The Golf Club Manager: February 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 43 | FEBRUARY 2021

MA N AG E R S ’ A S S O C I AT I O N

INDUSTRY

INDEPENDENT GOLFERS & WHS ENGLAND GOLF CHIEF: ‘IT IS UP TO CLUBS TO DECIDE’ THE INTERVIEW

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS HANKLEY COMMON’S ALEX WOODWARD ON SELLING EXPERIENCES TO LAST A LIFETIME

GCMA 2021 – A COMMITMENT TO OUR MEMBERS Chief Executive Tom Brooke outlines his aims and objectives for the year ahead EDUCATE | INSPIRE | REPRESENT ‘

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CONTENTS IS S UE

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GCMA

GRASS ROOTS

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GCMA 2021 – A commitment to our members

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How Ladybank is adjusting during the pandemic

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Introducing the GCMA’s new webinar series

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Meet the manager of Meltham

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England Golf’s independent golfer scheme

From the Helpdesk

THE BIG INTERVIEW 27

Hankley Common’s Alex Woodward

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Photography by Heather Chuter

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WELCOME

THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE GOLF CLUB MANAGERS’ ASSOCIATION GCMA Bristol & Clifton Golf Club, Beggar Bush Lane, Failand, Bristol, BS8 3TH Tel: 01275 391153 | hq@gcma.org.uk CHIEF EXECUTIVE 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 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: 18 PLAYERS 2 Arena Park, Tarn Lane, Scarcroft, West Yorkshire, LS17 9BF, UK Tel: 0113 289 3979 | info@sportspub.co.uk PUBLISHER Tom Irwin - t.irwin@18players.com CONTENT DIRECTOR Dan Murphy - d.murphy@18players.com EDITOR Steve Carroll - s.carroll@18players.com CHIEF DESIGNER Andrew Kenworthy - a.kenworthy@18players.com DESIGNER Emmi Parry - e.parry@18players.com PROJECT MANAGER James Broadhurst - j.broadhurst@18players.com 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 43 | FEBRUARY 2021

MA N AG E R S ’ A S S O C I AT I O N

INDUSTRY

INDEPENDENT GOLFERS & WHS ENGLAND GOLF CHIEF: ‘IT IS UP TO CLUBS TO DECIDE’ THE INTERVIEW

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS HANKLEY COMMON’S ALEX WOODWARD ON SELLING EXPERIENCES TO LAST A LIFETIME

GCMA 2021 – A COMMITMENT TO OUR MEMBERS Chief Executive Tom Brooke outlines his aims and objectives for the year ahead EDUCATE | INSPIRE | REPRESENT ‘

ON THE COVER: Hankley Common’s Alex Woodward Front cover photography by Heather Chuter

I S S U E

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t really is an exciting time here at the GCMA and I very much hope that the feeling is shared by you, our members. We’ve recently launched our new webinar series, under three new banners – GCMA Inspire, GCMA Hot Topics and GCMA Know How. Our Professional Development Manager, Gavin Robinson, has been putting on a busy schedule for you over the past couple of weeks, which will continue throughout February to help keep you engaged, inspired and informed during lockdown.

This month we’re also launching our new online CPD platform, SkillGate, and our new member benefits platform, Perks at Work.

With this new collection of valuable member benefits, professional development and education, I really do feel this is a great time to be involved with the GCMA, as we grow our commitment to the professional and personal wellbeing of our members.

Under the ‘Hot Topics’ banner at the moment, the two most common issues at present (other than COVID!) are member retention and the ‘Independent Golfer’.

After the growth in participation and membership in 2020, it really will be interesting to see what golf looks like in 2021. For the first time in many years, the focus is very much on retention, rather than the search for new golfers and new members.

This year represents a fantastic opportunity for golf to build on the

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success of last year and so much of this will depend on retention strategy at club level. I’m pleased to say that we’ve been supporting this with a number of new webinars recently which I hope you’ve been able to attend.

The new handicapping system for Independent Golfers (or non-club members) is certainly a subject that divides opinion and we saw that recently on our live Q&A with England Golf.

Rest assured, we will continue to work closely with England Golf, and we’re also in contact with the other Home Unions as well, to ensure that your voice and your concerns are well represented as this project develops across the UK. Lastly, the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic. As always, we are continuing to work with the APPGG to ensure that golf remains at the top of the list for consideration as lockdown measures are reviewed.

We’re also speaking regularly with Wales Golf and looking to build our connections in Scotland and Ireland so that we’re truly representing our members in all four corners of the UK. Let’s hope for a return to golf in the not too distant future and a bright start to the 2021 golf season.

Tom Brooke – Chief Executive

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“Alex came out to see me within a few days and I was thrilled to find out that the policy had been carefully created with the golf club, its members and the professional shop all in mind. On April 1st we rolled out our membership renewal, making golf insurance compulsory. Many of our members did already have policies in place, but have since moved over to the Golfplan policy due to the extensive cover and great price. To date, we have over 350 members signed up to the policy, and over the last two membership years I have received lots of positive feedback. I highly recommend the Golfplan Club Policy, and speaking to Alex.”

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GCMA Everything you need to know about what’s happening around the UK in the world of the GCMA

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

T

hese are exciting times to be a GCMA member.

Our industry may still be enduring the coronavirus pandemic but brighter days lie ahead and your Association has many exciting projects and initiatives to enhance the support and development of golf club managers.

Chief executive Tom Brooke has now laid out the purpose, vision and values of the GCMA under his stewardship and detailed some of the innovative projects that will come to fruition over the next few months.

So here he talks about what’s on the way – from new Continued Professional Development opportunities to a new focus on personal development, leadership and wellbeing – and explains why there has never been a better time to be a member of the Association…

OUR PURPOSE, OUR VISION AND OUR VALUES During my first few months with the GCMA I’ve been working really closely with the team at head office, as well as the board of directors, our regional managers, the Future Leaders’ Group and the Women’s Leadership Group.

We’ve been working on the culture of our Association and looking at our identity. This is for us to really understand what’s our purpose, what’s our vision, and what are our values. By doing that, it allows us to build successfully for the future with clarity and with focus. So, first of all, our purpose.

Our purpose is why we exist. It’s our identity. We’ve agreed that our purpose is to: Make a positive difference to the golf industry by supporting the professional and personal wellbeing of our members.

The Golf Club Managers’ Association was founded 88 years ago, by golf club managers

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for golf club managers. That’s never changed, and it will never change. Everything we do is about supporting the professional and personal wellbeing of you: our members.

It’s not just about helping you in your career. It’s also about supporting you as individuals. In doing so, we have better people, running better golf clubs, to the betterment of the golf industry that we all love and that we all serve.

Golf clubs and, in turn, golf club managers are absolutely at the heart of golf in the UK. So as an Association, and as individuals, we have a huge part to play in the success, and direction of golf.

Secondly our vision. Our vision is our direction. It’s where we’re going. It’s what we’re setting out to achieve. Again, with the working parties that we’ve carried out over the last few months, we’ve been asking the questions: Are we well recognised in the industry? Are we recognised enough at the moment as an Association? Could we do more to provide support for our members? Are our members and, indeed golf club general managers, valued as much as they should be in the industry? I don’t believe so.

And I believe we need renewed focus to support our members.

So our vision is: To be recognised as leaders in the industry. To have our members acknowledged as valuable and educated professionals, and to be the must join Association in golf club management.

Some of the initiatives that I’ll be sharing with you will help you to see how we’re setting out to start to achieve that.

Now to our values. Our values are how we represent ourselves.

It’s how we deliver our purpose and how we deliver our vision. Our values are to inspire, to educate,

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Purpose, Vision & Values - A commitment

TO OUR MEMBERS

Chief executive Tom Brooke outlines the Association’s aims and objectives for 2021 and the exciting membership benefits being launched this year

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Members at our last GCMA Conference

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and to represent. What do we mean by that? Well, to inspire: The word community has been a regular theme in conversations that I’ve been having with everyone that’s been involved in the GCMA over the past few months.

It’s such an important part of our DNA, such an important part in supporting you as individuals, and part of our Association. So is leadership. And by being inspired to become better leaders, it gives us more opportunity to develop as individuals, to enjoy our careers more and to be more successful in everything that we do.

In terms of education, as THE Association for golf club management, we have responsibility to provide industryleading golf club management professional development services and products for everyone in positions of golf club management – and indeed aspiring to become a golf club manager in the future.

This is going to be a core focus for us moving forward. It won’t happen overnight, but we have put some fantastic steps in place over the past few months.

Lastly, our third value is to represent. We, as the GCMA, have a duty to represent you as our members, to represent your needs, to represent your views, and to represent your concerns at the top table of golf in the UK. In my view, the direction of golf in the UK is nowhere near as well represented as it could be by those that are actually responsible for running golf clubs. Golf clubs are at the heart of golf in the UK. That’s where golf is played and that’s where golf happens. That’s where we’re going to change things, and to become more influential as an Association.

In summary, in the way of objectives for 2021, we’re looking to improve our membership

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services offering to enhance member benefits, to progress professional development and education, to develop our business partnerships, to become more visible and more relevant with our service offerings and delivery, to modernise our branding, our marketing, and our communications, and to broaden our market appeal and grow membership.

When I say modernise, we’ve been in existence for 88 years as an Association and we have a fantastic heritage and history, which we must respect. But, at the same time, we have to recognise that there is a need to evolve and move forward to remain relevant and to remain visible in today’s industry. By doing that we’ll broaden our appeal and will become more appealing to the commercial sector and to today’s modern business-focused General Manager, as well as the next generation of golf club managers.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Our aim is to deliver industryleading modern and relevant golf club management specific training and education to suit the needs of all golf club managers, as well as those aspiring to become golf club managers in the future.

We aim to provide a broader range of programmes, certificates and qualifications. We aim to grow our online education delivery, and flexible learning, to cover the full range of golf clubs’ specific technical management skill set – but to also improve our focus on soft skills, leadership and personal development.

We put this into three categories: Firstly, official GCMA certificates and qualifications. Secondly, an online CPD programme with a specialist education partner. And, thirdly, the

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GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS development of leadership skills, and personal development programmes.

I’m very pleased to welcome our new professional development manager, Gavin Robinson, who joined the association last February.

Gavin has brought a fantastic wealth of experience with him and has made some fantastic progress with our professional development offering in his first year in the role.

What is the offering?

Firstly, the GCMA essential leadership skills workshop is a two-hour online workshop delivered by members of our board. We’ve been successfully delivering that workshop online last year and over 150 delegates attended eight different workshops throughout the year. We’ve been welcoming a broad range of participants from existing golf club general managers and GCMA members, through to those that are currently not members of the Association. Indeed, some people were entirely new to the industry – so it’s been a great way of welcoming new people to the GCMA. Secondly, there is the GCMA Principles of Golf Club Management certificate. Last year, the Principles course moved online for the first time in its 30-year history and we rolled out four online courses, welcoming over 75 new delegates.

Thirdly is our Diploma In Golf Club Management and we work closely, in partnership with The PGA and BIGGA, to deliver that programme.

I’m very excited and pleased to announce that, new for 2021, we will be working on and launching a GCMA Advanced Golf Club Management qualification. This is in the very early stages of development, but Gavin and I have recognised there is a gap to fill between the Principles of Golf Club Management course, and the Diploma, to serve the

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needs of existing golf club general managers, who want to develop their skills, develop their education and achieve a qualification, but in a time efficient way that suits their work and life habits. That’s what we’ll be doing with the Advanced Golf Club Management Certificate.

CONTINUED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT I’m pleased to be announcing that we’re introducing the GCMA SkillGate Infinity CPD programme.

SkillGate have been providing online learning for some of the world’s leading companies for over 20 years, and we’re now working in partnership with them. This will be a GCMA branded platform, which will be available to all full, affiliate and unattached GCMA members.

All registered members will have a unique login and a record of completed modules and CPD points.

There are over 1,300 online module modules available. This launches in February.

We’ve got a renewed vision and focus on supporting the Professional and Personal development of our members. This means that we’re here to not only support you in your day-to-day life in Golf Club Management, but also to support you as an individual in and outside of the work environment. As just one part of this commitment, we’ve launched three new webinar programmes for the year ahead.

GCMA Inspire GCMA Inspire is a series of leadership and personal development webinars available to all GCMA members. We’re working with leadership and personal development coaches and training experts. We’re also bringing in guest speakers from the world of business, and individuals from the world of

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elite sport.

GCMA Know How GCMA Know How is a library of technical and business skills webinars and interviews with our Business Partners and education collaborators covering the key aspects of day-today golf club management.

GCMA Hot Topics GCMA Hot Topics consists of live webinars, online discussions and Q&As to tackle the major current issues of the day within the golf industry. We will aim to put the most accurate, relevant and up to date information in front of our members, delivered by recognised Industry leaders and to represent your needs, views, concerns. Check the GCMA’s website for our everexpanding programme of events.

Membership benefits What else are we offering you as our members? Another new membership benefit is the GCMA Perks at Work Platform.

This is an online platform, providing personal and lifestyle benefits for all GCMA members.

This will be included in your 2021 membership. GCMA Perks at Work offers over 30,000 national and local discounts with leading supermarkets, retailers and service providers.

You will also have free access to the PES community online Academy, which provides personal development, wellbeing and fitness classes – not just for adults but for your families as well. This programme launches for all GCMA members in February.

And another new initiative and benefit for our members in 2021 is the GCMA Wellbeing Programme, which will provide support, training, and online resources to support mental health and wellbeing for all members.

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Last month, we offered a series of wellbeing wellness workshops, which were delivered online by our new wellbeing partner PES. In February, we’ll be launching the new online resources and toolkits, which will be available through the new GCMA Perks at Work platform and there will be online training modules available through the new SkillGate Infinity platform.

Business partnerships I’m pleased to also welcome our business partnerships manager Craig Cotterill to the team, who joined last February and has been doing some fantastic work in developing relationships with our existing partners and developing relationships with a number of new partners. So why do we have business partner relations?

Firstly, to enhance the provision of technical knowledge, specialist advice and support for our members.

Our aim is to develop regular, high-quality, written and video content for the members information hub. That’s something we’re already working on, and we’ll be developing into 2021.

We’ll also be looking to extend the exclusive personal and business benefits that we provide to GCMA members through our business hubs and to supplement the development of our professional development offering – both in terms of technical expertise and funding.

New for 2021 will be a series of webinars and Q&As with our business partners, and other specialist golf industry suppliers, to provide you, our members, with up-to-date support technical advice and know how.

We already work with over 15 business partners, including a number of leading golf industry

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suppliers and service providers, and more details about our partners are available on our website.

New partners for 2020 included our new legal services partner MS Rubric, our new health and safety partner Shield Safety Group and our new energy advice partner Brook Green. We’re working with Pink Car Leasing, who provide exclusive GCMA member car leasing deals.

And I’m very pleased to announce that we’ve recently agreed a contract with Under Armour as our new clothing partner. Discount arrangements for GCMA members will follow suit.

We’re also working on a number of new business partnerships for 2021, and we’ll be announcing those in due course.

GCMA EVENTS The community aspect of our Association is so important. As we anticipate getting back to some sort of normality in the spring and summer, I know our regional managers are looking forward to welcoming you back to regional events. We are very excited to announce the GCMA Conference will go ahead in November 2021 and dates, location and further details will be announced soon.

THE YEAR AHEAD In 2020, the GCMA community came together like never before.

There’s no doubt it is going to be another challenging year but, looking at the success that the golf industry achieved in 2020, I believe we’ve got a lot to be excited about in 2021 as individuals, as a golf industry, and as an Association.

On behalf of everyone at GCMA, we look forward to working with you, and we look forward to supporting you in 2021 and the years ahead.

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

Prepare to be inspired by our new

WEBINAR SERIES Our new webinar programmes are up and running. So if you haven’t benefited from logging on yet, what are you waiting for?

W

e’ve got a renewed vision and focus on supporting the Professional and Personal development of our members.

This means that we’re here to not only support you in your day-today life in Golf Club Management, but also to support you as an individual in and outside of the work environment.

As just one part of this commitment, we’re extremely excited to have launched three allnew online webinar programmes for the year ahead.

A series of live webinars and interactive workshops delivered by leadership and personal development coaches, business leaders and personalities from the world of elite sport. With a strong focus on Leadership, Wellbeing, Motivation and Creativity, we aim to inspire you to become the best version of yourself and to fulfil your potential as an individual.

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Live webinars, online discussions and Q&As, will tackle the major current issues of the day within the golf industry. We will aim to put the most accurate, relevant and upto-date information in front of our members, delivered by recognised Industry leaders and to represent your needs, views, concerns.

A library of technical and business skills webinars and interviews with our Business Partners and education collaborators covering the key aspects of day-to-day Golf Club Management.

So, what’s in store?

With the current circumstances in mind, we’re particularly keen to provide you with a bit extra over the next few weeks, to help keep you inspired, engaged and well informed. So, we’ve got a jam-packed calendar of learning and personal development experiences prepared for you.

Visit gcma.org.uk/news/gcmalaunch-new-webinar-series for full details and key dates for your diary.

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

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‘England Golf is not going to dictate to

ANY GOLF CLUB’ England Golf chief executive Jeremy Tomlinson has explained the governing body’s position on offering official handicaps to non-club members

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ngland Golf chief executive Jeremy Tomlinson told golf club managers the governing body would not dictate how they managed independent golfers when a scheme to give them an official handicap is launched.

Speaking on a webinar hosted by the Golf Club Managers’ Association, he said it was up to clubs to decide how they engaged with nomad players - but urged them to look closely at their membership propositions.

In a 90-minute video call, which was attended by more than 300 members, Tomlinson was quizzed by GCMA chief executive Tom Brooke on the origins of the proposal and the motivation behind it.

He also pressed the governing body to delay its introduction and insisted the Association must be involved in all consultation as it moved forward.

England Golf have set up a working group to create a national platform that will connect independent golfers and offer them a handicap.

A business model will be produced in the first half of this year and Tomlinson was giving

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more details about the project.

He sought to reassure managers it would be left to clubs to work out how they wanted to interact with the scheme.

“This is going to be all about England Golf creating a national platform for independent golfers to provide a connectivity pathway to golf clubs,” he said.

“Golf clubs will have choices and options. They range from nothing at all – they can just say ‘we’re not interested. We don’t want to mix with them at all’ – all the way through to inviting independent golfers to play in medals if they want.

“England Golf is not going to dictate to any golf club on these options or opportunities. We are going to offer them. That’s what it’s all about.”

Tomlinson also rejected claims the governing body was trying to undermine clubs and businesses.

“Far from trying to undermine anything that any of you are doing, we want to support it and to give you an opportunity to connect with more golfers that happen to be a multiple of your membership,” he added.

Asked about the origins of the scheme, Tomlinson told managers he’d received a call last year from R&A chief executive Martin

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Slumbers, and chief development officer Phil Anderton, who told him their new strategy included not only connecting with as many golfers as possible but the desire to provide them with handicaps.

He added that Wales, Ireland and Scotland had already agreed to create platforms.

“If we didn’t retain our position as the single authority for handicapping then, invariably, a commercial partner of the R&A may well have come into England and taken up that mantle,” he said.

Brooke asked if there was any data that indicated there was a demand for handicaps outside of club membership.

Tomlinson said there was belief within the R&A that providing a measuring tool for ability drives avidness: “you want to have, not only that true reflection of your ability, but you also want to be able to try and get better at it”.

“The primary reason for creating a platform is to create a good pathway through to membership,” he said. “Now, if we’re able to do that and we’re able to educate and inspire on membership and lead some people to that membership, then that’s a great thing.

“I think everybody on the call will agree that there’s lots and lots

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of independent golfers that may never ever want to be a member of a golf club, but what we can do is help drive avidness.

“By giving them a handicap, if we can help them or inspire them to want to do more cards, it means they’re going to visit courses more frequently.”

The timing of the scheme, and its likely introduction while golf remains deeply affected by the coronavirus pandemic, was a key worry of Brooke’s.

The GCMA CEO said: “I’m just concerned if this is the right time to be putting it on the table – to be discussing it in such depth.

“Would it not have been better to say ‘let’s push this back six or 12 months and just let the current climate settle a bit and let the World Handicap System settle in?’”

Tomlinson replied: “We are sensitive from a timing perspective but, at the same time, we’ve launched WHS. We have the app now. We have the functionality.

“So it is something of going ‘you know what? We want to be able to proactively make sure that we’re protecting membership in the best way that we can’.

“We want to be able to connect with these golfers, to be able to inspire them on membership and, from our perspective, we feel that launching this in the first half of this year is a good timeframe to be able to do that.”

Turning to what comes next, Brooke told Tomlinson “those running clubs should be consulted” and the GCMA should be formally included in the process.

He said: “It would be useful to make sure that consultation process was as transparent as possible – so that there is a genuine voice coming from current golf club general managers.

“It would be really useful to

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discuss that and look at who is involved from the GCMA. I want to make sure our members are as close to that as possible.”

Earlier, addressing concerns an independent golfer scheme could tempt some members to leave clubs, Tomlinson said he would be surprised if the working group did not include “some sort of time lag between when you could actually leave a golf club... and then be able to join [an independent golfer scheme].

“I would be shocked if that wasn’t something that was agreed and put in place.”

He added: “We have to get our membership proposition right. We really do. If we think that members are going to leave just because they are going to go off and get a handicap - by the way, so they are going to leave a club, where they have full playing rights, they hopefully have an enjoyable time, socialise, feel belonging, and can compete, and they’re going to go and pay £40 for a handicap, and then have to pay every time they play and not be able to play in a lot of official competitions unless clubs let them? I don’t get it. I don’t understand that. I really don’t.”

Tomlinson continued: “I really do think we have to take this as a challenge, as golf clubs, with regards to our membership proposition.

“It’s a competitive world out there. We all know that. And we have to make sure we have a great value proposition.”

He said he understood he could not heal all concerns by appearing on one video call, but stressed: “This can become an opportunity and if we keep talking, if we keep communicating, I am sure we can make it a great opportunity and try to make it something that can take care of the health of not only membership but our sport as we move into the future.”

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04/01/2021 9:14:07 AM

The interview...

ALEX WOODWARD Hankley Common’s general manager is in the business of selling happiness, as he tells Steve Carroll

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ell me about Hankley Common…

Hankley Common is a very special and amazing place. The club owns around 860 acres of land, which is two thirds of Hankley Common itself, although the golf course is only set in about 140 of those acres.

Half the overall amount the club owns is leased to the Ministry of Defence (who owns the other third of land) and we maintain the rest.

Historically, the club liked to be a

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little bit hidden away. It wasn’t that long ago that they even put the sign at the end of the driveway, to let people know they were there.

Whilst that was true, the club have held prestigious events, such as the Senior Amateur Championship. It was a regional Open qualifying venue, and held the Boys’ Home Internationals in 2009 for The R&A. But, apart from that, they weren’t trying to boost themselves further afield. It’s a little different now.

While they were certainly not

trying to over publicise themselves, they fit very comfortably at the top of the golfing landscape in the UK. I was hired to try and push them forward into something that was a little bit more modern and a little bit more of a business-like operation.

One of the biggest reasons I love private members clubs is, when you can turn surpluses, you get to pour it back into the product.

There are no owners that take the money away with them. At the end of the year, everything gets

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Alex Woodward Alex began his career with IMG in New York, working on events as diverse as the PGA Championship to World’s Strongest Man, before moving to European Tour productions for five years.

He then started an exhibitions company which delivered consumer wine exhibitions and a digital magazine in South Africa.

In 2014, he made a move into golf club management and became the general manager of Boyce Hill, in Essex.

He took on the role of general manager at Hankley Common, in Surrey, at the start of 2018.

Alex was awarded the GCMA’s Newcomer of the Year prize in 2015 and was Club Mirror’s Secretary/Manager of the Year in 2017. Last summer, he earned the coveted Certified Club Manager (CCM) status.

ploughed back into the product either short or long term.

Not too long ago, to there was a bit of a restructure. It’s a fairly new management team, working alongside some long-standing employees which gives it a great balance.

Our course manager has been here four years. I’ve been here three years and our head pro has been here four years, although he was a long-standing assistant under the previous head professional.

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Presumably, given your career background, you were brought in to make the club a little bit more accessible…

The best way I can articulate it is that I was hired to work as much on the businesses, as in the business.

There are buildings that need to be maintained, machinery that needs to be bought and updated and a very special piece of land that needs to be looked after.

All of that demands resources, professionalism and good governance, which absolutely was

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there beforehand.

But they were looking to try and push on from there, to really try and get onto the front foot, and show exactly how wonderful Hankley Common is – not only for a member but as a guest or visitor.

Quite unusually for a private members’ club that is highly ranked as we are, we are accessible seven days a week.

We will accept visitors at weekends, which is not prevalent at a lot of other clubs of equal standing.

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Within Surrey, Hankley Common is very well known and those that were in ‘the know’ were aware what a wonderfully unique place it was.

But if you went out nationally it wasn’t so well known. The three W’s (West Hill, Woking and Worplesdon) were far more wellknown around the country than we were, and that didn’t need to be the case.

We now want you to know we’re here. We want you to know it’s very special and what a world-class and unique heathland gem the club is.

We are trying to push further and harder and be, ultimately, renowned for our excellence in trying to be our members’ absolutely favourite place to be.

It’s rare for a prestigious private members’ club to allow access to visitors across weekends. I imagine that takes a certain culture among the members to accept that. Does it say something about the ethos of the club, and the type of member you have, that this is something you can do?

It does say a lot about the members. One of the Hankley-isms I would talk about is the ability to bring guests.

So, on a Saturday morning, bringing guests is not prohibited.

They can bring their friends and family, and business partners, or customers or prospective customers, and really let them touch and feel everything they love about Hankley in the same way our members do.

It’s about that accessibility and then we do allow some visitors at the weekend as well.

Don’t get me wrong. We are very much a private members’ club and we would never do anything to the detriment of our cherished members.

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But we like to be accessible. Just because you work all week, at Hankley you are not necessarily excluded from enjoying the course with your friends and family because you’re out in the world of commerce from Monday to Friday.

You’re a big believer in a concept of ‘selling happiness’.

What is that and what does it mean at Hankley Common?

It means being the members’ and guests’ favourite place to be. How you make people feel is hugely important.

Is the colour of your socks important when you are here? No. Is the fact that you’re with your friends and family, having a great time, and that they’re included and smiling and it’s a wonderful safe Hankley Common Opened in 1897 and extended to 18 holes by James Braid in 1921, before additional changes

by Harry Colt in 1933, Hankley Common is one of Britain’s greatest inland courses.

A heathland layout that consistently ranks highly in Top 100 England rankings and towards the upper reaches of Great Britain & Ireland lists, the 7th hole is considered by many to be one of the finest par 3s in the country.

Classified as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, the wide open and natural landscape is unique as the course winds its way through a vast open heathland common.

The 18th is also highly regarded as an excellent finishing hole and Hankley Common was often the UK base for four-time Open Champion Bobby Locke, through his association with friends in nearby Farnham.

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and secure environment? Yes, that matters.

We’re all happier having 40 points than 30 points. That’s what the pro is here to do – to help you play better golf and not just show you a new driver, although that can help!

We all like a new car every few years and people like to have the equipment they watch their idols on the television hitting.

But it’s about actually playing better golf, having wonderful foods and the smells coming from the kitchen, spending time with your favourite people – in your favourite place to be. For example, we also have our own pastry chefs on site to create our own pastries and desserts too, as we are a club, not just a course.

It’s the emotion. People will remember what you say and they will remember what you do. But they will REALLY remember how you made them feel.

Our hospitality (or Happiness!) ethos is providing a Warm Welcome, Memorable Moments and a Fond Farewell.

That really encapsulates what we’re trying to do and that’s ultimately what we are doing.

We’re selling the emotion of happiness. We’re selling those experiences that will hopefully last a lifetime.

There are a lot of small intricacies to this. While we are hugely respectful of everyone at all times, if we know a member, and know who they are with, we’ll call them by their Christian name.

So Steve, if you walked up with another member who we knew we would greet you by saying ‘Hi Steve, how are you? What can I get you?’

Whereas if you turned up with someone we didn’t know, we would say ‘Hello Mr Carroll, how are you? What can I get you?’

It’s very small little details like

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GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS that. I read that Linda Moir, who was credited with really formulating and taking Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class services to another level, called it ‘brilliant basics, with touches of magic’.

That’s exactly what I think encapsulates the business of selling happiness.

It’s a catchy phrase and trips off the tongue but it demands a very strong culture, doesn’t it?

It’s not something you can just turn on. You need to do it every single minute of the day and that’s difficult…

It is difficult and you have to enthuse about getting better.

You have to talk about it and have accountability among each other.

Anytime you go hard on the rudder it’s like a ship. It will create quite a wake and the waves can get choppy but if you know where you are going, you must stay the course.

It’s the art of good management and the art of really distinguishing yourself amongst your peers particularly where we are in Surrey, as there are a lot of wonderful places to play golf.

We have to strive to be the very best we can be. You’re absolutely right to call out that it sounds very catchy and it’s very nice but the execution is different.

The greatness comes from the commitment to that execution.

We do enthuse about better. We do look at how we can get better.

We talk about it among each other constantly.

One of the big things we’ve done in the last three years is work as one team, rather than teams of departments - so that each team can understand the pressures on different teams, what is taking up their time and what the demands are on it.

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You don’t pass a problem down the line. You try and deal with it as it comes to you and you’ve got a good relationship with somebody else in another department that can actually help you deal with it.

By doing that, and leaning on each other and trusting each other, you can start to build that culture.

I would say, at the moment, we’re doing a great job of enthusing to get better. We’re actually in the hopes and dreams of the membership and with that comes a great performance from a great team. It’s something Hankley is getting better at and will continue to get better at.

This concept demands you recruit the right people.

Otherwise the whole thing is going to fall apart, isn’t it? Can you talk about how you put your team together?

You hire for attitude and train for skill. I’m always looking for the ‘can do’ attitude. The smiling. Yes, of course, they have to have the technical ability but a lot of that you can also teach, whereas a bad attitude is very much more difficult to try and eradicate.

It boils down to the idea that a three-star venue, with five-star service, will always trump a fivestar venue with three-star service.

For example, a very good friend of mine went to another club of equal standing. After enjoying his round very much, they refused him a drink at the bar because he didn’t have socks on as it was a very hot day (brown suede loafers with no socks).

Now that is his overwhelming memory of the day. That was his emotional memory of the day.

There is tact, diplomacy and good governance needed because rules are important and a members’ club must be the one the members want.

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But you must be brave enough to have honest and frank conversations behind closed doors in committee and board meetings, to think about ‘What do we want to be? Where do we want to go?

What do we want to project? ‘What is important to us?’

‘Are we trying to attract 75-yearold members, or are we trying to attract 35-year-old members, or any variants in between? It’s then taking an honest look at that and how you go about it.

So when I’m trying to hire staff,

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I’m looking for the enthusiasm.

I’m looking for the right attitude and, to bring it full circle, are they capable of selling happiness?

That’s the way I like to articulate it.

It’s important to have traditions but I sense you are saying you don’t have rules for rules’ sake.

‘We have rules that work for us, our members, our ethos and our guests’…

Absolutely. Is it fit for purpose?

Does that align with the direction the club wants to take? It’s

effective governance and that’s where, as a general manager, chief executive, secretary/manager etc, it’s saying ‘are you brave enough to actually put the right issues in front of the committees and say the things which will be thought provoking, provoke debate and that actually get meaningful discussion’ When I entered management, it was really 70 and 80 somethings telling 40 and 50 somethings how to attract 20 and 30 somethings. It just doesn’t work.

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You can’t have 80-year-old retired guys and girls telling 40 and 50-year-old guys and girls how to attract the younger generation, and you do need to change.

You need to be brave enough to make the traditions of tomorrow, while respecting the past.

How do you think James Braid or JH Taylor of the Great Triumvirate dealt with the first person to turn up with a golf shirt on and not a tweed suit and tie?’ Think about it, discuss it and then apply it to your own setting.

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Now, of course, that formality is enshrined in how we play golf and whilst we revere the fact they played in that attire, at that time, it’s different now.

If you tried to sell that to a young millennial you’ve got no chance.

You need to be honest and open and frank with yourself, about what you are trying to attract and where you fit in.

Where do you honestly sit?

Hankley is very fortunate in that it can command a wonderful and privileged place at the top of the game. But that also comes with responsibilities.

At other clubs, they could be looking at how they could get mums after the school run, coming and having their coffee at the golf club rather than going up to the gym, and spending time there because they had a soft play area and no one was beating them up over the fact they had trainers and leggings on.

Now that’s not what’s going on at Hankley, because that’s not where we are, but by taking that honest look about where you fit in at a governance level, where you want to go and how you are going to get there is so important.

Don’t allow outdated committee members to push the club’s head in the sand and say ‘listen, we’re undervalued and we’re much better than we actually are’. You need to figure out how you make the most of your venue, how you position yourself and then, crucially, you have to act like it.

If you don’t do this, you start getting mixed messages. When you get those, you’re not attracting anyone other than the people that would have been falling in your lap anyway.

You need to go further. Again, to take it full circle, you have to provide an environment where

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it’s ‘your club’s’ kind of person’s favourite place to be. If you aren’t attracting new and younger people, then you’ve got your kind of person wrong and the clock is ticking.

That consistency of excellence is demanded because of the competition that surrounds you…

The Surrey and Hampshire belt, and a bit of Berkshire that we run across, has amazing golf and amazing clubs. The benchmark is therefore very high, and we are committed to enhancing the reputation of not just Hankley Common, but the Surrey Heathland experience which rivals anything England has to offer.

Without this commitment we would disappear behind the other great golfing attractions in this part of the UK. It’s the free draining soil, the wonderful views and the well designed and managed iconic clubs that are very well established around us.

One of the greatest parts of our sport is its age. It’s wonderful. I would say on top of that, though, is that we’re more than just a course - because there are a lot of wonderful courses here.

We are a club and the experience is much more than just a round of golf. We have amazing and unique views. There is seclusion at Hankley that is unrivalled, it really gives it a grandeur almost unmatched anywhere else.

When we back that up with amazing food and beverage, an amazing warm welcome – delivering those memorable moments and giving you a fond farewell – then that’s how we stand out among the crowd.

Photography by Heather Chuter

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A matter of opinion: Membership

AND RETENTION Will player numbers continue to boom or will they revert to the mean as we get back more freedoms? We asked a trio of managers to consider how membership looks this year

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ome clubs are bulging at the seams with new players but renewals are on their way and we’re in lockdown.

Eventually the coronavirus pandemic will ease and we’ll start to return to some of the other sports and hobbies we’ve had put to one side as coronavirus has restricted movements.

What does that mean for golf? Will the perfect sport for social distancing continue to bask in increased participation, or will clubs have to work hard to avoid members edging back to other interests?

We asked three managers to give us their thoughts…

How do you think this year will look for membership renewals?

Chris Fitt: There are a couple of factors at play, from our perspective at Foxhills. New member recruitment has been really strong for us.

Our renewal is May 1 so, in the short term, I don’t think this new interest in golf, and these new members we’ve all got, are going anywhere anytime soon.

I don’t think their personal circumstances, be that professionally, work, or socially at home, are changing anytime soon.

So these new habits, and these new golfers that have been created out of Covid-19, aren’t going to be changing – certainly not this year and potentially next year either. That spells quite good news for this year’s renewal. More of the challenge comes next year, and the year after that, and that’s where we’ve got to be looking and focusing our concerns.

But it’s the work we do now which is going to impact that renewal in 2022 and 2023.

Clubs are doing all sorts of things at the moment, with membership

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credits for closure periods this year and they might be applying that credit to this next year’s renewal like we are.

If we’re doing that it means that a member is not actually paying a full year’s subs next year anyway.

So, in effect, they are getting a discounted membership year.

Some clubs might be applying that in 2022 or 2023. You’re sharing the load a little bit. Having said that, there will reach a point where people will start to go back to work. They will start to travel into the city again. Restaurants and pubs will open. When that happens, there’s going to be a real boom in hospitality.

People are going to want to go and eat out a lot. They’re going to want to go out and drink and they will want to go and make up for lost time.

That’s when there will be distractions from golf. That’s when you’ve got to make sure that – whatever you’re offering your members – they see enough value in continuing to pay their membership. I don’t think we’ll really feel that until 2022 or 2023.

Ali James: I think a major issue is going to be how clubs handle this period we’ve missed – whether they’re looking at offering credits back to members or extensions of memberships.

That question is hugely different depending on whether you’re a members’ club or a proprietary club.

At the members’ club, you’ve got the argument that the member is invested in the golf club and their fees are going towards part of the ownership of the club.

If you’re proprietary, it’s quite often ‘it’s like a gym membership.

You’re just going to make less profit this year and we want our share of what service we haven’t had back’.

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Fulford

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That is going to be a big part of how renewals go. But I totally agree with Chris in saying this isn’t going to stop at the moment.

We’re going to see a massive boom and a continuation of this for six months, or a year, and it’s 2022, 23 or 24 where golf is almost going to reset itself.

If we reopen in March, or whenever we do, it’s going to be mental again.

We’ve closed our membership.

We’re 36 holes, plus a par 3 course, and we’ve got 1,600 members. We closed the membership for the first time ever. It had never even been really discussed at a management board level – about closing membership and what was our peak number of members.

CF: We’re at exactly the same point. We’ve just sent out a waiting list to our prospects.

AJ: We’ve got 70 members on a waiting list already. It’s a real shame because it’s so hard telling people they can’t join because that’s what you’re trying to try to encourage but it is not the fact

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we’re taking on more members.

It’s that all of our members are playing more golf as well.

Jon Dry: That’s something we’ve seen. We’ve only just switched to a full tee booking system, but you are looking at about a 25% uplift in playing figures across clubs I’ve spoken to.

Our renewals were April so we lost 12 to 13% of members at renewals instead of an average of five to 6%. We’ve done well recruiting and actually brought it back up to where we should be.

With those that have not renewed, we’re hoping they’ll come back in and we’ll probably be full come renewals this year.

We’re in a great position. But the challenge now is that the figure of us being full, which has already been pre-agreed, doesn’t necessarily work now because the golf course is busier.

That’s going to be the challenge, as you can have a lot of people paying their subscriptions that don’t get access to a golf course because, normally, you could

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have 600 to 650 members whereas, during Covid times, you can probably only really operate with 450 to 500.

We’ve got to manage this opportunity so carefully. If we don’t take the correct decisions, we’ll end up in a position where we’ve got this honeymoon period of golfers and they will fall away.

As an industry, if we work together to look after our new golfers, and make sure the existing ones stay in the game, then the future’s bright.

We could see a boom similar to the late 90s that lasts for 10 years.

But I think the reality is this is going to be a honeymoon period for a year to 18 months and then it will start to level out again back to where we normally would be.

But if we play it right, we could see a big uplift in golfers and it stays there. It’s down to golf club managers and the golf industry as a whole.

You mentioned difficulties in getting access. Is that the

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biggest short-term threat?

How do you manage that?

AJ: I do think that. Not many golf clubs are actually accepting visitor rounds at the moment. To be able to play golf, you have to be a member of a club.

It’s a bit of a chicken and egg situation that those people who want to play golf almost have to try and join a club to be able to play, because I’d imagine the majority of clubs are probably only accepting members and members and guests.

Possibly, when that transition comes back to members not playing as much, and clubs have space to allow visitor bookings, people will stop to see the value of membership again – whereas the value of a golf membership is so high at the moment.

The majority of clubs I speak to are closed for membership at the moment.

CF: Yes, closed for membership and a lot of clubs, still up until the last lockdown, were only accepting members or members’

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guests. No visitors.

For periods over the last seven months we’ve been in that boat – and we’re a proprietary run, pretty commercial, club.

Throughout the whole of December we didn’t have any visitors playing the golf course at all. When we reopen we’ll be exactly the same. It’s going to be members only for a period until we know it’s comfortable and we can see some gaps coming up.

The biggest challenge we’ve had over the last four months, and we will probably have when we do get to open, is going to be demand. It is going to be meeting and satisfying that demand.

JD: That’s why we, as club managers and boards and everyone involved in the industry, need to ride through this honeymoon period well – because if we don’t play it right we’ll lose people. I think we’ll see a lot of movement within clubs as well. We didn’t get a huge surge of new members because we’ve got a much bigger joining

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fee than our local rivals.

But what we’re seeing now is those clubs are going through their renewal process and their members are looking at other options and are starting to move up to Fulford.

The interesting thing for us, going into renewals, is how many of our members will we keep and how many will think the grass is greener on the other side?

Whereas when you speak to every golf club manager in the country, unless you’ve got a big problem, you are full. You are bursting at the seams and it’s a simple as that. The grass isn’t greener but I’m sure a lot of people will view it that way.

Presumably a lot of your budgets have been based on a balance of membership and green fees – and you can’t bring in green fees as you’d like because of demand. That’s a tricky balance…

JD: We’ve set our 2021 budget quite differently this year. We’ve

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GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS got to a point where we’ve had to produce two budgets, based on a good renewal and a challenging renewal. But we know the volume of play. We cannot take the number of green fee bookings that we would normally have so our budget is now three quarters of what it would be – because we know we just have to prioritise membership and you take that hit.

However, on the positive side for members, certainly at a club like ours where you rely on high yield green fees for tourism up to York for a weekend away, we’re suddenly pitching at the southern counties to try and get people up to the north for a golf trip – rather than local green fees. So the yield is much higher and so we can afford to take substantially fewer green fees but at a high yield.

It’s swings and roundabouts, really. We can manage it well and it’s referring back to the point of being about those critical decisions which will shape the industry going forward.

CF: So Jon, you’re planning, you’re forecasting on fewer rounds but yielding the rate to try and bridge that gap. Ali, how are you forecasting your rounds over the next financial year?

AJ: Our model’s quite different here because we’ve got various categories of flexible memberships. Our 1,600 members go from full, who pay about £1,400 a year, right down to £260 a year but pay £20 every time they play.

Even though we were seeing fewer visitor rounds we were still seeing good revenue through member green fees.

But it’s still very difficult when guys are out there and are happy to spend two, three or £400 on a tee time with buggies and everything and you can’t accept them.

That’s where Jon’s obviously

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focusing – trying to figure out the best way of compensating for that in terms of looking after your members.

What have you learned about the membership process at your clubs and what has come out of Covid that could bear fruit in the future?

JD: It’s a balancing act. Certainly, at a members’ club, you’ve got two sides. You’ve got the view of ‘I’ve not played for four months this year. I’m entitled to a reduction in my fees’, which is a valid point. I know with my gym membership I haven’t had to pay for the months the gym is closed. However, as you’ve mentioned, we’ve got that situation where you do own the golf club.

It is your club and if you don’t pay subscriptions the club will disappear.

It’s as simple as that. You’ve got to try and balance the two sides.

It’s having the ability to listen, to chat and discuss and argue both sides of the story to each other and, hopefully, you can communicate effectively with the membership to try and get those two sides to meet in the middle.

Because both sides are correct in their own right. It’s just trying to balance that out. Certainly, the skill for me that’s been most important in the last nine to 10 months has been the ability to listen and appreciate that everyone’s got their own situation, everyone’s stressed, everyone is on edge. You do just need to sit back and chat to people and hear what they’ve got to say and appreciate their perspective.

CF: One of my key learnings out of this, not necessarily from a membership enquiry or retention perspective, is that one of the biggest challenges has been communication to members. What do we tell them? When? And the importance of clear messaging.

Members have had a lot of time

Foxhills

on their hands. They’ve either been furloughed or working from home and golf has become the focal point of everything they do.

We’ve seen more responses than ever to emails. We’ve seen more click through rates than ever to emails or responses to surveys.

It’s because they’ve got time on their hands. They’re sitting at home and they’ve got a device or are sitting at the computer. They’ve got time. That also means they’ve got opinions. It’s the importance of clear messaging. I’m not saying we’ve got it right, because I know we haven’t at times, but it’s the importance of clear messaging and positive messaging wherever possible. It’s also the timing of that

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messaging. We made a mistake in November, and it’s something you learn from and you reflect on, of communicating our reopening plans for December too late.

They weren’t to everyone’s liking.

It meant members thought they were having the rug pulled from under them just as they were about to come back. So, in hindsight, we would have been much clearer with the intention, a lot sooner, to help manage that expectation.

That’s probably one of my biggest learnings out of the last seven months. It’s just the importance of that clear communication to more effectively manage the expectations of members.

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AJ: Communication and engagement has been absolutely vital with members. What’s been really nice for me during this period is the camaraderie that’s existed between all the golf club managers.

We’ve got WhatsApp groups for our GCMA South West region and it’s been really good to bounce ideas off other like-minded people in similar roles.

I’ve found that really valuable through this process to have those like-minded people to talk to.

Are the days of decline over?

Will we return to the managed decline of the past or is this a chance to push forward?

CF: I see it as a massive opportunity.

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Golf is touching so many and it’s a new audience now. I’ve got friends that were non-golfers before this whole situation started and now they’re members of clubs. I couldn’t even count on two hands the number of friends I have that have taken the sport up. That’s a new audience and that’s brilliant for the sport and you’d like to think they are going to be around for a while now.

But I don’t think clubs can take that for granted. Because, in the same vein, as quickly as they’ve got into the sport, they’ll leave it just as quickly, if they don’t feel they’re getting fair value for their money or if they’re distracted by society getting back to normal.

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Cumberwell Park

Clubs still have to work hard to try and keep these guys. But, generally speaking, I’m pretty positive. I think it’s going to be great for many years to come – as long as we, as club managers and as an industry, harness it and look for those opportunities.

JD: You’ve hit the nail on the head.

The interesting thing will be how the leisure and tourist industries adapt over the coming years.

I don’t think people are going to be travelling abroad as much, whether it’s for business or personal means. It feels like we’re running through the vaccine quicker than other countries and we may find our country starts to return to normal ahead of others.

It could be a fair few years before people are comfortable getting on planes again and travelling just for holidays. That money, which is about investing in yourself, will probably switch to gym memberships and golf club memberships and things like that.

There are probably two to three years where things will be good.

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There’ll be lots of people playing golf, lots of people investing in their health and mental wellbeing.

If we can adapt as an industry to keep golf welcoming and fun, not being too stuck in our ways as golfers often can be, and instead embrace this period, then there is a great opportunity to grow.

We’ll probably see a slight decline but, hopefully, the numbers will sit somewhere between the figures we’re seeing at the moment and where we were 18 months ago.

That’s where we will plateau out and how well we manage this will depend on how close we remain to the figures we’re seeing at the moment.

AJ: I think there will be a slight plateauing, or dip, but I’d like to think the numbers will return healthier than they were a couple of years ago. And, as Chris said, the word for me is opportunity. Golf clubs have to take the opportunity to be proactive. The ones who are proactive will reap the rewards.

It’s about what more we can offer.

Golf is about family now and

providing an entertainment venue as well as just coming to play golf. It’s a big opportunity now and some clubs will continue to flourish because they’re willing to try hard and work at it.

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Meet The Panel

Chris Fitt, director of golf & leisure at Foxhills Club, in Surrey

Ali James, manager at Cumberwell Park, in Wiltshire

Jon Dry, general manager at Fulford, in York

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Grass

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...

MARTIN BALL Scottish golf courses may still be open as coronavirus bites but that hasn’t stopped a sense of uncertainty, as Ladybank’s general manager Martin Ball explains

L

adybank are open, but just one announcement could change all that.

That’s the problem with running a business during a pandemic.

Everything is up in the air.

How do you plan in such uncertainty? “It’s very difficult,” concedes Martin Ball, the Fife club’s general manager. “We’re trying to do it month by month.

“Obviously, at the moment it’s fairly quiet on green fees but I always base things on when the daffodils come out – then everybody will start coming down to the golf course.

“It’s trying to plan those green fees for March, April and May. I didn’t expect, when all of this began, that we would just drag on.

“We went home on March 23 last year and I thought we’d all be back at our desks by May 1. And it just kept going on and going on.

“We didn’t really start seeing any big visitor numbers pick up until the middle of August.

“So it’s very hard because you just don’t know from one week to the next what’s going to happen.”

You learn to adjust when the world’s spinning so much. “It’s fantastic to see how flexible your workforce can be,” Ball adds.

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“They’re quite happy and open to changes as we’ve gone on. And there are all sorts of things to deal with, mainly around health and safety.

“We had to suddenly stick lines down in the lounge with arrows, have separate doors in and doors out, and completely check the cleaning regime of the whole clubhouse.

“Even when the clubhouses reopen, there will be all sorts (of issues) and we have a re-opening tick list to adhere to.

“It’s quite intense and you’re dealing with stuff you’ve never come across before.”

Amid that uncertainty, Ball is crossing his fingers that Scotland doesn’t find itself thrown into the kind of lockdown experienced by his colleagues south of the border.

Two-ball golf is a challenge when everyone wants to play, and the weather at the start of this year was hardly cooperative.

But at least golfers can play and, with renewals in February, it’s important for Ball that members aren’t stuck at home thinking of other ways to spend their money.

“We were lucky the first time around because the annual subscriptions had already been paid. Then the pandemic hit in

Martin Ball

March and that affected clubs who didn’t do renewals until April.

“Now, we’ve rationed the members to three games a week, but the one advantage we’ve got is that Ladybank is a heathland so it plays like a links course.

“Once you get a deluge of water on it, it’s drained within about six hours and completely playable.”

Even in these most trying of circumstances, though, there are green shoots. Vaccination holds out the hope we can return to some kind of normality by the summer and Ball has plenty of projects planned for when that transpires.

Ladybank will stage additional Open days to bring in extra revenue and they’ve teamed up with Lundin, Scotscraig and Crail to host a Fife Golf Week, which is

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Ladybank’s new bunkers

scheduled for September.

They’ve also completed a bunker renovation programme – removing an issue that had been a members’ bugbear for years.

He explained: “We used Paul Kimber and Niall Glen. We carried it out over the last two winters and the total cost will be about £250,000.

“Ladybank is a beautiful treelined heathland golf course. It’s also a completely flat golf course and the biggest rise would be about 10 feet, so we’ve also put some shape in to some of the holes to create mounds and dips

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around the bunkers.

“The difference is quite substantial and it’s amazing the views you have of it now.”

But the real boost for Ladybank is yet to come when the pandemic is finally out of the picture.

“Our budget for green fees this year is around the £230,000 mark and, because people have carried over from last year, we’ve already got £50,000 of that in the pot.

“So we’re pretty optimistic, providing there isn’t a full-scale lockdown in the summer, that we can do quite well this year.

“Then, obviously, the shot in the

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arm for the whole of Fife is The Open in St Andrews in 2022.

“There’s a lot of work being done already for that by a lot of golf courses.

“Our bunker project was meant to take three winters and it was going to finish next winter.

“We dragged it forward and the idea was we’d be ready for July this year (when the 150th Open was due to be held).

“Now that’s been put back to July 2022, everybody’s quite buoyant by the fact that it will be well needed income, not just for us but the whole of Fife.”

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Meet the

MANAGER

Meltham Golf Club

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tarting a new job is nerve-racking. However confident you might be, there’s a little tingle that runs through the body when you walk through unfamiliar doors for the first time.

Starting that new job in the middle of a pandemic, where circumstances have dictated whether the club is closed or not, or what restrictions are in place, can just add another layer of anxiety.

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Now imagine that’s a step up – that your new position in this time of uncertainty has been a rise from assisting to being the one making decisions. That’s what Tom Williams faced when he left Fulford, in York, after five years to take on the role of operations manager, at Meltham, in August.

So it’s a major endorsement of the young man’s temperament, and the mentoring he’s received from some high-profile GCMA

managers, that he has taken to the task at the West Yorkshire club like the proverbial duck to water.

Of course, it has been a steep learning curve as Meltham – like all clubs in England – have endured lockdowns in November and through this winter.

But Williams believes what he is experiencing now will only assist him as he seeks, one day, to be a fully-fledged general manager.

“I’ve drawn upon my five years at

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Tom Williams was an assistant manager before taking on a new operations role in the summer. He talks about stepping up in a pandemic…

Fulford,” he explained of his early career path. “I kind of started out at the bottom, doing some of the basic jobs and helping out the secretaries and doing the admin.

“After a few years, it was time for me to look into different aspects of the golf business and, basically, where did I want to go in my career and how was I going to get there?

“As you’ll find in every business, finance is a massive part. I sat down with the secretary at the time and said I wanted to learn more about it. We planned a way through – starting off with budgets, working on to invoices and journals – just so that, when I was in a position in the future, it wouldn’t all be new to me.

“Moving up to assistant manager at Fulford, I was managing visitor green fee income, Open days and the marketing side, so I was working in my own little section and could get the experience in progressing my career into being an operations manager.

“I was very fortunate to learn from some of the best managers in the country. You’ll be aware that Gary Pearce is at Ganton, Richard Kilshaw is at Southport & Ainsdale and Jon Dry came to Fulford from Bearwood Lakes – some fantastic managers to work with and learn how they go about it and what works well for both the business side and interacting with members.”

“It been eye-opening to look at the workload and manage that. As an assistant, you might be looking at a couple of different aspects and

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“It’s drawing upon experience and not being over compassed with it being a massive challenge.”

Tom Williams

now you are looking at all aspects of the business,” Williams added of his operation manager’s role.

“It’s certainly not a typical 9-to-5 job. You’ve got evening meetings with the board or executive committees, emails coming in at the weekend that you feel you need to respond to, and, ultimately, you’re managing all the different staff and the course, the professional shop, bar and catering.

“There are new challenges there and I was fortunate, at Fulford, to lead our weekly staff meetings of all the different heads of departments. It was good to get that experience in before actually

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managing staff at Meltham.”

He continued: “It’s obviously been stop-start – coming in and out of lockdowns and tiers. We had just reopened our catering to offer simple bar snacks, getting all that in place with some of the existing staff.

We had that open for five days and then we were locked down again.”

Even in this frying pan to fire scenario he finds himself in, Williams is learning all the time – about his position, about the business, and about himself as a manager.

“A good bit of advice would be to believe in yourself and not see everything as a massive challenge and have it dawn on you.

“You look at little challenges, and don’t always think ‘you can’t do this’. I have been fortunate in some of the finance things in thinking ‘how did I do this at Fulford?’, trying to remember and just taking a step back and finding the answer.

“It’s drawing upon experience and not being over compassed with it being a massive challenge.”

Williams has also relied on that level head with government decisions changing day-by-day as the situation with Covid-19 fluctuates.

“We’re changing at the click of a finger and it’s difficult in terms of tee sheets and we’re obviously keen to get the message out as soon as possible to the members,” he said.

“One of the main things we’ve done, in our weekly staff meetings, is have a few different options and planning ahead. It’s thinking ‘if we do go into the next tier, how is that going to impact the business?’

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GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS “It’s being proactive, rather than reacting to the message of what the Government are going to say. It’s having plans in place and everyone singing from the same hymn sheet. We’ve had communications ready for members. So as soon as the big organisations – England Golf or the All-Parliamentary Group – have sent their message, we’re not sat there at 8pm thinking ‘right, what are we saying to members now?’

“We’re having that message ready and plans in place.”

Williams hopes coming through coronavirus – an experience unprecedented for all managers in our lifetimes – will equip him with knowledge and skills he can take forward for the rest of his career.

And in that sense, even in the most awful set of circumstances, he can see the positives.

“It’s been a new challenge for everyone in all different aspects of business,” he concluded.

“One of the key things that’s really helped as well as is the networking between the golf club managers, whether that’s through GCMA or CMAE, and just having that connection with different managers to see what’s happening at each other’s club and what are good ideas.

“We’ve been fortunate that golf has been at the forefront of sports, lucky that it’s outdoors, and hopefully it will be one of the first sports to come back.

But learning from the managers, through various networks, has been massive and hopefully we can get back in the future to hosting regional events through the GCMA.”

Meltham

Get In Touch To contact Meltham, visit meltham-golf.co.uk

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From the

HELPDESK This month: Fog Policy, risk assessment and…

AGMs during the COVID-19 pandemic?

I wonder if you have a Fog Policy template that I could use at our club?

The GCMA library has one you can use here: https://www.gcma.org. uk/library/10081/.

Do the GCMA have records/ guidance of what sort of packages clubs are giving to their PGA Professionals who are employed on a retainer basis?

The GCMA do not hold any records like this, however you could try the PGA and Joe Kelly, joe.kelly@ pga.org.uk, would be the contact.

Contacting similar clubs in your area may also yield relevant information.

Do you have access to a government approved risk assessment for working practices under Covid?

See here: https://www.hse.gov.uk/ coronavirus/working-safely/riskassessment.htm Does the GCMA have any advice on holding AGMs during Covid?

A lot of clubs have held virtual AGMs, as the GCMA did back in June. The links below let you access a document from the website and a video which both deal with running AGMs during Covid.

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https://www.gcma.org.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2020/03/210320AGMs-Coronavirus.pdf https://www.youtube.com / watch?v= xNPwKSyPpd4&feature =youtu.be Our committee are discussing staff membership of the golf course and I wondered if you could advise us if the below is correct please? If full membership is given this will be subject to P11D tax for the staff, which will mean National Insurance liabilities for the club as the fee will be treated as extra salary?

Unless it can be argued that it is necessary as part of the requirements of the job then HMRC can regard this as a benefit in kind and therefore taxable.

Managers and green staff have successfully argued that it is necessary to carry out the job correctly, which it is, and thus not a benefit in kind, however other posts within the club may struggle to do that.

However, it can also be argued that all staff should have a knowledge of the course and golf to enable them to carry out their jobs effectively, and for health & safety reasons. For instance, bar staff need to be able to engage with

the golfers and also require the knowledge of where exactly is, say, the 7th tee in case of emergency.

To that effect, some golf clubs have created a ‘Staff’ Membership Category and set the fee at a nominal rate, as clubs can set any rate for a membership category.

Some allow access to comps, etc., others not. That would be up to the individual club.

Where would I find a reputable supplier who can challenge our business rate valuation?

You can search on https://www. ricsfirms.com/ for a qualified surveyor.

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