Club House Europe Issue 8

CLUBHOUSE EUROPE

Sign up for the CMAE’s latest career-building courses – Page 8

ISSUE 8

Junior members – how to keep them club-crazy Sensual audit – exceeding expectations one sense at a time Olympic success – clubs prove a driving force

WELCOME

Welcome

Contributors

Welcome to the latest edition of Clubhouse Europe.

A lot has happened in the world since our last edition, most notably Brexit and the Olympics. Both of these major events are bound to have an impact on clubs both now and in the future.

As with any political issue, confidence can drop and often the economy with it, so clubs need to keep an even keener eye on what’s going on and what trends are developing. Beyond the economy itself, the potential challenge that many of our clubs could face is sourcing and retaining talented staff if European immigration laws are tightened; many of our hospitality positions are filled with team members from abroad. We could also witness a reduction in member applications for UK clubs from the financial and industrial sectors should these companies move away from their UK bases.

At CMAE we encourage Club Managers to network as much as they can, as during these meetings you can pick up valuable information on what other clubs are doing to prepare themselves for changes in legislation or member preferences and buying habits. And, of course, it’s inspirational, not just problem solving.

Mike Sean Braidwood CCM Ferris

Karen Foreman

David Foster

Jonathan Hardy

Rob Hill

Marc Newey CCM

Leigh Ann Ogilvie

Caroline Scoular

Nick Sellens

Russell Stebbings

Jill Slingsby

Talking about inspiration, the Olympics certainly provided that. They gave us a great deal of positivity and I’m sure inspired millions of people to engage with sport again, which can only be a positive thing. Whether it’s bringing people back to their old sport or introducing youngsters to new ones, it’s all good news for clubs.

Of course keeping up with these shifting trends in sporting participation is critical, and I would encourage all clubs to re-examine their total membership package to increase dwell time and thereby increase secondary spend. Clubs within clubs are becoming increasingly popular, so if you can turn some unused clubhouse space into a space for a popular new activity you’re creating a great chance to engage with a new market without necessarily great expense.

On the topic of new ideas and new markets, by the time you read this we will be hosting the inspirational Business Management Institute (BMI) International Conference in London. Last held here in 2008, the Conference has attracted a large number of leading club managers from America and Europe. It’s been a great experience for the Working Group to pull together the educational and social programme for the Conference and I must give thanks to David Balden and the London and Home Counties Region for their organisational skills. What has also pleased me is how many impressive speakers on club management and leadership the CMAE has been able to provide from Europe. This helped to lure over our American friends, keen to learn more from their CMAE colleagues across the pond. All in all, another great week of learning and networking in one of the top world capitals.

Finally, in the Spring CMAE launched its new five-year strategic plan to see the Association grow and prosper. Your Board has implemented initiatives to improve member engagement and increase participation on our excellent MDP courses.

With your help I am sure this positive momentum will continue.

Editor Caroline Scoular caroline@alchemymedia.co.uk Design David Foster Editorial Nick Sellens Sales and Marketing Manager Leigh-Ann Ogilvie Circulation Jonathan Hardy Administration Debbie Goddard Debbie.Goddard@cmaeurope.eu Publishing Director Sean Ferris sean@alchemymedia.co.uk;

Clubhouse Europe is published by Alchemy Contract Publishing Ltd. ACP Gainsborough House 59/60 Thames Street Windsor Berkshire SL4 1TX United Kingdom t. +44 (0)1753 272022 f. +44 (0)1753 272021 e.info@alchemycontractpublishing.co.uk www.alchemycontractpublishing.co.uk

CMAE The Club Managers Association of Europe Office 8 Rural Innovation Centre Unit 169 Avenue H Stoneleigh Park Warwickshire CV8 2LG United Kingdom t. +44 (0) 247 669 2359 f. +44 (0) 247 641 4990

Thank you for your continued support.

Marc Newey CCM

The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the publishers or the CMAE. Clubhouse Europe does not verify the claims made by advertisers regarding their products.

President, Club Managers Association of Europe

CLUBHOUSE EUROPE 3

Contents 6 News round-up News, views and events – latest news on CMAE’s Educational Programmes and dates for the diary.

12

10 Industry Bulletin Supplier news – who’s doing what and why.

12 Do you love.golf?

How a pioneering coaching programme supported by Syngenta is aiming to drive female participation at golf clubs.

14 Coaching plans How well do you know your members? And more importantly, how will you find new ones? Sport England reports.

17 Clubs go for Gold There were 39 disciplines and 11,000 athletes in the Rio Games. And what did they all have in common? They all belonged to clubs.

17

32 Social Media Awards – call for entries

20 Attracting and keeping junior members

The Hospitality Social Media Awards (HSMA) are seeking out UK-based CMAE members who are busy using social media to engage with members.

Having trouble getting new, committed juniors onboard? Time to work on the club experience.

34 Social media – best practice Good quality and useful content, targeted followers and relationship-building are all key to good social media practice.

24 The art of listening Just how well do you understand your members’ needs and expectations? Could you be spending time and money in the wrong areas? Read on.

26 World of Leading Golf

36 Moderation is the new cool

20

The World of Leading Golf represents renowned golf clubs across the globe. Now, it’s become an affiliate of the CMAE.

39 Sport Management at Bournemouth University

28 Sensory auditing

Industry placements continue to be par for the course for Bournemouth’s students.

Lessons in sensory auditing and exceeding expectations one sense at a time.

42 Tribal Tuesday

30 Growing tribes Growing membership from scratch is a big challenge. Golf Genius offers up a fascinating success story from Azerbaijan.

31 Tennis on trial Should female tennis players be paid as much as men when their matches are routinely shorter than men’s?

31

Recent research has shown that 75% of millennials are now limiting their alcohol intake on nights out. Here’s why.

30

Russell Stebbings, General Manager at Surrey’s Farleigh Golf Club, explains how his club is putting entertainment first in their marketing and membership programmes.

For more information on any of these articles or to contribute to our next issue, contact Editor Caroline Scoular. e. caroline@alchemymedia.co.uk t. +44 (0)1753 272022 For more information on the CMAE, its events and/or courses contact Debbie Goddard. e. Debbie.Goddard@cmaeurope.eu t. +44 (0) 247 669 2359

4 CLUBHOUSE EUROPE

Circle Golf, the UK’s premier Golf Club Insurance Facility, providing indemnity to over 700 Golf Clubs and Courses in the UK. Our market-leading contract Par Excellence insures many of the oldest and most prestigious golfing bodies in the world, offering unrivalled levels of cover and exclusive additional services.

Circle Ludus specialise in the insurance of sports clubs throughout the UK, formed on the same principles as Circle Golf, we bring expert advice and assistance to all types of sporting organisations. From ensuring the correct cover for your playable surfaces to providing the management with all necessary support and indemnity.

At Circle Club we understand the needs of Private Member Clubs, we recognise the management requirements and unique insurance needs, that’s why we specialise in the insurance of such organisations.

Circle Affinity, Circle Golf, Circle Ludus and Circle Club are all trading styles of Circle Insurance Services PLC, a chartered insurance broker, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Circle Affinity 71 Berkeley Street, Glasgow, G3 7DX Tel. 0141 242 4861 Proud Sponsors of the CMAE Educational Programme Throughout the United Kingdom

News from the frontline Middle East members celebrate success

Management Development Programme Part 1

The prestigious Terre dei Consoli Golf Club in Italy is the venue for this comprehensive training programme which delves into CMAE’s 10 Core Competencies.

The course is suited to a broad range of senior club personnel, from Greenkeepers and Club Managers/Secretaries, to Committee members, PGA Professionals and Club Stewards.

At the end of the week, CMAE delegates will have an excellent grasp of the basics in every area of club business, and will have established a valuable network of support for their career.

Presenters include Sharron Rutledge, Bill Sanderson, Mike Braidwood CCM, Kevin Fish CCM and Duncan Ritchie.

Venue: Terre dei Consoli Golf Club, Monterosi (VT), Italy.

Date: November 7-11, 2016.

Cost: €910.

CPD Credits: 30.

• Bookings via Marco Antonangeli at m.antonangeli@golfclubbologna.it

CCM exam deadline approaches December 17 is the final deadline to register for the CMAE’s Certified Club Manager (CCM) exam on Thursday March 16, 2017. For full details and eligibility criteria visit www.cmaeurope.org/education/ certified-club-manager

History in the making CMAE member Brett Merrell made CMAE history during July’s MDP course in Dubai when he notched up a hole in one during a fun Par 3 golf event at Dubai Creek and Yacht Club. Sadly he didn’t gain any professional development points for that, but he did get a round of applause and a bottle of beer!

6 CLUBHOUSE EUROPE

The CMAE recently presented three Middle East Golf industry professionals with their Club Management Diplomas at the Dubai Club, Dubai after they successfully completed their end of programme exams.

The recipients were Tim Neil, Director of Golf at Al Badia Golf Club,Dubai, Andrea Faldella, Sales and Membership Manager at the Els Club, Dubai and Mohammed Attallah, Golf Business Development Consultant, Golf 1457, Egypt.

All three had attended MDP Parts 1 and 2 over a two year period.

CMAE Director of Education Mike Braidwood CCM said: “It always gives me pleasure to hand out the Diploma certificates to industry peers. I have seen them work incredibly hard during their time at MDP, and then apply that knowledge in their clubs. These people are changing the perception of club management in our industry, and given the number of clubs now appointing trained and qualified managers, others are taking note.”

Left to right: CMAE’s Director of Education Michael Braidwood CCM, Tim Neil, Andrea Faldella, Mohammed Attallah and Chris May, CEO, Dubai Golf.

Mohammed Attallah CMDip said: “I am extremely happy to have reached the first milestone in the CMAE educational pathway, in becoming a CMDip. Receiving my certificate in Dubai in front of distinguished company, has inspired me to continue on this adventure of learning, and reinforced my passion to develop golf even further in the Middle East.”

CLUB MANAGERS JOIN FORCES Nearly 130 Golf Club Managers from Spain and Portugal came together at Spain’s La Herreria RCG for the 7th technical conference, organised by Spain’s Association of Golf Managers (AEGG). Salvador Alvarez Escobar, President of the AEGG said: “We have passed some very important milestones this year.

We have over 200 associates with several Portuguese colleagues joining forces and we are also part of the Club Managers Association of Europe. This means that we are going in the right direction, being a cohesive group that each day has more force and one voice.”

CMAE courses and activities – 2016-2017 calendar There’s an action-packed calendar of career-promoting events and courses coming up. CMAE members are advised to register early.

• Visit www.thecmaeurope.org for more details.

Date Course Location Host 2016 October 24 MDP 1 Stirling, Scotland Scottish Golf Ltd. (SGL) October 31 MDP 2 Warwick, England LHC / Midlands Regions November 7 MDP 1 Rome, Italy AITG / FIG November 21 MDP Food & Beverage Mangement Marbella, Spain CMAE November 28 MDP Golf Management St Andrews, Scotland SGL 2017 January 23 MDP Strategy & Leadership Edinburgh, Scotland CMAE January 30 MDP 1 Warwick, England LHC / Midlands Regions February 20 MDP 1 Dublin, Ireland CGI March 3 MDP 2 Stirling, Scotland SGL May 28 MDP 1 Dubai, UAE Dubai Golf May 28 MDP 2 Dubai, UAE Dubai Golf October 23 MDP 1 Stirling, Scotland SGL To register your interest in attending any of the above courses please contact debbie.goddard@cmaeurope.eu

CMAE credit tracking system launches The Club Managers Association of Europe (CMAE) is delighted to announce the launch of its members’ education and association credit tracking system.

The on-line system allows all CMAE members to log their education and association activities, which in turn will keep them up to date on how many Continuous Professional Development (CPD) credits they have.

Members are encouraged to invest in their professional development on an annual basis. The criteria to sit the coveted Certified Club Manager (CCM) exam is a

total of 300 Education and Association Credits and this needs to be maintained with a further 120 credits every five years to retain the qualification.

CMAE’s Director of Education, Mike Braidwood, CCM said: “This is a valuable tool for members and especially valuable to those wishing to sit the CCM exam. I also think it will give members a great deal of satisfaction when they can review online how much they have invested in their education and personal development. We will work hard with our members to keep their records updated and there is an easy to follow user guide.”

Chipping in

2016 bursaries announced Alberto Iglesias

PGA Pro achieves CCM status David Gemmell, Head PGA Professional for Aberdour Golf Club in Fife, is the latest club Professional to achieve Certified Club Manager (CCM) status after passing his CCM exam.

David now joins an elite band of 36 Club Industry professionals in Europe who have achieved CCM status.

“I am extremely proud and honoured to achieve CCM status, especially at the first attempt,” said David. “The pathway started for me back in 2012 on MDP 1 and from then on I have become an education junkie!

I have done all five MDP courses, attended World Conference and attended numerous regional and national seminars.”

But it’s not just about the education, he added: “It’s as much about the network of friends and colleagues that you become part

of, when you join the MDP tribe, which is invaluable.”

In addition to David’s role as Head Professional at Aberdour Golf Club, he is very active with the CMAE regional committee in Scotland, sits on the PGA Scottish Region committee and has just completed a two year term as a PGA Business Relationship Officer (BRO).

CMAE’s Education Policy Board Chairman, James Burns CCM, said: “I am delighted for David. He has put education at the forefront of his career path and to add CCM to his PGA qualifications is a great achievement. I am sure this will inspire many more from the PGA Professional sector to come to our MDP courses to further enhance their existing knowledge.”

STOP PRESS...

Call for entries – UK Social Media Awards CMAE member clubs in the UK are entitled to enter the first ever Hospitality Social Media Awards. If you're proud of your social media – from Facebook to twitter and from web sites to electronic newsletters – enter these new Awards using the form which accompanies this issue. Alternatively enter online at www.hsma.biz • For more information turn to pages 32-33 in this issue.

Gabriel Sota

The annual Joe Perdue Bursaries have been announced for 2016 following assessment of 22 applications from 13 European countries.

The recipients are Cathy Kobiela, Pitreavie Golf Club, Scotland (World Conference Bursary; £1,600), Gabriel Sota, Club de golf Ramón Sota, Spain and Alberto Iglesias, Font del Llop Golf Resort, Spain (joint recipients of the Management Development Programme Bursary; £1,000 each).

The Joe Perdue Bursary was established in 2015 following Joe’s untimely death. Joe, a pioneer of club management education in Europe, was instrumental in helping CMAE to establish its sought after Management Development Programmes.

The key selection criteria of candidates was: 1. Their previous support of CMAE and its education programmes.

2. Their goals in attending an MDP Course within the next 12 months.

3. The funding already available for their CPD. 4. The impact which the successful candidate will make upon their colleagues and their area of influence.

Cathy Kobiela

Nigel Cartwright, CEO of the European Club Education Foundation (ECEF) which administers the bursaries, said: “The quality of applications this year was exceptional and the panel had a tough time making their selections. However we did have three outstanding candidates in Cathy, Gabriel and Alberto.

“Cathy has made a tremendous impact at her club following her participation in MDP 1 and 2 and her Diploma submission was of a very high standard on a challenging subject matter. Both Gabriel and Alberto have completed four out of the five MDPs that we offer and are now preparing to sit the CCM exam, so access to the final MDP in their pathway is vital preparation for the exam. The ECEF is delighted to offer these bursaries to very worthy candidates and in the honour of Joe who did so much to establish our education pathway.”

The ECEF is the fund-raising arm of the CMAE. Created in 2011, its mission is to provide financial support for Club Managers’ professional development through education, training and research initiatives.

• For more details visit www.cmaeurope.org CLUBHOUSE EUROPE 7

News from the frontline Dates for the diary Have you registered for the next tranche of MDP courses yet? To register your interest in attending any of these courses please contact debbie.goddard@cmaeurope.eu.

NOVEMBER 21-25, 2016 MDP Food & Beverage Management Part of the MDP Pathway, this programme is applicable to clubs with all levels of turnover as well as those employing contract caterers.

Delegates will develop their Food & Beverage knowledge, learning how to raise standards in front of house operations. This includes controlling costs, driving sales and working with their teams to achieve better results. Menu trends, service delivery, legal requirements, creating and marketing themed events and training sessions for clubhouse staff will all be covered.

During the week, attendees will be working on creating an action plan based on their learning and networking during the course of the week with the aim of returning to their club with the tools to implement short, medium and long term improvements.

Delegates will also receive hands on kitchen experience at the world class Les Roches Hospitality School and will spend time with Valderrama’s General Manager Javier Reviriego. CMAE member Javier will host a club tour at the world renowned Valderrama Golf Club and present to the delegates on the delivery of exceptionally high hospitality standards.

Venue: Andalucia Plaza Hotel/Les Roches International School of Hotel Management.

Marbella, Spain. Valderrama Golf Club, Sotogrande, Cadiz, Spain.

Cost: £1,100 + VAT (£1,205 + VAT for non CMAE members).

CPD Credits: 30.

NOVEMBER 28 – DECEMBER 2, 2016 Golf Operations Course The MDP Golf Operations course is taking place at ‘the Home of Golf’ St Andrews from November 28 to December 2, 2016. The course is aimed at Managers with particular responsibility for successful golf operations, including Golf Club Managers and 8 CLUBHOUSE EUROPE

Secretaries, Committee Members and PGA Professionals. The course forms part of the CMAE Management Development Programme and covers the following areas: • Golf tournament operations.

• Working effectively with your Course Manager.

• An understanding of turf maintenance challenges.

• Understanding expensive tools in the greenkeeping trade.

• Working effectively with your Golf Professional.

• Understanding of retail and fleet management issues.

• The business of golf tuition at your club.

• The history and continued evolution of the game.

• The rules of golf the Club Manager needs to know.

• Principles of addressing slow play.

• The fundamentals and the myths of golf technology.

• Benefits of environmental & sustainability compliance.

• The missed opportunities of customer service in golf.

• Principles of yield management in maximising tee usage.

• Putting it all together.

Delegates will also enjoy additional evening tours of the famous golfing town.

Venue: St Andrews, Scotland Cost: £1,100 + VAT. CPD Credits: 30.

JANUARY 23-27, 2017 Strategy and Leadership☺ This MDP 3 Strategy and Leadership course is aimed at Managers and Secretaries from all types of Clubs who are keen to enhance their management style and develop their leadership qualities.

The responsibilities and characteristics needed to exert the appropriate levels of power and influence will be explored and particular attention will be paid to working effectively with Committees as well as mentoring, developing and leading the staff team. Delegates will also be invited to review their knowledge in all competency areas required to achieve success at their club and

Strategy & Leadership, Edinburgh (January 21-27).

in their career. A key component of the course is Lumina Traits and Leadership Assessment. Lumina Learning has a global network of practitioners specialising in organisational change and long-term improvement, helping organisations transform their performance by transforming their people. They are passionate about improving personal effectiveness and take a humanistic approach, treating delegates as ‘human beings’ not ‘human doings’.

Education sessions will include: • Management to Leadership model.

• Nature of Leadership.

• Leadership Traits.

• Results-based Accountability.

• Situational Leadership.

• Negotiation Techniques.

• Committee Strategy Session.

• Member Participation Study.

• Managerial Accounting.

• Ethics.

• Effective Member Communications.

• Lumina Spark.

• Advanced Marketing and Demographics.

• Mentoring.

• Management Principles in Swim & Gym Facilities.

• Professional Image.

• Lumina Leader.

Venue: MacDonald Holyrood Hotel, Edinburgh.

Cost: Approx. £1,100 + VAT. CPD Credits: 30.

JANUARY 30 – FEBRUARY 3, 2017 Management Development Programme 1 The first training course on this Management Development Programme will help Club Managers and Secretaries to comprehensively explore their profession.

The hands-on approach is ideal for those recently appointed to their post and those wanting to enhance their knowledge of all 10 core competencies in order to better serve their clubs and committees in every

area of the club business.

1. Club Governance.

2. Accounting and Financial Management.

3. Strategy and Leadership.

4. Golf, Sports and Recreation Management.

5. Facilities Management.

6. Membership and Marketing.

7. Human Resources & Professional Resources.

8. Interpersonal Skills.

9. Food and Beverage Management.

10.Statutory Compliance.

Venue: The Radcliffe, Warwick University.

Date: January 30 - February 3, 2017.

Cost: £995 + VAT.(£1,100 + VAT for non CMAE members).

CPD Credits: 30.

MARCH 6-10, 2017 Management Development Programme 2 This course will help Greenkeepers, Club Managers/Secretaries, Committee Members and PGA Professionals to improve their management and critical thinking skill levels including time management, negotiation, team building and conflict resolution. The course is applicable to all levels of Club Manager who wish to enhance their knowledge in areas including managerial accounting, club technology and social media, food and beverage trends, environmental requirements/ opportunities and business writing. There will be particular focus on developing the strategic plan for your club, and ensure that your team is adequately managed, supported and motivated.

Venue: Stirling Court Hotel, Stirling, Scotland.

Cost: £1,200 + VAT. CPD Credits: 30.

CONTACT DETAILS For more information and bookings visit www.cmaeurope.org.

London events can also be accessed at http://www.cmae-lhc.uk/whats-on/

JOIN THE WINNING TEAM

Alchemy Contract Publishing Communications specialists and proud publisher of Clubhouse Europe t. +44(0) 1753 272022 e. info@alchemycontractpublishing.co.uk

INDUSTRY BULLETINS

CMAE signs two year deal The CMAE has signed a new two year partnership with Golf Genius, a global supplier of golf event management software.

Golf Genius Software provides affordable, fully-featured cloud-based software for organising and managing golf events, leagues and trips. The software is designed to save time and eliminate hassles for Club Managers, PGA Professionals, Event Organisers, League Managers, amateur and professional associations and trip captains, enabling them to deliver a greatly enhanced experience to their golfers.

“We now provide increased levels of engagement for millions of golfers around the world and our recent collaboration with the USGA is testament to the quality of the software,” said Craig Higgs, Director of International Sales. “We’re delighted to be joining forces with CMAE in helping inform their members of the benefits of our

Tolchards expands software and ongoing innovations. This will enable them to provide more professional events for their members and guests.”

CMAE’s President Marc Newey CCM said: “We’re delighted to have Golf Genius on board as one of our valuable partners.

Their products will truly enhance our member clubs’ experience, whilst supporting our belief that Managers should be spending more time with members rather than dealing with admin back of house. Golf Genius’s software is a winwin; a better member experience and more time for the Managers to be with their members. “ • www.golfgenius.com

Drinks company Tolchards has signed a new 10 year lease on its Petersfield depot. Along with the Bridgwater and Newton Abbot sites this will allow the company to grow sales in existing and new trading regions, in-line with Tolchards’ ambition to be the fastest growing family owned drinks company in the country.

Managing Director of the CMAE corporate partner, Jim Mardell said: “Focusing on our existing customers and providing a better and more personal service than our competitors remains the key plan in our growth strategy.”

Michele Fry will be looking after new and existing customers in Bath, Bristol and Gloucestershire whilst Rupert Cooper will be covering the South Devon region.

Tolchards’ website and bi-monthly Headlines brochure will become a central hub for the business, offering timesaving online ordering, trade information on new drinks, offers and • Visit the company on Facebook, Instagram and twitter or call 01626 333426.

EGCOA Conference

Toro introduces all-new Workman GTX utility vehicle Toro has announced the launch of the all-new Workman® GTX utility vehicle, one of the most versatile grounds and turf crossover vehicles in its class. Combining superior comfort, control and versatility, the Workman GTX provides all the features to help tackle a multitude of tasks on and around the golf course.

Clubs are able to select from several models to match the right vehicle to their specific needs. Among these options are four- and two-seat configurations, a variety of front- and rearattachments for garbage cans, hose reels or walk spreaders, and a number of flatbed options to haul even the bulkiest materials.

With over 300 configurations to fit almost any application, the Workman GTX is a highly versatile and cost-effective machine.

“This simply superior utility vehicle is the best in the industry,” says Greg Lawrence, senior marketing manager at Toro. “The versatility of the GTX allows for a number of different jobs to be completed with a single vehicle, while also delivering on performance and operator comfort.”

Operation of the Workman GTX is simple, thanks to an 10 CLUBHOUSE EUROPE

automotive-grade rack and pinion steering system that provides more control and easier steering to allow operators to focus on the task at hand and get the job done faster. In addition, classexclusive coil-over shocks surround the vehicle and provide improved suspension for a smoother ride that minimizes operator fatigue.

The Workman GTX comes with low maintenance hydraulic brakes that require no cable adjustment and less pedal force for a reliable stop every time. This practical and comfortable vehicle comes with either the 429 cc gasoline or 48-volt A/C electric model. At just 47-inches (119 cm) wide, its narrow frame also allows access for working in tight areas with ease.

Additionally, a powder-coated frame and underbody, paired with a strong exterior, make the Workman GTX extremely durable and ready for the demands of daily use. Superintendents, grounds managers and operators alike can depend on the durability and exceptional performance of this innovative new vehicle from Toro, says the company.

• For more information, visit www.toro.com

The European Golf Course Owners Association’s (EGCOA’s) 11th Golf Business Conference Europe takes place at the Novotel Amsterdam, Schiphol Airport, on November 2-4. This year’s theme is The BIG Opportunity, and aims to develop new ways to take advantage of the big social, economic and marketing opportunities that golf is currently facing.

Speakers include Nienke Bloem and Elisa Gaudet.

Nienke Bloem is a Customer Experience Management expert who will help delegates to understand the importance of customer journey strategies and how to implement them within daily practice, to enhance the retention of the new golfer and improve relations with long standing members.

Elisa Gaudet is President of Executive Golf International and a Founding Partner of Women’s Golf Day, Elisa will demonstrate what the most undervalued financial factor to any club is – women as economic influencers. Elisa will show that this is an opportunity not to be missed and explain how clubs can see immediate benefits through making the most of this undervalued resource which is already available to them.

The EGCOA is a CMAE-allied association.

• www.egcoaconference.eu

The next level of Club Management is in your hands

The CMAE Management Development Programme is a series of courses and learning opportunities designed not only for those working as club general managers, club secretaries and in other senior positions at sports, city and corporate clubs today, but also for those who aspire to these roles in the future.

The CMAE has developed a structured and comprehensive education programme for club managers GSZIVMRK ½ve extensive classroom-based courses. Can you afford not to take it to the next level?

Visit the CMAE website for details of the dates and venues of upcoming MDP courses.

www.cmaeurope.org/mdp

ADVERTORIAL

Do you love.golf?

How a pioneering coaching programme supported by Syngenta is aiming to drive female participation at golf clubs.

I

t’s a sunny late afternoon in Suffolk and a group of women have gathered at Fynn Valley Golf Club for their weekly coaching session with PGA Professional Alastair Spink.

There’s lots of chatter and laughter as the women, many of whom have only recently taken up golf, wander past the driving range and straight to the 1st tee of the club’s 9-hole short course.

But today is different. Carin Koch, Ladies European Tour professional, former Solheim Cup Captain and LPGA winner, has dropped by to see Alastair Spink’s pioneering female golf coaching programme love.golf in action.

Carin, who is Golf Ambassador for Syngenta, the company that is supporting the nationwide roll-out

12 CLUBHOUSE EUROPE

of love.golf and publisher of the groundbreakingmarket research report ‘The Opportunity to Grow Golf: Female Participation (2014)’, is interested to find out more about Alastair’s alternative approach to coaching, focused on learning through play on the course rather than practising skills on the driving range: “I’m very glad to be here at Fynn Valley today and I’m looking forward to my first session of love.golf.

I’ve heard a lot about the ladies, they have a lot of fun in their sessions so I can’t wait to meet them, talk to them and follow them today.”

Following a successful pilot programme at 12 golf courses in autumn 2015, love.golf is being introduced at up to 25 golf courses in 2016.

The PGA Professional at each venue receives training from Alastair Spink, earning Continuous Professional Development Points (CPDs) from the PGA. Alastair also meets with the club manager to ensure to explain what love.golf customers are looking for in line with Syngenta’s market research and his own academic research into gender discrimination in sport. “love.golf is very different to traditional golf coaching,” explains Alastair.

“It’s about learning together and getting out onto the golf course as soon as possible, not spending hours hitting golf balls on the range. The teaching approach is also very different with coaches avoiding lots of technical interventions and instead

Former Solheim Cup Captain Carin Koch visits love.golf session

offering on-course guidance and encouragement.

“The market research we conducted during the love.golf pilot programme shows that the women who participated said they enjoyed the sense of togetherness, the relaxed format, unexpected fun and felt their confidence was boosted by the experience.”

Research following the 2015 pilot programme also shows a high retention rate. In Alastair’s experience, having introduced more than 300 women to golf at Fynn Valley, customers can also progress to full membership.

Alastair Spink continued: “Importantly, the PGA Professional benefits directly because they are making a good hourly rate from the six-week programme, up to £84 per hour, while the customer is happy to pay £95 or more for a credible, branded product that meets the specific needs of women and gives them an experience they consider good value for money.

“The golf course also stands to benefit. In our pilot programme, the venues that went out of their way to welcome their new female customers, in line with the findings of Syngenta’s market research, saw them gain from spending in the clubhouse and pro shop. A large proportion of customers expressed a high level of satisfaction with the programme and indicated they would continue with follow-on sessions and events, potentially making them longterm customers.”

Syngenta: unlocking golf’s true potential love.golf is being supported by Syngenta as part of the global company’s ongoing commitment to ‘unlocking golf’s true potential’.

Focusing on course playability, operational productivity and golf business sustainability, Syngenta is working with club managers to introduce industry-leading initiatives including:

• Operation Pollinator: encouraging pollinating insects by creating wildflower areas. love.golf follows on from a series of market research reports commissioned by Syngenta to promote and drive participation at club level, to benefit the long-term sustainability of the golf industry.

Simon Elsworth, Syngenta Head of Turf & Landscape EAME, said: “The extension of the love.golf pilot programme to up to 25 UK venues in 2016 is the logical next step in transitioning our market research into positive action in the golf industry.

“Alastair’s unique approach and academic research chimes with the findings of our female participation surveys. The purpose of extending this pilot programme, and sharing the results with the golf industry, is to demonstrate how a customer centric approach benefits business sustainability and successfully retains customers for the long term.”

CASE STUDY: HAVERHILL GOLF CLUB Among the first venues to sign up for love.golf was Haverhill Golf Club.

PGA Professional Ollie Rush, hosted 10 women on his pilot programme in autumn and his first two courses in 2016 sold out. “love.golf gives me a brand to back up my coaching, as well as a support mechanism, and has given

me the confidence to take that step back and let my students discover and explore solutions for themselves.

“With the love.golf brand name behind me, as well as some of the coverage in the local press, I’ve also been able to start conversations with a number of well-known companies and organisations which haven’t previously been receptive.”

View from the top Back at Fynn Valley, Carin Koch is walking round with the love.golfers, as they call themselves, talking to them about their experiences of their new sporting pastime.

One new golfer expresses the views of many when she tells Carin that she feels more comfortable without men around and enjoys the friendly, lighthearted competition between the women.

“It’s been a fun afternoon,” explains Carin. “I didn’t really know what to expect. It’s lovely to see how much fun the ladies are having with golf and how much they’re encouraging each other out on the course. A lot of them are so much more comfortable being around other women than being around their husbands or other men that they know, because they feel pressured. I think it’s a great way to get women into the game” • To watch a video of Carin’s visit to the love.golf session at Fynn Valley GC, visit: https://youtu.be/ y_GrjdhwJ3w

INFORMATION • For more information about love.golf or to find out about introducing love.golf at your club, visit www.love.golf or contact Alastair Spink at alastair@love.golf or call 07748 653002.

• To download a free copy of Syngenta’s market report ‘The Opportunity to Grow Golf: Female Participation’, visit: www.unlockinggolfstruepotential.co.uk

MEDIA ENQUIRIES • Ultimate Fairways: improving turf quality while reducing labour and costs.

• Water management: maintaining playability even under stress conditions.

Lily Hymes, Landmark Golf Marketing & Communications Tel: +44 (0) 1780 752790 Email: lily@landmark-media.com

< CLUBHOUSE EUROPE 13

SPORTS COACHING

Coaching plans –ridingthewaves How well do you know your members? And more importantly, how will you find new ones? Why people choose specific sports and how they access them is a major focus for sports body Sport England with learnings that cross borders.The story so far.

S

port England has been busy building a picture of when, where and how people want to access their sport, in order to create an informed and relevant Coaching Plan for England.

Working groups have already highlighted a number of the changes needed to provide an attractive and good-value coaching proposition. Now, the body is examining specific challenges which it believes must be met in order to grow participation. These include: • Defining the different coaching roles and functions.

• Understanding females who want to play and coach.

• Examining approaches to coach training.

• Considering methods for skilful deployment and ongoing support.

• Better understanding the role of technology to improve the customer and coach experience.

Crucially important to the outcome is examining how coaches can improve playing experiences and how to keep people playing. Mechanics for this include: • Understanding the needs and motivations of the individual.

14 CLUBHOUSE EUROPE

• Offering flexible coaching formats which fit people’s lifestyles.

• Applying emotional intelligence through activities.

• Committing to interaction with people who play between activity sessions.

• Recognising how digital tools can make sport’s experience more meaningful.

What can clubs do to help this process?

Whatever country you’re reading this in, the questions asked of English clubs stands as a relevant yardstick for all clubs across the globe.

When you talk with colleagues from across your organisation and the sector about supporting people to coach or be coached, think through the following questions: • What do you know about the customer journey for your target audience(s), and what sort of coaching will keep them coming back?

• Can you provide a profile of your coaching workforce, particularly regarding their motivation to coach and their skills from the world beyond sport?

• Could people who want to coach your sport be

offered a simpler and more attractive path?

• Where will you look for people to coach, mentor and train your workforce over the next five years?

• What research will you invest in to identify the coaching behaviours that have the greatest impact on playing behaviours of your priority audience?

• What plans do you have to collaborate with other sports organisations with whom you have shared priority audiences?

• What are the digital tools that will make your activities more relevant to your priority audience over the next five years?

Answering these may be time consuming but they’ll form an important part of your successful future plans, so will be time well spent.

CONTACT DETAILS Sport England can be contacted via Stephanie Maurel. e. Stephanie.Maurel@sportengland.org t. 07789 616528

<

CMAE/EZGO/08/2016

CLUBS DRIVE OLYMPICS

Clubs go for Gold From archery to wrestling and everything in between, there were 39 disciplines and 11,000 athletes in the Rio Games. And what did they all have in common? Correct. They all belonged to clubs.

C

lub Managers across the globe have been celebrating the success of athletes at the Rio Games and the Paralympics. The multi media coverage and universal excitement generated is proof – if proof were needed – that clubs of all shapes and sizes and in every country across the globe are a unifying power for good, driving sports participation and social inclusion in an engaging environment with like-minded people.

With Team GB way ahead of the European Olympic pack when it came to Golds, finishing with at least one in15 sports – more than any other country – Clubhouse Europe offers up a whirlwind tour of some of the UK's finest athletes and their clubs. We salute you all for your part in inspiring the nation.

ATHLETICS Jessica Ennis-Hill Age: 30 Winner of Silver Heptathlon medal Club: City of Sheffield & Dearne Athletic Club The club, once known as City of Sheffield Athletics Club, dates back to 1894. Its ethos is to compete at the highest standard and several members have competed in the Olympic games. In 2015 City of Sheffield Athletics Club merged with Dearne Athletic Club to form the present day club. The club boasts use of an 8 lane 60m and 10 lane 100m straight track as well as a 200m oval track with banked curves. Pole vault, high jump, long jump throwing and hurdles facilities plus an onsite fitness suite have helped to shape Jessica over the years, alongside the club's hopes for future success.

• www.sheffieldathletics.co.uk

CYCLING Laura Trott Age: 24 Winner of four Gold medals (retaining her Omnium title) Club: Welwyn Wheelers Cycling Club

CANOE SLALOM David Florence Age: 34 Winner of Silver medal Club: Forth Canoe Club The club runs a wide range of courses such as a beginners, improvers, and sprint/slalom for adults.

Children’s sessions include Junior Slalom, Improvers, Intermediate and Sprint. From April to October, it holds open nights when non-members can visit to try out kayaks and canoes. It also has two polo teams – one playing in the Scottish Polo League Division 1 and the other in Division 3. Canoe polo involves two teams of five in kayaks trying to get a ball into the opposition’s goal by throwing it. The sociable club also holds a monthly social night.

• www.forthcc.com

The Hertfordshire club is a dedicated and inclusive cycle racing club for all ages and abilities, welcoming riders interested in Road, Track and Cyclocross. It was at Welwyn Wheelers that Laura won her first race. “It was such a nice feeling to belong to something,” said Laura talking to The Telegraph. “It makes you not feel like the odd one out.” The club is accredited with Clubmark and British Cycling’s Go-ride status and has a floodlit banked veledrome Club events include individual 10 mile time trials, a hill climb and a cyclocross competition. The time trials are open to both club members and visitors and are held every Tuesday on a local course.

The hill climb takes place in October, again on local roads while the cyclocross is held in December.

• http://welwynwheelers.org.uk

Winning runs • GB’s rowers claimed a fifth consecutive Olympic title in the men’s four.

• GB’s track cyclists made it three straight titles in both the men's team sprint and the men's team pursuit.

• Sailor Giles Scott made it five straight wins in the Finn class, building on the 2000 success of Iain Percy and the three Golds won by Sir Ben Ainslie.

DIVING Jack Laugher Age: 21 Winner of Gold medal, (synchronised diving); Silver medal (individual diving).

Laugher became the first British diver to win multiple Olympic diving medals at the same Games.

Club: Harrogate District Diving Club

CLUBHOUSE EUROPE 17

>

CLUBS DRIVE OLYMPICS After the hydro pool first opened in Harrogate, the local authority appointed a diving development officer and head coach. The team formed Harrogate District Diving Club as a voluntary organisation linked to the borough council’s “Learn To Dive” scheme with the ability to run, enter and attend competitions as well as fundraise and provide affiliated membership of the Associated Swimming Association (ASA), the national governing body for swimming and diving. The club has several squads including the ‘Talent Squad’, an entry level squad from within the Harrogate diving programme.

• www.diveharrogate.co.uk

GOLF Justin Rose

Age: 36 Winner of Gold medal (golf’s first Olympic champion since 1904) Club: Tylney Park Golf Club Set in over 200 acres of diverse woodland, the club has five sets of tees, the Championship Black Tees 7019 yards, Par 72 and Red Tees measuring 5424 yards, Par 72. The inclusive, friendly golf club has some of the most interesting greens in Hampshire, and member are entitled to a number of reciprocal agreements with other top golf clubs. A variety of guest club nights are held including food theme nights and quiz evenings.

• www.tylneypark.co.uk

GYMNASTICS Max Whitlock Age: 23 Winner of two Gold medals (Floor and Pommel); Bronze medal (all-round) Club: South Essex Gymnastics Club

• Adam Peaty claimed GB’s first Gold of the Games, winning the 100m breaststroke in a world record time on day two.

• A first Gold medal in men’s gymnastics thanks to Max Whitlock in the floor exercise.

Less than two hours later, he won pommel horse Gold.

• Jack Laugher and Chris Mears claimed GB’s first ever diving Olympic Gold by winning the men’s 3m synchronised springboard.

• Mark Cavendish finally claimed his first Olympic medal, adding a Silver in the omnium to his multitude of honours achieved on the road.

South Essex Gymnastics Club, founded in 1992, is committed to providing recreational, coaching and competitive opportunities in gymnastics to all levels and abilities, and to all sections of the community, in a safe, friendly and fun environment, encouraging gymnasts to maximize their potential in the sport, whether that’s once a week or as an international competing gymnast such as Max. The club was awarded official “pre-games training venue” status by the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) and in 2012 hosted competitors from several international teams including Ireland, Holland, New Zealand, Austria, Guatemala, Czech Republic, and Japan. It also holds special needs classes and a club coach works with local schools to train and help improve coaching by school staff.

• www.southessexgym.co.uk

• Bryony Page won a Silver in the trampoline, Britain's first medal in the event following its introduction at the 2000 Games in Sydney, • Sophie Hitchon claimed Britain’s first ever medal in the women’s hammer throw.

ladies teams and has a junior section, with the youngest player being five years old. There are over 400 senior and almost 500 junior members. There are two pitches at the club, as well as a lively clubhouse and extensive grounds.

• www.readinghockeyclub.org.uk

ROWING Helen Glover Age: 31

HOCKEY Kate Richardson-Walsh, Captain

Age: 36 Winner of Gold medal Club: Reading Hockey Club Established in 1904, Reading Hockey Club (RHC) is one of the premier hockey clubs in the country, with mens and ladies 1st XI teams in the National Premier League. The club has 11 mens teams, seven

18 CLUBHOUSE EUROPE

There’s a first time for everything

Winner of Gold medal, women’s pair (with Heather Stanning) Club: Minerva Bath Rowing Club Helen Glover is the club patron. The club was originally founded as Bath Ladies Boat Club back in 1914 and was one of the earliest women’s rowing clubs in England. It remained the preserve of women until 1984 when a group of men joined from the City of Bath Rowing Club. In 1990 the two clubs merged to form Minerva Bath Rowing Club. Today the youngest rower is 13, while the oldest is over 70.

Crews compete in numerous regattas and races including Henley (Veterans) and the FISA World Masters’ championships. Clubmark accredited, the club offers local schools the chance to participate in rowing. It offers members a good stretch of river from Bath weir to Saltford, and in 2015 it was awarded Sports Club of the Year for the second time

by Bath and North East Somerset.

• www.minervabathrc.org.uk

RUGBY SEVENS Tom Mitchell, Captain Age: 27 Winner of Silver medal Club: East Grinstead RFC The club’s ethos is a ‘for all’ club with strong Junior and Intermediate sections. There are four senior sides including a ladies team and Vets XV. The club holds an annual summer rugby camp for children aged between six and 11.

Highlights of the clubhouse include the roof terrace, which provides a great view of the grounds.

Social events are regularly held such as a Family Fun Day and members’ evenings. A function suite is available for hiring for private events.

• www.egrfc.com

EUROPEAN MEDAL TABLE Country

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Total

Great Britain (GBR)

27

23

17

67

Germany (GER)

17

10

15

42

France (FRA)

10

18

14

42

Italy (ITA)

8

12

8

28

Netherlands (NED)

8

7

4

19

Hungary (HUN)

8

3

4

15

Spain (ESP)

7

4

6

17

Croatia (CRO)

5

3

2

10

Switzerland (SUI)

3

2

2

7

Denmark (DEN)

2

6

7

15

Sweden (SWE)

2

6

3

11

Serbia (SRB)

2

4

2

8

Poland (POL)

2

3

6

11

Belgium (BEL)

2

2

2

6

Slovakia (SVK)

2

2

0

4

Belarus (BLR)

1

4

4

9

Armenia (ARM)

1

3

0

4

Czech Republic (CZE)

1

2

7

10

Slovenia (SLO)

1

2

1

4

Romania (ROU)

1

1

3

5

Ireland (IRL)

0

2

0

2

Lithuania (LTU)

0

1

3

4

Norway (NOR)

0

0

4

4

Austria (AUT)

0

0

1

1

Estonia (EST)

0

0

1

1

Finland (FIN)

0

0

1

1

Moldova (MDA)

0

0

1

1

Portugal (POR)

0

0

1

1

Topping the tables

TENNIS Andy Murray Age: 29 Winner of Gold medal Murray became the first tennis player to win two Olympic singles titles.

Club: Dunblane Sports Club

• GB dominated track cycling, winning six of 10 disciplines and collecting 11 medals in total, nine more than the Dutch and Germans in joint second.

The club offers facilities for tennis, squash and racketball. It has all-weather artificial grass surfaces on four outdoor courts, as well as two squash courts.

Adult and junior tennis teams compete in Central District leagues, while monthly squash leagues run from September to June for adults and juniors.

Squash teams take part in the Central District and Creiff & District leagues. The club room can be hired for functions, parties or activities and a range of social events are held at the club such as quiz nights and race nights.

• www.clubspark.lta.org.uk/DunblaneLTC

• GB also topped the rowing table, with three Golds – one more than Germany and New Zealand – and were third in gymnastics, behind the US and Russia.

< CLUBHOUSE EUROPE 19

MEMBERSHIP

Attracting and keeping junior members Much good work goes into developing junior memberships, whatever your club’s sporting focus, with free lessons a norm for many CMAE member clubs – particularly golf clubs. But has all that effort had much of a return on investment? CMAE’s Mike Braidwood CCM offers up insights into how to attract and keep junior members, whatever your club.

J

unior memberships are ridiculously cheap and lessons are often free. Then, to add insult to injury, the kids leave at 18 never to return!

So what to do?

Get proactive and make it a really great club experience for them. Make it such an important part of their life that they can’t do without it! And, following that line of thought, don’t give it away. Think how much parents spend on things like iphones, Xboxes and so on. It needs to have the same importance and the same entertainment value. So here are some pointers.

Give them their own space Set aside some space within your club for your juniors and make it an attractive environment, a place

Keeping on the ball with junior members will pay dividends.

20 CLUBHOUSE EUROPE

where they would like to hang out. Make it inspiring to make them want to go out and play the game, whilst also offering some other activities. Relevant Wii games, indoor putting mats, cricket nets, short mat bowls – whatever the discipline there’s a way to bring it inside. And how about setting up their own notice boards? And maybe newsletters?

Make it a real club for them Parents are always looking for someone else to do things with their kids! So make it more of an inclusive club and organise more than just competitions and lessons. Away days to other clubs and activities, challenge matches against other clubs, fun nights in the clubhouse and instigating a local league are just some ideas. If you roll out a series of events you’ll develop a great club spirit and have parents dropping their kids off in droves.

Make it fun Clubs can seem pretty boring to kids sometimes, so spice it up and make it fun for them. Don’t put too many rules in place and employ a ‘can do’ attitude. Kids love variety, kids love challenge, kids love team work so think of things that will get them excited. Maybe a monthly skills challenge surrounding their chosen sport, or fun competition formats. Maybe inter-club challenges. All of these can help to keep them engaged and motivated.

Get parents involved Although parents often see kids clubs as a free baby-sitting service, it’s good to get parents to volunteer. Seek out a pool of mums and dads who are willing to help organise events, drive kids to places – but be sure to keep the adult-to-kid ratio right.

Kids love challenges. Look at inter-club competitions and mini-leagues to spark their interest.

Too many parents and the kids will feel swamped and intruded upon.

Involving the parents is also a good way to introduce more adults to the sport. And you can always give them a free lesson as a thank you for helping out.

Educate them – more than just lessons Kids love to learn and they learn fast. Try to introduce more than just lessons. Teach them other things like the rules and etiquette (and set tests with certificates). Set them challenges to research different game formats, get them involved in volunteering with the club and train them in other aspects of the game, such as grounds maintenance, umpiring, and, for golf, caddying (they can then make some money at the same time!). All of your education activities will make them more informed sportsmen and women and they’ll go on to be better members, a force in the club’s future.

And back to the parents, they love it when the kids walk out of the club grounds with more knowledge than they had when they entered.

Communicate at their level The best way to get the most out of kids is to not treat them like kids. Treat them with respect and space and communicate with them at their level. Use communication platforms such as facebook, twitter,

“ texting and keep the language relevant to kids.

Find out what they want Let them tell you what they want. It’s easy to come up with a survey to find out what they like and want. You could even get the kids to design and develop the survey for you. In that way they feel you care about their opinions and you are keen to create a club and club environment that suits their needs.

Showing progress Create a ladder for improvement. Kids love to strive to do better and get to the next level. Create leagues where they can play and progress through divisions.

Maybe create skills test certificates and awards.

Invite their friends The best way to keep kids engaged and to introduce more of them to the sport is to allow your junior members to bring friends to functions and events (for a nominal charge). In this way the kids won’t be shy in turning up as they have a friend with them and with any luck the friend will enjoy the event and want to sign up to the club as well.

Variety, the spice of life To ensure kids remain engaged, continually mix it

up. Keep it interesting, keep it relevant, keep it fun, but most of all make sure there is variety. If you follow some of the previous tips then there will be no shortage of good ideas coming in from your junior members.

Student membership After all of your hard work you need to ensure your juniors stay with you once they reach adulthood.

Put in place a tiered scheme to take them from a junior membership fee up to a full membership fee.

Think about those juniors who leave to go off to further education. Wouldn’t it be great if you could keep them onboard so that they can still enjoy the club during the holidays and when they come home for weekends? And maybe create some special events just for the students so they still feel very much part of the club, even if they are off studying further afield.

And finally – a bonus tip – create a loyalty scheme. These can be used to build credit towards the joining fee or adult membership. And don’t forget to include interesting and thoughtful things on the menu that kids will want to eat and drink.

They’ll appreciate the effort and the fact that they could be earning loyalty points. It’s a grown up concept which will make them feel an integral and valued part of the club.

CLUBHOUSE EUROPE 21

<

MANAGEMENT MATTERS

The art of listening Just how well do you understand your members’ needs and expectations? Do you ask for their views? Because if you don’t, you could be spending time and money in the wrong areas – and to little effect. GGA’s Rob Hill explains.

M

ember insights can empower your club to lead by anticipating change. But are you listening?

Apple’s extraordinary founder showed us all the value of innovation and built a company synonymous with inventing not what customers want, but what they will want. Apple has always had a talent for understanding their customers’ future needs better than the customer themselves. This understanding allowed Apple to consistently anticipate and shape change.

Most club leaders stress the importance of understanding their members in order to stay relevant in today’s fast-changing external environment. So why is it that so few clubs seek to systematically listen to their members and as a result, are constantly reacting to change rather than planning for it?

Think back on the last few “leadership” or “planning” meetings you attended at your club. How much of the time was spent discussing internal issues rather than external realities? In how many instances did member feedback/insights change the opinion in the room?

Many clubs speak of being member-centric and yet they are not walking the talk. To be truly member-centric, club boards must use member feedback/insights in major strategic decisions and core processes, not just member-facing ones.

Our analysis indicates that rarely is this the case.

Recent GGA studies involving hundreds of clubs throughout the golfing world, indicate that the benchmark range for clubs that conduct annual member research is 10%-20%, with the norm being just 15%-16%.

Member insights provide an essential window into the change that lies ahead through their perceptions, needs, preferences, behaviours and attitudes.

For clubs, the gathering, tracking and application of such insights can empower a club to lead rather than react. It allows them to match strategy and implementation to their environment, and to prepare for change rather than responding to it.

So would you regard your club as a leader or a follower? Just how well do you understand your members’ future needs and expectations?

Club leaders intent on increasing their capacity to listen and learn from their membership, might consider the following approaches: Annual Member Survey A member survey helps to uncover members’

24 CLUBHOUSE EUROPE

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower” – Steve Jobs expectations and attitudes, how they define value, their tolerance for fees and dues increases, and their changing lifestyle. It tells the board and management what the majority of members want from their club, how they wish to use it and distinguishes the opinion of the silent majority from that of the vocal minority.

Implementing such a survey on an annual basis, allows for the measurement and identification of patterns of change. It can serve as a guide to strategic and capital planning, inform operational enhancements, and assist a board in protecting itself from anecdotal or agenda-driven decision making.

GGA surveys typically demand between 20 and 25 minutes to complete and clubs should aim for a minimum 35% response rate in order to achieve an appropriate level of confidence that the results reasonably reflect the views of the membership.

For best results, surveys should be managed by an independent professional with total assurance on confidentiality for respondents. This encourages both a greater participation rate and a more candid, reflective response.

PULSE Surveys Short PULSE surveys, comprising of 8 to 12 questions and requiring no longer than 5 minutes to complete, are an excellent way to take the temperature of a membership on a specific topic and keeping abreast of specific issues. Typical topics include technology, communications, retail, food and beverage experience, capital maintenance and social programmes. These can also be targeted to specific membership categories or demographics within your club.

Focus Groups Depending on how you wish to use them, focus groups can offer a platform for testing assumptions gathered from a survey or provide the basis for the questions which will make up a survey. They are a

qualitative rather than quantitative method which can facilitate deeper insight into member attitudes and perceptions.

The goal is to have a conversation with members and hear their responses in their own words – they are not instructive opportunities. Host a reflective sample of members – between 6 and 12 is ideal – in an environment that encourages open discussion. It can be effective to start with a presentation to provide context and this should ideally take no longer than 15% of the entire session time.

Work to either a rigid set of questions, or a rigid set of topics where the wording of questions is flexible. Your facilitator should be knowledgeable on the topic(s), an effective communicator and entirely objective.

Be certain to set clear objectives for the session and structure it to achieve conclusions for these.

Member insights can empower clubs to anticipate change. But how many are listening properly?

Membership Mapping Graphically representing your club’s membership on a map, is a useful exercise in examining your members’ source of origin, identifying trends in their proximity to the club and plotting neighbourhoods of interest for future membership development. There are online tools to assist you with this such as batchgeo.com which will give you some quick and interesting results.

Demographic and Psychographic Analysis Demographic insights on your membership can be assembled and evaluated from your membership management system or through survey survey. For your catchment area, free demographic data is usually available from each country’s respective census website.

This information can help you not only understand the profile of your membership and local area, but also identify trends in the demographic make-up of both.

“

IMany clubs speak of being member-centric and yet they are not walking the talk.

To be truly member-centric, club boards must use member feedback/insights in major strategic decisions and core processes, not just memberfacing ones.

Often members’ interest in a club can be determined by their lifestyle. In other instances members may wish to express their lifestyle through the club of which they are a member. Psychographic analysis is a method of segmenting members (or a population) according to variables such as lifestyle, personality and social class.

The objective is to predict behaviors and attitudes. To understand why members or populations behave the way they do. This is a powerful predictive tool.

Overlaying the demographic and psychographic profile of your club’s membership against that of your catchment area, will present a graphic representation of the likely current and future health of the membership market for your club.

Listening to and measuring insights from your membership is a practice your board and management should embrace if they are to predict and navigate the inevitable change that is coming to every

”

club. And critically, in the case of private clubs, the insights and measurement garnered from such a listening culture should serve as the basis for the large majority of your club’s formal performance metrics.

Only then can your club claim to be truly membercentric and lead rather than follow.

ABOUT GGA Rob Hill is a partner at GGA (formerly KPMG Golf Practice), the largest professional advisory services firm in the world dedicated to clubs and golf-related businesses. From their offices in Dublin, Toronto and Phoenix, GGA has served more than 2,700 clients worldwide. They specialize in strategic planning, governance, market analysis, membership planning and operational performance analysis.

< CLUBHOUSE EUROPE 25

PROMOTION

All about World of Leading Golf World of Leading Golf (WLG), which recently affiliated with the CMAE, is a union representing renowned golf clubs which belong to the top 3% in Europe and beyond.

W

LG and its member clubs are passionately committed to preserving golf culture – not only by heeding to such things as rules, dress code and etiquette, but by pledging themselves to the very highest of quality standards. This devotion stretches from the design and caretaking of golf courses and golf-relevant services, up to the creation of a welcoming ambiance and high-quality gastronomy.

To prove and ensure the maintenance of this level, WLG has implemented a system of ‘mystery tests’ carried out anonymously by Europe’s leading golf-specific mystery shopper service 59club. By evaluating all aspects relevant for guests, WLG Mystery Tests serve as a basis for more intense research and further consultancy, where called for.

In this way, our already esteemed golf clubs may enhance their qualities to maximise customer satisfaction.

“Our partnership is characterised by research, benchmarking, connecting and consulting and we aim to become the driving force for the utmost in quality endeavours,” explained WLG president Wolfgang Künneth.

That is why the association is growing steadily and attracts more and more of the most esteemed golf destinations in its sphere of influence amounting to more than 50 clubs currently, including the likes of Roehampton, England, Zala Springs, Hungary, A-Rosa, Germany, the Estonian

26 CLUBHOUSE EUROPE

Golf & Country Club, Vidago Palace, Portugal, Finca Cortesin, Spain and Yas Links, Abu Dhabi.

Headed by an international board of business personalities from five countries, WLG is, furthermore, supported by six ambassadors with the best connections to the most renowned venues in their region.

“The interaction of business professionals from across the industry – with experience in management, marketing, PR and legal sciences - serves to create potential by sharing our know-how and professionalism,” added CEO Claus Feldt.

“Because, ultimately, we aim to not only keep up our quality standards and strengthen the public’s awareness for our member clubs, we are determined to raise their return on investment.”

This kind of interaction – with each other and with knowledgeable people from outside the industry – is considered a great benefit among the executives of existent WLG member clubs. In addition to getting together in the framework of the annual WLG awards event or IGTM, WLG invites members to join regional networking days, or to take part in club-specific activities, such as the pre-playing of the Albatros course at Ryder Cup 2018 venue Le Golf National.

Given the strict admission criteria, being a member club of WLG is a quality certificate in itself. And it serves as a marketing tool to attract demanding golfers from across the world, because

WLG is considered truly reliable, objective, and a help in decision-making, when wishing to enjoy truly individual and superior golf club concepts.

To make use of this momentum, the association has built up its new ‘World of Leading Golf Concierge Services’ in the past months, an internet booking platform reserved for member golfers of WLG member clubs. When registered, they have access to a number of exclusive golf experiences from ‘member for a day’ tee times with VIP treatment, to 3-day golf breaks, or longer. These packages may include accommodation, excursions, schooling, and/or participation in special events, depending on the specific club’s offers.

For the benefit of all parties, WLG cooperates with selected partner companies and has recently affiliated with CMAE, the Club Managers Association of Europe. The WLG board is convinced that CMAE’s educational programmes, especially those addressing Club Managers, provide another great means to strengthen WLG member clubs. On the other hand, selected WLG member clubs may already serve as role models in certain ways and will be communicated as such where appropriate by CMAE.

CONTACT DETAILS Claus Feldt feldt@world-of-leading-golf.com

<

Imagine what you could do with an extra 60 minutes every dayâ&#x20AC;Ś DMC Canotec is helping organisations across the country manage processes to save time, money and resources. We can deliver intelligent systems to help Club Managers and their staff be more efficient.

If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re looking to save a few extra minutes every day, perhaps we can help...

Print

Process

Archive

Control

Save as much as 75% on your existingg desktopp printer and copier p p Managed running costs, with our Mana ged Service.

Print Ser vice.

Streamline your manual paper workflow and business processes, p including member fforms, orms, invoices and aapprovals pprovals - potentially potentially saving saving days. your business hours, even da ys.

A million documents committed to a digital g archive, yet y retrievable in an anywhere. instant - from an ywhere.

Deliver visibility on print and process costs. Improve document securityy p Wee can help your and compliance. W y date club to evolve with up to da te technology. technology.

020 8688 42433 www.dmcplc.co.uk/cmae www .dmcplc.co.uk/cmaee DMC Canotec, 59 Imperial W Way, ay, Croydon, CR0 4RR R

SENSUAL AUDITING

Exceeding expectations

onesenseatatime

When Mike Braidwood CCM was first introduced to the concept of sensual auditing by Dr Ali Poorani at the Club Managers Association of America’s (CMAA’s) annual World Conference last year it got him thinking. How could this be applied to clubs around Europe?

D

r Ali Poorani has studied human behaviour for years. Our different senses, he explained, help us make purchasing decisions. I really sat up and took note, though, when he discussed his sensual auditing work with five star hotel operator the Ritz Carlton group. This really caught my imagination, and following the session I sat down and gave sensual auditing some serious thought, reflecting back on where I had experienced sensual auditing first hand.

My first reflection came from my early years working as a golf professional at the Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland. One day I was assigned to take Sir Jackie Stewart out on the PGA Course for a playing lesson.

Sir Jackie was not only a former World F1 Champion and a former World Clay pigeon champion, but a pretty handy golfer as well.

At that time Sir Jackie was also sitting on the Boards of Rolex, Moet Chandon and Ford. In fact he test drove every new vehicle Ford produced, from the tiniest Fiesta to the largest articulated lorry. Such was

28 CLUBHOUSE EUROPE

Sir Jackie’s attention to detail that his services were in great demand; he knew his stuff. As you can imagine racing F1 cars in the mid 1960s / early ‘70s was not the safest of pursuits, so if the vehicle was not spot on then it was a matter of life or death.

During our round I was giving Sir Jackie a few pointers on his golf swing and advice on trimming a few strokes here or there, but to be honest I was learning a whole lot more from him than he was learning from me.

The first key learning for me came as early as the 3rd hole. We were standing on the third green and Sir Jackie shouted across to me, “Mike look at that!” pointing toward the beautiful Glen Devon. I replied “Yes indeed what a stunning view.” “No, no,” he said, “not that. That!” pointing to a field full of sheep.

I wasn’t getting what point he was trying to make, until he quickly made it clear what he was looking at.

“Look at that. Guests don’t come to Gleneagles to look at rooves of petrol stations. Ridiculous. We’ll , need some screening trees planted.”

Sure enough you could see the roof of a Shell filling station about 600 meters from the 3rd hole of the PGA course. It had never crossed my mind – nor that of my bosses or even Jack Nicklaus who designed the course – that guests at the hotel could feel that way.

But on reflection you are coming to a world class hotel to stay in luxury and to ‘get away from everything’ so I suppose when you’re in the beautiful surroundings of the golf courses at Gleneagles you don’t want to have any scenic pollution close to your experience.

Later in the round when we reached the 17th green Sir Jackie’s senses picked up again, this time by the sound on the A9. Again his observation was very similar; guests don’t come to play golf at Gleneagles to have to listen to that.

So this was my Lesson number 1 on sensual auditing and it came from way back in 1996. It has made me acutely aware ever since that when dealing with the aesthetics of your club you need to look outward as well as inward, and far afield as well as at close

range. It’s amazing how affected people are by visual pollution and noise pollution.

A couple of years later I moved into my first General Managers role in the tiny country of Bahrain.

My job was to open up the country’s first grass golf course (they had two sand courses). It was an amazing learning curve for me when, in 2005, the owners were approached by a development bank who wanted to develop the land the club was on and the surrounding area into an integrated residential community offering golf, leisure, a school and shopping. This was a vast project and one that would cause sizeable upheaval to the club.

To cut a long story short, the club was to close for at least 18 months for major redevelopment. The end result would be a brand new course and clubhouse along with a community of 1,000 houses. So in a relatively short space of time I’d gone from opening a new club to now preparing to close it, and then planning the reopening!

One of the many tasks was off-loading the club’s furniture to make way for new. So we photographed it all and sent out an email to our membership base asking them to bid for those pieces we weren’t keeping.

To my great surprise, I was inundated with requests for the brown sofa that sat in the bar. Only then did it strike me that members actually came to the club to sit on that sofa, relax, read a newspaper and chat to their friends. It was one of the many reasons that people came to the club.

Worse was to follow. Not only did I sell that sofa, I didn’t brief the new interior designer to fill the new club with comfy sofas just like it – a school boy error!

Lesson number 2 on sensual auditing then is check out the comfort of the club. Where do your members prefer to sit and why? Touch is a very intimate thing and if the furniture, towels or any other touch points don’t feel good, then the members won’t linger and in turn will not spend as much money at your club.

My next reflection again came from my time in Bahrain. Being an Islamic country pork is forbidden in Bahrain. However the government is happy for it to be sold in certain supermarkets, hotels and restaurants. So as our club was predominantly ex-pat, our menu reflected their tastes. Enter the bacon buttie incident!

My Indian chef couldn’t get his head round the concept of a sandwich that A, did not have salad and onions on it, B, was not served in a baguette or C, came with no garnish. After a few failed attempts I rolled up my sleeves, sourced the soft white bap and shared a culinary lesson on bacon buttie cuisine!

Three rashers of quality bacon, served on a fresh, slightly toasted white bap that has been generously buttered (both sides).

Members and guests would come to the club for meetings and a bacon buttie, driving a long way from the city and in the process passing a number of other convenient meeting places on route.

This humble bacon buttie became legendary and quickly became known as the ‘best bacon buttie in the world’. This really hit home when one day a visiting golfer from a neighbouring country asked a waiter to have his bacon buttie wrapped in tin foil. When

but I could easily have thought of strong smelling decorative planting or some outdoor strong air fresheners. But at the time I was just thankful of a regular breeze to take these smells away from the course, knowing that on still days the humidity was too high and that not many people would play anyway !

So how does your club smell? Think supermarkets and the smell of freshly made bread. Think coffee shops with their welcoming smell of freshly ground coffee. A lot of clubs smell of old stale beer or fried food from the kitchen none of which are very inviting.

Lesson number 5, don’t under estimate the power of smell and how it influences your customers’ decisions. Take time to smell your club and take the necessary actions. It’s easier than you think and will make a huge difference. offered proper take away packing for taking sandwiches out on the course, the guest put me straight.

He said: “Don’t worry, it’s not for the course. I’m taking this bacon buttie back to Abu Dhabi to show our club chef what a real one looks like!”

Lesson number 3 then – food and taste are extremely emotive. Make sure you have an ‘anchor’ dish on your menu that will keep the members coming back for more. Something that tastes so good will resonate with people for a long time.

My next sensual discovery happened more recently at my local golf club.

I am friendly with the pro there and popped into his shop one day for a catch up. As soon as I walked in I was struck by the sound of soothing classical music, so much so I passed comment on it to him. He explained that he knew his membership demographics and that it was an aging membership. He wanted to encourage them to stay in the shop longer, feel comfortable and in return hopefully spend more.

This is such an obvious one, and yet so many places never give it any thought.

Certain retail stores and restaurants choose their music accordingly on how quickly or slowly they want their customers to eat. If you’re a fast food joint where you want to turn over your tables multiple times in a night then fast music is what you want.

Conversely if you want guests to linger and hang around choose soothing and slow paced music.

Lesson number 4 is take time to listen to your operation. What does it sound like. Do you have any noise pollution - neighbouring road, green keeping equipment etc? Are you in tune with your members’ tastes or has the music in the bar been decided by your 19 year old bar tender?

My final reflection is sadly not so good. In Bahrain we had a reverse osmosis plant which purified the very salty ground water so that we could use it for irrigation purposes. The course architect came up with bright idea that our very salty discharge water could be sent to our lakes which were on the course as hazards. This was a great solution, but with one problem.

As soon as the discharge water made contact with the outside world and oxidized it let off a terrible smell of sulphur.

These two smells were off putting for the less than avid golfer and certainly put a number of people off coming to play or joining the club.

At the time I didn’t think of any plausible solutions,

And there’s more...

The first five lessons take care of the traditional senses: sight, touch, taste, hearing and smell, but what about other senses?

Having worked in two extremes the desert of the Middle East and the cold of a Russian winter I know how important temperature is to people. It’s a tough balance to get right but the warmth or coolness of a room will help someone decide on whether or not to enter it.

I recently heard a presentation from an experienced gym operator who said if the temperature of your gym is not between 16-18˚C then no-one will visit.

Remember fire places are there to be used in the winter; a roaring fire hits most of the senses and will attract customers to stay longer.

Lesson number 6 – keep an eye on the temperature of your club. Turning the heating off in the winter might be saving you a few pounds but it’s killing your business. Conversely in the summer if it is stuffy people are not going to hang around.

Finally the last sense is emotion. How does your club make your members feel? This is a whole separate topic matter. Do you know your members by name?

Do you know something about them? Do they get a warm ‘embrace’ by all staff entering the facility? Are the always made to feel welcome? Do they feel intimidated? All of these need to be considered and many more.

One final related story that’s a bit of fun. I did the pre-opening of a very exclusive private members’ club in Moscow. Russia is a complicated place to operate so simple solutions are always welcome. One such solution was to out-source the cleaning, which is quite typical for a lot of clubs. However, within this contract the club owners made the cleaning company responsible for the procurement of the cleaning materials including the soaps, shampoos and toilet paper. Perhaps you can imagine the results? Not a hit with the members who were expecting a luxurious changing room experience rather than what felt like a cost-cutting exercise!

For more information on sensual auditing or any advice on how to carry out your own sensual audit contact Michael Braidwood CCM, Michael.braidwood@cmaeurope.eu

< CLUBHOUSE EUROPE 29

TRIBAL TUESDAYS – A GOLF GENIUS CASE STUDY

Creating Tribes – it’s Genius!

Club managers at new destinations and emerging markets have the challenge of growing a membership base from scratch. Golf Genius offers up the following fascinating case study from Azerbaijan.

F

orging relationships between new members and new corporate sponsors at a new club is never straightforward. Enhancing the tournament experience is one good way to engage with members and visitors, creating a lifestyle brand that all can buy into.

Phil Jones, General Manager of Dreamland Golf Club Baku Azerbaijan, explains how the team have utilised the many facets of the Golf Genius event management software to save time, provide guests with a true tournament experience, engage with the local community, create a tribal-like community at the club, and significantly increase revenue on a number of levels.

We utilise Golf Genius to create events that include minimum effort for the player and provides a greatly enhanced experience before, during, and after play. The fully-featured cloud-based software streamlines the group golf experience by providing an easy to manage player portal. From a customised event website, to a full tournament administration service from labels to side contests, the easy to manage system provides our players with an unprecedented tour level experience.

Case Study – Azerbaijan Open 2016

Opening in October 2015, Dreamland Golf Club Baku has already achieved many key milestones in its first operational year. As the team welcomed their 150th member, the club began to take on a different feel; it was clear that in a short space of time the membership, spirit, and tribal feel of the club was quickly developing.

With events and tournaments forming the cornerstone of any successful club, the team quickly cre-

30 CLUBHOUSE EUROPE

ated a calendar using Golf Genius that was inclusive to not only proven players, but the local Azerbaijani players who were taking their first steps into the sport. Monthly scrambles, nine-hole events, a medal series, and recently a First Cup concept for only Azerbaijani players, have guided players to understand more about competition and quickly overcome any first time nerves.

Corporate sponsorship for golf events remains a very new concept to Azerbaijan. With leading oil and gas companies forming the major industries for the economy, the understanding is there, however current conditions have limited how much companies can support this concept. In September this year, the club’s events team took on their biggest challenge; to host the Inaugural Azerbaijan Open in Baku. By targeting local members and guests visiting from neighboring countries to make up 20 sponsorship teams, the events team used Golf Genius from the outset to create a professional platform that would give first time sponsors the confidence that their brand was in safe hands.

Creating a website portal for the event assisted us greatly when selling Platinum, Team, and Event Partner proposals, and we were able to quickly show how we would position each company’s logo and the exposure that it would receive. Customisable tabs allowed us to add updates for our entertainment packages of trick shot shows and Gala Dinners.

A full itinerary was posted through the event site, allowing team Captains to register players and their handicaps in order to accurately create the competition draws. With the format for the first day individual competition divided into handicap brackets and corresponding tee boxes, the software was able to be configured to manage all players’ scores with ease.

The final day draw was a four player team event, another format that was easily handled by the scoring system.

Throughout the weekend, the live leaderboard was updated by players inputting scores through the easy to download app. On course, players were

Phil Jones on Golf Genius • Using Golf Genius gave us a platform with which to work with leading brands in a professionally created website, developing great synergy between Dreamland Golf Club and our corporate partners • As teams signed up to participate, the website was updated regularly giving updated player information to all • Players not familiar with the mobile scoring app were able to download at the sign in area and have a very simple briefing from our team • Saves us time so that we can focus on delivering a memorable experience • The Golf Genius system enables us to deliver a tournament experience and our customers have more fun at our events • Live leader boards and live scoring are real member benefits that create a premium experience

The Golf Genius app branding opportunities updated on the extra prize opportunities of nearest the pins, and longest and straightest drives, all showing the logos of the companies that had donated corresponding prizes.

After a successful prize giving, the team re-connected with sponsors by distributing media packs and uploading pictures to the Azerbaijan Open site.

<

TENNIS TALK

Tennis on trial Whether female tennis players should be paid as much as their male counterparts is a hot potato in the tennis world given that women’s matches are routinely shorter than men’s. A new report suggests that a change in play conditions could provide a solution.

C

hanging court conditions to address differences in men’s and women’s play might make women’s tennis matches more competitive, according to a new study, Competitiveness and Physical Characteristics: Evidence From Professional Tennis*.

The study comes at a time of hot discussions surrounding whether women professionals should be paid as much as their male counterparts.

“It’s a much-debated subject in the tennis world,” said the team. “Levels of competitiveness is one of the most important factors in the sports industry, where uncertain outcomes generate more interest from fans and higher ticket sales. This argument also contributes to an earnings gap between professional female and male tennis players.”

After analysing 3,844 men’s sets and 3,034 women’s sets, researchers found that men’s scores were consistently closer, making for a longer and

more nail-biting match for the audience.

The competitiveness of a match was evaluated on how close the set scores were, with men’s sets on average consistently closer (6-4, 7-5), and women’s sets found to be less so, with scores of 6-2, 6-1. Just one example given was when Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal in the men’s final of the 2012 Australian Open – with a score of 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5 – the match lasted nearly six hours. The day before, Victoria Azarenka defeated Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-0 in one hour and 22 minutes.

“It is important to note that the current disparity is not related to competitive drive. It is usually attributed to differences in strength and speed, particularly when serving,” said Dr. Alex Krumer from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

Comparing the matches of physically similar men and women found that there were no gender differences in the number of games per set.

“Lowering court nets and playing with lighter tennis balls to accommodate physiological differences would help make women’s matches more competitive, with scores closer to the men’s,” said Dr. Mosi Rosenboim, of BGU’s Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management.

If no changes are made, playing on the same courts make men’s and women’s tennis a completely different game, warns the study, adding that many sports adapt rules and equipment to better meet the needs of female competitors. For example, points out the report, the net is lower in women’s volleyball, basketballs are smaller, javelins are lighter and hurdles are lower. *Competitiveness and Physical Characteristics: Evidence From Professional Tennis. Researchers/authors include: Dr. Alex Krumer (University of St. Gallen, Switzerland); Dr. Mosi Rosenboim (Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management, Israel) and Dr. Offer Moshe Shapir, New York University, China.

CLUBHOUSE EUROPE 31

<

UK SOCIAL MEDIA AWARDS

Call for entries – SocialMediaAwards ENTRIES AND ACTIONS 1. How to enter – use the entry form mailed with this issue.

OR – enter online at www.hsma.biz.

ALTERNATIVELY – email your club name to info@hsma.biz (Subject line – Social Media Awards) 2. Closing date – 14 October, 2016.

3. Ceremony – The newly refurbished 5 Star Palace Hotel, Manchester (November 23).

Supported by

Will you be joining us at the first ever UK Hospitality Social Media Awards on November 23? Read on...

S

ocial media is a huge weapon in club armouries. It’s current, it’s immediate and it resonates with younger members as well as older ones. That’s why we’ve launched these new Awards.

From websites to Facebook and everything in between, the Hospitality Social Media Awards (HSMA) are seeking out those of you who are busy using social media to engage with your members.

Whether you’re a tennis club or sailing club, a golf club or rugby club, if you’re using using social media to build loyalty and build business these new awards will recognise your efforts.

Whether that’s sending out electronic newsletters, tweeting club followers, putting events on Facebook or adding bells and whistles to your web site, we want to hear about it.

32 CLUBHOUSE EUROPE

Palace Hotel, Manchester

NOMINATIONS AND ENTRIES In addition to club categories, these first ever pan-Hospitality Awards are inviting entries from pubs and bars, hotels and restaurants, as well as sports resorts, rugby and golf clubs.

Sister titles, Club Rugby, Sports Club Management and Club Mirror, will also be encouraging entries from their sectors while Sports4Bars.com is helping to drive entries from the broader Hospitality sector.

CARDIFF CITY FC

LONDON GOLF CLUB

BEDFORD BLUES RFC

CALSONIC KANSEI SPORTS & SOCIAL CLUB

DARTFORD WMC

THE PHOENIX ARTISTS CLUB

ST ANNEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CRICKET CLUB

HOVE DEEP SEA ANGLERS

SHIFNAL GOLF CLUB

OLD HALESONIANS RFC

NORTH BIDDOCK SOCIAL CLUB

NORTHERN FOOTBALL CLUB

< CLUBHOUSE EUROPE 33

ASK THE EXPERTS – MARKETING

Three ‘best practice’ social media rules Good quality and useful content, targeted followers and relationship-building are all part and parcel of good social media practice. As Nick Bryant from Social Media First explains, social media is called ‘social’ for a reason!

S

ocial media is one of the most powerful marketing tools available to businesses today. And the best part about it? Most of the platforms are free to use, meaning you can spread the word about your club without paying a penny.

There’s just one problem. If you don’t know how to make the most of these online resources, you could be wasting precious time and effort: over promoting your offering can drive followers away, and avoiding questions and/or complaints from members can ruin your reputation.

So what can you do? Here are three tips to help you make the most of social media: 1. The 80/20 rule With social media, your focus should be on creating and sharing quality content. But not all of the content you share should be yours. Too often, companies only post things about their business, which can be offputting.

To avoid overselling your club, you should follow a strategy called the 80/20 rule, which dictates that 80% of your content should be non-promotional, such as info graphics, videos, pictures and articles that relate to your sector, but are not overtly sales. The other 20% of the time, you can toot your own horn and promote things specifically about your club.

34 CLUBHOUSE EUROPE

2. Location To get the most out of social media, you need to focus on building a list of targeted followers. If you focus on quality rather than the quantity of your followers, you’ll grow a more relevant audience.

Targeting by location is a good start. To find targeted users on Twitter, you can use the Advanced Search feature to filter out posts based on location, and on Facebook, you can also post ads filtered by location.

3. Focus on relationships In addition to following the 80/20 rule, clubs should be careful to focus on the “social” aspect and build relationships with users.

With the shotgun approach of traditional marketing, you want as many people to see your club ad or flyer as possible, but social media is a much more personalised and participatory marketing channel.

It gives you the ability to engage directly with members and potential members. Bear this in mind, and you’ll be inundated with fans!

“

Too often, companies only post things about their business, which can be off-putting.

CONTACT DETAILS

”

Social Media First aims to help grow business with attention grabbing social media campaigns.

• t. 01892 670830 • e. info@socialmediafirst.info

<

INDUSTRY REPORT – MILLENNIALS

Moderation – the new cool Ever wondered what makes your Millennial members tick when it comes to a night socialising in the club bar? Well stock up on the soft drinks, because recent research has shown that 75% of millennials are limiting their alcohol intake on nights out. And why? It’s social media making its presence felt.

N

ew research conducted by trend-analysts Canvas8 amongst millennials in the UK, the Netherlands, the USA, Brazil and Mexico has shown that staying in control is a motivating factor for moderating alcohol consumption on a night out, not least in part to the popularity and reach of social media among this age group.

More than one in three (36%) admitted that they have suffered from 'social shaming' caused by appearing to be drunk in a photo on social media.

The research was conducted on behalf of Heineken to coincide with the launch of ‘Moderate Drinkers Wanted’,* amongst 5,000 21-35 year-old premium beer drinkers in five countries.

Future focused • 88% accept that they are responsible for how their life turns out.

• 69% feel they have to work harder for career success than their parents.

• When it comes to finding ‘the one’, 97% believe that drinking excessively is not conducive to meeting someone and falling in love.

• 71% believe that their life is better when they moderate their behaviour.

KEY FINDINGS Masters of their own universe • 69% of millennials cite avoiding loss of control as the primary motivation for limiting alcohol consumption on a night out.

• More than one in three (36%) admit they have suffered from ‘social shaming’ caused by appearing to be drunk in a photo on social media.

• It also revealed that self-awareness and staying in control are the motivating factors for moderat-

Quality over quantity • Taste (41%) and quality (32%) are the priorities when choosing an alcoholic drink.

• Price is key for one in five (19%), while alcohol strength is important to less than one in twenty (4%).

• The x-factor for a great night out is shifting, with millennials prioritising good food and friends over excessive alcohol consumption. They are also searching for ‘new experiences’ (49%) rather than the same old ‘great entertainment’ (39%).

36 CLUBHOUSE EUROPE

ing alcohol consumption during a night out. The popularity and reach of social media among this age group means that control of their self-image is paramount.

A moderation movement • 38% state that they moderate their alcohol consumption every time they go out.

• 75% of millennials limit how much alcohol they drink on the majority of their nights out.

• More than half of respondents respect others’ decisions to moderate without teasing or pressure.

David Lette, Heineken Brand Director says: “This research highlights that young adults are choosing to drink in moderation and to remain in control on a night out. With the prevalence of social media, these consumers are increasingly conscious of their ‘personal brand’ and do not want to be associated with behaviours likely to damage it. Therefore when they are with friends, enjoying a drink, quality over quantity is a natural choice.”

The fact that millennials prioritise taste (41%) and quality (32%) when choosing an alcoholic drink, supports the message that clubs should offer a range of premium beer and ciders for consumers to choose from, the company says. *’Moderate Drinkers Wanted’ is part of ‘Enjoy Heineken® Responsibly (EHR),’ first launched in 2004, and is is the third ‘chapter’ in Heineken®’s commitment to ‘making moderate drinking cool’.

<

Get a FREE week on Carlsberg!

Install Carlsberg and meet an average 1 x 11g over 10 weeks and get 1 week free!

*Full terms and conditions will be sent to you by your Carlsberg representative on redemption of the offer. All orders subject to availability. Not to be used with any other offer. Offer open to free trade licensed premises in England, Scotland and Wales (Premises) between 28th September 2016 and 31th October 2016. Premises must have sold Carlsberg within previous six months. Premises must stock Carlsberg (Brand) and buy an average of at least one 11 gallon keg over a consecutive 10 week period from installation. Free product is mean average weekly value of Brand purchased and will be provided as trade account credit, which must be used by Premises in purchasing Brands from Promoter before 24th January 2017. Promoter: Carlsberg UK Limited, 140 Bridge Street, Northampton, NN1 1PZ

THE VALUE OF WORK PLACEMENTS

Developing our early career club professionals Bournemouth University’s Gary Evans explains how placements and work experience help the club sector to develop its human capital. Want to get involved? Read on...

S

eptember is always an exciting time of year when UG and PG Sport students return from their summer break full of eagerness and optimism to do well this academic year. Probably more so this year as Bournemouth University (BU) celebrates its latest Sunday Times UK universities league table positioning of 62nd, up 20 places on last year, and Sports positioning of 37th, up seven places on last year. BU is also recognised as a Top 500 Global and Top 200 Internationalisation University, with independent research pointing to 89.94% of BU graduates able to evidence work experience on their CV or LinkedIn page, which is one of the highest of all UK universities. The employment rate for BU graduates is also up to 93.6%, again, one of the highest of all UK universities.

BU has certainly not sat back on its laurels and is striving to do even better for its UG and PG students. An impetus for this is the reinvigorated Student, Talent Employability and Engagement Programme (STEEP) (BU, 2016) which is designed to ensure BU students are employability-ready at the end of their studies. STEEP aims to equip students with the correct balance of the soft and hard skills that employers seek in graduates, as well as appropriate professional practice experience. There is no doubt professional practice is critical for UG Sport students, especially the BSc (Hons) Sport Management and BSc (Hons) Sport Management Golf students, because without such professional practice experience students will struggle to achieve their career goals and to gain entry into the profession. This is why the 40 week industrial placement is a win-win for the students.

In preparation to apply for their industrial placements, 2nd year UG Sport students now complete the 13 week Personal and Professional Development in Sport unit, which covers organisational behaviour and managing people topics – including Employment Law – ahead of students applying for club and sport management placements from January 2017 onwards (with availability to start placement June 2017).

To remind CMAE members, BU placements are for 40 weeks (generally with a minimum of 30 weeks, 30 hours per week), usually against an agreed programme of work. Each student is supported by a Placement Development Advisor (PDA). Our PDAs are specialists in the sectors where they offer support to students, and can guide students on such

matters as preparing for their performance reviews and any corrective action if a student is finding the agreed programme of work and its SMART objectives too challenging. Placement is a student-led process, thus each student is responsible for ensuring all BU paperwork is complete and available on request by the PDA or Sport Subject Team. It is not the responsibility of the club to prepare paperwork or chase students for paperwork.

A placement does not necessarily have to be 30 weeks, however; a club has the option of putting together an offer to a student for a set number of weeks, for example, 15 weeks. It is then the responsibility of the student to secure a second 15 week placement elsewhere. I would suggest the minimum placement is probably six weeks, providing the agreed programme of work is straightforward.

Alternatively, it might be that a club cannot offer a placement at all, but can offer work experience during weekends and holidays when special events are being delivered, so students are more assisting the club at specific points with its calendar of events.

It is fair to say the success of BU students out on placement is good-to-excellent as rated by our PDAs and rewarding for many of the organisations that agree to take students on placement – some 150 plus organisations each year. The placement experience is without doubt invaluable to the student, with some students winning a permanent position back at their placement organisation on graduation. Their placement also provides students with the opportunity to network with other professional who can offer advice on how to realise their career aspirations.

We leave nothing to chance with professional practice, so this year CMAE Director of Education Michael Braidwood CCM and golf industry professional Eddie Bullock will deliver guest speaker sessions to students, to ensure expectations and perceptions are realistic. Colt McKenzie McNair will present top-tips to students on what industry-specific recruiters are looking for in early career professionals, and how they can develop – ‘Me as a Brand’.

If you do have an interest in developing our early career club professionals, whether placement or work experience, you will be accessing very sectorfocused students who are enthusiastic, motivated and adaptable. Very few organisations suggest taking a student is burdensome because they find that a well inducted and trained placement student can induct and train their replacement. What placements and work experience do is help the club sector to develop its human capital, alongside other workforce development initiatives, to ensure there is a suitably skilled labour market to recruit and select from.

To conclude, offering a placement or work experience opportunity really makes a difference to the STEEP development of each student and helps the sector get the next generation of young people employability-ready, making a difference in the sector. If you like to discuss a BU placement further, please do not hesitate to contact me, Gary Evans, senior academic in sport management on gevans@bournemouth.ac.uk or call me on 07732 187347.

Finally – God bless Arnold Palmer, my sporting hero!

CLUBHOUSE EUROPE 39

<

BETTER BUYING

40 CLUBHOUSE EUROPE

The curtain specialist for clubs, schools and theatres

SPORTSWEAR FOR GUARANTEED SATISFACTION

Cameo Curtains manufacture and install stage curtains, large scale drapes and tracks throughout the UK. Cameo have supplied, installed, serviced and cleaned curtains in clubs, schools, theatres and many other venues since 1991 and offer a friendly, professional service to produce stunning, high quality curtains every time.

• Stage Curtains • Large Window Curtains • Dividers • Blackout Drapes • Cleaning & Re-flameproofing Contact us today and quote CLUB to arrange a free site visit to discuss your requirements.

Tel: 01354 677 796 Web: www.cameocurtains.co.uk

Email: sales@cameocurtains.co.uk

Squadkit is dedicated to providing top quality sportswear for the next generation of athletes.

our garments are delivered to your parents every time.

With intelligent sizing, high levels of availability and free name-taping, we take the hassle out of sportswear buying.

We use the latest breathable and sublimated styles to provide high performance garments uniquely designed to help your school stand—out and your teams perform.

Q Breathable fabrics Q High performance garments

However our focus on satisfaction doesn’t stop with the garments. We’ve partnered with Schoolblazer – the leading uniform supplier to independent schools to ensure that

Q Bespoke designs Q Team and staff-wear

Squadkit - Performance delivered.

Squadkit from Schoolblazer, UK leader in stylish schoolwear and sportswear Call 01832 280011 info@schoolblazer.com www.schoolblazer.com

CF/24 Leather £114.90 Leather RF/1U £45.90

TC/2B From £38.90 Wood Seat

WT/13 £59.90

TC/1B From £34.90 Wood Seat

PO/7 £84.90

Ridge bases From £37.00

OF/7A £39.90

OF/3G £24.90

RF/16 From £45.90

CI/15D From £64.90

WT/1W From £79.90

From £23.30

From £13.50

From £12.40

150C

151C

From £23.30

152C

153C

154C

Now available in 15 fabrics

CLUBHOUSE EUROPE 41

<

TRIBAL TUESDAY – MEMBERSHIP RETENTION

Retaining by entertaining CMAE’s Tribal Tuesday provides members with an open forum to share their insights and Best Practice advice with other clubs from all disciplines – be it golf clubs or tennis clubs, sailing clubs or cricket clubs. Here Russell Stebbings, General Manager at Surrey’s Farleigh Golf Club, explains how his club is putting entertainment first in their marketing and membership programmes.

A

fter spending time away from the club at CMAE's Golf Management MDP in St Andrews and the CMAA World Conference in San Diego I was receiving a bit of banter from some of our members about my recent absences from the club. It was then that I had my ‘light bulb’ moment.

In 2015/16, Farleigh had achieved its first ever profitable year, and communication and engagement with our members had been central to that, but there was surely more we could do? Recalling a conversation about member engagement with Kevin Fish during the MDP and the lessons I’ve learnt to date from the CMAE, I revisited our business plan for the year ahead.

Whilst Farleigh remains committed to growing our own golfers and putting a club in every hand, that strategy sits alongside our key membership strategy – retaining by entertaining!

As a proprietary run club, we are open to all and it can sometimes be a challenge to make the members feel as valued as we would like. However this year we did something major about it. On Sunday 10 April – the same day Danny Willett was preparing for his final round in Augusta – we hosted the first ever Members’ Major at the Club. The Farleigh Masters was designed to not only provide a healthy competition for our members (it was run in conjunction with our annual Men’s Greensomes

event), but to also provide a fun and relaxed environment to start the season.

Welcomed on the first tee by an American compere detailing their golfing successes and anecdotes, 68 of our members teed off with the pressure of major-style hoarding and a small crowd of onlookers. At the end of 18 holes in sunny yet breezy conditions, competitors were welcomed in the Clubhouse with a complimentary Southern USA inspired buffet menu, with a green jacket awaiting the victorious pair, as well as an award for Best Dressed Golfer (theme: yellow and green).

The event itself was a great success with positive feedback from participants, members and visitors who were on-site during the day. However the engagement doesn’t stop there. As well as news stories on our website announcing the winners, and a picture gallery on our Facebook page, a video of the day was posted and emailed to existing Members but also to our loyalty card participants and casual golf database, showcasing the benefits full Membership can bring.

With three more Majors planned for the year, as well as celebrating the first year of our Farleigh Friends

loyalty scheme, a reminder that golf is part of the Sports & Leisure sector has never been more pertinent. Providing great courses are vital in this industry, but providing a welcoming and entertaining atmosphere both on and off the course is just as important in retaining members and attracting more.

Russell Stebbings Russell Stebbings’ passion for golf started in 2000 when he got his first job in golf at Pyrford Golf Club working for the American Golf Corporation. After various roles within the company Russell moved to the BGL where he managed two clubs and won BGL Employee of the Year at Wycombe Heights in 2012 in his first role as a GM. Russell then was appointed General Manager of Farleigh Golf Club (part of The Foxhills Collection) in late 2012, leading the business to its first ever annual profit in 2015/16. He is currently working towards his CCM exam in March 2017.

• If you would like more information from Russell please feel free to contact him on Russell@farleighfox.co.uk

<

42 CLUBHOUSE EUROPE

REFRESHING

LQ RXU DSSURDFK

UNDERSTANDING YOU, FIRST...

Authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority

*