There are times when Rick Guilbert wonders how it has all happened so fast.

Just over a year ago he was searching for a profession and a place in the golfing world. Today he’s head golf professional at the Club at Longleaf and happily establishing himself in the community.

It is no secret why Guilbert smiles a lot and laughs easily. He’s made the transition from unemployed in Spokane, Wash., to happily settled in the Sandhills.

“I worked for 20 years as a paramedic,” he said, “and I was burned out on that. I asked myself, ‘What do you like better than anything in the world?’ and the answer was golf.”

Guilbert was an accomplished golfer and knew people in the business, so he turned professional and found a job as an assistant at a club in Spokane. It was a busy course, but it was open only eight months of the year because of the cold winters. This gave him time to work on his game, and, at the age of 38, he decided he wanted to see just how far his golfing talents could take him.

“I knew what the climate was like in this area, and I wanted to come here, work on my game full-time and see if I had what it takes to play professionally,” he said. “I knew there were a lot of mini-tours in the area, and I figured it would be a good setting.”

There was irony in Guilbert’s arrival to the Sandhills, though.

“I got here just a few months before the big snow,” he said, laughing. “I thought, ‘What is this?’ I left Spokane to get away from the snow.”

Guilbert’s first stop was at Little River Golf Club, where he worked out a deal with head professional John Cleetwood.

“John gave me my first opportunity,” Guilbert said. “I worked at the range for use of the facility, and John gave me a lot of contacts in the area. But when I couldn’t break 80 from the back tees at Little River, I decided maybe I wasn’t cut out to be a Tour pro.

“The hospitality here has been overwhelming, though. I guess I’m like most people who come here and find things so different than where we’re from. Everyone is so easygoing, and the Carolina attitude is infectious. People aren’t afraid to say hello.”

Guilbert joined Longleaf as an assistant in November of 1999 and was named head professional Jan. 1, 2001, replacing Dan DiCarlo, who was marrying and moving to Bluffton, S.C., near Hilton Head to pursue a career in teaching the Natural Golf swing.

Guilbert’s assistant at Longleaf is Kirk Strong, who formerly worked under Tom Graber at Foxfire and also at Pinehurst Country Club and Midland Country Club before moving to Rhode Island for a time.

Longleaf is Guilbert’s first professional job at a club with members, so he’s involved in a learning process.

“I’m still trying to find my niche here,” he said. “I’ve only been in the business for five years, and I find that Longleaf leads me as much as I want to guide it. A lot of the members have been here for a long time.

“You have to be really flexible at a club with members that also caters to public play. You have to balance the members’ demands and the public’s demands. You have to make it so that the members feel the club is their home, but you also have to make visitors feel welcome.

“Golfers in this area are fortunate that there is still an availability of tee times. Most of the time they can call up on the day they want to play and get on the course. It wasn’t like that in Spokane. It wasn’t uncommon to call and find the course booked up for the weekend.

“I’ve spent some time in Hilton Head, and the situation there is similar. They have a lot of courses, but they’re packed in and it’s congested. You have a 10-mile trip in Hilton Head, and it takes you 45 minutes to get there.”

Guilbert doesn’t try to hide a fondness for his adopted home. Not only is he pleased at having a job at an upper-scale Dan Maples-designed course, he’s also appreciative of the tradition that makes the area special.

“Some of the greatest designers in the world have built courses here, and this area just offers things that Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head don’t have,” he said. “This place, in my opinion, is still a hidden gem. Here, the 5 p.m. traffic rush is a couple of minutes’ wait at the traffic circle.

“You’ve got some of the best courses in the world in an area that has hosted several major golf events. And yet, if you want to play in the afternoon, you probably don’t even need to make a tee time. Members here just come into the pro shop and go to the first tee.”

That’s why Guilbert and his wife, Eileen, plan to make their permanent home here.