predator.

A new ‘Performance Centre’ and ‘Club Fitting Centre’ will be part of the resort experience this summer.

“It’s nice to be home,” he says.

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