The Golf Club Manager: December 2018 by Golf Club Managers Association

THE GOLF CLUB

MANAGER ISSUE 21 | DECEMBER 2018

THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE GOLF CLUB MANAGERS’ ASSOCIATION

GCMA

ON THE AGENDA

W H AT TO E X P E C T AT JANUARY’S BTME SHOW

SPECIAL FOCUS: ARE YOU AND YOUR CLUB R DY FOR THE NEW REA ULES OF GOLF?

INDUSTRY

THE VOICE OF RULES JR JONES, GCMA PRESIDENT AND T V RULES EXPERT, GIVES HIS VERDICT ON NEXT MONTH’S CHANGES

ED U C AT E | I N FO RM | I N S P I RE ‘

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CONTENTS ISSUE 21 | DECEMBER 2018

GCMA

CAREERS

What’s on the BTME agenda?

A word from the captain’s corner

The latest jobs for GCMA members

NEED TO KNOW

GOOD PRACTICE

Scandal in the club and how best to deal with it

Should you refund for sicknesss?

How to prepare for the new Rules of Golf

INDUSTRY

GRASS ROOTS

JR Jones and John Paramor on the new Rules

The R&A chief urges change to help growth

How Ormskirk made a change for the better

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WELCOME

THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE GOLF CLUB MANAGERS’ ASSOCIATION GCMA Bristol & Clifton Golf Club, Beggar Bush Lane, Failand, Bristol, BS8 3TH Tel: 01275 391153 | hq@gcma.org.uk CHIEF EXECUTIVE Bob Williams - bob@gcma.org.uk COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER Mike Hyde - mike@gcma.org.uk GOLF MANAGEMENT RESEARCHER Jim Cunning - jim@gcma.org.uk EDUCATION COORDINATOR Niki Hunter - niki@gcma.org.uk FINANCE ADMINISTRATOR Shirley Edmondson - shirley@gcma.org.uk COMMUNICATIONS EXECUTIVE Marie Taylor - marie@gcma.org.uk MEMBERSHIP SERVICES Julie Knight - julie@gcma.org.uk PRESIDENT JR (John) Jones 2018/19 CAPTAIN Cameron Dawson BOARD OF DIRECTORS Gary Steele, Phil Grice, Eddie Bullock, Amy Yeates, Andrew Rankin THE GOLF CLUB MANAGER IS PUBLISHED BY: SPORTS PUBLICATIONS LTD 2 Arena Park, Tarn Lane, Scarcroft, West Yorkshire, LS17 9BF, UK Tel: 0113 289 3979 | info@sportspub.co.uk PUBLISHER Tom Irwin - t.irwin@sportspub.co.uk EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Dan Murphy - d.murphy@sportspub.co.uk OPS DIRECTOR Will Shucksmith - w.shucksmith@sportspub.co.uk EDITOR Steve Carroll - s.carroll@sportspub.co.uk PRODUCTION EDITOR James Broadhurst - j.broadhurst@sportspub.co.uk CHIEF DESIGNER Andrew Kenworthy - a.kenworthy@sportspub.co.uk DESIGNERS Vicky Jones - v.jones@sportspub.co.uk Becky Clark - b.clark@sportspub.co.uk Paul Barnett - p.barnett@sportspub.co.uk Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, but the publishers cannot accept responsibility for omissions and errors. All material in this publication is strictly copyright and all rights are reserved.The views expressed in The Golf Club Manager do not necessarily represent the views of the company or the editor. Every care is taken in compiling the contents but the publishers assume no responsibility for any damage, loss or injury arising from participation in any offer, competition or advertising contained within The Golf Club Manager. THE GOLF CLUB

MANAGER ISSUE 21 | DECEMBER 2018

THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE GOLF CLUB MANAGERS’ ASSOCIATION

GCMA

ON THE AGENDA

W H AT TO E X P E C T AT JANUARY’S BTME SHOW

SPECIAL FOCUS: ARE YOU AND YOUR CLUB READY FOR THE NEW RULES OF GOLF?

INDUSTRY

THE VOICE OF RULES JR JONES, GCMA PRESIDENT AND T V RULES EXPERT, GIVES HIS VERDICT ON NEXT MONTH’S CHANGES

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001 GCMA December 18 Cover.indd 3

27/11/2018 14:17

ON THE COVER: JR Jones

ISSUE 21 | DECEMBER 2018

f December is a time for reflection, I am sure many of you will remember 2018 for the climatic extremes that drowned the first part of the year and then decided to turn the heat up for a summer that has been unseen for many a year. The outcome is many of you will now have a winter and spring on course renovation that once again will be at the mercy of our totally unpredictable climate. At the association, we will reflect on how we continue to support you. With the introduction of affiliate membership, in April, we have steadily encouraged those who work within the management of the golf club to join the GCMA community. The Women’s Golf Leadership Group and the Young Managers’ Group have met at various venues and have offered the opportunity for these people to meet with like-minded individuals. We will continue to research how we can give you as much support as possible. At the end of December, I will be attending a two-day event with many other association executives, which will provide me with an opportunity to understand how other trade associations work and what they offer to their members. Having just returned from our 96th training course at Wyboston Lakes, where once again a full house of 20 delegates were totally engaged with the five days of learning and networking, we look ahead to BTME in Harrogate where the next course will be held.

In addition, we will be hosting a half-day workshop on disaster management, which will be supported by Nexus Protect. This promises to be an extremely interesting event – if you are planning to be at BTME we would love to see you. Looking ahead to the New Year, the 2019 National Conference will be hosted at DeVere Cotswold Water Park and the conference planning group are now working towards another engaging programme. Make sure you have the dates in the diary: November 10 to 12. Finally, may I wish all GCMA members and their families a most enjoyable festive season and prosperous New Year. Bob Williams – chief executive

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The month in

PICTURES

Ben Driver (Chigwell) and Daniel Dodds (Burhill) get stuck into the breakout session at the Young Managers’ Group meeting at Stoke Park.

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Director of Golf Stuart Collier leads a Young Managers’ Group meeting at Stoke Park on November

23. Twenty-five members of the group gathered at the prestigious Buckinghamshire venue, which is as renowned for its starring role in films as its fine 27-hole layout, to learn about delivering world-class golf operations. You can read a full interview with Stuart in next month’s issue of The Golf Club Manager.

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Royal Norwich marked a major milestone towards the opening of its new course in 2019 as it officially opened its Turf Care Centre of Excellence.

Billy Ray, from Wellow and Philip Brown, from Burtonon-Trent, along with Hesketh’s Martin Edge share ideas during the Young Managers’ Group meeting at Stoke Park.

Stephen Knoop, managing director of golf course intelligence providers Tagmarshal, explains to the GCMA Young Managers’ Group how leading golf courses such as Erin Hills, which hosted the US Open in 2017, and Carnoustie, which staged the Open Championship in the summer, use Tagmarshal’s software systems to deliver exceptional golfing experiences.

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What’s on the

AGENDA AT BTME? The GCMA will be giving managers the chance to learn at the largest turf management exhibition in Europe in January

anuary might be the start of a new year but it’s the pinnacle of the calendar for the turfcare industry, who descend on Yorkshire for the British Turf Management Exhibition in Harrogate. Hosted by BIGGA, it has historically been an event for greenkeepers, course managers and other turfcare professionals. But, in recent years, the number of golf club managers attending has been steadily rising.

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Whether they’ve been keen to keep on top of their agronomy knowledge, check out the latest kit and products or spend some quality time with their greenkeeping team, every year a number of GCMA members come and say hello to the team on our stand. As a result, we’ve been keen to offer a strand of education for golf club managers as part of BIGGA’s excellent Continue to Learn programme and, for the last few years, we’ve held an abridged version of our popular

Principles of Golf Club Management training course. By removing the agronomy training, we have managed to condense the course into three days from the usual five. That appeals to both greenkeepers looking to move into the industry, and managers who are simply looking for a shorter version of the course. It is suitable for recently appointed golf club secretaries/ managers and managers of other departments within a golf club

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or those wishing to refresh their knowledge or enter the world of golf club management. Run by the GCMA and supported by industry experts, sessions include Managing Change, Understanding Social Responsibility, Marketing, Managing People and Food and Beverage. But 2019 sees another GCMA event in the programme: Dealing With a Disaster – Are You Prepared? A number of disasters struck golf clubs this year, and while we hope that clubs manage to avoid such serious situations as the one that gripped Burnham and Berrow this summer, as an association we believe it’s crucial that managers are prepared to both take action during the emergency, and to cope with the difficult aftermath. This session will offer real life experiences from people who were on the ground during crises this year, and also some advice from association partner Nexus Global on how to prepare for such disasters. The first half will offer an inside

view from the fire officers, course manager and club manager when disaster struck at Burnham & Berrow in the searing heat of last summer. Are you prepared for dealing with the unexpected? Would the fire crews be able to access your golf course on a Sunday afternoon and what measures would you have in place? Learn how the club had not only to deal with the blaze but the concerns of the local residents, as well as the damage caused to the irrigation system and ensuring incorrect media coverage didn’t spread faster than the flames. This is a one-off opportunity to gain an inside view on how this unfortunate disaster was averted. What steps has course manager Richard Whyman had to take in dealing with the aftermath? Listen to the feedback from the fire service and understand how club manager Karen Drake dealt with an event that became national news. The second half will be a disaster management workshop, led by

Nick Holden from Nexus Global. Following the heatwave and the problems many courses have encountered, we would encourage clubs to attend this session to gain an understanding of how they should be managing their disaster/emergency plans and ensure members are aware of the procedures should a crisis occur. Having discussed the effect of a course fire, how do you deal with the extreme storms or hurricanes that reach our shores and the effect of floods or electrical blackouts? Alternatively, your club could be subject to an outbreak of food poisoning. Are you prepared to handle a crisis if and when one should arise? Are your employees prepared to act professionally and efficiently? Protect yourself, your employees, the club and members by having a plan in place to encounter any crisis that might occur. Don’t just react to a problem, prepare for the unexpected!

Principles of Golf Club Management: Sunday, January 20 to Tuesday, January 22. Location: The Old Swan Hotel. Cost: £385.00+VAT Dealing with a Disaster: Wednesday 23 January Times: 9.30am to 1pm. Location: The Old Swan Hotel. Cost: £25.00+VAT To book either or both events, call the GCMA office on 01275 391153

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Captain’s corner

CAMERON DAWSON

thought as 2018 is coming to a close it is a good time to give an update. While I have been exceptionally busy, other than some difficult times at Board level, every minute has been a pleasure. At my regional visits I have been welcomed with open arms and treated with utmost courtesy. The running of regional meetings, as a regional manager myself, is very interesting and, while they are all variations on a theme, all are very much education based. I am now fluent in water management, GDPR, social media advertising and software systems. On early visits I promoted the position of national captain and prompted regions for nominations. The efforts paid off! The Past Captains had 17 candidates to consider. This was great but highlighted the need for a procedural document, which I will be putting together for the regions to follow in future. I am very pleased to say that David Carlisle, of Woodsome Hall in Huddersfield, has accepted the nomination for 2020. As captain I didn’t get a vote on this position, so it was pleasing for me that they have chosen another Yorkshireman -–maybe I haven’t done that bad a job after all! It is also worth noting the Past Captain’s did not reject any of the names nominated, so we have a great pool to consider going

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forward. The only difficult part of my year has been the challenging discussions the Board have had this year. It was clear that last year’s losses had to be addressed. The result was a re-structuring of HQ operations and some redundancies – never a nice thing to have to do. At the time of writing, finance director Gary Steele is budgeting for a break-even position, which, considering last year, is a great achievement. We also had a change of chair with the great stalwart of the association, Mike Hoare, stepping down and Phil Grice stepping in. Phil’s experience with big projects is already having results and I am hopeful for the future of the association under his leadership. I won’t repeat the many notes of thanks to Mike, but would just like to add my own appreciation of his contribution and to say how much I have enjoyed his friendship and working with him for over 12 years on various committees. I would like to close with a report on the international matches. My views on the results may not reflect the actual recorded ones! As someone who has played in these matches for many years I was really looking forward to this year. However, the first match is always a difficult one against the Irish and, this year, was no exception.

They managed a win at the wonderful, but very windy, Royal Cinque Ports and Prince’s clubs in Kent. Then came the match against the French, at Stoke-by-Nayland. It’s officially a South East region match but, as we had a resounding victory, it is on my list as a win. The Welsh, at The Oxfordshire, were next. It is usually a win for the English but not this year!

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Our national captain looks back at 2018 and starts to see the finishing line approaching fast...

Cameron Dawson has enjoyed the various matches played this year

We played the Scots at the magnificent Trump International. The result wasn’t decided until the last couple of matches but another loss was recorded. This only left the Swedes, played in Northern Ireland as a home match, whom for various reasons could only muster a team of three. As hotels, transport, flights and golf, at Malone, Port Stewart, and Castle Stewart, had already

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been booked it was agreed to go ahead but we would combine the Swedish match with a Rest of the World match. I am claiming a victory in the Swedish match – after all we had 12 players to their three. The match against the Rest of the World was very close, with only half a point in their favour, but as the agreed transfer fee for Niki Hunter on the second day wasn’t

paid I claimed half of her winning point. Therefore, an honourable half was agreed. My official record as England captain was three losses, a manufactured win against the Swedes and a negotiated half to the rest of the world meaning a 3.5 – 1.5 loss overall. BUT! As I am not just England but National captain, including Scotland and Wales, that score is reversed – in my mind at least – and I can hold my head high. Joking aside, a huge thank you to: John Edgington, as always for everything; Mo Brooker, for the Swedish/ROW match and both for their excellent organisation and friendship. Thanks also to the players – home, away, old and new – for being great sports and always trying their best while having a great craic. Having played all the matches in shirt-sleeves this year, I not only claim that victory but kudos for providing wonderful weather as well. There are just a couple more visits to make and meetings to attend until the AGM at Coxmoor on April 15. Then I can start looking back with fond memories and my longsuffering and very supportive wife, Elaine, will start to make holiday plans again. Thanks to all the members I have met and those still to meet. Have a great Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

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professional development

Dealing with a disaster: are you prepared? Join us for a half day seminar with two sessions: Global Warning! & Disaster Management Workshop

Global Warning!

Disaster Management Workshop

9:30-11:00am

with NexusProtect // 11:30am-1:00pm

An inside view from the fire officers, course manager and the club manager on when disaster struck at Burnham and Berrow GC in the searing heat of last summer.

Following last summer’s heatwave and the ensuing problems that many golf courses have encountered, we would encourage clubs to attend this session to gain an understanding of how they should be managing their disaster plans and ensure members are aware of the procedures should a crisis occur.

Learn how the Club had not only to deal with the fire but the concerns of the local residents, as well as the damage caused to the irrigation system and ensuring incorrect media coverage didn’t spread faster than the flames.

Protect yourself, your employees, the club and its members by having a plan in place to encounter any crisis that might occur.

Date: Wednesday 23 January Times: 9:30am – 1:00pm Location: The Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate Cost: £25.00 + VAT

To book, call GCMA HQ on 01275 391153

Need to

KNOW All the relevant news, opinion, and expert insight from around the industry

even years in the making, it’s now only a matter of days before the new Rules of Golf come into effect on January 1. These aren’t token changes. They are the biggest alterations to the laws in a generation and they will have a big impact on how your members will approach competitions. The Rules have been reduced in number from 34 to 24 and a new Player’s Edition has been published to make them more accessible to everybody. So let’s look at some of the key changes… Drop the ball from knee height The shoulder height drop is gone and drops must now be made from knee height. The ball must also come to rest within a relief area. If it doesn’t, players have to repeat the drop. Players can putt with the flagstick in on the green Previously, if a player hit a putt from the green and it struck the unattended flagstick in the hole they were penalised. That penalty stroke has now been removed and it is a rule change designed to speed up play. Players will also be permitted to touch the line of a putt, but must make sure not to improve it. Players can repair spike marks and damage on the green Part of the relaxed rules on putting greens, players will be able to repair spike marks or any other damage made by shoes, animals and almost everything else that can cause damage to a green. Relaxed rules in bunkers Generally touching the sand with a hand or club is permissible but there are still some restrictions

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in place. Players won’t be able to ground their club next to the ball, for example, and that is designed to preserve the challenge of playing from sand. Neither can they take a practice stroke. An extra option has been made available when a ball is unplayable in a bunker. In such circumstances, it is possible to play the ball from outside the bunker with a twostroke penalty. Players can ground their club in a penalty area Water hazards have been renamed penalty areas, although red and yellow-marked areas can now cover all kinds of things. There will be no penalty for touching the ground or water in a penalty area and it will also be possible to remove loose impediments in those areas. Players have three minutes to search for a ball Another of the changes which aim to speed up the game, the time players can take to search for a ball has been reduced from five minutes to three. If a ball has moved during a search This was a one-stroke penalty and then a drop was required if the exact spot from where it was moved was unknown. That penalty will be removed from January and the ball is simply replaced in the original spot and lie. If that isn’t known, it is estimated. There is no penalty for a double hit The penalty stroke for accidentally hitting the ball more than once during a shot has been removed. Players won’t count it as two shots. They will simply count the one stroke they made.

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What you need to know about the new

RULES OF GOLF

In less than a month, the biggest alterations to the rules in a generation will come into force. Steve Carroll guides you through the major changes

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GCMA.ORG.UK | 17

What do you need to

DO NOW?

There are a few tasks you and your committee may need to complete before the new Rules of Golf come into effect

f getting your members’ heads around the raft of new rules coming into force wasn’t enough, there are also a number of key things you and your committees may need to do before their January 1 introduction. The R&A are among those to have issued helpful advice to try and guide you through some of the changes you might consider as the countdown continues. For a full run down of what you may need to do in time for the New Year, visit The R&A’s website and make sure to read the committee procedures included in The Official Guide to the Rules of Golf, which take you through all the issues in much greater detail. But here is a brief overview of some of the areas you will need to think about when running competitions in 2019… Course marking With hazards becoming penalty areas, you may wish to look at whether any existing water hazards that are currently yellow should be marked as red penalty areas. The option for a player to drop on the opposite margin has been

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removed in the 2019 Rules and so there is “less opportunity for a player to drop on the green side of a penalty area when the ball has last crossed on the tee side”. That has led The R&A to suggest that most penalty areas should be now marked red to “give players the option of lateral relief and to make it easier for players to know their relief options”. Local Rules With a lot of changes to rule numbers, terminology and wording, committees will need to update their club’s local rules for 2019. The R&A have advised that you make the following updates: Ensure the wording of any Local Rules is consistent with the wording provided in Section 8 of the Committee Procedures. Ensure they reflect the terminology of the 2019 Rules and remove any ‘old’ Local Rules that are no longer applicable or necessary. Consider if any additional Local Rules are required. Local Rules are those that are pertinent only to your course and are not covered by the Rules of Golf. Remember that Local Rules you may have previously enforced, such as using distance measuring devices or removing loose

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impediments in bunkers, are now part of the Rules of Golf and should be removed. The GCMA have advised that there is no urgency to print new scorecards to reflect the changes. Adding an addendum slip until current stocks are depleted can cover this. You’ll also need to decide if you want to implement the Local Rule that offers an alternative to stroke and distance. CONGU have advised, though, this rule cannot be used in competitions for handicap purposes. Pace of Play Ready Golf has been adopted as part of the 2019 Rules and, in stroke play, players are to be encouraged to carry that out in a safe and responsible way. Matchplay remains an exception. It is suggested that committees consider adopting a Local Rule that sets a Pace of Play policy. Make sure none of your proposed changes are restricted by the handicap system Some Local Rules, while ‘acceptable under the Committee Procedures, may not be accepted under a particular handicap system’. It’s advised you consult with CONGU for guidance on any such rules.

Educate Your Golfers If you’re making changes – whether it is to course markings or Local Rules – it is important to keep your members informed and advise them of those facts. You can use your normal means of communication to do this while The R&A suggest you might also “consider having a member of your Committee on the first tee for the first competition of the new season to help explain the key changes to your players”. Committees could also run a Rules night, include a link to R&A Rules videos on their website or make them available to watch in the clubhouse, to get players up to speed before they go out to play. Encourage your members to download the 2019 Rules of Golf app, which is available on iOS and Android, and view the Rules Essentials videos. They should also read the slimmed down Player’s Edition, which uses straightforward language and illustrations to describe the Rules and the options available to players when they are out on the course.

For more detailed information on all of these areas, visit randa.org

GCMA.ORG.UK | 19

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INDUSTRY The latest news, insightful opinions and in-depth features from the golf industry

In the

LOOP 1. STRI announce Golf Environment Award finalists What’s happened: The STRI have announced who is in the running to win at their prestigious awards evening in Harrogate during BTME week in January. What does it mean? More than 30 long-listed clubs have been whittled down to 17 finalists. The categories are Conservation Greenkeeper of the Year, Outstanding Environmental Project, Operation Pollinator and Environmental Golf Course of the Year. Shortlisted clubs include Aldeburgh, Ipswich, Woking, Corhampton and Wigan and the Award partners include The R&A, BIGGA and Syngenta. The GEA provides the platform from which the golf industry can demonstrate environmental excellence in all its forms. Rowan Rumball, Golf Environment Awards judge, said: “This is my first year managing the GEAs, and it has been a fantastic, but challenging, experience. “It has been humbling and such a privilege to see first-hand all the good work golf clubs are striving

The news you need to know from the last month in the golf industry…

to achieve. “The range of projects has been massively diverse, and the scale is inspiring. Golf is truly leading the way when it comes to ecological and environmental commitment.” 2. England Golf Awards aim to celebrate ‘heroes of the game’ What happened: Speaking of awards, England Golf have announced their 2019 programme – and are asking clubs to put forward their nominations.

What does it mean? It will be the third time the England Golf Awards have been staged and the prize ceremony will be staged at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, in London, on March 21. There will be seven awards categories this year, including the new Innovation Award, and BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker will again be the host. The awards have proved a happy hunting ground in the past for GCMA members with Leeds Golf Centre taking away the Club of the

@GCMAUK Good coverage of golf & health in latest @GCMAUK magazine across clubs, focusing on how the sport can tackle health challenges. Playing golf can make you

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healthier. Simple! @edhodgesport Great day @NewarkG earlier this week for the @GCMAUK

Business Meeting #golfbusiness #newarkgolfclub #midlandsgolf #networking #alwayslearning #CPD #gcma @GCMAUK @ NewarkG

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We want to hear from you! Send your correspondence, on any subject, to letters@gcma.org.uk

Year prize in 2018. Categories include Most Welcoming Club of the Year, Lifetime Service Award, Volunteer of the Year and Coach of the Year. To find out more information, make nominations and book tickets, visit England Golf’s website at englandgolf.org 3. Scottish Golf turn to youth to shape the future of the game What happened: Scottish Golf want passionate young people to join a new panel they say will help drive the future of the sport. What does it mean? Applications have been opened to join the Young Person’s Golf Panel, a new national platform that is being created to “represent a voice of young people across the country in sport.” The panel is open to both golfers and non-golfers aged between 14 and 23, who can commit to up a maximum of two hours a week, and will aim to play a “pivotal role in identifying the issues and barriers young people face when taking up the sport”. It will then try to tackle them by “collectively sharing fresh and

innovative ideas.” Andrew McKinlay, Scottish Golf CEO, said:“As part of our commitment to growing the game, it’s vitally important we engage and listen to young people, and offer a platform that enables them to voice their opinions. “This is a fantastic opportunity to be part of an exciting time at Scottish Golf, the successful candidates will be responsible for motivating and inspiring others to get involved in one of Scotland’s most loved sports. “They will have the chance to develop new life and leaderships skills and be part of experiences that will increase their confidence – all of which will help to enhance their CV and career prospects.” Visit scottishgolf.org for more information.

Welcome to our newest GCMA members Kaushal Bawishi, at Gulmohar Greens Golf & Country Club, in India George Bylett, at Towneley, in North West region Alex Davies, at Brocket Hall, in Chiltern & Home Counties region Paul Day, at Crews Hill, in Chiltern & Home Counties Mark Gillard, at Brokenhurst Manor, in Wessex region Neal Grist, at Marriott Meon Valley Hotel, in Southern region Joshua Hirst, at Mendip, in Somerset Simon Jowitt, at Grimsby, in Lincolnshire Ian McLackland, at Astbury, in North West region Liam McLaughlan, at Prestonfield, in Edinburgh Josh Moore, at Seahouses, in Northern region Rachel Powell, at Wetherby, in Yorkshire region James Rowlands, at Hazel Grove, in North West Matthew Short, at Sand Martins, in London & Home Counties

@AnthonyHastePGA We were delighted to introduce our new technology at this week’s @GCMAUK East Midlands regional

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meeting at Newark GC. Thanks to all those attended & check out our web http://Zest.Golf for more information on what we can offer! @zest_golf

Lawrence Wilkin, at West Wilts, in Wessex region Claire Wood, at Sherdons Golf Centre, in South West region

GCMA.ORG.UK | 23

This GCMA club is famous for…

MOOR PARK

This Hertfordshire course, run by CEO Amy Yeates, played a pivotal role in one of history’s biggest military operations

aving smashed their way out of the Normandy beachheads and scattered German forces across France and Belgium, Allied commander Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery devised the largest airborne battle in history. Operation Market Garden was supposed to strike a fatal blow to Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich and quickly end the Second World War. And that ambitious scheme, which was always doomed to failure, was developed at a Hertfordshire golf club. Moor Park, a 17th century mansion, is one of the most picturesque and grandiose clubhouses in British golf. If you’ve never paid it a visit then the opulence, the paintings and the ceiling frescos will take your breath away. But during the 1940s it was requisitioned – serving as the headquarters for the Parachute Regiment. In a room on the first floor, The Battle of Arnhem was planned. The Arnhem Room has now been restored to reflect its history and crests. Paintings and a huge flag of the Parachute Regiment now hang to remind visitors of the

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part it played during the conflict. Montgomery’s plan was bold, dropping airborne divisions around Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem in a bid to capture key bridges. One of those was the Arnhem Road Bridge, believed to be vital as it was thought it could open the route into Germany. In the event, the Allies miscalculated – ignoring or underestimating the strength of enemy forces, who provided severe resistance. The British forces were overwhelmed at Arnhem, after

holding out against the odds for more than a week, with the 1st Airborne Division losing nearly three quarters of its strength. It was a plan which had grand aims of finishing the conflict by Christmas, instead, it is now regarded as one of the last great failures of the British Army. What is it that makes your club special? Every club has something that makes it unique, that sets it apart from everywhere else. Why not let us know what it is? Email s.carroll@sportspub.co.uk

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The interview...

JR JONES

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The GCMA president is the voice of the Rules for TV audiences in America at the Open. He discusses the 2019 changes and the future of the association with Steve Carroll

hat is your role as GCMA president? The role of president of the GCMA is – and has been – evolving since I got involved 11 years ago. We are in changing times and there are many demands on managers of golf clubs these days. There are huge demands with regards to legislation, to customer service, marketing, care of staff and all the surrounding things that need to be done. I was asked to take the post and, although I have been totally involved in golf all my life, I haven’t had any administrative role in any golf club – in a professional sense. The GCMA felt it an advantage to have someone who was outside the industry to sit in and give a different view. I think it has proved advantageous over the years. My original role was to chair all the meetings. I chaired the regional meetings and the AGM. The structure of the GCMA has changed. They now have a board of directors and I sit in a nonexecutive capacity. I listen, I don’t vote, and I give my opinion when asked. There’s been a lot of recent change at the GCMA. How optimistic are you about the future of the association? I do feel it’s essential all golf clubs be professionally run and that all the

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people running clubs should be well qualified. That is the role of the association – to provide a career path for managers, to help them evolve and improve their skills and to provide training courses. Then golf clubs, when they make a decision to choose their manager, can do it on an informed basis. That’s not only through word of mouth and a reference, but with some qualifications to go with those. Those structures have changed quite markedly with the strategic review. Are you in favour of that kind of change? Change is inevitable. It is something that human nature doesn’t like. Having said that, we do not force these changes on our managers. They are brought about by changing times and the dynamics of golf and golf management. You’ll be arguably the longest serving member on the GCMA board. Are you happy to continue carrying out the president’s role? I’m not sure if I’m the longest serving, although it must be close. It has been discussed whether the role of president has any value these days, but if it is felt that the post is still useful then I am happy to serve. I think I am regarded as a figure in golf that has seen quite a lot of change and is quite progressive as well.

Let’s talk about the Rules and your role with the Golf Channel and NBC. The American audience see and hear you as their Rules advisor at every Open. How did that come about? When you reach a certain age with The R&A, i.e. 70, you quite rightly move to a different phase in your life. You don’t have walking officials of that age at the Open Championship, which I think is quite sensible. When I reached that age, they asked me if I’d like to take over from Donald Turner, who was finishing with ESPN. I said I was happy to be involved in anything with the Open and was proud to be involved. I started with ESPN about five years ago. Ian Pattinson did it for BBC and I did it for ESPN. I used to go in at 7am and be there, in the studio, until close of play at 9pm. You sat there all day, and were called upon when needed. In the studio, and in that environment with all the protocol that entails, it was silence, listening and just watching the television and just trying to add value to their programme from a Rules point of view. If I saw something that wasn’t quite right, I would go off air to the producer and advise that they might want to correct that. ‘You can touch that bridge, that’s a local rule, that is a temporary immovable obstruction (TIO) either side’.

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That would give the on course presenter time to correct themselves after the break. My role as a television rules advisor is to make the presenters look as good as I can and keep them in accordance to the Rules. Are you called upon in a live setting as well when they need an expert opinion? Yes, that would be my function. I can remember, for example, at Muirfield where a ball was on the wall. Is it in bounds or out of bounds if it is on the wall? You get questions like ‘what’s the status of the flagstick on a call up arrangement – when they are calling players through?’‘Who marks the ball on a call up?’ ‘Who can rake bunkers and when? Can anybody do it?’ I really get involved. We are sitting in the studio and looking at the presenters. They cast their eyes towards us, as they are presenting, and they may come across and ask things. Can you pick out any notable examples when you were called upon on air to deliver a rules verdict to that US audience of tens of millions? There was Jordan Spieth at Royal Birkdale in 2017. I am hooked up through the earphones to the Rules channel – so I hear everything that is going on (at the rules headquarters) and pass any information on from there to the live broadcast. I have also got a producer in my other ear and I’m listening to the presenter and watching the television. Those are the four things I’m basically involved in. With that Spieth incident, I watched the ball through the air on television and go where it did with all the stewards around it.

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Fortunately, because I could hear every word that David Bonsell (chairman of The R&A Rules of Golf Committee) and David Rickman (The R&A executive director – Rules) were reporting, I was able to – vertbatim – give live coverage to the Golf Channel of exactly what was going on. I did about six minutes solidly on air – relating what they were doing and the process. I could see the process they were going through because I knew the golf course, how it was marked up, I knew there were TIOs, I knew the wagons and what they were doing. I followed the process step-by-step. That must have been pretty exhilarating, because that really was the story of that Open – the drop on 13 and what happened afterwards? It was quite exhilarating. As with all things refereeing, it is long hours of boredom punctuated by minutes of blind panic. It’s quite stimulating and I like that sort of thing. I like to be involved. Your knowledge in that situation has got to be spot on… When you are walking with a player, like I was with Ernie Els when he won at Royal Lytham & St Annes, you can do more damage walking – either with your attitude, making a wrong ruling, or the way you talk to a player on the golf course. You can influence the championship that way. When you are on television, the very worst that can happen is I can make a fool of myself. I can stand that as long as nobody loses a major championship and nobody dies. But social media is such a force and people give out opinions so quickly. That has a detrimental impact on some and, yet, you

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GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS seem very relaxed about it… It’s only a personal thing against me and I can take that – as long as it doesn’t affect the championship. Obviously, you want to have an air of professionalism that shows the championship is running properly and according to the Rules. But there is a huge back up for me. I am not going to say anything that I am not sure of unless I ask David Rickman or Grant Moir (R&A director – Rules). I’ve got an earpiece and on one of those channels is David. He’s watching every broadcast and if there is any hint that JR was going off message, I would know soon enough. What would be one of your most memorable moments as a walking Rules official at the Open? One incident I had was with Notah Begay when he was leading the Open at St Andrews. He actually hit his tee shot left on the 17th, duck hooked it again and then managed to get it into the burn – on the first fairway. He was six under at the time and he crawled into the burn to go and play it. Only a year before, Jean Van de Velde did the same thing at Carnoustie. Begay went in and then my brain went into overdrive. I imagined what he was going to do. He was going to touch the hazard, or the ball was going to hit him and he was going to lose the ball. I was mounting all this lot up until he just went in there and flipped it out. There are traumatic times that test your skills but there is a huge back up. The whole team, which have been there for years, act as a back up to the walking rules officials. What is really wonderful about the Open is we have this eclectic mix of Rules officials from all

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around the world and you really have the best there. There’s much to learn from them. The 2019 Rules are designed to simplify the current rules, which The R&A and USGA felt had become cumbersome. Have they achieved that? This was a massive thing to do and a very bold and innovative step – to make the Rule Book more used and more understandable. People found difficulty reading the present Rule Book. I imagine a lot of club players have actually played to a set of rules they thought were correct rather than actually being the case. That’s not the intention either of the Rules or the spirit of the game… You know you have your clubhouse rules, if you like. The rumour rules – that are generally accepted for people who play in the same club all the time. People say ‘well, we’ve always done it like this here’. This is not about people not adhering to the Rules. It is people genuinely misunderstanding the Rules. I think this is a good move by The R&A to address this problem. If you recall, only a few years ago, we produced a Quick Guide to the Rules of Golf. That actually, I felt, must have kickstarted this process. People started to look at the guide and, because it was quite easy to understand and quite well written, they were starting to take it as the Rule Book. That wasn’t the purpose of it. It was to give people a guide into the Rules and try to encourage them to use the Rule Book. This next step is probably a result of that. Which of the changes resonates with you the most?

I like the three-minute rule, just to give people the pointer that there is a time limit to how long you can look for a ball. We know that very rarely people say ‘I’m starting looking for the ball now and it’s five minutes past 10’. It was something that I was trained to do when I first started playing – particularly competitive golf. You would notify a fellow competitor or your opponent when you were starting to look and would almost police yourself. If you don’t have that starting point you won’t know how long you have been looking for. That is a move in the right direction. If you don’t find it immediately, then you are into putting another ball into play. I like the rule allowing you to putt with the flagstick in. I think that will save club golfers a lot of time. It probably won’t apply as much in professional golf because of caddies. But in club and medal golf, I think it will be good. I like most of the new Rules and I am sure they will evolve and modify over the years as best practice comes into play. Do you think the new Rules will encourage golfers to dip in and learn more about them? Yes, please. Let’s give the Rule Book back to the players. It’s about the game, not the administrators. They can self-police. This game is about honesty and integrity and self-policing. The more players themselves understand the Rules, and the structure, the better it will be policed. Maybe we won’t need referees like me wandering about at the Open. It will all be selfpoliced and the Rule Book will be there to administer the game. That’s the way I see it and this is huge step in that direction.

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“I think this (new Rules of Golf) is a good move by The R&A”

Who is JR Jones? A former banker, John Roger Jones’ list of golfing achievements is long and illustrious. A member of The R&A and four other clubs – including Conwy and Royal St David’s – Jones is a three-time Welsh strokeplay champion and twice a Welsh matchplay champion. The recipient of 85 caps for Wales, Jones has been a Welsh and Walker Cup selector, was elected to The R&A Championship Committee in 1989 and has refereed at some of golf’s top tournaments. He has been president of the GCMA, formerly the Association of Golf Club Secretaries, since 2007.

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In conversation with...

JOHN PARAMOR The European Tour’s chief referee talks to Steve Carroll about the 2019 Rules of Golf, life on tour and why we’ll just have to put up with divots

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e’s been the European Tour’s man on the spot solving rules quandaries for decades. If a professional has had a problem, or someone’s needed speeding up for slow play, it’s usually John Paramor racing to the scene on his buggy. Television has made him almost as famous as some of the players and a couple of his more notable rulings – refusing Seve relief from the base of a tree at Valderrama in 1994 and penalising teenager Guan Tianlang for slow play at the Masters five years ago to name just two – are now sporting folklore. So who better to ask about the changes to the Rules of Golf next year than the man who spends his life immersed in them? The rules can be quite difficult to understand so how long did it take you to get the grasp of them? There are obviously a couple of ways to learn the Rules of Golf. One is to learn them almost parrott fashion, so you can recite them and recite any part of the Rule Book. That’s fine but it’s actually putting them into practice. I looked at it kind of differently. I started going through the Rule Book and reading a sentence and saying ‘why have they put that sentence there? ‘What does that mean and what’s that trying to stop you doing? Is the player going to receive an advantage if he does the opposite to what that sentence is telling you to do?’ By trying to understand why the rule was there I think it helped me a lot to understand the Rules. Once you understand the logic running through them, they are good common sense in an awful lot of what they say.

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You might not always agree with the penalty and it might look very harsh in the circumstances but, when you look at the overall reason for why it’s there then you then realise WHY it’s there and you understand how the rules-makers have got to that particular decision. The easiest way is you start with the definitions. Once you read all the defined terms, of which there are a lot, and understand what they mean, it makes it very much easier to understand what the Rule means. If you don’t understand the defined terms, what chance have you got of understanding the overall sentence – the Rule – which contains that particular definition? You’ve got no chance. You’ve got to read them, question them: ‘why is that there?’ and you will be able to answer your own question after a little bit of analysis of golf and realise that’s why they do that. That’s when it starts to become a lot easier.

I do. As golfers, we get ourselves into situations and sometimes someone is brave enough to get out a Rule Book and try and find the answer within it during the competition. It’s very difficult for most people to find it in the current Rule Book. In the new book, you will find it a lot easier – in the way it has been ordered and the way it has been written. The current rules are very much correct English but we all know what reading a contract is like. It’s quite difficult if you not used to that to get your head round all the different terms. But it is accurate. One of the reasons behind the new Rules is that we wanted to make them easier to be understood and easier to be read. It has become more conversational English, rather than what’s correct in law and correct

English, to put it that way. It is quite wordy but, to make it easier to understand and more intuitive, it is written that way. On that side, they have been very successful. The other good thing is that they have taken a few of the, shall we say, more harsh penalties away. We have, in recent years, taken away some of those from the putting green – or given committees the chance to take them away by local rule.

Let’s look at 2019. The new Rules were designed to be simpler for players to understand. Do you think they’ve achieved that?

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As a club golfer, the changes that might make the biggest impact are the relaxed rules in penalty areas and the time we can spend searching for a ball. Which of the changes do you like, and which will have an impact in your role on Tour? The tapping down of spikemarks is a big one. That’s something we were allowed to do by agreement with The R&A some years ago and it was not really a problem. People said players were going to make their own lie and it was going to take hours to play but it didn’t. For the most part, everyone just did what they were expected to do – tapped down a couple of spikemarks if they were on their line and continued to putt on – rather than what happens now where they look and study it and think ‘is that a spikemark? Is that a ball mark?’

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A lot of time is wasted with players deciding whether they can repair it or not. Thankfully, under the new Rules, there won’t be any of that. You just tap it down and get going. The removal of loose impediments in a hazard is quite something. That was quite a big step for me, with my traditionalist’s hat on, but I think it is right. I have had too many occasions where it is unfair. You play golf at Valderrama – with all the acorns falling from the trees – and, suddenly, you are in a sand bunker. That’s supposed to be the hazard, not the fact your ball is surrounded by 50 acorns and will prevent you from getting any proper strike and, therefore, nulling any chance of showing your skill. Now, you will be able to remove those and play a proper shot – which kind of makes sense. I’m fully behind the threeminute search (to find a ball). When the spikemark rule was revealed, the usual question was asked ‘why can’t we take our ball out of a divot on the fairway?’ What’s your view on that? You do feel sorry for someone whose ball has rolled into a divot. There are many people who would say ‘what would be the harm in someone preferring their lie in a very short distance from the original position, if they’ve met the test which the course designer has set – which is to hit the fairway? Why should you end up in someone else’s divot hole? Why should you have to pay the penalty for that?’ I suppose there are still enough people who believe the traditions of the game are that you play the ball as it lies, and the course as you

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find it. They are two pretty strong points that have held this game together for a long time. I would have to say that we, on the Tour, probably play preferred lies too much for the traditionalists and we do allow players to prefer their lies – but not generally because there are a lot of divots around and a ball might roll into one. I think most of the pros on tour know how to adjust their game to play that shot. What do I feel? I think I’d probably have to stick with the traditionalists and say I prefer players not to touch the ball if we can avoid it in those circumstances. One of the recommendations is for players to make a stroke in 40 seconds or less. As someone who has had to give out a famous slow play penalty at Augusta, what is your view of slow play on the Tour? The 40 seconds is what we play on the Tour anyway. We are trying to make everyone the same and the great thing about the professional game is that we do play effectively the same game as the amateurs. We play from the same Rule Book so it is good that 40 seconds is the world standard. Some people would say that might be too long, and others might say it is not long enough. We will see how it goes. Do I think there is a pace of play problem? I think everyone would like to play a little bit quicker. Whenever you seem to be waiting to play a stroke, because of the people in front of you, you always think they should be going faster. That’s just nature, because you don’t like to be held up from doing what you are out there to do. There again, I also feel extremely guilty if I have got someone waiting behind me. I don’t know

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if everybody else feels the same. I’d like to think they did but I am not sure, looking at some of the people I have played behind, that it is a shared value. If I feel I am holding someone up, I will speak to my playing partners and say ‘come on, guys, we need to move. We are holding them up behind’ or ‘we need to stand aside and let them through’. That rarely happens these days. Do I think there is a pace of play problem on the tour? We have been looking at this for ages and ages. Yes, they are serious guys and they are playing for their living. That is something we never forget. We also go out of our way to produce a test which, to be honest, is not conducive to quick play at all. We make the fairways narrower, we make the rough deeper, we make the greens firmer and we make the greens faster. We make the golf course as long as we possibly can and then we

say ‘we’ve done a great job’. Well, of course, we have but each one of those (things) actually has an impact on the pace of play. One moment we are making the golf course as testing as we possibly can and the next we are saying to players ‘we want you to play as fast as you possibly can’. The two don’t really go together that well. But we do realise the players have said ‘this is what we want. We want to be chased if we are not in position. We want to play in a reasonable time schedule’. Some people would argue we don’t work on a very sensible time schedule. We work at around 4.25 or 4.30 for threeballs and 3.40 to 3.45 in twoballs. People say that’s way too slow and ‘when I was a lad I used to go round in x, y and z’. Well that’s possibly right but we do make these golf courses as tough as possible. Every Thursday and Friday on the Tour we play maximum fields from two tees so we can only go so fast.

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Why clubs need to spread the golf and

HEALTH MESSAGE

global consensus among leaders in public health, public policy and sport recently backed golf in their efforts to tackle physical inactivity. Evidence linking golf and health, commissioned by the World Golf Foundation (WGF), and supported by The R&A, was presented in London at the 7th Congress of the International Society for Physical Activity and Health (ISPAH). Highlighting golfâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s benefits to prevent a range of noncommunicable disease, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer of the breast and colon, the event built on the publication of the 2018 International Consensus Statement on Golf and Health. Offering a guide to action by players, policymakers and the golf industry, the Consensus Statement was published in September in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Among its actions, it encourages golf facilities and the golf industry to share key health benefits of the sport with golfers and potential golfers. We caught up with Dr Roger Hawkes, a specialist in sport and exercise medicine, and Executive Director of the Golf & Health Project, the independent research group which has undertaken this work supported by the WGF, The R&A and the Ryder Cup Development Trust. We asked him for his views on the current work. Golf has been classed now as

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Last month, we reported on the First International Congress for Golf and Health. Now Dr Roger Hawkes reveals how a couple of extra rounds can help us

From left to right: Dr Andrew Murray, Professor Fiona Bull, Steve Brine MP, Annika Sorenstam, R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers and Craig Tracey MP

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GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS a moderate physical intensity exercise. What makes it that? If you wire people up and get them to play golf, particularly older people, the heart rate response is moderate for most people, most of the time. Of course, this has been done independently and published in an International Compendium. It’s as simple as that. People who undertake moderate intensity physical activity for an average of a half hour on most days will live longer. A Swedish study on golfers has shown that, even when taking into account other risk factors, golf is associated with living five years longer. So even if golf is just seen as just walking round, it is good for you. But when you actually analyse it

further, it’s a lot more than that. It’s between 10 and 15,000 steps and can burn up to 900 calories in a four-hour round. That doesn’t take into account the course conditions or if you are carrying either… On certain days, you’ll have a more intense workout and if you use a buggy it will be less. But I think the message is that you don’t necessarily have to join a gym to get the majority of the benefits of physical activity. The main benefits of physical activity are getting very inactive people doing half an hour’s walking on most days of the week. Golfers achieve this without much effort! Golfers who use buggies will still benefit but we

would encourage people to walk the course if they can. And we know that over a third of the world’s population is inactive.We don’t expect everyone to start playing golf but by highlighting this benefit in golfers, it may help motivate others to become more active. The project is now starting to look at the effects golf can have on mental health as well… That’s going to be the next tranche of work we are doing. I recently met a psychiatrist in France, Professor Gaillard, who was giving a talk at a golf and health forum just before the Ryder Cup. He contended that having four to five hours on a golf course where the phone doesn’t go, where you are

From left to right: Dr Roger Hawkes, Annika Sorenstam and Craig Tracey, co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Golf

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not over-concentrating and you are talking and interacting with other people in the fresh air and in green space, is going to be much more valuable than anyone could have ever believed! There is evidence already which shows that green space is important in mental health and wellbeing. These are the things we really want to look into. In addition, we know that moderate intensity physical activity is good for anxiety states and depressive states and most of the evidence, to date, is from mixed sports, including golf. And finally, the value of social interaction is only just being appreciated. Lack of social interaction has been shown to be as big a “risk factor” as smoking! Golf has this benefit built in. You can see why no one should be surprised that golf is associated with living longer and a better quality of life. Where does the Project go next? We’re now going to look at the gaps in our knowledge and we’ve got some exciting work looking at strength and balance in golfers that is being supported by The R&A. Older golfers seem to develop better strength and balance, which may correlate with a reduced risk of falls. And we already know that if we reduce the chances of falls, we increase quality of life and reduce health costs. If this can be shown it will be another big plus for golf. It’s not just that we are living longer, it is that when we are ill we are expending more resources… Absolutely. Look at diabetes, for example. That is a huge scourge for the whole world now in terms of cost and suffering. We

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haven’t any direct evidence for golf benefits at the moment, but the exercise dose used in studies, which demonstrated significant reductions in people getting diabetes in groups with high risk of developing it, was equivalent to one to two rounds per week.

“People who undertake moderate physical activity for a half hour will live longer.” Were you a bit surprised with how wide-ranging the effects of playing golf were shown to be? Personally, I wasn’t because I knew the dose of exercise and other characteristics of golf. I also knew about early studies on golfers. For instance, a Finnish study looked at golfers in the winter months, when they weren’t playing because there was snow on their courses, and measured their blood sugars, blood pressure, cholesterol etc. During the summer, when they were playing, all these factors improved. Also key is the fact that you can’t “bank” the majority of health benefits of exercise. As soon as you stop, your risk becomes very similar to everyone else’s around you at that activity level. And you can play golf until you’re 104 so all these benefits are ongoing. The hint is in the membership profiles of clubs. We often talk about ageing memberships as a negative but, in this sense, it’s proof of what you are saying about the sport and health… Absolutely. But I don’t think we are just saying ‘everyone should be playing golf’. For a start, there

wouldn’t be any space on a Saturday morning if everyone played golf. We are hoping that, as a side effect of us highlighting these benefits, that people will look and say ‘well, if golfers can get benefits perhaps if I took the dog for a walk a bit more, if I didn’t sit around so much, I would get those benefits as well’. As a doctor, I’m interested in helping everyone and golf won’t suit everyone. I hope the messaging will be beneficial to all. From the golf industry point of view, though, clubs need to jump on this message a bit more, don’t they? We are given lots of reasons for joining clubs – competitions and social networks among them – but not to improve our health… Yes, we think it will add to the attraction of golf. We’re already giving lectures to the young PGA pros at The Belfry so that they will hopefully pass those messages on. We have also been working with The R&A and the PGAs of Europe and spreading the word more widely. It is no good for just a few people knowing it at the centre, we have got to get it out. Golf club managers often work long hours and it’s quite a stressful job. A lot say they don’t get a lot of time to play and yet they watch members and visitors doing so. How important for their wellbeing is it for them to get out there? Anyone who is physically inactive, and there is a lot of it about, can protect their health by being a bit more active and by playing one or two rounds a week. They can then, not just live longer, but also have a better quality of life. So build it in! When you’re counselling people in this situation, golf club managers should take note.

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R&A chief urges clubs to make changes to

HELP MEMBERSHIP

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The R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers tells Steve Carroll that golf clubs must think outside the box in order to grow the game

eight lifters and a room of people bent double from yoga are probably the last things you would expect to see from the corridors of a traditional private members’ club. But this is the way golf needs to go if it is to bring new people into the sport, according to one of the game’s most influential leaders. The R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers is advocating clubs change the product they offer – and he believes using some of their space as a fitness area, or a gym, is a sure fire way to bring in new groups of people. Recent figures from England Golf

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have suggested that the slump in golf club membership is coming to an end but, speaking at the first International congress on Golf and Health in London, Slumbers believes changing the “onedimensional product” generally offered by clubs would lead to bigger numbers. “We have openly said that golf clubs would benefit from being able to use some of their facilities for a fitness area,” he explained. “It doesn’t need to have lots of machines. In fact it doesn’t need to have any machines. “But things like yoga and Pilates – and golf clubs being able to offer that to their members and outside people – will attract a different group of people into the clubs and change the product that clubs are offering. “I do think this is really important to our future. Our clubs generally offer a one-dimensional product. If we want to grow the game and bring in new people, we have to change that product offer. “There are some great clubs out there that are absolutely doing that and are providing more variability than just playing golf. They are providing more fitness areas and I’ll hazard a guess that their membership is going up.” Slumbers stressed “every club has to make their own decisions” but added “if a club feels it isn’t getting anywhere, and its membership isn’t growing, or it’s getting too old, this is the way to go. This is absolutely the way to go.” While repeating the much

stressed mantra that clubs could make the course easier for shorter forms of the game, and make it more open, he also considered ways of making golf more accessible for people who are time poor. And one of his solutions is for clubs to think about the needs of those who need to get away quickly – for family reasons or whatever – and block off early weekend tee-times for their use. “If you think about a Saturday morning at a golf club, and especially in the summer with the prime tee times at 7 and 7.30am, how often are they being taken up by people who are going to be there all day? Why don’t the club understand who their time poor members are and say,‘Actually, those first 45 minutes? They are only for people who have got to be home by 11am.’ It’s turning that thinking on its head. I am sure that will give opportunities to play for people who would say, ‘I can’t get on the golf course because I need to be home by 11 to take my child to football, rugby, or whatever.’ “I don’t think it has much of an impact on those who are going to be there all day anyway – because if they go off an hour later they have another cup of coffee.” He continued:“If clubs can make themselves more a part of the community again, a place where people go not just to play golf but to go to see their friends, to have a proper cup of coffee, go to the gym, then I think our game could really kick on.”

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ADVERTORIAL

Turning player experience into

REVENUE

Jim Lombardo, Head Professional at 2017 US Open course Erin Hills, tells us why the club can’t live without Tagmarshal’s course management software

reg Norman once said, “Happiness is a long walk with a putter”, but not everyone can be that lucky on the fairways. Managing a golf course and creating a unique and memorable experience for players can be just as challenging as hitting a long iron into the wind, and courses need to work hard to create a seamless experience to keep members and guests returning to their greens. Just ask PGA Head Professional, Jim Lombardo, who manages 2017 US Open host course Erin Hills, in Wisconsin, about what makes his operation run so smoothly. By incorporating new technology and software into his operations he has managed to increase revenue and maintain a worldclass course that golfers around the world hold in high regard. Back in 2015, Jim took a chance on Tagmarshal, a leading field flow and golf course optimisation platform that tracks players’ pace of play and provides data to club managers to optimise operations and increase their revenue. According to Jim, he can’t live without it. We spoke to Tagmarshal and they shared some practical tips on optimising the all-important player experience and the

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importance of data to a successful golf course operation. The importance of the player experience “going beyond expectations” From 2011 to 2017 there was a significant downward trend in US golf participation, with the number of players dropping from 25.7 million to 23.8 million, much of which was due to the overall level of satisfaction with a round of golf. According to Hunki Yun, the USGA Director of Partnerships, Outreach, and Education, clubs need to do a better job of retaining customers.

According to Yun, the relationship between participation and satisfaction is key. When golfers have a positive experience and their round of golf meets their expectations, their satisfaction levels are high. This, in turn, improves their participation level. However, casual golfers who play seven or less rounds of golf a year are a key risk factor to the game as their satisfaction levels are a meagre 57%. This raises the question: what can private courses do to provide a player experience that exceeds the expectations of their members and guests?

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What walking in your customer’s shoes can teach you Understanding what really matters to members and guests and defining the experience that a club stands for are key to creating a seamless and unique customer journey. When a club knows what is needed in terms of software, technology, hospitality or staff training in order to deliver on their value proposition, they’re more likely to meet these expectations and create longerlasting customer satisfaction and memorable experiences. “We take the entire experience and analyse it,” says Lombardo.“From the time people pick up the phone to make a reservation to the time they arrive, right through to the time they reach the first tee and throughout the time on the course, we define and analyse every touchpoint where there is an experience and make it as best as we can.” From the moment players book a tee time, arrive, and walk into the clubhouse to register at the front desk, their journey has already begun. An opportunity now exists for golf clubs to improve on each customer touchpoint throughout the journey and importantly truly control the on-course experience, which after all is where players spend the most time and the part

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of the experience that matters most to them. The key is to define metrics and ways in which to measure these, in order to continuously improve and strive towards excellence and be golfer centric. “The most important thing at Erin Hills is the experience and by aligning our staff to say the right things and handle situations correctly helps us achieve an exceptional customer experience,” says Lombardo.“We hire people who believe what we believe and our belief is experience-driven, ensuring that we focus on all touch-points, from start to finish.” Think like ‘king customer’ We’ve all heard the adage that the customer is king and thinking like one can help club managers keep their eye on the ball. Continuous innovation and improvement to even the smallest details can have a major impact in the long term. Club managers know their courses intimately but understanding how a first-time visitor experiences it is key. Many might think that once the golfer is out on the course, the quality of their experience is up to them when clubs should instead be thinking of ways to optimise the experience at every touchpoint. Pace and flow of play are a major contributing factor to

overall player satisfaction. In fact, according to a recent USGA survey, 74% of players say flow and pace are crucial to the enjoyment of their round. Many clubs lack the resources or will to address oncourse management and use this key opportunity to add experience value to players. By introducing innovative software systems like Tagmarshal, which tracks players and caddies on the course and provides real-time data, clubs can improve efficiency and on-course field flow, reallocate resources and manpower where and when needed, and streamline and regulate the overall pace of play, even during peak periods. Jim Lombardo maintains a focus on course conditioning, tee availability, and flow of play covers the top three crucial player experience drivers and deliver business success by attracting and retaining valuable customers. “People come with extremely high expectations, and our focus is to match those expectations, ensuring we develop and retain customers,” continues Lombardo.“Part of our success is our well-conditioned course. But no matter how great the course, what ruins a player’s day is standing around on the course all day, waiting, so flow and pace are extremely important to us and

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ADVERTORIAL

Tagmarshal helps us create an exceptional on-course experience.” Why ‘hit the ball straight’ really isn’t enough When players ask staff for tips on how to play a particular hole, being told to ‘Just hit the ball straight’ doesn’t cut the mustard, especially when guests are playing on a course they’re new to. Turning marshals, caddies, starters and player assistants into ‘experience managers’ can do wonders for the customer journey. It’s imperative that facilities invest in and empower their staff and set up teams to be aligned

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with their customer experience. Golfers spend most of their time on the course, creating an ideal opportunity for empowered staff to give tips, advice and add value, especially to those who are playing the course for the first time. Many clubs provide scripts for staff on how to best deal with common player requests, which ensures consistency across the board. Ultimately, though, the more knowledge the team has at their fingertips, the more value they can add to the experience. The importance of data to a successful golf course operation

“The more you know your data, and the more you can record and analyse critical parts of your operations, year on year, the more you’ll understand about your business and the smarter you’ll be as a golf course operator,” says Lombardo. At clubs utilising Tagmarshal’s system, marshals or player assistants use a tablet and have information at their fingertips on groups that are out of position or holding up play, so assistance can be accurate and pre-emptive. Having on-the-go data that is easy to use saves time and effort and provides real-time, pre-emptive

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with days getting shorter we know we can manage the field to ensure no play goes into the twilight. So we could safely add another tee time we never had. Overall the optimisation has added $140,000 in green fees this season.” Additionally, tracking caddie results, starter accuracy, marshal efficiencies and analysing the impact on field flow and pace helps clubs identify potential skills deficits they can address to improve staff.

course management that can also be run from the clubhouse outside of peak times. Players actually like to be accountable and since there is objective data on each playing group’s status, any interactions with on-course staff are nonconfrontational and add value as they are based on facts. By ensuring consistent field flow and real-time management clubs can optimise their tee sheet and add further tee times which, over the course of a season, resulting in a substantial increase in revenue. “Optimisation with Tagmarshal has allowed us to add additional tee off times, for instance now in the fall

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Turn on the charm The best managers engineer success by empowering their team to manage the customer’s experience from start to finish through superior hospitality, communication, and consistently impressive service and by bringing this excellence onto the course by delivering on the key golfer experience factors. With Tagmarshal’s innovative and industry-leading golf course optimisation platform, club managers can rest assured that players will leave the course well looked after, keeping the allimportant ‘intent to return’ high and getting players to linger a little longer at the 19th hole after a great outing.

About Tagmarshal Tagmarshal is a golf course intelligence and pace-of-play management solution that turns pace into an asset. The system uses small “tags” clipped onto golf bags or installed on carts which transmit geolocation data. Industry-leading algorithms identify risk groups with accurate, objective support to alleviate pace challenges before they arise. Public, private and resort courses using Tagmarshal realise substantial returns on investments through improved on-course experiences achieved with less staff as well as increases in daily rounds. Impactful and easy-to-use data analytics, weather data integration and geo-fencing complete the offering. For more information about Tagmarshal, visit www.tagmarshal. com or contact Stephen Knoop, Managing Director, Tagmarshal UK & Ireland, stephen.knoop@ tagmarshal.com

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CAREERS Advice and news for golf club managers. Plus, the latest jobs from clubs across the UK

GCMA RECRUITMENT

FOR MORE DETAILS ABOUT THE VACANCIES BELOW, VISIT GCMA.ORG.UK/JOBS

EAST BERKSHIRE GC ::: GENERAL MANAGER

Established in 1903, East Berkshire Golf Club is a private membersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; club located in Crowthorne, Berkshire. We are seeking an experienced manager/secretary to oversee the day-to-day operations of our club whilst assisting to implement a host of exciting on-course enhancements, a new short game area (opening spring 2019) and improved practice range. To apply for this permanent position, please email your CV with a covering letter to chairman@eastberkshiregolfclub.com Region: South East | Apply by: 15 January 2019 | Salary: Competitive

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Good

PRACTICE Advice on golf club management issues â&#x20AC;&#x201C; from finance to clubhouse rules and employment law

Scandal in the

GOLF CLUB

love working with golf clubs. Originally that love stemmed from the fact that clubs are pleasant places to have meetings. But after working with many golf clubs over many years, I’ve realised another big reason that I love working with them. It might sound a little schadenfreude-ish, but I love the staff issues. While the business of golf club management has professionalised hugely in recent times, as an industry golf clubs retain a raft of complex, and occasionally amusing, staff issues that always get me thinking. HR problems crop up in a number of different ways, and managers sometimes feel embarrassed when particularly devious activity is uncovered. However, hindsight is a wonderful thing, and staff rarely set out to make their misbehaviour known to management. Therefore, all golf club managers can do is ensure the club’s policies and processes are correct and up to date, so that the appropriate action can be taken if required. I thought I would share some examples of the issues GolfHR has dealt with – and how we resolved them - at golf clubs this year, which, while serious, might also raise a smile or two. Our most entertaining dismissal for gross misconduct this year was for a bar manager (catering outsourced) who was drinking on the job

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He had been presiding at a club event and one of the other staff had flagged it up to management that the bar manager had been “knocking back pints all evening”. When we checked the CCTV, we discovered that he had drunk eight pints of beer between 7pm and 10pm. When we interviewed the bar manager, he only admitted to three pints and asserted that he had “always” been allowed to drink

at evening functions. Unfortunately we couldn’t use the CCTV footage as the club had not issued the staff with a CCTV policy, advising them of what would be recorded, when and kept for how long. Nor could we dismiss for drinking on duty as the club also had no official policy on this. Drinking on duty was only bad in their handbook if you were “under the influence”,

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Do golf clubs have more amusing staff incidents than other sectors? HR expert Carolyne Wahlen reveals all… But, as the bar manager prophesied, old habits die hard. Not long after that, on the CCTV cameras, we caught him drinking a pint of cider on camera. When confronted, he stated that it wasn’t cider, it was water, and that he had set up the situation deliberately because he knew the cameras were watching him, so he had just pretended to pour himself a pint, but actually it was water, and the yellow colour of the liquid was just from the light reflecting against the pine panelling behind the clear water. After looking at the footage from three different cameras, we decided that it was in fact cider and his defence was, as usual, a pack of lies. Action: Dismissed for gross misconduct. Appeal rejected.

which the bar manager disputed: he had still been perfectly sober. (NB Make sure you have a CCTV and drinking on duty policy issued to staff otherwise you will not be able to dismiss for drinking on duty. It is not an automatic gross misconduct situation.) With our hands tied, all we could do is close the door after the horse had bolted, so we issued policies, officially informed all staff of them.

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Then we got an Early Conciliation claim from ACAS. The bar manager was suing the club for age discrimination. How on earth did he come to this conclusion? Well, his rationale was that older staff had been drinking on duty longer and therefore it was more difficult for them to stop drinking on duty and therefore it was age discrimination. ACAS apologised to the club for wasting our time.

Working for financial gain while in receipt of full sick pay The chef at this club had gone off sick with stress as he was being performance managed by his manager. He was entitled to one month’s full sick pay before SSP kicked in. Three weeks into the sick pay absence, we were informed by an outside supplier that the chef had been working for them while being officially “off sick”. So, after gathering witness statements from the supplier, we invited the chef in to hear his version of events. His initial defence was that he hadn’t been working. He said he had been invited to a wedding by the

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supplier, who was to be his new employer, so that he could see how his new employer worked. He said that he turned up, just to watch, but that they had been short staffed, and that he had just helped out. And no, he hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been paid. However, the committee member doing the disciplinary was excellent. Calm, collected and with the ability to go over statements again and again. Turns out that he had been asked to go and work for the day at the wedding, not just take a look. He had been told in advance how much money he would earn for

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the day. And he did turn up in chef whites, ready to work. And the committee member got him to confirm all of that. Action: gross misconduct dismissal, not appealed. Stealing with an excuse is still gross misconduct The deputy greenkeeper had noticed that there was noticeably less diesel in the tanks than there should have been. After asking around the team, all the fingers pointed in one direction. We invited the greenkeeper in question for an investigation meeting to see what he had to say.

We didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have any CCTV footage, nor any direct eye witness accounts, so if he had kept his cool and denied it, he probably would have got away with it. Instead, he immediately admitted that he had been taking the diesel. We had heard that he was taking it to sell on. He denied this and said that in fact he had been using the diesel to kill weeds on the course, which was still gross misconduct. The club put in a lot of effort to be environmentally friendly in how it dealt with weeds, and putting diesel on them to kill them was not part of that strategy. Action: gross misconduct

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next two years. So, could we please keep his job open for him? Action: immediate resignation accepted and appeal rejected.

upset to see that she had earned so much last year. Turns out that all the zero hours staff were being paid cash by the bar manager every week immediately after their shift. He would then report their hours to the honorary treasurer and would be paid back the monies he had paid the staff. So, when a zero hours worker was being paid cash for 20 hours, the bar manager was putting in timesheets for them for 30 or 40 hours a week. The hours were processed, reported to HMRC and the bar manager was “paid back” the official money he had paid the staff, not the actual amount he had paid them. And he never gave them their payslips (criminal offence). So, the staff never saw that they should have been paid more. They were paid cash in hand for 20 hours and as far as they were concerned, it was all good. Until HMRC got involved. Turns out the bar manager had been doing this with all staff for over a year. Which explained how he managed to live contentedly in the tied accommodation at a very low official wage. Action: gross misconduct dismissal, not appealed. And the club made sure that they had different bank accounts for each of their staff and did bank transfers, not cash in hand.

Inflating staff salaries and taking a cut Back to the bar. The club manager contacted us because a member of waiting staff had come to him, somewhat distraught. She had received a tax bill from HMRC saying that she had earned over £11,000 last year, and now owed tax. She was on minimum wage and working 20 hours a week at the club. Not working anywhere else. So she was surprised and

Whatever your staff issue, there is a way of solving it. Whether it’s akin to one of the complicated situations above or as simple as them being 15 minutes late every day for a week. In people management, proper preparation is the key to success – without it, these sorts of situations are much more difficult to resolve. If you know you haven’t prepared properly, maybe it’s time to do something about it?

immediate effect. Then there is no notice period to pay. Staff either get in touch with us very quickly after receiving this letter, or we hear nothing and go ahead with accepting the resignation. This happened at a particular club with a member of waiting staff. Because of the rotas and holiday that he had booked, we hadn’t heard from him for three weeks when we sent the letter. We heard nothing, accepted his resignation, and that seemed to be that. Two weeks later his mother contacted us. She had just seen the letters. She explained that he hadn’t really resigned, but that he had been “unavoidably detained”: at her Majesty’s pleasure, more specifically at Wormwood Scrubs. Where he would be for the

“When we checked the CCTV, we discovered that he had drunk eight pints of beer between 7pm and 10pm” dismissal, not appealed. AWOL at HMP We regularly get calls from clubs as members of the team, particularly bar and catering, don’t turn up for work, don’t call in, and go absent without leave (AWOL). What we do in those cases is try and contact them by phone, text, email and social media. If we have been unable to get a response, we send a letter, by post and email, saying that we haven’t heard from them, and that if we don’t hear from them by 5pm on the following day, then we will assume that they have resigned with

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From the

HELPDESK This month: Should we refund fees for sickness and... trespassers in the club car park? Can a member have his membership suspended due to sickness? In this instance the member is now fit enough to resume golf but was unable to play during the winter months (four months). He has been advised by a golfing colleague he can apply to have the fees back for the months he was unfit. We have had several such enquiries in the past few months. This has become a major issue for clubs all over the country. It would appear that with clubs’ desire to retain members, almost at any cost, they are realising that ‘doing a deal’ is becoming more of an option. The GCMA does not have a policy on this as each club has its own circumstances and politics in dealing with the issue. However, one club I know introduced a policy in 2016 which stated that the request must be made in writing with supporting medical documents. It is not retrospective, and the first two months of the suspension are at the members own cost. After the initial two months, for each month the member remains in suspension a % (not pro-rata, as the summer months are weighted) of the monthly sub is accrued and discounted off the subs for the following year.

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They have found that this has worked and has deterred the members from suspending only in the winter months. You could also contact your local clubs to see if any of them has a policy that would suit your club’s circumstances. Recently, business cards were placed under all of our members’ windscreen wipers at the club. Could you explain the legalities of this? Yes, very cheeky but enterprising! I think that the only ‘law’ that you could pursue would be that of trespass which may not be worth the effort. Perhaps you could be cheeky too and invoice them for marketing services.

at a few credit check companies but they seem to cost a fair amount. I just wondered if there were any companies that clubs may have used that you are aware of and could provide details for? I am sorry, but we have no experience with credit checking companies. However, we have found a company that will give a free one-off check here: graydon. co.uk/credit-risk-management/ business-acceptance/freecompany-credit-check. You could also ask the company you wish to check for a list of those they have done work for and speak to them.

Could you please confirm that golf clubs must have six marked disabled car parking places for every 100 spaces available? I would follow the advice here: planningni.gov.uk/index/policy/ planning_statements_and_ supplementary_planning_ guidance/dcans/dcan11/ dcan11_car_parking.htm which recommends four per cent, among other guidance.

We have a member whose daughter would like to play in men’s competitions. We do not have a ladies’ section. Are there any issues with this? As far as the handicap system is concerned there should not be a problem, especially if you use a software package and you have a measured course for ladies. With regard to competing against the men, this is also okay as long as the conditions of competition are agreed and the correct SSS adjustments are made.

We are looking at engaging a company and would like to do a credit check. We have looked

An online helpdesk offers an advisory service. Visit gcma.org. uk/members

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ROOTS All the latest news, views and interviews from across the GCMAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s various regions in the UK

My success story...

PETER BOWEN

Sponsors of My Success Story

In the face of a significant decline in female members, Ormskirk broke with some strict traditions to stem the tide. But getting rid of protocol has brought big results as secretary manager Peter Bowen tells Steve Carroll

f you wanted to join Ormskirk you needed to negotiate a membership structure that probably hadn’t changed too much since the club was founded. Firstly, you required proposers – both of whom need to have been at the Lancashire club for at least three years. Then, if considered suitable, you would welcomed through the doors and asked to fork out a four figure joining fee. It’s a scene that won’t be unfamiliar to many of us who either manage or are part of private members’ clubs. But when the female membership at Ormskirk started to fall into sharp decline, the club decided they needed to make changes to what had always gone before. “I started four years ago and the lady membership was 130,” remembers secretary manager Peter Bowen.“We know that is a lot, compared to other clubs, but as of last March we had fallen to 102. “We’d lost 28 in that four-year spell and the (age) profile of the ladies’ section was getting higher and higher. We were losing income.” In his spell at the club, Bowen

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had put through only two membership applications from women who wanted to join. Something clearly had to change. Starting taster sessions, and attracting people to attend them, wasn’t going to be a problem. What was a big stumbling block, though, was Ormskirk’s weighty joining fee. For a new female member, it came in at £1,745. Combined with the need to be proposed for membership, Bowen and his committee of Alison Acheson, Vicky Williams, Steve Glover and John Price, found they had a structure that often gave people an excuse not to carry through any initial interest. So they tore down their own traditions. They proposed ending the entrance fee entirely for new women members, on the proviso that they had attended a club

“We wouldn’t have got these ladies with the entrance fee there, or if we had to follow the... strict membership proposal scheme”

taster session and had been recommended by the ladies’ section for membership. Implementing that wasn’t as easy as you might think. It required an emergency general meeting vote to get it through and also a great deal of tact in dealing with the men’s section – for whom the fee and the proposal system remained very much intact. Bowen added:“We went to the NGCAA, who were quite happy we weren’t doing anything wrong. “By having 320 men, the ladies were quite under-subscribed. They were quite happy, as long as it was on a temporary basis. “I think there about five people at the EGM against it, out of 100 people in the room. There were a lot of questions during the meeting, a lot of things thrown about, and I sat there and thought

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Ormskirk’s taster sessions were very well attended

‘this isn’t going to go through’. “But when I asked people to put their hands up the proposal went through.” With the green light from the members, Bowen and his team set about organising the tasters. They didn’t even need to advertise outside the club, with an email to members bringing a flood of initial enquiries from friends and family. Over four initial sessions, Ormskirk had 18 interested ladies learning the game with club pros on the range and practice ground. When the club added four further sessions – to try and fully embed their prospective newcomers into the club – they still hadn’t broached the membership question. Bur when they finally did, Bowen found that, within a week, he had 16 applications to join the club

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sitting on his desk. “We wouldn’t have got these ladies with the entrance fee still there, or if we had to follow the club’s strict membership proposal scheme, which is still in place for the men,” he explained. “It’s the two things. It was the entrance fee and even a bigger stumbling block was to find the proposers. The entrance fee is a massive thing. We know how much it costs for someone to start playing golf, without the entrance fee of £1,745. “So if they attended the taster sessions, as long as the people running them were happy, they could come in by being recommended by the ladies’ section. They would never have come to this club, all 16 of them, if I’d had to stick to the routine on membership applications.”

So flexibility has arrested a decline and Ormskirk have been delighted by the initial success of the changes. Not that it is a quick fix. The natural cycle of annual retention could see the club lose more of their section next year, Bowen reckons. Not until numbers have recovered to their former strength will the entrance fee be considered again for Ormskirk’s ladies. Even so, the club’s willingness to alter their traditional structures to cope with what they were facing on the ground has helped turn a corner. They are confident that will remain the case. We want to hear all about the success stories at your club. Get in touch by emailing s.carroll@sportspub.co.uk

GCMA.ORG.UK | 65

October 2018

STATISTICS UK&I 15,869

Hole-in-ones made in qualifying events during October

Total competitions recorded

GENTS:

170

LADIES:

9,774

6,095

456,386 total rounds of golf recorded

LOWEST EXACT HANDICAP

Gents

Ladies

-5.4 -5.3 47 Unclaimed BOSS hole-in-one watches.

2,701

eagles or better

66 | GCMA.ORG.UK

149,298 birdies

1,459,774

Stats provided by HowdidIdo.com

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