The Golf Club Manager: January 2021

THE GOLF CLUB

T H E

MANAGER

O F F I C I A L

J O U R N A L

O F T H E

G O L F

C LU B

ISSUE 42 | JANUARY 2021

MA N AG E R S ’ A S S O C I AT I O N

GOLF IN 20 WE ASK A TRIO21: MANAGERS TO OF WHAT THE NECONSIDER MONTHS IN G XT 12 OLF W LOOK LIKE ILL

GRASS ROOTS

A MEMBERSHIP BOOM

THE STORY BEHIND DENHAM’S HUGE SURGE IN NUMBERS THE INTERVIEW

EMERGING FROM COVID’S SHADOW

BEAU DESERT’S TIM GILPIN ON THE C LU B ’S P O S T - PA N D E M I C P L A N S

EDUCATE | INFORM | INSPIRE ‘

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CONTENTS IS S UE

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GCMA

GRASS ROOTS

04

Welcome from the CEO

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The secret to Denham’s booming membership

08

Driving professional development forward

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Meet the manager of Verulam

INDUSTRY

GRASS ROOTS

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In conversation with...The R&A’s Phil Anderton

From the GCMA magazine archives

THE BIG INTERVIEW 17

Beau Desert’s Tim Gilpin

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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 Tom Brooke - tombrooke@gcma.org.uk GOLF MANAGEMENT RESEARCHER Jim Cunning - jim@gcma.org.uk FINANCE ADMINISTRATOR Lianne Banks - lianne@gcma.org.uk COMMUNICATIONS EXECUTIVE Marie Taylor - marie@gcma.org.uk MEMBERSHIP SERVICES Julie Knight - julie@gcma.org.uk PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Gavin Robinson- gavin@gcma.org.uk BUSINESS PARTNERSHIPS MANAGER Craig Cotterill - craig@gcma.org.uk PRESIDENT JR (John) Jones 2020/22 CAPTAIN Dave Carlisle BOARD OF DIRECTORS Brad McLean, Amy Yeates, Andrew Rankin, Judy Barker, Stuart Leech, Gareth Morgan, Ed Richardson 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 CONTENT DIRECTOR Dan Murphy - d.murphy@sportspub.co.uk EDITOR Steve Carroll - s.carroll@sportspub.co.uk CHIEF DESIGNER Andrew Kenworthy - a.kenworthy@sportspub.co.uk DESIGNER Emmi Parry - e.parry@sportspub.co.uk PROJECT MANAGER James Broadhurst - j.broadhurst@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

T H E

MANAGER

O F F I C I A L

J O U R N A L

O F T H E

G O L F

C LU B

ISSUE 42 | JANUARY 2021

MA N AG E R S ’ A S S O C I AT I O N

GOLF IN 2021: WE ASK A MANAGERS TOTRIO OF CONSIDER WHAT THE NEXT 12 MONTHS IN GOLF WILL LOOK LIKE

GRASS ROOTS

A MEMBERSHIP BOOM

THE STORY BEHIND DENHAM’S HUGE SURGE IN NUMBERS THE INTERVIEW

EMERGING FROM COVID’S SHADOW

BEAU DESERT’S TIM GILPIN ON THE C LU B ’S P O S T - PA N D E M I C P L A N S

EDUCATE | INFORM | INSPIRE ‘

ON THE COVER: Beau Desert’s Tim Gilpin

WELCOME I S S U E

H

appy New Year! On behalf of everyone at HQ, I hope you all had an enjoyable and relaxing time over Christmas, albeit not quite the same as many of us would have been used to in the past.

With the most recent phase of COVID restrictions introduced just before Christmas, this will no doubt continue to create challenges for us all and add to the pressure we have all coped so well with since the pandemic started all the way back in March last year. I think the GCMA Community, both nationally and regionally, can be exceptionally proud of how it has pulled together during this time and supported one another through particularly stressful circumstances.

Let’s now look ahead to 2021 with optimism, with the hope that the vaccine will allow us to return to some level of normality in the not-too-distant future and that we can get back to meeting up with one another, attending regional meetings and of course the GCMA National Conference in November!

We can also be extremely excited about the progress of the GCMA in recent months and a number of fantastic new member benefits that we have ready and available for all members for the year ahead.

In February, we launch the new online CPD learning platform, GCMA Skillgate, which will include over 1,300 modules covering business management, finance and leadership skills. February will also see the launch of the new online GCMA Perks at Work platform.

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We’re also proud to announce the launch of our new Wellbeing service, with workshops available to all members in January, followed shortly by online resources and training through the two new online platforms. We are also excited to see the launch of the new ‘GCMA Inspire’ leadership and personal development series, with details and dates to be announced very soon. Keep an eye on social media and email for more details of all the new member benefits over the course of the next few weeks and we’ll also be providing more detail in next month’s magazine.

In 2021 and beyond, we’re committed to honouring our values – to ‘Inspire, Educate and Represent’ all of our members, in everything that we do. With the new benefits and initiatives we have ready for you this year, as well as the work we continue to do within the industry, I’m confident you will find a huge amount of value and enjoyment from your membership with the GCMA for the year ahead. As we hope to return to normality in the coming months, I do hope to finally get the chance of attending our regional events and to meeting many of you throughout the course of the year. In the meantime, stay safe and healthy, and please do let us know if there is anything we can do for you.

Tom Brooke – Chief Executive

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GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS

‘I’m really excited about getting into

A CLASSROOM’

Driving our professional development forward are presenters who are educating and advancing the skills of GCMA members. We sat down with Beaconsfield’s Stuart Langhorn to find out about the expertise he’s passing on

H

e talks about organic matter, about thatch and green speeds.

He is quizzed about bunker maintenance and when a course should be closed.

But surveying the squares of faces populating the Zoom call on his computer screen, Stuart Langhorn looks to impress a major point on the figures staring back at him.

“When you are a little bit younger you don’t realise how many people are working within the network,” says the course director at Beaconsfield Golf Club in Buckinghamshire.

“I use a rugby club as an example.

You’ve got all the people who get up on a Sunday and do the juniors, the people who make the food, people who clean, the people who do the pitches and it’s the same at the golf club.

“You don’t accidentally get a successful rugby team. Everybody’s pulling in the same direction and that’s something that I worked out early on. When I went to work for Burhill Group, they really put an emphasis on the heads of department as a group and really making sure that the exchange of knowledge was huge. They explained to us about the journey

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of a golfer.

“From the moment they enter the club to the moment they leave, we have all got a part in that journey – whether it’s the person who makes the bacon roll or the person who cleans the locker room.

“It was about putting us in position where we all wanted to impress in our own area, and none of us wanted to be the person that let the golfer down on their journey.

“So that’s the message I’m trying to get across because, from a personal point of view, I’m finding the golf clubs that are failing – or underachieving – have a lack of continuity between each head of department and each manager.”

It’s an important message that Langhorn is driving home – the importance of team – and it’s an important audience that is listening in.

As one of the presenters on the GCMA’s Principles of Golf Club Management course, he is among a series of key speakers giving delegates the building blocks they need to be successful club managers.

While he might ostensibly be talking about the role of the golf course manager, and how it fits into the wider golf club business, he also understands he has the

opportunity to influence and change how various parts of the club can link together.

The dynamic between the club and course manager is pivotal but can become strained if not handled correctly. Teams can be separated – one in the clubhouse and one in the shed – and misunderstandings can easily arise.

“I (also) try to get across to them what I think will be the five or six main things they will come across within their role that I’ve experienced in 21 years within greenkeeping,” Langhorn explains.

“My goal is to try and squeeze as much of that into 90 minutes – picking out five or six key areas that, if managers get right, and they and their head greenkeeper/course manager are on the same page, they will have a much happier, smoother, running golf club.”

“There’s quite a split in the delegates I’ve spoken to,” he continues. “You can tell the ones generally interested in increasing their knowledge of agronomy.

“And there are others that, from what I’m saying, are realising their relationships can be improved.

“It’s just talking about the simple things: about playing golf with your general manager or playing golf at your own club.

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“It’s amazing how many guys in my position aren’t playing golf. I think it’s a key area and it can be a bit of a light bulb moment.

“I talk to them about organic matter, thatch, and I talk to them about bunkers.

“I talk about green speeds, why and when the course should be open, and a couple of the key areas – climate change, drainage and irrigation.

“The structure of my presentation picks up the areas people are really interested in and what they’re struggling with.

“Rather than spend two minutes talking about 45 different subjects, I break them down to the things they really need to know.”

Langhorn admits, when first approached by GCMA Professional Development Manager Gavin Robinson to be a presenter on the Principles course, that he found the prospect “quite scary”.

But he has hit the ground running and, having recently completed his third, is comfortable in the enforced surroundings of the internet during

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the coronavirus pandemic.

That said, the idea of getting face-to-face with people when the virus is defeated is something he can’t wait to experience.

“I am really enthused about getting in a classroom, or some kind of room with these guys, and doing it face-to-face.

“Gavin’s got me pencilled for the future for different things. I’m just enjoying it. I know what it’s like when you go to a talk and, after 10 minutes, you feel like you want to pick your phone up.

“I keep it quite fresh and relaxed and also make it two-way. That’s the big thing for me – giving delegates the opportunity to ask questions regularly because there’s nothing worse than sitting for two hours and your mind’s never left that first question that you wanted answering.”

For more information about the Principles of Golf Club Management Course, as well as the rest of the GCMA’s education offering, visit gcma.org.uk/ education.

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What more can we say about 2020?...

The most difficult trading year in our lifetime?

Probably. And whilst we shouldn’t ignore the devastating impacts, there are some positives. The onset of COVID-19 has shown our strengths in resilience, community spirit and loyalty. Resilience to cope with the solitude of lockdown, the multi-tasking required to manage home-schooling alongside work commitments or the mental fortitude to remain positive when facing into the loss of social interactions, jobs and tragically, lives.

One upside has undoubtedly been the widespread demonstration of community spirit, from neighbours managing one another’s shopping, home-cooked meals being delivered door-to-door, all the way to multi-generational WhatsApp groups, everyone is trying to help everyone else. It’s not just individuals giving up their time and money, many businesses have come together to show their support from giving away food stocks, to offering their premises to community groups.

During the initial lockdown period we saw less than 1% of members miss their monthly repayments, demonstrating fantastic loyalty to their clubs.

This is an outstanding reflection of the members commitment to their club community. Their loyalty allowed clubs to keep operating through this difficult time, even though they didn’t know when they might get back on the fairways and greens.

Members value the ability to spread the cost...

The service we provide works well for the golfers that use it, from our research we found that golfers not only like to use this form of payment for membership fees, but they also recommend us to their peers.

Some examples of this: We achieved a +31 Net Promoter Score, a very well regarded measure of customer recommendation.

This is a great achievement putting Fairway Credit in the same bracket as iconic brands like Apple or Jaguar.

Fairway Credit have been contributing by offering clubs and members aid when they have needed it.

Our staff have been on call since March working from their dining room tables, kitchens and even a few sheds to make sure that clubs and their members still get the help and service they have become accustomed to for so many years.

Research shows high degree of member loyalty to clubs...

To support our work with clubs and members we gather insight through surveys and analysis of member behaviours when using our product. Our recent findings support the frequently voiced market commentary that memberships are being maintained and in many cases are on the rise.

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Of golfers agree that the service provided by Fairway Credit was satisfactory or very good.

Not only do golfers recommend us, 84% of golfers stated the service they received from us during the lockdown was satisfactory or better, with over 50% stating its was very good.

“

Good value service which makes the game we love affordable. Golf is an expensive hobby and sometimes prohibitive membership fees can be reduced with monthly payments to an affordable level. A great facility!

“

Look for the positives...

For further information about how Fairway Credit can benefit you and your members, simply; call, email or visit our website.

F W

Of golfers state that the Fairway Credit Product is ‘Great’.

“It does what it says on the tin”.

Having worked consistently in the industry for over 25 years we are pleased to receive such heart warming feedback. We have seen many competitors enter and then retreat from this sector over that time, our loyal clubs similarly welcome our commitment to supporting this great sport and past-time.

Looking forward to 2021, working with new GCMA leadership…

We’d like to take this opportunity to both thank Bob Williams for his support as CEO over the last 7 years and to welcome the new CEO Tom Brooke. Having had several meetings with Tom since his tenure began, it’s encouraging to find continuing synergy when it comes to our views on how we can support the industry in these ever-changing times.

Tom comes from a club management background so understands the strong commercial need for managers and clubs to offer a variety of ways to meet the cost of membership, seeing value in making golf accessible to all.

We very much look forward to working with Tom and the GCMA team, continuing the excellent

relationship that Fairway Credit and the GCMA have enjoyed for over 20 years.

“

Very good service and I have got 3 other friends to join using Fairway Credit

“

92% of golfers stated that the Fairway Credit product was ‘great’. With direct comments like “it did exactly what it said on the tin”, “it helped me play the game I love” or “making it more maneagable for me” and “bringing in line with some of my other monthly bills” were commonplace in the feedback we received.

Looking forward, finding ways of keeping those new members on board…

2021 is nearly upon us, so what’s next on the agenda?

The increased membership levels we have seen in golf through 2020 need to be maintained and built upon for the prosperity of the sector. Great to see so many new faces at our clubs, but we need to encourage them to renew and cement themselves in the club community.

Fairway Credit will continue to provide a method of spreading the cost of membership in whatever form that takes. Be it the traditional annual membership or more flexible memberships with the facility to “top up” during the year. Mid term joiners and shorter term summer memberships, all can be accommodated.

So, as we reflect on 2020, an “annus horribilis” by anyone’s measure, let’s not forget the upsides and take heart that 2021 could be a great year.

If you require any help reducing your admin, building your cash-flow, recruiting and retaining members we can help, call one of our dedicated team on: 0207 191 2417 or email us leisure@pcl.co.uk Have a great Christmas and New Year and we will see you all in 2021 Roger Brown – Chief Commercial Officer – Fairway Credit

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The interview...

TIM GILPIN Beau Desert’s general manager discusses how the club plans to emerge from the shadow of Covid and the work that’s going on to enhance its position as one of England’s best courses

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T

ell us a little bit about Beau Desert…

It’s a Herbert Fowler course and one of only 16 courses that is solely Fowler. It is subtle in its design, and both risk and reward is apparent.

The greens are probably its most prominent feature, in the sense that they’re very undulating.

They’re also quite big in areas and if you miss in the wrong place, you’re going to struggle to get up and down. We are on the Cannock Chase, which is an area of outstanding natural beauty. It’s just lovely scenery throughout; as you walk round there is a sense of calm and isolation and you’re left to enjoy the challenge of the game.

As we speak, there’s hope regarding the pandemic but it isn’t going away any time soon.

How do we keep what has been a ‘golden summer’ going? How do you see Beau Desert moving forward?

We have a full membership with a two-year waiting list. As a team we strive to look after our members, and do the right thing by them, we therefore can still look at 2021 as being positive.

We have to be cautious – we’ve gone down the road of doing a budget, which is based on six months under a Covid scenario, and six months of normal business.

Ultimately, no-one is certain of what is going to happen in 2021, and how clubs will be able to operate.

On that basis, it just means we need to be a little bit more careful about how we spend and being careful with our flexible costs.

It is, however, important not to be too cautious where we stop investing; everyone appreciates that a year not advancing, is a year where you go backwards.

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At Beau, we brought in architect Ken Moodie, and at the beginning of last year, he produced a course design plan for us, which is exciting for us all – the team and members alike.

There are some amazing ideas where he can take some of the holes to another level – and those who have played at Beau will know that is some statement!

We’re going to invest in that design over a number of years, which also incorporates the reconstruction of bunkers, which has been the weakest area of the golf course.

Over the last two years, managing the heathland aspect has also been imperative in our plans, particularly in keeping the values of Fowler in his original layout.

Because a heathland is always moving towards becoming a woodland, thinning out of the tree line for all the reasons of light and airflow is a necessity for the playing surfaces, however we are always mindful of what is taken down and what can stay.

We want to remain a heathland.

We have to manage that, and that costs money. We have committed a significant amount in the winter to carry on with that and a couple of other winter projects.

What we’ve already done has gone down well with members and visitors. Some are cautious about taking trees out but we recognise that we’re a little bit behind some courses – such as Alwoodley and those in Surrey – that have been managing their heathland for a number of years. I think you’ve got to then illustrate it to people. People buy with their eyes. They buy with the people they talk to and so service around the club is important.

We’ve just recruited into the team a new club professional – Chris

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GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS Cousins – to develop that side of the business. We’re not increasing subscriptions and it is about managing ourselves through these Covid times.

We have been able to keep the fees exactly the same for 2021; in addition Beau has invested into the golf course and facilities, which we hope conveys a positive message to our members.

Even though 2020 brought a golf boom, I think when the recession arrives people will be looking at their disposable income. They may not be in a position to have a membership, or pay £100 for a green fee, and that’s something that we all need to be conscious of.

But I do think the more premier courses and stronger clubs are in a position where they can get even stronger, if they positively invest in who they are and what they do, and remember they have got their base of 600 loyal members that support the club.

How easy is it to bring members on that journey of tree removal?

Restoring original intentions is nice, but it’s difficult to always convince members of the need for that when they may have joined because it was heavily wooded…

It is difficult. We brought in John Nicholson, who did a course woodland report for us, and he presented it to a select group and then to the wider membership.

People often talk about communication but it’s only the way you can do it.

You try and give all the reasons so people can understand what’s going on. To see a living tree be cut down will always understandably create a discussion.

We showed and illustrated what was possible and reasons why – to promote the natural heathland

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ecosystem and environment. That gave us enough scope to be able to do a sizeable project on our 1st hole, and between the 11th and 12th holes.

Now the members have seen that, the objection is about making sure we’re careful along the way.

So you’ve got to communicate.

You’ve got to spend a bit of time. You can’t go in there with a chainsaw and do it without the members knowing.

That would be foolish.

How important are rankings to what you’re doing in terms of improvements? You’re very well established in England lists and are in the top 100 in GB&I. Does it make a difference to Beau Desert?

100%. One of the things I’ve worked on is trying to develop relationships with publications and chat to them.

At the end of the day, members of a club like to see their club’s name up in lights. They love that association because they are proud of their choice of membership.

We are included in NCG’s Top 100s Tim Gilpin Tim Gilpin qualified as a PGA professional at Tenby GC in Wales and went on to teach at La Moye in Jersey (Channel Islands).

Interested in the operations side of golf, Tim worked for the Club Company (Golf & Leisure Club Operator), graduating from Golf Operations Manager to Deputy General Manager and onto the general manager training scheme.

Moving into hotels and resorts, Tim worked with De Vere for three years and spent time at clubs including Wokefield Park and Heythrop Resort. Tim now has the position of General Manager at Beau Desert, which began in March 2018.

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and Golf World’s Top 100 UK and Ireland. I’ve had quite a number of golfers visit Beau and share how these rankings incentivised them to play the course.

We all like credibility. Word of mouth and referrals are always the number one influence on people buying.

So whether it’s an experience of a visitor playing in an Open, or it’s a member out with friends in their local restaurant, if someone says ‘you’ve got to play there’ it always makes an impression.

When you read it a magazine, you are going to say ‘I’ve heard about that’.

Then you see there’s an NCG Top 100s Tour, or it could be a local Open and that’s your opportunity.

You’ve gone through three stages of hearing about Beau Desert and, all of a sudden, ‘I’m going to play it’.

Fortunately, people who play this golf course tend to really enjoy their experience and that makes us as a staff team all feel good and proud.

People would have traditionally thought of Beau Desert as an archetypal private members’ club. Is that something you’re trying to change and are you having success?

I think so. The board started an idea of a five-year plan before I arrived.

In my interview I talked very much about not being a secretary or even an administrator. My attitude now – based on the different roles I have held, is that ultimately it’s about what I am responsible for. I’m a General Manager – I look at the things we need to do to go forward.

The Board are great with me, both in support and shared vision.

Decisions can be a bit slower than maybe you’d like, and you have to debate it a little bit but that’s the nature of the beast; we get to where

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we want to and we’re definitely moving things positively forward.

Being a General Manager at a members’ club can be mentally gruelling, because of the difficulties of getting everybody joined up and pointing in the same direction.

You’ve personal preferences, you’ve got emotive subjects and varied points of view.

So I’d have to say we are changing. That is ultimately down to the fact that the board work collectively and they do support

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my ethos and me.

Then there is the link between my staff and me. I’m very much a team player. I want people to do their own jobs. I’m not telling the bar manager how to be a bar manager or the pro how to be a pro, but as a General Manger I am there to guide and to support their professional development, and enhance their performance.

In a place like this, we need to have experienced people to do the right job. You need to give them the platform to do the job and just

work in the right guidelines.

I’ve promoted a team analogy to help that change. You talk about team, you talk about colleagues and you don’t talk about ‘I’s’.

It’s very simple stuff but it’s whether you’re actually doing it.

You need it because there are always a handful of members in every club ready to challenge the board or staff; they will sit in the bar and say ‘that general manager or that pro or that greenkeeper’.

Often staff can end up fuelling these perceptions, so we spend

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Beau Desert Found amid the canopies of Staffordshire’s Cannock Forest, Beau Desert is a Herbert Fowler classic that is well established as one of England’s best courses.

A fast-running inland course, with trademark bunkering and some devilish green complexes, it has been a regular host to Open qualifying and England Golf Championships and poses a stern test to the very best.

While not long by any stretch, a tight par of 70 and the need to negotiate banks of heather and gorse makes it a study in execution.

Consistently strong, with few weaknesses, a sense of isolation and peacefulness makes a round a memorable experience.

Like the name translates, “A Beautiful Wilderness”

time talking about not allowing that to happen.

I’m looking back to the issue of Tyrrell Hatton’s hoodie at Wentworth. Private members’ clubs can be in a difficult position in this territory and it’s much easier for commercial operations to deal with some of the changes we’re seeing in golf. In a private club, there are lots of different opinions about what the game should look like and they all count. How do you

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manage a situation like that?

You go head on. We had a board meeting on the Monday and one of the first questions I asked was ‘what do you think about the hoodie at the weekend?

Just by doing that, you are raising the thought process and you’re giving them the opportunity to think about it.

The feeling was quite favourable.

Nobody said they didn’t like it. The people that did speak up said they liked it.

Ultimately, for me, it was smart. I

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do believe in being smart on the golf course and he was smart and I think it was good to see.

Yes, people will put that stigma to a members’ club. But that’s only because of members being of a certain age and it is always going to be harder to change that.

Let me frame the question then in a slightly different way.

Are private members’ clubs, and clubs like yours, more progressive than perhaps the wider public give them credit

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for?

Yes. I don’t think we are far away from jeans and things that like here – obviously not for the golf course, but for the clubhouse. Once I think we are allowed to use our clubhouse more normally, there is a definite appetite on our board to update the dress code and the thinking behind it.

That kind of philosophy extends to other areas of the club. Not getting stuck on dress codes but the idea that the game is changing and we need to move along with it. It’s keeping your

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history while moving forward at the same time…

Your club’s performance is illustrated by the P&L. Essentially, the things you do right will show up in your accounts. That’s why big businesses always have an accountant in the room.

But you wouldn’t let the accountant run the business because they wouldn’t want to spend any money.

What I mean by that is this: if you look at the way (some) golf clubs are set up, their budgets are often based on not making a profit and increasing the membership to the

least amount, which covers their base costs. Instead there are three simple tiers, which need to be incorporated into a budget: there are our operating costs, there are our maintenance costs and there are investments costs.

Once you’ve got that, you will be future proofing.

The biggest thing for me about members’ clubs and dress codes is you’ve often got an out-dated bar area and you’re asking people to dress smarter than the clubhouse itself. It’s not real life. If you make it plush, then you probably will get people dressing to the level you

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want them to. You can’t forget your audience. Everyone talks about relaxing dress codes to bring people into the bar. I don’t believe that. If your membership’s all drinking at Wetherspoons, you need to make your club and bar look like Wetherspoons.

If they all drink and eat at Michelin star restaurants, you need to make it look like a Michelin star restaurant because they’re your most important people and that will fit into your identity.

But to have an out of date clubhouse and then tell people they can’t wear a jacket, even

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though it’s cold outside and 8 in the morning, is ridiculous. You have got to get things right.

Are you optimistic about golf’s future, and that of Beau Desert, despite the pandemic?

You’ve got to be. I’m from a sales background so you’ve got to see opportunity.

I am extremely optimistic. The reason why is because we’ve got a waiting list for membership. We’ve introduced a Toro lease machine.

We’re revolutionising our setup for the service in the pro shop, with a new team going in there.

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We’ve brought in apprenticeships on the green staff and we’re investing in our heathland management project.

We’ve got a five-year plan. We’re now in the UK and Ireland Top 100 in most publications and I’m sure the rest will follow at some stage.

How strong a position do you want to be in? Clubs like Beau Desert can take this forward positively if they’re considering what people look for in a club.

At the moment, being outdoors is a great thing. I don’t see any reason to be negative from my seat looking at this golf club.

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In conversation with...

PHIL ANDERTON As The R&A’s chief development officer, Phil Anderton will play a key role in shaping the governing body’s future strategy. He talks about his role and his plans

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t is days after the BMW PGA Championship but Golf Twitter is still arguing about the merits – or otherwise – of wearing a hoodie.

Tyrrell Hatton has swept to victory in the European Tour’s flagship event and yet a small club in County Durham have found themselves making worldwide headlines – even Golf Digest got involved – after doubling down on a club rule banning such garments from the course.

Dress codes might seem far removed from Phil Anderton’s role as The R&A’s new chief development officer. But it’s a measure of the way he sees his remit that when I suggest he might have bigger fish to fry, he is unequivocal.

“When you said Tyrrell Hatton’s dress code is not really in my remit, I would counter and say it’s absolutely in my remit because projecting the sport in a modern and appealing way to specific audiences is super important,” he explains.

“The fact that wearing a hoodie gets people excited, in some respects I kind of welcome it because it draws attention to golf and I take my hat off to Tyrrell Hatton for wearing what he wants to wear within the appropriate rules and regulations.

“It’s a bit like (Andre) Agassi when he came out with his hairstyle and the dress code. It got attention and he wasn’t breaking any rules.

“I welcome that, absolutely. I think that, when we look at the image of the sport of golf, The R&A can help affiliates around the world to present an image that is going to be appealing to the different groups that we need to go after if we are going to have the sport thrive.”

If you delve a little into Anderton’s CV, you start to understand why projecting the

Image courtesy of the R&A

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right image is such an important part of his make-up. He’s worked for some of the world’s largest firms – Procter & Gamble and The Coca-Cola Company – and was chief executive at Scottish Rugby and Heart of Midlothian.

At the former, he picked up the nickname ‘Fireworks Phil’ for the pregame razzmatazz that transformed the Murrayfield experience. He’s also been chief marketing officer of the ATP Tour and chairman of the ATP World Tour Finals, so knows only too well both how to market and how to entertain.

It’s a wealth of experience that will come in handy as Anderton assumes responsibility at the governing body for a wealth of areas as diverse as golf development and amateur championships to sustainability and the British Golf Museum.

So in a wide-ranging interview covering everything from the culture change required in golf, to coronavirus, we asked Anderton about his new role at The R&A, the challenges and opportunities facing golf and how image is more vital than ever...

You have a fairly unique resume – someone who grew up playing public golf and has worked at top class sport in a number of countries…

Firstly, the training you get at places like Procter & Gamble and The Coca-Cola company really forces you into not doing what you think is the right thing to do but what’s based on thorough analysis of the people you are trying to get to buy your brands.

And the processes and the rigour that you go through around that have held me in good stead. And then the experiences across sport, both in governing bodies and clubs, is helpful.

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GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS The third part, that one could argue is a disadvantage but I think is an advantage, is that I am a keen golfer but I don’t know the ins and outs of every single slope rating, or handicap certificate.

Sometimes, that can be helpful because you come to it with a view that is perhaps more representative of the majority of golfers and prospective golfers as opposed to the minority who know every single detail.

Of course, you need those people and they have a lot of value – because they’re the ones that have got to come up with these things and implement them – but I think it does bring an added perspective that could be beneficial.

Is that particularly important when we’re talking about development, where too narrow a focus is not the right thing? You need a wider frame of mind…

I think so. As you say, golf development can easily be construed as just participation, or recruitment I would call it. But, obviously and learning from places like The Coca Cola Company, the number one thing that was drilled into us was ‘do not forget for one minute the importance of your existing customers and the opportunities to retain them and get them to buy into more of your brand and more frequently’.

You look at something like golf development and the easy thing to do would be to say it’s all about getting young kids into the sport and that clearly is important.

But looking after the millions of people who play and contribute to golf, and what they feel and what they think, and also the ecosystem around golf – the people who work at clubs, the volunteers, the club managers and all the other people within the game – is important.

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Trying to get those existing golfers to stay, and play more frequently, is a major opportunity.

As you know, not everyone plays every week.

There will be a lot of people who play every six months, and so what a great opportunity – they have already bought into golf, let’s get them playing more frequently, which then benefits clubs, driving ranges, club manufacturers and you name it.

Tyrrell Hatton and his controversial hoodie

How do you do that?

I think in the same way you would at other sports, and other brands that I have been involved with, you need to first of all identify who these people are, understand their motivations and understand the barriers. What are the things that are stopping them playing as frequently as you’d like them to play?

Then, make sure you come out with the strongest propositions that will make those people believe it is to their benefit to play more golf. For example, the recent work that has been done around golf and health: Could that be one of the tools we could use to make an average golfer who is playing once every three months start thinking ‘maybe I should start playing every month instead’?

It is developing those strong proposition reasons and then making sure that you are constantly in their faces with promotional messaging – whether that’s watching the pro players on the various tours, or having Tyrrell Hatton winning at Wentworth, and that kind of profile.

It’s also the kind of promotion that can be put out by golf federations and the clubs themselves, and by the media and can have a big impact, in terms of reminding people about what is so good about golf.

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GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS The final thing is making sure that you’ve got programmes in place that facilitate it.

As part of developing these programmes, you need to understand who the people are, understand their motivations, promote to them those messages in a powerful way, and incentivise people to play more frequently.

Then, of course, there is the other element, which is: Are your programmes suitable to enable people to play as frequently as they would like?

Perhaps in the old days, getting in your car and driving down to a club and spending the whole day there was feasible – so maybe you could play four times a month.

Nowadays with people’s time constraints – work, family, cultural – that is changing and so do we need to find more ways to satiate that appeal to get people playing the sport, and perhaps not in the way it has always been played?

Shorter form golf courses, driving ranges, TopGolf – they are all forms of golf and if we can get people playing more frequently in them, and then also move people from those to the club facilities, everyone benefits.

It’s interesting you talked about Tyrrell Hatton. Here’s a player who wins the flagship European Tour event and what people are talking about is an item of clothing he’s wearing. I don’t want you to necessarily talk about dress codes, as I’m not sure it’s within your remit, but what do you think, looking at golf as a brand, about the messages put there about the sport and how do we go about changing them?

For me, image is vital. That doesn’t mean you just go out with a nice fancy image and think you are going to be successful with that. You’ve got

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to back it up with products.

In my experience, working at Procter & Gamble, The Coca-Cola Company and in sport, you need all of those elements firing together.

You need to have a strong proposition that is relevant for specific groups of people. You’ve then got to back it up with a promotional campaign with the right imagery that people are enticed with, or engaged with, and then you’ve got to back it up with products that deliver against it. If any one of those falls, it’s like a three-legged stool – the stool will fall over. We know in golf, and we’re going to find out a lot more about this, that the image of the sport – unfairly in a lot of cases – has elements to it that are perceived to be perhaps a bit old fashioned, a bit restrictive, a bit exclusive and there are countless examples where that is not true.

There are also examples where perhaps the more traditional, oldfashioned approach to golf is there, it’s prevalent and it’s absolutely right it is there because that’s what particular audiences want to have and it’s not one key for every lock.

We need to provide our brand of golf in all its different guises that is appealing to different groups of people.

When you said Tyrrell Hatton’s dress code is not really in my remit, I would counter and say it’s absolutely in my remit because projecting the sport in a modern and appealing way to specific audiences is super important.

The fact that wearing a hoodie gets people excited, in some respects I kind of welcome it because it draws attention to golf and I take my hat off to Tyrrell Hatton for wearing what he wants to wear within the appropriate rules and regulations.

It’s a bit like Agassi when he

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Andre Agassi at his peak

came out with his hairstyle and the dress code. It got attention and he wasn’t breaking any rules.

I welcome that, absolutely. I think that, when we look at the image of the sport of golf, The R&A can help affiliates around the world to present an image that is going to be appealing to the different groups that we need to go after if we are going to have the sport thrive.

One of the examples I have talked about is that at The R&A we have a range of ambassadors in the sport – legends of the game – and it is fantastic what they have done, are doing for the sport, and that they are partnering up as ambassadors and the work that they do to promote the sport.

But they are promoting to predominantly golfers, so Tom Watson, Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, Georgia Hall and so on.

That’s fantastic, but I think there’s an opportunity for The R&A to engage with other people who play and love golf, and to showcase that and use it in promotional campaigns that we can develop to project an image of golf that is more in tune with the reality of what the sport is, rather than any old fashioned preconceived ideas. Image, for me, is a very important area and an area I think The R&A can play a big role in helping to shape.

You join The R&A at a very interesting time. We seem to be in a boom for golf. It’s an odd situation that, in a worldwide pandemic, golf is benefiting in terms of participation and increasing membership. How do we seize the moment now?

What is the next step to keeping these new players in the game?

There are a number of points. Firstly, although the pandemic is affecting people in terrible ways, and so

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Phil Anderton | Image courtesy of the R&A

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it almost feels uncomfortable to talk about the upside of it, it is an opportunity for golf and we shouldn’t be complacent in any shape or form and think that we’ve found a solution.

There are clearly reasons why so many people are coming out to play golf – a lot of it due to restrictions on the usual activities they would be taking part in – but I think there is also an awakening to sport being a healthy, outdoor, activity that helps you get out of the home into the fresh air and the camaraderie that it brings as well when people are isolated.

But at no point can we be complacent. So what do we need to do? Well, we have got a real, living, test case at the moment of lapsed golfers and new golfers coming into the sport.

So we need to ask them the question ‘what was your experience? What did you enjoy out of playing golf?’ And more importantly, ‘what are the areas where you had a disappointing experience?’ If we are going to retain these people, the product experience needs to match up to the expectation.

We, at The R&A, are doing research in that area at the moment with those exact people to find out how they felt about the experience and we will be sharing that with the governing bodies.

Secondly, when you are doing well it can sometimes be easy to sit back and go ‘well, it’s all done’.

For example, if we find from the research – and we already know this – that a lot of people don’t have the time to play the 18-hole golf provision. If we know that, and we know that things are probably going to return more back to normal, what are the programmes we can help facilitate that will enable more people to play golf

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but perhaps in a shorter timescale?

Does that include the existing clubs, whereby they can look at 9-hole facilities? Does that mean we have more of the types of facilities where people can go along not just to play golf but to have some food and beverage and the use of technology and so on?

That’s one of the reasons why we are looking at the facility in Glasgow – to provide that type of facility – because we think that, in combination with the excellent product that a lot of clubs in the UK and around the world put on, that will be the winning combination: of having more, full, on course golf year round but also complementing that with products that meet the needs of specific groups better than the more traditional style of golf.

There are a number of areas there that I think we have to get right, irrespective of what has gone on with the pandemic.

Some of those ideas you’ve outlined may require a culture change from the sport. From the traditionalists who might say ‘golf is 18 holes’ to others who will argue ‘why not six?’

How do you get those two views balanced?

There will always be, and rightly in quite a few cases, clubs that are complete believers in 18-hole golf and that is it and they don’t want to change. Why should they change? Their members are very happy and that delivers exactly against their needs and good luck to them. There are many clubs that do a great job in that area.

But at the other clubs, where the forces of competition were perhaps knocking on their door before, they need to be looking at the best practices that are taking place not just in the UK but all

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around the world.

That’s where I think The R&A can come in and support. I can talk to you about great examples of work that clubs have been doing to bring in technology on their driving ranges, creating driving ranges they never had and introducing 6-hole courses.

There is the work Golf Foundation is doing around Golf Sixes. There’s a whole host of things people can do, they just need to have the knowledge of how to do it.

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There is also the financial side as well. Again that’s where The R&A can play a role.

Not on our own, but by putting a pound in that can then be matched by local authorities, for example, or by an affiliation, or matched by a number of clubs, we can then get behind a significant project to prove this is the way we can take the sport forward.

That’s where I think The R&A can make that change. It is not a case of ’18 holes only = bad and we need to change all that’.

Clearly, 18-hole golf is the bedrock of golf and we want to see that continuing and thriving.

But what we have to recognise as a sport is that for the consumer, the golfer, or the prospective golfer, needs are changing.

A lot of their needs are changing – because of work, because of time, because of culture. For a lot of golf clubs, you either adapt and come up to par and deliver products that meet the needs of those people or you decline.

It is a choice, frankly, for many of

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GolfSixes has helped widen the sport’s appeal

the clubs.

We at The R&A will do our best to support that by providing a blueprint, by doing it ourselves as we are up in Glasgow, by providing financial support to help get these things off the ground and then by showcasing the best examples out there.

Sustainability is also a key part of your role. The world is changing rapidly and golf’s going to have to change too – whether that’s around declining

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use of chemicals or future availability of water. How do we get the sport to become more sustainable?

I think a lot of people think of sustainability as just a ‘do gooding’ activity when, actually, it’s fundamental to the prosperity of golf in the future.

It’s restrictions of types of products like pesticides, use of water, climate change, coastal erosion, you name it, and that’s why I think it’s vital that The R&A plays that leading role to really

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understand what the priority issues are for golf in the future in this area and work up practical solutions that we can then cascade down to federations who can cascade them down to clubs. Building that understanding and solution base for the infrastructure is the first thing that absolutely needs to happen.

The second part is how to make golfers understand the importance of this and why certain things will be changing. I see that as part of our promotional campaign and we could do more to talk about the positive stories that already exist and the impact they are having.

I certainly didn’t know that a body like the RSPB is a partner of The R&A and our work in sustainability, because they see the benefit that golf provides to nature.

It is taking those great stories and communicating them through the media, through clubhouses, so we can say ‘here’s what’s happening, here are the dangers ahead, here are the benefits, here are the changes we need to make to enable golf to continue to thrive’ and so we can buy into that as opposed to railing against your club because the fairways may be a bit harder or drier than they were in the past. For me, it’s fixing the core problems that are coming our way and then promoting it as widely as we can.

If that means Suzann Pettersen, and other people, publicly talking about these things, and all the tools we have got through our platform and others, at the clubs and federations, and doing it in such a way that it is communicated in simple, easily understood language, that’s the way we begin to change perceptions and attitudes towards this really important topic.

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A matter of opinion:

GOLF IN 2021

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Are we facing another year dominated by Covid or will we be able to move on? We asked a trio to managers to consider how the next 12 months will look…

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t’s been hard to plan with any certainty since Covid-19 started dominating our lives.

And yet, planning is at the heart of every successful golf club operation. So as we look at the year ahead, is it merely about getting through the pandemic or are other factors at play? How will membership look? How are clubs starting to focus on the future? We asked three managers to get out their crystal balls.

Is coronavirus going to be the biggest thing for you and your clubs this year?

Ben Driver: We know the clock’s not going to strike midnight on January 1 and it’s all going to go away. It will very much be on the agenda. There are never-ending things in the diary we need to think about. Being a members’ club, there is Captain’s Drive-In and our renewals are sent out in February.

The Prime Minister has talked about the new tier system being here until March. Given the fact it will cover our renewal date next April, I think it will be a huge thing.

Tom Munt: Our renewal date is July 1. In some ways, through this pandemic, that’s fallen relatively easily for us.

When we’re talking about the effects in 2021, it’s a really good point that most clubs are hugely reliant on a single event. Our renewals are, generally speaking, the thing that dictates the next 12 months – for better or worse.

Even if the pandemic is done and

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dusted by May, anyone who’s had that significant event before then will see its massive impact on the rest of the year.

I guess 30% of our business is hospitality. For other clubs it is more – 60%, 70% or 80%. It’s about how consumer confidence is going to pan out in that sector.

We’ve had a roller coaster (in 2020).

You can’t go to the pub, can go to the pub, half price to go to the pub.

I don’t know how long it will take until we get anywhere near the kind of levels of trade with functions, the Rotarians coming back, and all the other staples in the golf club function diary. It’ll definitely be the overwhelming consideration when we’re planning.

Simon Bell: How people feel, when it comes to their renewal date, will actually dictate whether they commit, won’t it?

Ours are in March and we will have a far clearer idea by then whether we will be getting back to a relative normal quite quickly.

If that is pushed back, the renewal gets that much harder.

But if things moved quicker we will actually have more customer confidence to commit to that annual big payment.

BD: By and large, the actual playing of the game has remained pretty much untouched. Well, not untouched but, hopefully in 2021, that just won’t be too much of a concern. It’s everything else. It’s the events, it’s the dinners, yuletides – the added value to a golf club.

That’s going to be a concern.

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GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS We’re not a wedding venue but I worry for clubs that are a huge wedding and party and birthday venue. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens. Hopefully, golf will stay but clubhouses? That is going to go long into next year.

Certainly the first six months.

TM: We’re 70% golf income and 30% hospitality. How does your club set up Simon?

SB: Very much like that. We have few weddings but a lot of member functions. I only started there one week before this lockdown.

So it’s been very weird going into a brand new venue knowing no one. I have met lots of people but don’t know what anyone actually looks like because of wearing a mask. It’s been very odd putting names to faces.

We are very much member function based with not much coming from outside. We have a full membership and lots of good functions – Christmas meals, monthly steak nights and things like that. The club is very well supported, which is lovely.

Let’s move on to membership.

We’ve had this boom where lots of players flocked to clubs. How do we keep them? You’ve all got different renewal dates so have separate challenges…

BD: The return of football and not just football, but everything: cricket, rugby, weddings, events and barbecues can’t be underestimated. It’s fantastic we’ve had this renewed enthusiasm.

Obviously, in the early days of opening up, golf was the only thing you could do. To some extent, it is still true.

But we’ve got to be wary of the return of these other things that take time. We can’t get complacent now. We’ve got to bang the drum as to the benefits of golf and keep

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banging it.

I think the nation has woken up to it a little bit. It’s been mentioned a lot on a national scale but we’ve got to be wary of the return of some of the other things members and golfers are interested in.

TM: I’m inclined to agree. We’re slightly different in that we’re a big commuter area so we’re about an hour from North London and we have an awful lot of people who work in the city.

A lot of our increase in membership has been brought about by people working from home. We have huge numbers of lawyers and accountants and various other people who would normally do 60 to 80 hours a week in the city plus travelling, who suddenly find themselves at home only having to do 40 hours a week, or are even partly furloughed, and a lot of them have come to the golf club.

The sad reality is that while some businesses will choose to remain benefiting from that flexible working, and the cost savings that go with it, they won’t all.

All of us know that once the foot is put back on the pedal, the pressure will be on for these people at home or at the office to deliver again. I think, very quickly, they’ll come back into the cycle of working every hour god sends and we may be a casualty of that.

We are hugely focused on what we can do to retain those people that can be retained. In the same way as every year, when any one of us looks at our membership numbers, we kind of put a line under 10% of them and expect them to move house or pass away or become ill.

There’s an element that you know you’re going to have some churn. It’s short sighted to think the easy win on the back of Covid is not going to have a much more significant drop off than your normal organic growth

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through the year.

SB: The acceptance that you will lose many of these new members now is key and not to view that as failure. What worries me more with many private golf clubs is that boards of directors may not now appreciate that we are going to lose lots of these new members.

We shouldn’t be budgeting with them all hanging around and paying full whack. We need to be realistic about what we are actually going to benefit long term, which might not be that much.

TM: And there’s some of the PR, should we say, that has been coming out of the world of golf.

Not necessarily the professional world of golf we live in, the slightly sort of dull management side, but from England Golf and from others.

They’ve all jumped very openly on the back of this good news story. I totally understand why that is.

But you’re right. When you’ve got a board of directors, who are getting these messages, it is difficult to be the only one in the room trying to calm them down and say ‘hang on a minute’.

You might be faced with: ‘Why haven’t you budgeted to grow membership another 20% next year?’ You say, ‘well, it’s not going to happen’.

And yet, other people are saying there are 400,000 more people playing golf this year. You think ‘well did they get that number off the back of the cereal packet?’

It’s not real life. With a members’ club, it’s another job to translate the reality to those people who are ultimately making decisions, at general meetings and so on, without coming across as a doom monger, to say ‘look, this is good news. We will have more members at the end of this than we had at the beginning of it’. But let’s budget. Let’s get our expectations

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But the perception is these are great times. There is an acceptance people will lose their jobs in the future but I don’t often hear managers saying ‘we’re going to lose these members’.

How do you get your boards or owners to brace for that?

SB: It’s coming back with the reality that there is going to be a financial hole in the economy. We don’t know where it’s going to hit most. It might hit young people. It might hit retirees, which is our core membership. If those guys get hit worst, we’ve got real problems.

There are many factors: job losses, will inflation go up? Will people change their spending habits? There are so many unknown elements going to pop up so we have to make owners and board members think more cautiously as well.

BD: Obviously our skill set is going to be put to the test. This year, we have very much been operators.

Let’s not lie. We’ve not had to do anything really proactively to advertise the club or golf. We’ve simply had to operate and really manage that demand.

In 2021, there will be some of that but we will all be put to the test in terms of marketing and keeping that message going.

In terms of how we brace the board, clubs that survey their members really well will benefit – clubs that really have a handle on their membership and their playing habits.

I think we’ll get a better insight as to what the next couple of years will look like in terms of membership. The members that have joined this year – how many times have they played?

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We’re all using tee time systems now, and so you’re getting these reports. You are seeing how many members are playing.

So I think really looking into your membership and their playing habits and surveying your members, maybe in the first quarter of the year to see where they’re at and in terms of how much they’re enjoying the club and the course, is going to be important. I don’t think there will be a significant drop off but I think we’re going to be put to the test in keeping that positive message going.

We’re all, as managers, trained to be on both sides of the fence.

We’re all cautious, in the middle ground, and stabilising everyone.

TM: We’ve spoken to all of our new members. I know why they’ve joined, where they come from, what job they do, and what sport they’re not able to play.

I report to the board relatively regularly with what I believe to be our at risk membership. Every club has their ‘if they’re alive, they’re a member’ group and then you have others who come and go to varying extents.

Certainly the members we’ve acquired at the moment, probably over 70% of them sit in that group.

I expect there will be significantly less than that. Publishing just the numbers and showing huge growth is great.

But I’m sure at different clubs the new members will have come from different places and will have different reasons for taking up the sport.

So some clubs may see 50 to 60% (of them) go. Some may only see 10% go. But I do think understanding where they’ve come from, which you have to do on a personal level, means that most managers are cautious and

have a big job to do in riding out the success. I certainly don’t feel like this is the new normal. I feel like this is Covid and afterwards, if we do it right, it will be better.

BD: We’ve been given an opportunity and it’s our job to map that and capitalise on it.

It’s easy to let the pandemic define everything. Covid aside, what are the key drivers for your club in 2021?

SB: Any members, new or long term, had a very good golfing experience in 2020 and hopefully we can carry that on. Golf courses looked great because they had the spring off and we had wider tee times.

When they came in they were given table service and more personal service and so I’d like to really use those positives to keep carrying on this message that being a golf club member is a great experience.

As we come out of the pandemic, there is going to be this euphoric feeling around the whole country and the world that we have beaten it.

That gives us huge opportunities to say ‘last year you missed out on your weekend lunches, why not this year come to all of them?’

There is going to be a large part of the golf world that wants to make up for last year. That gives us chances to use that to our advantage.

BD: We’ve had a lot of younger members join. We’ve had over 100 new members across all categories but, in the full category, over 70% are under 35, which is fantastic.

We’re going to focus on keeping the fun factor.

Golf is a modern sport as we’ve all seen the fashions changing.

Our social media is going to keep driving that – the message that golf is a trendy sport and not just

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The 10th at Chigwell

for fashion but in the clubhouse as well.

We want to try and develop that and appeal to the younger member. They have joined and we want to keep them now and we don’t want to show they’ve joined a club that is not prepared to move forward and look at their offering.

TM: For us, it’s about the hospitality offering. I completely echo what Simon said. I think, in a very strange way, last year allowed golf clubs to significantly raise their game in lots of levels.

I agree with table service. Our members were spending twice as much in the clubhouse during the summer, in a large part because we were going to the table and serving them. In the short term, keeping that new level of expectation going is really important.

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In the longer term, 2023 is our centenary. We’re looking at some development projects, including a new par three course, and we’ve got a nice driving range facility with Titleist placed there.

We’re looking at developing that slightly further. We’re looking at creating some additional facilities.

Our course is relatively young – it’s 10 years old – but it can be pretty brutal and we’ve found that is quite divisive.

Moving forward we need to have a slightly better entrance for those younger people that aren’t yet in the game. We’ve had a taste of what can be achieved if we do push standards up.

Members loved it. We’ve got new members who only understand that level of service.

Next year will be all about delivering that or above.

Meet The Panel

Tom Munt, general manager at St Ives in Cambridgeshire

Ben Driver, general manager at Chigwell in Essex

Simon Bell, assistant manager at Basingstoke in Hampshire

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The 18th at Woking, courtesy of Jason Livy Photography

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Futuristic investment benefits

WOKING’S GOLFERS How this Surrey club is reaping the rewards of Rain Bird’s innovative irrigation system

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ounded in 1893 and the oldest of the Surrey heathland courses, Woking Golf Club is a traditional golf club with immense character ranked 17th in Golf World’s Top 100 Golf Courses in England. When Andy Ewence joined as the new Course Manager three years ago, his ambition was to steer this highlyrated course towards an even better standard of conditioning, leaving a legacy that would benefit golfers well into the 2050s.

Within weeks Andy discovered the existing irrigation system was in poor shape, some of it at least 25 years old, with deteriorating PVC piping, rotors manufactured by Bear redundant over a decade ago and a computer system no longer supported by software updates.

Without detailed information about the location of cable paths and cable joints that weren’t waterproof, faults occurred every time the system was operational. Grass coverage was continually lost, partly due to sprinkler configuration, so all fairways had to be overseeded regularly, with repair costs spiralling to over £20,000 a year.

A year earlier, the club had brought in specialist irrigation consultant Roger Davey, Managing Director of Irritech Limited, to carry out an initial appraisal. Roger was appointed

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again in 2018 to complete a detailed design blueprint, full irrigation system tender specification and bill of materials.

“Woking Golf Club was very much ahead of the crowd in tackling its water sourcing and storage early on, utilising an existing bore hole and creating a water storage lake,” Roger explains.

“They took the long view and really did carry out their due diligence.

Choosing the right solution means investing in a system that will last for many years.

“The new irrigation system design addresses the hydraulic challenges of an undulating site across a very large area, rising from the lower parts of the course around the 6th, 7th and 8th holes to 20-30 metres at the 9th and 10th holes. That variance has been managed so that even coverage is achieved on the fine turf areas but water is still conserved.

“With Irritech’s vast experience of working in the Middle East, where you’re lucky if it rains every two years, we were able to design a solution that achieves uniformity of coverage and maximises irrigation efficiency.

“It comes down to three essentials – control, nozzle selection and system management. There are clubs out there at the moment who are ripping out much newer

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and cheaper systems, redundant sprinklers and valve boxes that are simply not fit for purpose. And too many clubs are failing to tackle the health and safety issues; water under 8/9 bar pressure in a failing irrigation system could be dangerous.”

With an independent design specification completed and backed by the Committee, Club Captain Duncan Aldred approached members to gauge their support for replacing the entire system and their appetite for funding what would be the most significant investment in the club’s long history.

The response was both immediate and positive. Within a month, a substantial number of members had offered gifts or interest-free loans to help finance the investment. With such generous support from its members, the club could step forward with confidence.

Ensuring members were kept fully informed, there were presentations and Q&A sessions to help them understand why the current system needed to be replaced, the risks associated with continuing to operate with the old system and how investment would ensure the club could look to achieve even better tournament-quality course standards for years to come.

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Woking’s 6th hole, courtesy of Jason Livy Photography

The wider vision for the club included an ongoing woodland management programme to re-establish the heather and allow many of the original views across the course to be reinstated. Members were sent a video about the installation process and many were surprised that, when it happened, installation was far less disruptive on the course and a lot less like the building site they had imagined.

Duncan Aldred, Club Captain, says: “It was clear to me at an early stage that we needed a new irrigation system. The question was when, not if, a system could be installed, with financing being the main determining factor.

“It was also vital to bring the membership alongside so they understood what we were proposing and why and so that they were fully supportive of

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the project to the point that they would help finance it. I am delighted with how the whole project went.

“After a detailed selection process, we chose to work with Rain Bird and MJ Abbott. They have been a pleasure to work with on this important project for the club, with the installation continuing to plan through some very wet winter weather.”

The installation of a Rain Bird IC System™ with Stratus™ II Central Control and 875 Rain Bird rotors began in October 2019 with Rain Bird 751 and 950 Series valve-in-head rotors on greens, tees, approaches and lawns and a triple row watering system on fairways, which avoids watering the surrounding heather.

Pipework is large enough to facilitate future system additions. The pandemic caused a slight delay but

work was completed by MJ Abbott in May 2020.

Contractor MJ Abbott faced unusually challenging circumstances with the installation, as Technical Director Adrian Abbott explains: “The installation of the irrigation system had gone entirely to plan, with just the pump station left to install and then along came COVID-19.

“The confines of the UK Government guidelines for safe working in close proximity meant that instead of a team of four, we could only have one and sometimes two people on site. I was acutely aware of the need to get the project over the line for the club, so we had to be innovative and adapt our approach very quickly.

“Fortunately, MJ Abbott has a number of portable pump stations, one of which was

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Andy monitors individual rotors and system performance from touch screen mapping in his office and remotely on a mobile

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temporarily installed down at the water storage lake, some 500 metres from the pump station location, to enable us to pump water out onto the course. We were then able to fully commission the irrigation system and hand it over to Andy before then building the permanent pump station and swapping it over. We were 100% committed to finding a way through because having no irrigation in the record-breaking dry spring would have been catastrophic for the club, the course and all the heather work that had been completed over winter which needed irrigating to establish and grow.�

Andy Ewence, Course Manager, adds: “An irrigation system is one of the largest investments a club ever makes. My aim was to have the safest, most future-proof system

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Woking’s 5th hole, courtesy of Jason Livy Photography

available.

“Paperless, fully computerised, using the very latest touchscreen and mobile technology. And we’ve got that. We’re totally teched up!

We have a 60” screen in the office for mapping, a smaller computer in the team tea room, a laptop and mobile making accessing the system easy.

“The Rain Bird IC System™ gives us an immediate and direct line of communication, straight from PC to rotor head. When I come in at 5.30 in the morning, I can do a full system test straight away, in minutes. We’ve

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got complete confidence in the new IC system because it works, it’s safe and it’s reliable.”

He reports that the results out on the course are both performanceenhancing as well as immediately visible.

“The difference is astounding,” says Andy. “All the surfaces are green and there are no bare patches at all. We’re achieving excellent distribution, a better, closer cut which means a consistent speed on greens. And members have noticed.

“The Head Professional has had

lots of positive feedback and there’s now a waiting list of people wanting to join. The Committee, Captain and members have been hugely supportive and interested in the new irrigation system.

We’re now taking small groups of members round to show them how it all works and they love it.

“There’s a real ‘wow’ factor when they see the mapping on the huge screen in the office. This is the best golf course there is. And what’s exciting for our team is that we’re still learning and tweaking the system. Next year, we will be able

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to realise the true potential of the IC system in bringing the club’s overall vision to life.”

Richard Pennell, Club Secretary, adds: “The issue of needing to replace the irrigation system was always likely to be among my first challenges on arriving at the club and it was clear early on that this needed urgent attention, despite the considerable costs involved.

“We operate in a very competitive market in Surrey and to have any chance of keeping up with or moving ahead of our peers, we needed to provide our staff with

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the appropriate tools for the job.

With excellent communication from all involved, the decision quickly became not ‘do we need this?’, but ‘how soon can we do it?’ and ‘how do we afford it?’.

“We were already spending a lot of money propping up the existing system, in addition to the time and frustration in doing that for all involved and even then the old system could not water effectively.

“Add into the equation a strong desire to be achieving best practice with regard to environmental and sustainability considerations, and a compelling argument was made and accepted. We were thorough in the process of choosing equipment and contractor too and both decisions have proved to be great ones.”

“Despite the weather, despite COVID-19 and lockdown, despite everything, the entire team involved has excelled. The hot spell this summer and high traffic post-lockdown gave the new system a chance to shine and it did. It’s a great success and sets the club up for a couple of decades of ‘compound interest’ in terms of efficiencies, turf retention and improvement. Thank you all!“ Alastair Higgs, Golf District Manager UK, Ireland & Iceland, Rain Bird, says: “For Rain Bird, being selected as the irrigation partner with the most user friendly and intelligent system that money can buy is especially satisfying.

“The care and attention delivered through the design and installation has resulted in a stunning outcome.

This course will go from strengthto-strength under Andy Ewence’s stewardship. I can’t wait to see the ongoing results. Rain Bird IC products offer the flexibility that allow the club to be agile and adjust to suit its needs well into the future.”

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PROJECT DETAILS Woking Golf Club https://www.wokinggolfclub. co.uk/ Secretary Richard Pennell CCM Course Manager Andy Ewence Captain 2018/19 Duncan Aldred Contractor Adrian Abbott MJ Abbott Limited https://www.mjabbott.co.uk/ Irrigation Consultant Roger Davey Irritech Limited http://irritechlimited.co.uk/ Rain Bird Europe personnel Alastair Higgs Rain Bird products: Integrated Control (IC) System™ Stratus™ II Central Control V8 IC Connect for real time monitoring of Pump Flow and Rain Fall Pro LT Weather Station 875 Rain Bird rotors: 8005 & 5004 Series Rotors on tees 751 & 950 Series Rotors on greens 751 & 950 Series Rotors on approaches 751 Series Rotors on fairways PEB IC pressure regulated valves 34,000 metres 2-core control cable

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From the

HELPDESK This month: Red diesel duty, direct debits and… hard hats for greenkeepers?

I’ve heard that the duty discount on Red Diesel is going to be abolished next year. Can you investigate?

The Chancellor announced the end of tax relief on red diesel in all sectors except agriculture, fish farming and non-commercial heating, in the March 2020 budget.

Buyers of red diesel currently pay 11p per litre of tax on fuel, compared with 58p for regular buyers who pay the standard rate.

As it stands HMRC, while agreeing that horticulture is agriculture when considering Road Tax, state that ‘ we do not regard as horticulture the landscaping and maintenance of grassy recreational areas, such as playing fields and golf courses, or the grassed areas of parks that are made available for walks, picnics and general recreation.’ This loss of the duty discount for golf clubs is scheduled for April 2022.

We offer members the option to pay their annual subscription by direct debit over 12 months and charge 2.5%. My understanding is that in 2013 FCA confirmed that the consumer credit regulations was changing, and they would taking over from Office of Fair Trading. We had until 1st April 2014 to register, which we duly did and have

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620280d1c89019951&id=f8e5b42b36&e=b95badfebe http://gcma.us9.list-manage1. com/track/click?u=9d6aff4f620280d1c89019951&id=e525ed3b92&e=b95badfebe

been approved. Is there a need for any other requirement?

It appears that you applied for, and received, an Interim Licence. This lasted until April 2015 when the new regulations came into effect.

The new regulations essentially require you to have a licence to allow payment by instalments, unless you do not charge any interest, real or inferred. The following links explain it all: http://www.gcma.org.uk/ news/consumer-credit-instalment-exemption-extended/?utm_source=GCMA+Members&utm_campaign=4d596f444c-Fri10April&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8494366dc9-4d596f444chttps://www.gcma.org.uk/members/news/financial-conduct-authority-credit-rules-update/ http://gcma.us9.list-manage1. com/track/click?u=9d6aff4f620280d1c89019951&id=a6470eba46&e=cdbb492cd7 http://gcma.us9.list-manage2.com/ track/click?u=9d6aff4f620280d1c89019951&id=8088c86d9c&e=b95badfebe http://gcma.us9.list-manage1. com/track/click?u=9d6aff4f-

Should greenkeepers be wearing hard hats while they operate mowers? If so, is it a legal requirement?

It is for the club to address the risks that could result in greenkeepers being injured before introducing hard hats. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and current Health and Safety Regulations both place obligations on employers to protect employees at work.

However, while there is the Construction (Head Protection) Regulations 1989, there is no equivalent regulation relating to golf clubs. Regulations suggest recording formal risk assessments with the greenkeeper, especially as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is advised to be the last resort. It is worth noting if a greenkeeper was to have a serious accident, there is no doubt that an Environmental Health Officer could prosecute if the risk assessment was not suitable.

This article can be found in document 1200 in the Information Library. Visit gcma.org.uk/ library/1200/

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“The introduction of Golfplan provides our members peace of mind to enjoy their golf, offering reassurance that the comprehensive cover protects them and their possessions, an invaluable additional to our club.”

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ROOTS All the latest news, views and interviews from across the GCMA’s various regions in the UK

GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS

My Success Story...Richard

PENLEY-MARTIN

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Astonishing levels of membership interest and a series of ambitious development projects in the pipeline: How Denham are scaling huge heights despite Covid

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ven in this year of silly numbers, it’s a figure that just leaps off the page. Golf club managers have become used to seeing their desks swamped with membership enquiries, but Richard PenleyMartin’s email must have been in danger of crashing.

“I think we’ve had something like 500 enquiries for membership,” said Denham’s general manager, reflecting on the paradox of a year that’s seen the Buckinghamshire club closed for nearly three months in Covid lockdowns but be busier than ever.

The queries arrived after Denham, rather than sit on their heels when the doors were first shut in March, embarked on a marketing campaign designed to push the club into full membership and help fund a series of ambitious development projects.

“The interesting thing is the average age,” he added. “In the first year I was here, we had already started a different initiative – more member get member.

“We brought in 58 members then, and the average age was 45 and the average handicap was 17.

“This year, I think we’ve brought in 49 so far and there are another 30 in the process. The average age has dropped to 41 and the handicap down to 15.

“There is also lots of interest from youngsters wanting to come and play golf. It’s become a little bit self-generating.

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GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS “We have a group we got involved with a few years ago called the South East Juniors. They go up to the age of 28.

“They’ve got several home clubs but their spiritual home has become Denham and everybody seems to gravitate here.

“Through them, we’ve got lots of other youngsters to join the club. I was having a having a look yesterday and we’ve got something like 225 under 40s at the club, and another 10 in process, who are under 30 and coming into the club.

“So 25% of the club is under 40, excluding juniors, and it’s really positive.”

Penley-Martin’s also managed to achieve the Holy Grail for traditional private members’ clubs.

He’s brought those new members in, while maintaining Denham’s traditions and values.

It rows against the tide of a message that implies golf clubs need to relax their standards in order to cater to a younger generation that isn’t prepared to adopt or adapt.

So how did Denham achieve this? The secret wasn’t necessarily allowing jeans in the clubhouse but rather in changing perceptions about what the club was.

Take lockdown, for instance.

While the thought of allowing non-golfers on the grounds drove players at some clubs to distraction, Denham let the general public roam the course.

“I got some nice letters to say ‘thanks for letting us share the facility’,” added Penley-Martin. “They walked down the rough, rather than on the fairways and across the greens. We were more than happy to share and, equally, they were very good about stopping when we went back to being an active golf course.

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“It helped build some community bonds. The club has, in the past, had a little bit of a reputation in the village, and also within Bucks, for being aloof.

“But when people become associated with the club they find, actually, it’s nothing like that at all.

It’s just a reputation.

“What we try to do, as much as we possibly can, is get people here.

It’s all very well talking about it, but if we can get people to actually experience it they come away and go ‘wow, I didn’t think it was like that’.

“That’s what really works for us and we try to do as much of that as possible. Obviously, lockdown helped as the locals could come and use the golf course and they

got to meet some of the people who were around.

“We’ve just got to keep doing that. As long as we do, we can change that wider perception.”

Having been in charge for coming up to two years, PenleyMartin’s now ready to enhance that change by unleashing a “whole bunch of projects” that will continue Denham’s evolution.

“If we total them all up and I get my dream list, we will need £2 million over the next 5 years,” he estimated, but it’s a body of work that ranges from a new garden room at the back of the clubhouse, to make it available to more members, to a course project involving two new greens as well as

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Richard Penley-Martin

a new tee to create a more heroic drive on one of Denham’s par 5s.

“We want to improve the practice facilities,” Penley-Martin continued.

“That’s not only in terms of the range, but also providing a proper short game area that members can practise on.

“We also have a short course, which was designed by Donald Steel, through some trees at the back of the clubhouse.

“We want to resurrect that with artificial tees and greens so that it becomes an all-weather facility. It’s there for the juniors but, equally, any member can go and use it.

It gives you all those half shots, 50-yard pitches, which we don’t practise because we’ll always go

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and hit full shots when we do.”

If that all sounds like there’s quite a lot going on then the flurry of activity is very intentional.

Penley-Martin sees it not merely in terms of adding infrastructure but also in adding value to membership and investing in the members themselves.

And the club can still consider carrying it out, despite all the uncertainties that remain amid the pandemic.

“The second it happened we jumped on all the expenses and cut out everything we possibly could. We were in a fortunate position where we could give furloughed staff 100 per cent of their wages, so they didn’t lose out.

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“We were able to carry that into the last lockdown as well.

“When we first came out in May, and we went to fourballs, we allowed members to bring guests and we took three times our annual members’ guest green fees in four months. That’s obviously been to our benefit and we managed to do our best to re-establish ‘normal’ life at Denham – just having to remember that everyone has to stay apart.”

He added: “It is all about improving the facilities for members and providing value for money for the membership. They can see they are joining a golf club that’s investing in the members. We want to just keep pushing that forward.”

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GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS

Meet the

MANAGER

Verulam

V

erulam is known as the home of the Ryder Cup – but it’s a claim to fame the club might once have kept a bit more secret.

Samuel Ryder formulated his idea of a biennial bash between nations while a member at the St Albans venue.

And yet, a course that lies in the heart of this cathedral city hasn’t always been the best at getting

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itself noticed.

“A lot of people in St Albans tell me the club was almost hidden away, and that’s such a prevalent statement in the golf industry,” said Verulam general manager Paul Keen.

“What are the adverts you used to see about golf clubs? A hidden gem.

That’s the worst part of advertising – to make yourself hidden.”

But times have been changing in Hertfordshire. Keen, backed by a progressive board, has been

working hard to improve service standards and make the club a central point in its surroundings.

“We have done a lot of work with chambers of commerce and other bodies to really put us at the forefront of St Albans and the wider area.

“That has really helped us and given us the platform to build our membership base.

“We are right in the middle of St Albans and are the perfect venue

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A progressive board has helped re-establish Verulam at the heart of the club’s local community, reveals general manager Paul Keen in a lovely setting for parties, dinners, lunches and, sadly, wakes as well. We’ve got on-site free parking and we just had to tap into that market.”

The shift in focus has helped bring significant results. Keen said seven-day memberships are full for the first time in more than a quarter of a century.

And rather than see the coronavirus pandemic as a time of belt tightening, the club have pushed forward and spent the last English lockdown working through winter projects.

“We look at our costs all the time but you have to keep investing in your club to take it forward. We do that on a regular basis,” he explained.

“I’m really buoyant. We’re a very well run club as it is and that’s borne out of the fact we have a small management board.

“We have six dedicated positions that work with myself, and the club captain also sits on the board.

There are eight of us in total.

“We’ve got experts in each area – strategy, golf course, finance – and the eight of us drew a five-year strategy plan together. It’s always reviewed and always evolving.

“On the back of that, we make decisions very quickly and they leave me to run the club operationally on a day-to-day basis.

That’s why they employed me.

“We’re a forward-thinking club.

We are not sat there cutting through layers of red tape to make a decision. We are empowered by the members to make those decisions.

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“It does work exceptionally well.

In the four and a half years I have been here we have pushed forward”

Paul Keen

“I have worked in other clubs where there are different committees for everything and this is such an easier, smoother, unified board – very much working together to push the club forward.

“Everyone who is on the board is there for the betterment of the club.

“Each member gets a four-year term and then they have to go up for re-election and they can stand again.

“We look at specific roles. When we say we are looking for a potential new board member, it is almost like a job advert.

“There is no point in getting a round peg for a square hole.

We look for skill sets rather than

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someone who wants to come on the board for being on the board’s sake.

“It does work exceptionally well.

In the four and a half years I have been here we have pushed the club forward massively.”

It’s a combination that leaves Keen optimistic about Verulam’s position through 2021, even with Covid still set to dominate the first half of the year.

“We see it as another really good solid year for the club and another chance to push us forward.

“While our membership is full, we don’t want to rest on our laurels and there are some people out there that, inevitably and unfortunately, will lose their jobs.

So it’s about continuing to market the club and keeping us at the forefront of Hertfordshire golf.

“We engage with our members continually so they feel part of the club. It’s to ensure that when renewals come along in August, it is not a case of ‘shall I renew?’ It’s just a case of them paying their fees and moving on.

“We reassure them that we are an important part of their lives and social scene. We’re constantly investing in our product and staff and continually making sure we are improving our product and making every aspect of the club better.”

Get In Touch To contact Verulam, visit verulamgolf.co.uk

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GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS

From the

ARCHIVES We scour the GCMA magazine archives to find out what managers were saying in years gone by 50 years ago Gerald Micklem CBE sounded a note of warning when speaking at the National Golf Clubs’ Advisory Association AGM in London.

Inflation was hitting hard and many subscriptions had gone up by 25 per cent or more in the previous year.

Mr Micklem, the Association’s President, urged committees not to neglect their ‘prime asset’ – the golf course – when looking to make savings.

“To economise on the upkeep of the course seems to me to the falsest economy,” he declared.

“The course is, after all, the reason for the existence of the golf club and I like to think that the vast majority of us belong to a golf club in order to play golf, and we want to play it on a wellconditioned course.”

He mentioned one club which had dispensed with the services of a greenkeeper and noted: “Of course, the wages of greenkeepers have risen enormously but we must all think of the future.

“There is in many places a depressing shortage of young greenkeepers.

“Without them, where are the

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head greenkeepers of the future coming from?

“We must build and maintain such a good wages structure that the young will realise that greenkeeping is a good career in which to start and in which to stay to the end.

“This will be expensive but I am sure that it will not only pay us

now with the immediate results but also reap big dividends in the head greenkeepers of the future.”

25 years ago In his Through the Green column, Mike Wood considered the breaking of the BBC’s stranglehold

on TV golf in 1995 and the growing rise of Sky and, in particular, their coverage of the recent Ryder Cup. He talked about Sky’s “huge commitment” to televising golf tournaments from around the globe – a contrast to the handful of events staged on the BBC – and noted the sheer breadth of their coverage and the merits of the respective commentary teams.

Wood concluded by saying something that some may argue still holds true today as golf has moved almost entirely from terrestrial TV: “The sad fact is, though, as good as Sky’s coverage may be, and as extensive as it may be, it does not bring golf to a wider audience.

“While the satellite coverage of the Ryder Cup was breathtakingly exciting, several times more viewers could have seen it had it been available to the BBC.” He added that the British public wasn’t switched on to the idea of paying for TV and “while they are not, golf on Sky hasn’t a hope of emulating the 13 million plus audiences the BBC could pull in for major golf events.”

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