The Golf Club Manager May 2021

THE GOLF CLUB

T H E

MANAGER

O F F I C I A L

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ISSUE 46 | MAY 2021

MA N AG E R S ’ A S S O C I AT I O N

THE INTERVIEW

RICHARD PALMER-JONES

WHY UNDER ARMOUR’S GCMA PA R T N E R S H I P I S M O R E T H A N A COMMERCIAL RELATIONSHIP

GCMA

THE WORLD HANDICAP SYSTEM

GETTING TO GRIPS WITH THE NEW RULES INDUSTRY

SLIP! SLAP! SWING!

THE IMPOR TANCE OF SUN PROTECTION ON THE COURSE

EDUCATE | INSPIRE | REPRESENT ‘

CONTENTS IS S UE

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GCMA

BEST PRACTICE

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The latest from GCMA CEO Tom Brooke

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How Danielle broke down the barriers

Will you Slip! Slap! Swing! this Spring?

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GRASS ROOTS

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Under Armour join forces with the GCMA

A new life in golf club management for Rob

THE BIG INTERVIEW 18

PJH Brand Management’s Richard Palmer-Jones

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PRINCE’S GOLF CLUB

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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 FINANCE ADMINISTRATOR Lianne Banks - lianne@gcma.org.uk PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Gavin Robinson- gavin@gcma.org.uk BUSINESS PARTNERSHIPS MANAGER Craig Cotterill - craig@gcma.org.uk MEMBERSHIP SERVICES MANAGER Natalie McColl - membershipservices@gcma.org.uk MEMBERSHIP SERVICES Kerry Spring-Rice - membershipservices@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 HEAD OF DESIGN Andrew Kenworthy - a.kenworthy@18players.com DESIGNER Emmi Parry - e.parry@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 46 | MAY 2021

MA N AG E R S ’ A S S O C I AT I O N

THE INTERVIEW

RICHARD PALMER-JONES

WHY UNDER ARMOUR’S GCMA PA R T N E R S H I P I S M O R E T H A N A COMMERCIAL RELATIONSHIP

GCMA

THE WORLD HANDICAP SYSTEM

GETTING TO GRIPS WITH THE NEW RULES INDUSTRY

SLIP! SLAP! SWING!

THE IMPOR TANCE OF SUN PROTECTION ON THE COURSE

EDUCATE | INSPIRE | REPRESENT ‘

ON THE COVER: Under Armour ambassador Jordan Spieth

WELCOME I S S U E

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ith life slowly ‘getting back to normal’ and golf well and truly back and open across all corners of the UK, I hope you are all well, that club operations are running smoothly and, most importantly, you are managing to strike that all important work and life balance! A number of really positive announcements from GCMA HQ for you this month: Firstly, we’re extremely proud to be announcing our new partnership with Under Armour.

It really is a great compliment to our association that such a highly respected and well recognised brand have chosen to work with us and I think this is testament to the developments and progress we have made as an association over the past 12 months. What really is particularly exciting about this partnership is the mutual commitment to supporting personal development, leadership skills and wellbeing and the positive impact this could deliver for our members, their golf clubs and the industry as a whole. I should also mention the new GCMA branded Under Armour merchandise looks great as well!

I’m also very pleased to announce the 2021 GCMA Conference will take place at Wyboston Lakes Resort, in Bedfordshire, between the 21st and 23rd November. Following an incredibly challenging and stressful time for everyone, what a fantastic opportunity this will

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be to get back together with colleagues and industry friends and celebrate what we’ve all achieved. Our themes include Sustainability, Technology, Leadership and Wellbeing. More details on the programme and how to book your place will be available in the coming weeks, but in the meantime please hold the dates in your diary and we can’t wait to see you there! We also welcome some new members to our team at HQ this month. Natalie McColl joins us as our Membership Services Manager. Natalie was previously with England Golf as a Club Support Officer in the South West and will now be taking a lead role in helping to shape our new direction and increased focus on supporting you, our members and to grow our association. We also welcome Kerry Spring-Rice to the Membership Services team. Kerry has held previous roles at both Bath Golf Club and Kingsdown Golf Club and is also a pretty handy golfer herself!

Finally, it really is great news our Regional Meetings are now able to take place again, after a break of over a year due to the pandemic.

Having joined the association last September and being confined for most of that time to working from home, I’m very much now looking forward to getting out and meeting with our members.

So on that note, I hope to see you in person very soon!

Tom Brooke – Chief Executive

“

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Being able to maintain a precise quality of cut through the automated fleet set up saves us valuable time and is financially beneficial for us in the long run.

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COURSE MANAGER, PRINCE’S GOLF CLUB

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

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How you can break down the barriers

LIKE DANIELLE

Two-time Paralympic gold medallist Danielle Brown gave a riveting presentation at a recent GCMA Inspire webinar

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anielle Brown’s story is all about breaking barriers.

As a teenager, she was diagnosed with complex regional pain syndrome – a condition which causes chronic pain in both her feet all the time.

But she decided that rather than focus on the things she could no longer do she would concentrate on what she could.

Her mantra was simple: even in adversity we have a choice.

Choose to let the things outside your control defeat you, or choose to control your response to them.

After taking up archery on her 15th birthday, she made the Great Britain team, as the world number one, just three years later.

She never lost her position as the globe’s best.

She became a hugely successful Paralympic athletic, winning gold at Beijing and London, and taking five world titles.

Danielle also became the first disabled person to represent England as an able-bodied competitor when she was part of the team that won gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Turning her talents to business, she is now a professional keynote speaker as well as a coach and training provider.

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Her aim is to inspire and empower people to unlock their potential and achieve their goals while overcoming adversity.

Danielle talked to members in a special GCMA Inspire webinar, which you can view on our website. But we’ve also picked out three key themes from Danielle’s experiences that could help you in your jobs as golf club managers.

Here, she reveals why it’s so important to invest in the person, why failure is important, and how confidence can play a huge role in achieving success…

Invest in the person I think it’s really important that we focus on the person first. So, as an athlete, I noticed all the athletes around me. Some of them, to get better, were spending more time on the training field. Some of them were looking at how tech could help them get better.

I didn’t. I looked at myself. I innovated myself. I invested in myself. I noticed that the more I got out of me as a person, the more I got out of me as an athlete, and I’ve found this in any field - in business, in education - if I got that person bit right, then the rest would happen much more easily and much more naturally. This is the foundation I built upon and which really helped me perform.

Failure Failure is very important. Failure is something that the vast majority of athletes experience far more than they ever succeed. Most athletes go through their entire career with, perhaps, one win to their name - if that. So learning how to fail, and learning how to fail well, is very, very important. To do that, it’s about divorcing yourself from that failure, not taking it personally, and, really, defining how you see failure. For me, it’s not necessarily a bad thing as long as you can figure out what you can learn from it and how you can turn it around as you move forward. So I built on my successes. I built on my failures.

Confidence Confidence is so important in all walks of life. In fact, it’s probably more important in many respects than competence.

I wanted to become the most confident person I knew. My whole life, people had told me that I needed to be more confident but nobody ever showed me how.

Be more confident, they said, but nobody gave me the tools, or the strategies, or the ways to become more confident. It was as if, by telling me to be more confident, I’d somehow miraculously develop it and, of course, I didn’t.

What I started to do was look into

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this and look at how I could build it up. It came down to redefining my definition of success. I’d already redefined how I saw failure, and now I had to redefine how I saw success in a very similar way.

As an athlete, you’re always focused on that gold medal. You’re always focused on delivering excellent performances. By doing so, you tend to pick up on the negatives really easily.

‘That wasn’t perfect, because…’

‘That didn’t go so well because…’

It is really nit-picking in those areas that you need to improve on.

I stopped doing that. I stopped looking at the negatives and just started focusing more on the positives. I’d had a bad day, but it had gone better than it had been previously. That was progress. That was still an achievement.

So instead of just seeing the wins and the successes as being the big gold medal wins, I started to look for little tiny wins, tiny successes

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and tiny milestones. These all started to add up.

As I began to realise, accept, and appreciate my strengths and my achievements, my confidence grew and so did my results.

When we look at confidence, I think that’s really important: how we see success, what we see success as, how we actually define that. Really taking note and paying attention to those small wins is very important.

We can all look at ourselves and – when we think about that person coming first – it can be quite easy

to be critical and point out all the things that we’re not so good at.

But, actually, looking at the things where you excel, where you do well and where you are improving, is very important to do and to learn how to do. It’s also about stretching and getting out of your comfort zone. Confidence is knowing you’re capable of achieving but, if you’ve never done it before, it’s quite difficult to trust yourself in that situation. The more you get out of your comfort zone, the more you learn and the more you grow.

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

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

Talking Point ‘

W

Is your club coping with Playing

HANDICAPS?

hy have I been cut?’ Thoughts and prayers for all the golf club managers dealing with that cry ringing round their office as players picked up a pencil in anger for the first time under the World Handicap System.

Golfers had finally started to get their heads around the concept of Course Handicaps – a relationship that’s been fleeting enough thanks to successive Covid lockdowns – then the start of the competitive season brought with it a whole new term: Playing Handicap.

Here’s how the new allowances hit me like a hammer. Parring the 6th hole at my home club, a 175-yard par 3 over water, is a challenging enough feat.

But aside from a brief smirk of satisfaction as the putt dropped in regulation on the opening medal of the year, an odd thought then occurred to me.

Forever more, I’ll be carrying two numbers in my head.

I’m a scorecard watcher. It pleases me to know where I am at any given point of a round.

That was easy under CONGU. I was however many over or under my handicap. The Playing Handicap has changed that.

On this hole, I received a stroke under the Course Handicap but saw it taken away when the Playing Handicap was applied.

Even though a Course Handicap determines the number of strokes

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we get on any golf course, there’s this little thing called equity that gives rise to the Playing Handicap in tournaments.

I’ve read the CONGU explanation about it, and I’ve read what the R&A and USGA have to say too.

The best description I’ve found came on Bracken Ghyll’s website.

Here’s how they describe it...

“When playing in competitions, the R&A has set mandatory handicap allowances dependent on the format of the competition.

“These handicap allowances effectively reduce your Course Handicap to provide equity for players of all levels of ability in each format of play.”

Sounds fair enough. But here’s the kicker. The Playing Handicap only applies to the competition. What goes forward for a golfer’s WHS record – what affects their index – is taken from whatever they scored under their Course Handicap.

Maybe I’m neurotic, but for the last 12 holes of my round I found myself computing two scores – one for the competition and another for my handicap.

I’m sure you’re all waiting for the member that picks up in a Stableford competition, because they thought they couldn’t score, only to later learn they still had a putt for a point with their Course Handicap.

We’ll get used to it. But the enquiries of confused members is just one more thing for club managers to deal with following what’s been a pretty challenging 12 months.

And it seems I wasn’t the only one getting to grips with the new ways.

There were the players at one club – 39 of them in fact – who thought NS when inputting their cards meant No Score.

In reality, it stood for Not Started [the hole]. The golfers who thought they were clicking for a No Return were instead mistakenly awarding themselves nett par instead of nett double bogey.

Getting the point across to someone who has been playing for decades that a handicap of 12.5 no longer gets you 13 shots is also going to take managers more than one conversation.

And remembering to put both the Course and Playing Handicaps on the cards given out to members – for precisely the reasons I’ve outlined above – might mess with all our heads for a bit. As well as repeatedly explaining what each number refers to.

That’s only natural. We’re all – players, managers and competition committees alike – getting to grips with something that’s brand new. It’s going to take time to settle down.

Hopefully, much like the revised Rules of Golf back in 2019, it will all become second nature.

How long it takes to get there will be the key.

How is your club getting on with WHS? Get in touch with me at s.carroll@18players.com

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Competitions have arrived and so has a new term on the lips of golfers.

Getting the hang of the World Handicap System, says Steve Carroll, is going to take a bit of time

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GCMA agree partnership deal with

UNDER ARMOUR The Association’s new Strategic Partner will play a pivotal role in helping to shape the future of golf club management

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nder Armour have come on board as the GCMA’s newest Strategic Partner.

The huge apparel company, who are partnered with PJH Brand Management in the UK and Europe, are the latest in what the Association hope will be a series of similar collaborations that will help shape the future of golf club management.

Negotiated by GCMA business partnerships manager Craig Cotterill, the link will see the team at head office wear Under Armour branded clothing, which will also be available to members.

But the partnership runs much deeper. As part of the new direction the Association are taking under chief executive Tom Brooke, Under Armour will also play a role at National Conference, will link into some of the GCMA sub-groups, while also having input into the various education programmes.

“I wanted the GCMA to be aligned with bigger brands. I thought it was really important for us,” explained Cotterill of the genesis for the partnership with Under Armour.

“When Tom came on board as the new CEO, with our new vision for the Association to become

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more relevant, I identified Under Armour as being a really modern, fresh, brand who would be great for us to be associated with.

We got talking and the obvious synergies were there with the discussions we had about our members being very much the decision makers within golf club management.

“It was great to hear Under Armour wanted to play their part and be an influencer around the table with us to really understand what the future of golf clubs – and the future of golf club management – was going to be.

“It’s a great partnership and we hit it off straight from the start.”

Both Cotterill, and Richard Palmer-Jones on behalf of PJH Brand Management and Under Amour, have stressed the partnership is not about a commercial arrangement.

Cotterill added: “It’s about really understanding what the future of the industry is going to be and how we, as brands – as Under Armour and the GCMA – can influence that. It’s not a commercial deal in the normal transactional sense. We’re trying to take the GCMA into a new relevant, dynamic, direction through the leadership of Tom. I think Under Armour have that same ethos.

They want to push the boundaries

INS PIR E

a little bit. They want to be at the forefront of everything they do and be the thought leaders in what they do.

“In my experience, commercial deals and brand association is a big thing. People want to be associated with good brands. They want to be associated with success and Under Armour want to be associated with the GCMA, because they see our members as the future influencers of golf at club level.

“We want to be associated with Under Armour because we see them at the cutting edge of golf as well - in terms of thought leadership.”

Cotterill said the partnership with Under Armour spoke volumes about the strides the GCMA have made in recent months under Brooke – “It’s great to hear a brand like Under Armour want to position themselves and partner with the GCMA” – and hoped it would be the first of many.

“The narrative is changing,” he said. “The way we are perceived is changing. Under Armour share that vision of where we want to go and where Tom wants to take us as an Association. The partnerships side of the GCMA is growing all the time. Our coming together with Under Armour will hopefully attract similar brands to come on board with the journey we are going on.”

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The in

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Why Und hopes for

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nterview... Richard

ALMER-JONES

der Armour have partnered with the GCMA and their r the association

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ow did the partnership between GCMA and Under Armour come together?

It’s interesting as a year ago I really wouldn’t have known much, if anything, about the GCMA but across the last six months I’d begun to be aware that something was happening at the GCMA and it had flagged on my radar without me actively seeking to discover it. I’ve talked this through with Tom Brooke and Craig Cotterill over the last few weeks and it’s become clear that the work they had been doing in the background had led to this happening.

They had implemented a new vision for the GCMA and what they had been putting in place pricked my interest. It was resonating in terms of ‘there’s someone there who’s looking to make a change’.

The decision to appoint a young, dynamic CEO in Tom spoke to this – it was a bold statement of intent by a body with such a long history.

This was a big attraction. I felt it reflected a body that wanted to move forwards with a desire to make a difference. I looked at that and it mirrored with where I believe golf is right now. We’ve had years of ‘Get Into Golf, grow golf, increase participation etc’ but we’ve not really seen any of them work to any degree. The industry has been guilty of ‘speaking to itself’ and this has resulted in a sport that had been declining year on year and seeing huge challenges in retaining participants as societal pressures shifted.

What I liked was how the GCMA is approaching what I believe to be a unique time for the sport. It’s an incredible opportunity because, while it is a terrible pandemic that we’re facing, what has come from

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Silvermere

it is the explosion in participation that all the previous initiatives had failed to deliver.

My sense was that I’d love to work with an organisation that was clearly looking at this opportunity with a fresh set of eyes and saying ‘we’ve got a unique chance here and we’ve got to get it right. And if we do what we’ve done, we’ll go back to what we had before. We’ve simply got to approach it differently and we have to act now’.

So that’s what really pulled me toward the GCMA. It looked and felt really progressive from the outside looking in.

Is it about seizing an opportunity then in terms of what the GCMA are trying to do and what Under Armour are trying to do as a brand?

We’ve talked a lot internally about

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the rationale behind our partnership and, really, the best word to describe it is holistic. It’s about doing what’s right for the sport.

It wasn’t about ‘how much can we gain commercially from this?’.

We want the sport to be healthy.

We believe we can play an active part in helping to achieve this but we need to do this collaboratively with the people that drive the game and effectively dictate the experience the golfer will have when they visit a facility.

Collectively we need to be driving the sport forwards.

My belief is that nobody is better placed right now to shape the future of the sport than the GCMA. When you pull into the car park, everything you experience from that moment onwards should fall under the remit of the golf club manager. If we can all actively

Richard Palmer-Jones Richard Palmer-Jones is the owner of PJH Brand Management, who are the official partner of Under Armour Golf in the UK and Europe.

A University of Leicester and Leeds Business School graduate, Richard has extensive experience in the golf industry, having previously been marketing manager at Ashworth Golf for four years before spending a further four years as brand director at TaylorMade Adidas Golf. His company launched Under Armour golf in the UK in 2006 and now runs all golf distribution for Under Armour across the UK and Continental Europe.

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GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS input positively into the consumer experience then I believe that more people will stay in the sport.

That’s good for the sport, it’s good for Under Armour, and it’s going to be good for every facility and brand in golf.

It is an incredibly unique time and what I saw was a body with a different mindset. People talk about the new normal. It isn’t.

It’s completely different. Normal isn’t the word for it because it’s a completely new way of approaching the sport from an experience led perspective. People will vote with their feet and I think they were doing that prepandemic and that was leading to the exodus from the sport.

I love how Tom provides clarity on the different experience that facilities can offer but that they need to be very clear on their strategy. They need to know what they’re good at and focus on it.

Some will be members’ only, highend golf with a very specific dress code. Some will be more open access and family oriented.

The sport needs them all. But what you don’t need is everybody trying to be everything to everybody. I believe facilities being able to understand who they are, and the GCMA helping them define and refine their strategy to deliver it, will be really important to the end result. We all know that when we go somewhere and have a good experience we tend to go back and we tell people about it. When we go somewhere and have a bad experience, we don’t go back but we still tell people about it.

Allied to this mindset, I really like the fact the GCMA are redefining the career opportunity provided by golf club management. It’s no longer an end of career role - it’s a full-time career from an early age

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with the ability to shape the future of what golf can be through vision and execution.

Clearly the GCMA and Under Armour share the same ideas for the future of golf. How do you see the partnership working?

Association staff will wear your brand, and presumably spread the message, but how do you see the relationship moving forward?

That’s been the hard bit to put our fingers on – between both of us – and we’ve been really open about that because, typically, when you buy into a commercial package there’s a list of commercial benefits you receive from advertising and so on.

We’re not here for that. We’re not here to try and drive sales of Under Armour. Whilst we’re very proud the GCMA are going to wear Under Armour and, hopefully, they’re proud of wearing Under Armour too, it was really about ‘how can we input? How can we be part of this movement?’.

We love the idea of the Future Leaders’ [Group]. They’re going to shape the game for many years to come. They can be the driving force, the people with great ideas with both the commercial sense and the passion to deliver them.

The thought of being around the same table is exciting – to be hearing their vision for the sport, how they’re going to deliver it and what they are seeing and learning from that delivery. It just gives us a greater, more rounded knowledge of the sport and I think we’ve got as much to learn as we have to input.

We’ve been talking with Tom and Craig about where we can plug in and what can we bring and they are keen that we discuss our journey and our thoughts on how we’ve achieved what we have. We’ve become the dominant market

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Under Armour ambassador Jordan Spieth

leader in apparel with double the market share of the nearest competitor and there is a belief that some of our approach can impact positively within the GCMA. As a company we often look outside the industry for inspiration and have worked extensively with the ex-Olympic swimmer Chris Cook. We are hoping that we can collaborate with Chris to illustrate to GCMA members the benefit of clinical rationalisation – and there is no better example than elite sport in terms of a culture that is solely focused on what truly makes a difference and removing anything that doesn’t.

We have that mindset and I believe Tom does. He has two golden rules. Is it relevant? Is it visible? We love that because we have golden rules too and if something doesn’t meet them we just don’t do it. It simplifies things, but simple isn’t always easy. So we’re very aligned on that part.

And if there’s a company that can talk about increasing participation, for example, then that’s your experience.

You entered a marketplace that was extremely competitive and have managed to really push forward. With the likes of Jordan Spieth and Matt Fitzpatrick as ambassadors, you’re very much a part of the golfing landscape…

It’s nice to hear that – thank you.

Whilst we are now an established golf apparel company, one of our biggest focuses right now is driving our golf shoe business. We were new to golf shoes in 2016 and it takes a bit of time to get going in a very congested market.

It’s got a market leader and some very established brands within it.

We moved to number three in the market last year and became

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the number one athletic brand.

To become number three in that space of time, with our sights on number two this year, you have to stand for something different. You have to get your strategy and your vision across to the consumer in a compelling manner. You’ve got to earn their trust - but if you get it wrong, they won’t come back.

We had a few false starts, but we righted the ship and we are on a great trajectory now.

There are good examples within that part of our story that members can take directly and say, ‘this is my facility, this is what I’m offering, this is what I can do. This is how I can bring more people to my facility and this is how I can retain them longer’. It’s a process we can all share and help improve upon.

We’ve already talked a lot about retention with Tom and Craig. It’s not about stealing money from people’s pockets. It’s about giving them a choice of where and how they spend their money. The better the experience, the more likely they may invest and that creates a healthy facility. Rather than finish the round, jump in the car and go somewhere else, it becomes the place where you’re happy to be around longer and invest your time and money.

I’m really excited about helping to empower GCMA members to shape the game, because they will be the people that can show respect to the game but also see where they can truly take it next.

We want the industry to look at this group as being the pioneers of the new golden age of golf.

I believe that they should be respectful but not reverential. They can drive change but also ensure that the avid golfer still gets the experience they want from a golf course – that they don’t go home and say ‘this isn’t me anymore.

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What has my favourite place become?’

The GCMA are going to have to navigate a few different obstacles but, from my time around them so far, I’m really confident that they will be successful.

Just think about what they have achieved – the likes of the online learning portal – in less than a year. It is phenomenal and if you look at the team: it’s small but it’s empowered and passionate. It’s set to make a big impact on this sport.

As you say there is GCMA Perks at Work, the Community Online Academy, the wellness platforms that are being launched as well as a number of

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other membership initiatives…

Isn’t it great to think that’s happened in such a short period of time? That means you’re not just saying it, you’re doing it and you are delivering at pace.

My worry was whether we are doing enough as a sport to make the most of this opportunity.

If there were four or five organisations doing incredible things, I’d be torn. ‘Where do I go?

Do you even need me? There’s so much good going on that this is all going to take care of itself’. But the GCMA stood out head and shoulders above the rest – that’s why I’m delighted for Under Armour to become a Strategic Partner.

Under Armour Under Armour were founded in 1996 by former University of Maryland footballer Kevin Plank. The company’s genesis was to make a ‘superior T-shirt’ that provided compression and wicked perspiration off the skin. The aim was to regulate temperature and improve performance. Under Armour took off quickly and became a mainstay in the NFL before branching out into a host of other sports and athletic wear. In golf, Under Armour ambassadors include Jordan Spieth, Matthew Fitzpatrick and Emily Pedersen.

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FOOD, FIRE OR

HEALTH & SAFETY QUESTIONS?

Ask Shield Safety Group, the official GCMA Safety Advice Line Partner You can call one of our Environmental Health Practitioners via our Safety Advice Line who will answer your questions and provide the support you need for FREE. Need some expert guidance? Give us a call on 020 3362 4438 to get instant, over-the-phone advice on all your safety issues.

Please quote ‘SSG Partner’ when speaking to one of our Environmental Health Practitioners

This offer is brought to you by Shield Safety Group, the award-winning Health & Safety, Fire Safety and Food Safety consultancy.

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

Is your golf course

SUMMER READY? Alastair Higgs, at Rain Bird Europe, encourages General Managers to prioritise efficient irrigation in 2021

North Hants Golf Club

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hy is summerready irrigation so important?

At this time of year, golf clubs across the UK are starting up their irrigation systems after a wet winter in hibernation and, for many, with reduced staff teams and working routines altered significantly by the Covid-19 pandemic. As spring

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weather begins warming up the ground and lockdown restrictions ease, this is the time when looking ahead to summer irrigation needs to be a priority. Making sure that your irrigation system is in the best shape now will mean operational reliability and water efficiency come summer.

Alastair Higgs highlights the 2019 BIGGA survey that found 74% of irrigation systems were over 20 years old.

“Many of these systems are unreliable and will eventually fail.

The hydraulics, pipes and electrics have aged, deteriorated and there are frequent leaks. Every General Manager needs to be 100% confident their course is maintained in the best condition and can be played for as long as possible. Hot, dry periods over summer can mean finding funds for additional mains water and long periods of drought can devastate turf. Any club is vulnerable just relying on seasonal rainfall and mains water”.

General Manager Rob Climas, at North Hants Golf Club in Fleet, understands just how fundamental paying attention to irrigation is in ensuring the club maintains and improves its top-quality playing surfaces. Rob and Course Manager Sam Evans MG have the same view. Sam joined the club a year ago and explains: “Having good communication with your GM means the GM is properly informed about irrigation and what’s needed, so it gets discussed at board level. North Hants Golf Club is a UK Top 100 championship course, so we have to stay one step ahead. What my team and I need most is time. An irrigation system is only ever going to be as good as the time we can invest in it and that means paying close attention all year round. Having a GM that is very supportive and understands

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that great turf needs investment is essential. It’s understanding that bridges the gap between the GM and the Course Manager”.

Rob adds: “Sam and I work closely together on both short and long-term course investment. At present we’re working on plans for a significant irrigation upgrade which we hope will happen in the next few years and will completely overhaul our system. However, this is only half of the story. Making the most of what you’ve already got in the short-term is crucial.

Since Sam joined us, we’ve seen our existing system perform much more efficiently due to the ongoing detailed audits and repairs carried out by Sam and the team, delivering improvements to playing surfaces and, in turn, increasing member satisfaction”.

A Spring Routine The spring routine at North Hants Golf Club begins with a full irrigation audit which Sam believes takes a good 2 to 3 weeks to carry out properly. The greenkeeping team invests time, focussing on the turf, by keeping information up to date on the software and the club’s keen focus on training and development makes sure staff have the right skills and knowledge.

Rob Schofield is designated Irrigation Technician, who ensures ownership and responsibility for the irrigation system and in recent months, he’s made a great many improvements.

Sam adds: “We’re always out on the course, looking at what’s happening. We’ve a team of ten here and we visit every head, checking every arc and every nozzle, monitoring its condition, performance and age. All that data is relayed back to the Rain Bird Stratus II™ Central Control system

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North Hants Golf Club

North Hants Golf Club

so we’re constantly looking to raise the bar, improve coverage and irrigation efficiency. Of course, it takes a little longer the first time you complete an audit but it gets quicker each time after that.

“Created and developed over a number of years, what we have currently is a solid fairway system made up of Rain Bird 950 Series rotors. Several green and approach rotors are Rain Bird 751 Series with a number of Rain Bird 8005 Series rotors on tees. The arc adjustment and general usability makes auditing a lot easier.

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North Hants course manager Sam Evans

To ensure irrigation is efficient and accurate, we’re irrigating in millimetres rather than minutes, identifying and repairing faults quickly (in-house where possible), and utilising what we have to maximise our water source to produce uniform and consistent playing surfaces.

It is also important we understand what the current system can do and with Alastair’s help, we’re using Cycle & Soak™ times on playing surfaces which prevents run-off and allows water to reach the rootzone. By irrigating

for a period, then having a rest period, prior to continuing the programme cycle to finish, just the right amount is applied which minimises wastage and allows the system to water other areas during the soak time, meaning we’re using these available time windows to our advantage”.

Agree Priorities - one green at a time Around 50% of golf facilities surveyed by BIGGA in 2019 relied on mains potable water supply for irrigation so it’s crucial that every

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Where to start - 5 key questions for General Managers: 1.

2.

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What does it cost to run our irrigation system on a daily basis?

How much does irrigation cost our club each year?

What’s spent on preventative maintenance and upgrades?

How do we measure water usage and electricity for course irrigation?

What’s our approach to irrigation risk management and disaster planning?

Alastair Higgs A keen golfer, Alastair started his career as a greenkeeper at Calcot Park in 2000, joined American Golf UK Golf in 2004, becoming head greenkeeper at Donnington Valley Golf Club in 2008 and course manager, Windlesham Golf Club in 2012. He joined Rain Bird in 2016. club measures and monitors water efficiency as it’s an expensive and increasingly scarce resource.

Having an irrigation strategy, tackling water usage and efficiency and upgrading irrigation systems and rotors with agreed priorities is key. What’s to be avoided is having a piecemeal approach.

Replacing all the damaged rotors on one green, all at the same time, swapping out any that can be used elsewhere, will give better results and uniformity of irrigation coverage.

Rob and Sam have a similar

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approach to upgrades. They both know that having the best playing surfaces means them having agreed priorities – in the right order - green, tees, approaches and finally fairways.

General Managers and Course Managers across the UK are acutely aware of the work that spring usually brings into focus.

With extra pressures ahead post-lockdown, post-furlough and with members keen to get back on courses, it’s high time for a smarter approach to irrigation ahead of summer 2021.

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Full UK GCMA members considering improvements to their water infrastructure can benefit from an irrigation evaluation from Strategic Partner Rain Bird. Find out more at www.gcma.org.uk/ rainbird/ www.northhantsgolf.co.uk

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Join the hundreds of golf clubs around the UK who already use Fairway Credit.

How we can help your club: • Full annual fee paid to your club, up-front, normally within an average of 30 days • We take responsibility of the financial regulatory requirements • Fully integrated with How Do I Pay from Club Systems, making collecting membership fees even easier How we can help your members: • Simple online application process • Repayment terms over a period up to 12 months • They can be automatically renewed each year with no requirement for a new application.

Here at Fairway Credit, we’re very happy to talk to any new golf clubs who would like to learn more about using our financing facilities. We have a great team ready to discuss how we could offer our financing solution to your club.

For more information on our range of products and services or to discuss how Fairway Credit can help you, your club and your members please contact us on: 0344 736 9818 or you can email: leisure@pcl.co.uk

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020 7191 2417 | www.fairwaycredit.co.uk | leisure@pcl.co.uk Fairway Credit is a trading name of Premium Credit Limited. Registered office: Ermyn House, Ermyn Way, Leatherhead, Surrey, KT22 8UX. Registered in England and Wales under company number 2015200. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. *Facility is subject to approval, terms and conditions apply. †Credit is subject to status, terms and conditions apply, 18+

‘The one thing every single golf course could achieve is the best quality of cut’ Bernhard’s Director of Worldwide Sales, Steven Nixon, explains why investing in grinding equipment in your maintenance facility could improve turf quality and save your club serious cash in the long run

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harp mower blades make for a better cut.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But it can also come at a cost. Your club can spend thousands every year sending off equipment to be honed, and the pressures on chemicals and agronomical practices could be making that a more regularly required exercise.

Steven Nixon, Director of Worldwide Sales at Bernhard and Company, believes he has the answer. Here, he explains the benefits of buying your own grinding machines and outlines why doing the work in-house will save you money in the long run and give you a better golf course.

Can you put into context what spin grinding has done for golf courses and how important it is to the overall maintenance of a facility?

It ensures that when you grind a cylinder, you make it cylindrical again. There were other methods of grinders being adapted to sharpen one blade at a time but, by doing that, the grinding stone starts to deteriorate and results in high and low sections of the blade. To get around that problem, people used to use a mixture of an abrasive and a liquid. It was originally like an oil, known as a back lapping paste, to try and make the cylinder fit to the bottom blade properly.

Spin grinding essentially spins the cylinder while grinding it, to ensure that everything becomes super uniform. You can then keep the mower set very precisely. The mower was never intended for the cylinder and the bottom blade – the two parts of the cutting action – to rub together. They were always designed to run with no contact.

The bottom blade would hold the

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grass in place, the cylinder would pull it across the bed knife and the bottom blade would cut it off, replicating a scything action. But you need a super-precise cylinder to do that, or it just will not cut.

Cylinder grinding, and especially our system, ensures that every single blade is perfect. We have no contact between the two cutting components of the mower, which delivers a far cleaner cut. The plant remains a lot healthier, or less damaged, after it has been cut and therefore needs a lot less input, such as fewer chemicals to fight off disease.

When sharpening on a regular basis, and using this no contact system, it becomes obvious straight away that one of the major benefits is a reduced number of chemicals used on the golf course. In today’s world, where these chemicals are very expensive, if you can eliminate one spray a year through having a healthy cut, then you start to make savings. Also, because the two surfaces are not rubbing together, which creates friction and a build-up of heat, the mowing equipment runs better. There is markedly less wear on parts and the big saving is fuel - because the engine isn’t working as hard. To simplify it, it’s almost the difference between driving your car with the handbrake on, or without.

If you attempted to drive a car with its handbrake on, the engine would get extremely hot, and you’d use a lot of fuel. As soon as the cylinder and bed knife touch together, you’re effectively putting a handbrake on the mower. With spin grinding, everything runs freely. The equipment will last longer, and it won’t cost as much to keep it maintained.

The benefits, mechanically and agronomically, are superb. Spin grinding is so quick and easy to

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GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS do; you can have the mower back running again perfectly in a matter of minutes. It allows you to build up a grinding programme with much greater regularity, rather than just sending your mowers off to a dealer once a year. Naturally, you can then cut to a far superior quality all the time and present an attractive course year-round. The grass plant is healthier, and more robust, so the ball can roll more smoothly and with more consistency.

Some of the most fantastic golf courses in the world, from a design point of view, can be spoiled by a poor quality of cut, machine streaking, marks, scalping or other damage. Golfers enjoy playing on fast and consistent greens.

I think, for a golf club, it’s not just the savings, it’s the revenue as well.

In this day and age, when golf clubs are competing for memberships, if a golfer can walk off at the end of a round having enjoyed the experience - the golf course looks fantastic, it’s played well you’re going to increase revenue significantly. Everybody has to sharpen their mowers, but not everybody has the same resources as the top venues. However, one thing every single golf course can achieve is the best quality of cut possible, which makes a huge difference. Grass varieties and designs are all really important, but they can only be as good as the presentation to the golfer.

People often forget the importance of how we mow the grass. It sounds pretty boring, but it’s the thing we do the most on the golf course. Before the customer comes to play, we mow the whole course and present it.

Often, you’ll hear people say, “let’s get that bit out of the way, then we can get on with the proper maintenance.” Actually, a lot of damage can be done if the cutting

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isn’t right, and it will then take a lot of time and money to rectify.

How do you get that message across to club managers, who are putting this up before committees, or rubber-stamping investment for one of your grinders? There is the perception that this kit is expensive. How do you get across the benefits to managers?

It’s often difficult. If we come across a golf club manager that’s engaged with the maintenance side of their business, and they come along to a demonstration, then seeing is believing. If we can get to that demonstration stage, our success rate is very high.

They come in with the preconceived idea that they can’t afford it. So, what we like to do is take an initial stimp reading from their greens that have been cut that morning. We’ll then sharpen their mower, set it to the same height of cut, and go out and stimp the green again - they always see an improvement. Then we show

Steven Nixon A former mechanic, and a Toro Student Greenkeeper of the Year award winner, Steven Nixon joined Bernhard and Company in 2001 as South East USA Sales Manager, in Florida.

He then spent four years as UK Sales Manager before becoming Director of Sales and Marketing at Golf & Turf Machinery Ltd. Nixon returned to Bernhard and Company in 2011 in the guise of European Sales Manager, before being appointed Director of Worldwide Sales in 2014. He has held the position ever since.

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them, under a macroscope the damage that the old cut did to the turf and that starts to build up a picture for them.

The hardest thing is getting them to engage in that process to start with. Let’s face it, nobody wants to go and stand in a cold shed in January for an hour to watch a demonstration of mechanical equipment getting sharpened.

We have to try and take a different approach, so we do it through education - helping people understand how the mower works, the impact it has on the grass plant, and the benefits of sharp blades.

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have been doing a lot of online demonstrations and webinars. Anybody can attend and we always encourage the course manager or head greenkeeper to involve their club manager, who can watch from their office. That club manager, around the same time of year, usually signs a large cheque to send their blades off for sharpening. They will be returned in perfectly sharp, working order, but then the greens staff will take the mowers out and clean up the worm casts and carry out aeration projects. All the money that was invested in that one-time sharpness is then gone, because the sand and worm casts damage the blades. The greenkeepers will then ask for more money to sharpen them again, which doubles the expense. Often, that expense won’t have been budgeted for, which causes a problem.

We try to help clubs take their unexpected expenses out of the way. Yes, our equipment is expensive, but it will last for 20+ years. We also provide a 10-year warranty on all machines which provides great piece of mind for the customer. By taking out a five

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or seven-year finance deal, a club can sharpen on a regular basis, make savings, and improve their golf course and the environment.

Is that the shift in emphasis we need? From clubs looking at an annual maintenance expense, to considering that they’ll be making huge savings in the long-term, have a better consistency of course, and more sustainable practices?

Definitely. Our biggest challenge as a company is getting that message to the right person. Every head greenkeeper wants to improve the golf course but, unfortunately, sometimes they struggle to translate that across in a way that appeals to the club manager. They want the same things, but they want to see a return on investment

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as well because they are there to run a business. We have to bring everybody along on the journey with us, and if we get that opportunity to communicate the benefits, there aren’t many people who can really justify not buying our equipment. No club wants to spend thousands of pounds each year and have nothing to show for it. It’s almost like throwing your money down the drain. If you put a similar amount of money into owning grinding machines, you’d then have an asset that puts the control back in your hands.

And presumably pressures on resources and sustainability are only going to increase?

Exactly. Twenty years ago, it was seen as a luxury to have a set of grinders. In some parts of the

world, however, they’re just an essential piece of kit, especially in the USA. The UK is starting to trend in that direction now, and we’ve done a fantastic job over the last 20 years installing a lot of systems.

There are a lot of new pressures on maintenance in the modern day, and people don’t want to be throwing all their money into chemicals. It’s not sustainable or good for the environment.

A good sharpening regime is not the be-all and end-all of a fantastic golf course, but it is a massive part of the jigsaw as it lays the foundation for everything else. If your grass is healthier after it has been cut, you’ll notice a dominoeffect of positive impact. Soon it will be an absolute necessity because chemicals are constantly being removed from the market and

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worms are becoming more of an issue. Mower blades will have to be sharpened more and more often.

Sending machines off to a dealer is not only expensive, but it’s very impractical. Who wants to lose their greens mower for three or four days in the middle of the summer? Golf clubs are then buying extra machines to get around the problem of equipment being out of action. That is unnecessary. You can go out and cut your greens, then spend just over an hour sharpening the mowers and they’ll be perfect for the next day. There doesn’t ever need to be a compromise made out on the golf course.

We all want to be able to play golf 12 months of the year. When I first started greenkeeping, winter was winter, and the golf

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course basically shut down until it reopened in spring. Now, most clubs will be playing all year round, which means grass is being cut all year round. A lot of the time, mowers will be in really bad condition going into winter as clubs are waiting to send them away for sharpening when the grass finally stops growing, but it still needs to be cut. The weather is colder and any cutting will be damaging the grass with badly set machinery. The wake up in the spring will also be slower for the golf course because it’s been put to bed damaged in the winter.

That really is the most essential time. If you’re going to be cutting your golf course and your grass through the winter, it needs to be done with ultra-sharp mowers - it’s as simple as that.

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Bernhard and Company Specialists in sports turf technology, Bernhard and Company is “committed to providing turf care solutions to golf course and pitch care specialists.” Their grinders are the system of choice for more than 75% of the US Top 100 golf courses and more than 65% of the World Top 100 golf courses.

The company say: “We believe it is a combination of good product, unrivalled service and the key focus on ‘money saving maintenance’ that has kept us at the top of this market for so long.”

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Scan to explore

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Will you Slip! Slap! Swing!

THIS SPRING? With golf back, and everyone tentatively returning to a normal routine, we met up with Michelle Baker, CEO of the Melanoma Fund and creator of the Slip! Slap! Swing! campaign. She is set on getting your club involved in the fight against skin cancer

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hat is the Slip!

Slap! Swing! campaign?

Slip! Slap!

Swing! is a FREE prevention campaign which raises awareness of sun protection and skin checking in a bid to impact the high levels of skin cancer which affect golfers and greenkeepers. Our aim is to get golf clubs Sun Protection Accredited, putting into place simple but effective actions that will educate and protect their staff and members.

The campaign was everywhere last year. How did you manage that?

It certainly was not a result of a big budget, but more the generous support and belief of the golf industry. From the backing of every county body and overarching organisation, countless trade and consumer editorial articles, golf organisations offering us free ad space, endorsements from our incredible team of ambassadors… and the clubs who signed up first.

It all really helped us create noise.

How did COVID affect your roll out?

We soft launched the idea in 2019 to get feedback from the industry, which was really positive.

I admit we were sceptical about launching our Sun Protection Accreditation scheme in 2020 due to the lockdowns. However, with the encouragement of Craig Cotterill at the GCMA and Stephen Carpenter at the PGA, we agreed we should just go for it in June. It could have gone either way, but thankfully it worked!

How many clubs did you get on board last year?

We started off getting a few smaller clubs signed up by

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In September we sailed past our target of 250 clubs, getting over 350 signed up last year. This still only represents around 10% of clubs, so there is still lots to do!

Why did you select golf and not cricket or tennis?

I work closely with melanoma surgeons, dermatologists and GPs and take their advice on who we should be targeting with our campaigns, which are aimed at high-risk groups.

Many mentioned that golfers are always in and out of their surgeries, which led to talks with England Golf about the idea. They were the first to agree to come on board, followed by every other major golf organisation, including the PGA and R&A, which gave us the inspiration to keep moving forward.

With regards to tennis and cricket, watch this space!

Do you do think golfers don’t take sun protection seriously?

Despite the overwhelming evidence on how dangerous too much UV exposure can be, a recent survey undertaken by SMS Marketing for the Melanoma Fund revealed that only 42% of golfers use sunscreen when the weather required it, and a massive 72% never reapply it when on the fairway. With nearly 30% admitting they avoid sun protection in favour of a tan, it could be that many are in denial and we aim to change that attitude.

How rife is skin cancer?

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It is an epidemic and the most common cancer in the world today, with nearly 152,000 new non-melanoma skin cancer cases reported in the UK every year that’s more than 410 every day (2015-2017), with men more prone due to their habits.

Although rare, rates of melanoma - the most serious form - have more than doubled in the UK in the last 30 years, with incidents in women having doubled (100% increase) and for men nearly tripled (181%).

Melanoma is one of our fastest rising cancers, and although still higher in older people, rates in 25 to 49-year-olds increased by 70% over the same period.

Why should clubs become Sun Protection Accredited?

Never has it been so important for organisations to recognise and improve the health and wellbeing of their stakeholders by upgrading their duty of care.

When it comes to golf, obviously sun protection is only part of the bigger picture, however it is important - due to how golf is played and the laissez-faire attitude of sun protection in this sector.

The advice relates to both staff and members, so it covers everyone in the industry. We don’t ask why get involved, more so why not? It is easy to implement, free, and offers clubs the chance to enhance any existing advice, not to mention that the actions will save lives.

What is new for 2021?

This is an exciting year for us.

We are launching a brand new website in May, which features all three of our campaigns on the main Melanoma Fund website.

We have installed new CRM systems, which will really help us scale up and grow and

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manage our audience. We have made signing up quicker, we have refreshed our resources and have made them easier to download. We are launching a new accreditation scheme for tournaments, as well as aiming to increase the golf clubs that sign up.

It sounds very busy, but also very seasonal, what do you promote in autumn/winter?

Tackling skin cancer is not just limited to sun protection and being ‘Sun Savvy’. We launched ‘Get Skin Savvy’ last year, promoting the importance of skin checking, which is an important aspect of heath and wellbeing that many overlook. Our survey of golfers revealed that only 29% check their skin once a month, which is a habit recommended by leading dermatologists.

Catching skin cancer early makes it extremely easy to treat, however a late diagnosis makes it exceedingly difficult to treat.

How easy is it for a golf club to become Sun Protection Accredited?

We have purposely made it easy to implement because we know managers are busy and especially so in the current climate. Once the actions have been undertaken, it simply requires tweaking during the summer. We offer lots of free content to be used both in the clubhouse and for socials to keep it fresh and front of mind. To become accredited, clubs simply need to pledge five actions: • Nominate a Sun Pro Ambassador • Add a sun protection statement • Display awareness posters • Ensure sunscreen is available • Display the Sun Protection Accreditation logo

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How easy is it for clubs to access and stock sunscreen?

To support and encourage the availability of sunscreen, the Melanoma Fund has partnered with Lee Brother.

We will be offering refillable sunscreen dispensers and 100ml bottles of Stokoderm SPF30/50 in an exclusive deal to Sun Protection Accredited members.

There are no minimum orders or delivery charges and, for every unit sold, a donation will made to the charity to keep the campaign expanding year on year.

Who pays for the Slip! Slap!

Swing! campaign?

The campaign is free to golf clubs and always will be.

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Obviously, charitable donations to help support what we do are always appreciated but, more importantly, we want the clubs to get actively involved.

The charity covers the costs from general donations, so if you are planning on a fundraiser or looking for a club charity, we are always happy to chat to you about this!

Fancy becoming accredited?

The new Slip! Slap! Swing! campaign launched on May 3 and can be found at www.melanomafund.co.uk.

Michelle is happy to discuss getting your club involved so get in contact at: michelle@melanomafund.co.uk.

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business partner

from A-Plan Insurance Are you looking for a solution to add value to your membership and provide protection for your members and golf club in 2021?

Offer the Golfplan Club Membership Policy for your members.

It started with a call to Alex, following an article in The Golf Club Manager journal. We arranged a workshop morning for our Members with Alex in attendance and interest instantly grew from there. We now have over 75% of our Members signed up to Golfplan, with additional members joining the scheme as their current annual insurance plan expires. With the insurance documents on the Members’ area of our website, all the necessary information is readily accessible. In addition, Alex is always contactable for any advice & support.

Trisha Leonard | General Manager | Old Fold Manor GC • Take this policy out at your golf club today and cover your members as beneficiaries • Stand out from the industry and add these members benefits into your membership package PLEASE NOTE: Terms and conditions apply, for full details of policy cover/benefit limitations and exclusions, please refer to our policy wording and summary of cover, a copy of which is available upon request.

Call Alex and his team today to find out how: 01527 868160 | golfplan.co.uk Golfplan is a trading name of A-Plan Holdings, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered Office: 2 Des Roches Square, Witney, OX28 4LE. Registered in England. Registration Number: 750484

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T

ell us about your company MS Rubric is a boutique commercial law firm, with a history of instructing owner managed entities and member run organisations. Based in the South West, our fresh and dynamic team has a varied skill set specialising in five key sectors: golf and leisure, property, franchising, healthcare and veterinary.

James Howell

Why did your company decide to partner with the GCMA? We have extensive experience of working with golf clubs, and our team prides itself on providing expertise in this niche sector. There are very few law firms focusing on the golf sector and, as we are one of the few that do, it seemed a natural progression to become a GCMA business partner. We have taken great pride in being able to support clubs through COVID-19 with employment law and business advice, and are looking forward to continuing to support them as membership numbers grow.

How can your company benefit GCMA members?

In our experience, we’ve found that, often, golf club managers operate without all of the resources that they may want or need to properly run the course as a business. Our core services provide support and solutions that give affordable peace of mind.

This might be, for example, terms

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We sat down with James Howell, Managing Director at MS Rubric, to find out how his law firm can help GCMA members of business to engage members and protect the club against claims and risks. We’ve also worked with clubs throughout lock down on employment matters and furlough.

Most recently we have seen members of clubs requesting discounts or refunds on their membership because of course closure. We have found that golf clubs often do not have appropriate terms of business in place and require assistance with handling member requests. At MS Rubric, we can assist golf club managers in adopting a more professional approach when it comes to handling these kinds of issues.

Golf clubs have been affected, like most other industries, during the pandemic and we have worked hard to support clubs with employment and contract advice.

Now that clubs are reopening, and membership numbers are growing, the time is right for clubs to review their legal documents, staffing levels and business plan ahead of what will hopefully be a positive period for the golf sector.

Tell us more about how you assist golf clubs as land-owners?

There will always be considerations based around the land that a golf club owns. This might be the sale of a plot for housing development, acquiring a parcel of land, change of use applications, boundary disputes, lease renewals, right of way issues, or access rights. Our

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team has years of experience in acting for clubs in these areas.

So, whether it be advice on an option agreement, the process for purchasing a parcel of land, or any other property related matter, our specialist solicitors will be able to assist you in achieving the best outcome for both your club and your members.

As employers golf clubs may need advice but don’t want a huge cost associated with it, how could MS Rubric help?

The meter doesn’t start running the moment you call us. We offer a free consultation to GCMA members. Our approachable service and honest way of working means we’ll always be up front with clubs before undertaking any work for them. We’ll also take the time to discuss more cost-effective options for you and your club, if this is an issue.

How else can GCMA members benefit from your involvement?

Through our exclusive partnership with the GCMA, we have an offer for clubs to add value to their membership, which enables club members to have a free consultation about their Will and estate planning with our private client team. This offer is an opportunity for clubs to add value to their membership package at renewal time.

An interesting fact our readers might not be aware of?

Whilst many of our legal

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counterparts have offices based in city centres in corporate highrise buildings, we are not your typical law firm. Set amidst the bucolic surroundings of rural Aust, from our ‘Cowshed’ office, we have kept our overheads low and our interests in outdoor pursuits very much in line with our sector specialisms. We may be a boutique firm but we still manage to punch above our weight, having closed £500 million worth of corporate deals over the last four years. We also pride ourselves on providing a personable approach which challenges the stuffy legal stereotype. Essentially, we provide a high level of advice and service akin to the top law firms but without the overheads or infrastructure that they’re carrying. That being the case, we can provide excellent legal services at a fraction of the price.

Plans for the future?

We are a small firm with big plans. May is an exciting month for us with our rebrand launch.

Our new brand will remain true to the MS Rubric values whilst encompassing an innovative, fresh and modern aesthetic. Our focus is on growth and expansion. We also look forward to our continued partnership with GCMA and providing its members with the support and advice they require for their clubs to thrive. * For a free review of your commercial or employment contracts, email James at info@ msrubric.co.uk

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14/04/2021 13:51

Making sure golf is safe for everyone

AT YOUR CLUB

SafeGolf has been in the headlines and Matthew Draper, England Golf’s club, county and membership senior manager, explains how it will protect the sport

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t revealed the horrors of sexual abuse in football. The Sheldon Report, released in March, spanned 700 pages – and was an indictment of how predatory abusers had run unchecked from the grassroots game through to some of the biggest clubs.

The document also laid bare the historical paucity of measures in place to protect children – and that should be a wake-up call for all of sport.

For golf would be naïve to think it was somehow clear of such concerns.

“Safeguarding issues can arise anywhere in society,” said Matthew Draper, the governing body’s club, county and membership senior manager and a GCMA member.

“Golf is not immune to that, and golf clubs are not immune to that.”

SafeGolf, the partnership of golf bodies committed to promoting a safe and positive environment for anyone that participates, works or volunteers in the sport, hit the headlines recently after England Golf sent a letter to affiliated clubs warning those who had failed to make sufficient progress on gaining required accreditation that they could face disciplinary action from the governing body.

The angry reaction from some club managers to the email, and the familiar cries of ‘there’s no problem here’ from some golfers on social media, threatened to mask the overall aim of the scheme.

SafeGolf was introduced in 2018 and England Golf made achieving accreditation a mandatory requirement of affiliation in December 2019.

But it’s a process that largely happens behind the scenes, with committees, managers and welfare officers handling the nitty gritty of ensuring their club complies.

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Golfers may have seen the certificates showing a club has the necessary procedures in place.

Educating them about what to look for if they fear there is a safeguarding issue at their club, and what to do about it, is a really key element.

And this is where, at England Golf, the hard yards of work are being done.

“It’s making sure that, should the worst happen, there is education so people know exactly what to do should an issue arise,” added Draper, who is in charge of the SafeGolf programme for the governing body.

“That means the volunteers that are on hand, or the staff at golf clubs, know how to spot a safeguarding issue.

“What we want to do, through SafeGolf, is create a consistent set of policies and procedures across the country that we know are in place.

“It means that should something happen at any of our affiliated golf clubs, the people on site handling it know exactly what to do, the reporting process to England Golf or, in the worst-case scenario, the authorities such as the police.”

That’s achieved through education – either of volunteer welfare officers or staff that might be in contact with children or vulnerable people on a regular basis.

They attend a Safeguarding Protecting Children Course, while welfare officers may also visit Time to Listen sessions to help them understand the kinds of situations they may come across.

“Most safeguarding issues aren’t obvious,” explained Draper. “It could be something from home that you picked up. It could be a child saying something that pricks your ears up.

“It could be anything, but these courses help people identify where

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Matthew Draper

there may be an issue in place and when they may need to do more investigation.

“They may need to make the club welfare officer aware, they may need to make England Golf’s safeguarding team aware.

“But the process is in place within the policies to make sure that should they hear something, should they have an inkling about something, should they have a concern, they have a direct route of reporting and they know exactly what to do.”

When safeguarding appears in the news, we naturally tend to assume these are issues of sexual abuse. But SafeGolf goes much further.

Its mission is also to protect the welfare of adults at risk, as well as children and young people, and, as Draper pointed out, that applies to all of us.

“It could be anyone who suffers from a mental health issue. It

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could be anyone that’s vulnerable to people preying on them.

Unfortunately, there are types of abuse where people may prey on vulnerable adults. It could be to extract finance from them.

Abuse happens in many different circumstances.

“So this does involve everybody – all members of golf clubs, anyone who plays golf, anyone who visits a golf club.

“Anyone could be susceptible to some form of abuse.

“What is important is that, through SafeGolf, people will be able to identify it better and know exactly what they need to do when reporting.”

Only together, believes Draper, only when everyone in the game is protected – and every club has these standards – can golf be confident that the kind of scandal unveiled in football won’t be replicated.

And seeing that SafeGolf logo should give members and visitors confidence that those correct policies and procedures are in place.

“It doesn’t work, as a project, unless every golf club is there.

You can’t have a missing link,” he said. “You have to make sure that everyone has a consistent level of policies and procedures in place.

“We want everyone to enjoy their golf club life and have environments they can thrive within.

“The most important thing is they’re safe. Golf clubs are people’s second home.

“We want to create fun environments where people want to spend every minute that they’re not working or every minute they are not at school.

“The first point in doing that is making sure the environments where they are going to play, or socialise, or however they use their golf club, is safe.”

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HOW SAFEGOLF IS WORKING FOR FULFORD GOLF CLUB Fulford Golf Club general manager Jon Dry has spelled out the importance of achieving SafeGolf accreditation and explained how England Golf staff were on hand to help his club every step of the way.

The Yorkshire venue has joined the ranks of clubs across England who have shown their commitment to providing a safe and secure environment for all staff and visitors to their facility.

Through SafeGolf, Fulford have standard and robust procedures in place to not only safeguard children and at-risk young adults, but also all staff and visitors who come through their doors.

SafeGolf accreditation has now become mandatory for all clubs and counties wishing to affiliate to England Golf.

And for those clubs who have registered for SafeGolf and are working to attain full accreditation, Dry is able to offer words of encouragement as they face what may, on the face of it, appear to be an onerous task.

“When I first saw what was required to achieve SafeGolf, it was a little daunting but after a very helpful call with our club support officer, I had a clear pathway for what was required,” admitted Dry. “This process can then be broken down so everyone can play their part.

“The constant support throughout the process made something which was initially daunting, actually very simple and straight forward.

“By gradually ticking off all of the areas which need doing you have a clear understanding of what is required and also why.

“A huge benefit is that now we can continue to update our information and keep on top of

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the various areas, ensuring we maintain our accreditation, offering a safe environment for all.”

Safeguarding has always been important, but England Golf has now moved to make sure it is embraced by all clubs and counties by making it a term of affiliation from today onwards.

a matter of pulling together all of the documentation that you should already have.

“The staff and volunteers involved in these areas should all have their DBS and SPC in place.

“SafeGolf provides a process which a club manager can use to check that everyone’s paperwork is

Fulford’s 16th hole

Most clubs will have had safeguarding procedures already in place. SafeGolf helps to raise and standardise the levels.

At Fulford, Dry found that he was able to use existing policies to make a start on SafeGolf.

He also found support from England Golf’s club support network, as well as downloadable resources such as the simple ‘six steps to SafeGolf’ video, invaluable.

Fulford have long recognised the importance of safeguarding and Dry has explained why it has formed such an important part of their club ethos.

He added: “Ensuring you provide a safe environment to play golf is a top priority for any club manager.

“Every club wants their members and visitors to come and play, safe in the knowledge that everything is in place for them to be able to relax and enjoy their visit.

“The SafeGolf accreditation is

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up to date and current.

“Looking outside of just junior golf makes sure you are covering the safety of all players and communicating these policies effectively with your members and visitors. By achieving SafeGolf I can prepare the club for the season, safe in the knowledge that we have the right measures and processes in place. That is a very good re-assurance to have!”

Jon Dry

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24/04/2021 11:09

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

Meet the

MANAGER

Rothley Park

H

ow did you get into golf club management?

I’d given it some thought over previous years but had never pursued it. I’d worked for the European Tour since 2005 and enjoyed it and made my way up to being one of the scoring managers. I probably attended 20 events a year – 14 on the main tour, three or four on the Seniors’

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Tour and then the balance on the Challenge Tour.

I travelled all over the place, from Shanghai to the HSBC, Dubai World Cup, Ryder Cup, Solheim Cup and I really enjoyed my time with the Tour.

Then, like a lot of people, we got to that point 12 months ago when everybody became furloughed. Obviously, the tour had quite a large restructuring and quite a decent number of

us, unfortunately, were made redundant.

I really wanted to stay in golf so I made some initial enquiries.

I’m not 25, I was 53 at the time and Gavin Robinson [GCMA professional development manager] was incredibly helpful. I enrolled onto the Principles course, really enjoyed that and built up a bit of knowledge and some more contacts.

Then I proceeded to approach

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When he was made redundant after 15 years at the European Tour because of the coronavirus pandemic, Rob Hennessy found a new career in golf club management gain experience.

Danny Spillane is the club manager and pro and, since I started in January, he has been fantastic to me and offered unbelievable guidance day in and day out.

Going forward, the club’s reopened now. We’re going to launch a completely different food and beverage offering so I’ve been quite busy with that and getting to know the membership.

Everyone’s been really lovely to me. It’s a really nice club, a really nice place to work, and following the disappointment of redundancy I’ve moved into something I believe I’m really going to enjoy, as well as hopefully producing a fruitful career going forward.

clubs I knew and Rothley Park was one of them. I approached them with my CV, explained that my plan was to go on to the ASQ Level 5 Diploma in Golf Club Management, which I started recently, and the club contacted me quite quickly. We kept in touch, I had three interviews in all, and the club kindly offered me the assistant manager’s role. I was absolutely delighted to get it and it’s perfect for me to study and

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How did the Principles course help you in getting that role?

My main thought was I could approach clubs and show them I’d got the ball rolling forward to go into the career. I wanted to be proactive, rather than reactive.

Going through the week, it covers various things from food and beverage and green fees, course maintenance, to the financial side, and it allowed me to dip my toe into the world of the various components within golf club management, and gave me the encouragement that ‘yes, this is what I really want to do’. I realise it’s a big challenge and going on to study the Diploma won’t be that straightforward. But it’s also a very exciting challenge for me.

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Was it a bit scary to begin a new career? You’d obviously hope not to be made redundant at 53 so how have you managed to embrace this new job?

I think all of us, in whatever sphere you work in, do reach a point of, well ‘I’ve done this many years, this is going to be my career’. But once I got my head around it, my main motivation was that I wanted to do something that I knew was going to be a challenge. And I wanted to be excited by the challenge.

Yes, I’ve got an incredible amount

Rob Hennessy

to learn. The challenge is a lot to embrace but doing something that I really love doing is a massive reward for me.

How is the new role working out for you?

I’m really enjoying it. Obviously, it was quite strange when I came on board. We went back into lockdown as I was about to start but I was able to settle in and start to gain knowledge of all the back office systems we use and start

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Rothley Park

planning for things in the summer.

It’s been great since the membership have been back.

Something I really appreciate is interacting with them so I’ll make a big conscious effort to see people and engage with them, rather than just cocooning myself in my office.

It’s so far, so good and everyone’s being really supportive.

You’re now doing the Diploma in Golf Club Management. Can you tell us what you’re hoping to get out of the course?

I just see it as the best possible professional qualification I can get. It will allow me to build up my knowledge and I think I’m in the perfect role to hopefully use that knowledge, that I’m picking up on a daily basis, to help me go through the study.

I’m not going to rush through this. I’m going to do it at a quite an easy pace. It will probably take two and a half or the full three years as I think it’s important to try and set a realistic calendar - rather than

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say ‘I’m going to do three hours tonight, three hours tomorrow, and eight hours at the weekend’. I just don’t think I’ll take it all in.

I also think I’ll be able to provide a better service to the club. I think my knowledge bank will improve.

If the Diploma allows me to offer a better service to the membership, that would be fantastic. They’ve given me the opportunity and I really want to reward them for that.

events and went to the Seniors’ Tour Finals in Mauritius on three or four occasions.

I was delighted the Tour gave me the chance as much as I am Rothley Park gave me the chance.

I made some lifelong friends, had incredible times, and memories that I’ll save forever. But I’m equally as excited for what I’ve moved on to now and Rothley have been absolutely lovely to me.

We’re not letting you go without asking about some favourite memories from your time with the Tour…

I really enjoyed attending events and being a small part of the action. At the Ryder Cup, in Paris, at the management level we all scored a game ourselves. I was fortunate enough to walk the fairways with Tiger Woods and Jon Rahm on the Sunday.

To see those guys from two or three metres away, inside the ropes, was pretty exciting. I’ve really enjoyed working at Seniors’

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and QR code Scan the elf! rs u o y r fo try it out

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Quentin Townsend 07718 623854 / quentin@venuenexteurope.com

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

Meet the

GCMA PARTNER We speak to Jimmy Sandison, Regional Golf Sales Manager at Rain Bird Europe, about intelligent irrigation that saves staff time, water and money.

W

ho is Rain Bird?

Founded in 1933 Rain Bird has been synonymous with irrigation in the golf industry for 88 years. Technologically advanced systems and quality products enable club managers to perfect playing surfaces at golf courses of all types and sizes.

The global leader in irrigation, Rain Bird’s R&D teams work with greenkeepers and technicians to develop and manufacture forwardthinking water, energy and timesaving innovations.

What makes Rain Bird different?

A sole focus on irrigation and commitment to ‘The Intelligent Use of Water™, the planet’s most precious natural resource, through products, partnerships, leadership and education.

What does Timeless Compatibility™ mean in practice?

Engineered with Timeless Compatibility™, Rain Bird technologies and products, from rotors to control software, from the 80’s to the present day can be upgraded independently and still

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be controlled from a single PC. Using the same wiring, coils and communication protocols, systems can be updated without existing equipment becoming obsolete.

What is IC and how can clubs benefit from it?

Rain Bird’s Integrated Control (IC) System continuously monitors and optimises system performance, saving time and water. With real-time feedback, course managers have total control, can troubleshoot in minutes for complete peace of mind. Yet, all Rain Bird technologies are simple to operate. Clubs report having IC is equivalent to having an extra member of staff.

Control systems are serviced and supported by comprehensive global service plans (GSP), with expert diagnostics and rapid technical support, minimising system downtime and giving clubs complete peace of mind.

cost of ownership over the 25-year lifespan of an irrigation system.

With Rain Bird as your irrigation partner, savings in power, labour, consumables and water deliver short and long-term ROI. Could Rain Bird help you futureproof your irrigation system?

Planning and managing any irrigation system does not have to be complex. To guide you, our dedicated, skilled golf sector staff work in partnership with architects, specifiers, club owners, general managers, course managers and contractors delivering systems, extensions and renovations.

Contact details Jimmy Sandison, Regional Golf Sales Manager jsandison@rainbird.com +44 (0)7976 638859 https://www.rainbird.com/golf

How can Rain Bird help us drive down the cost of system ownership?

Given our warming climate, reliance on rainfall places clubs at risk. When every drop counts Rain Bird helps clubs tackle water management and drive down the

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‘

Partner Network

The GCMA’s Partner Network supports the association’s work to professionalise the industry and promote a culture of excellence in golf club management.

Thank you to all our partners who continue to support the association.

strategic partners

Business Partners from A-Plan Insurance

Associate Partners

official suppliers P r e m i e r A l l - We a t h e r S u r f a c e s f o r G o l f

gcma.org.uk/partners

MAKE GREAT DECISIONS FOR YOUR GOLF CLUB Verifeye will allow you to: • Interpret data accurately and effectively • Amend any real-time issues on the course • Reap the benefits of passive RFID technology

• Make recommendations to your members in line with their playing habits • Improve course utilisation • Increase member retention • Enhance pace of play

Contact RARUK Golf Management today (+44) 1462 670044 www.rgmgolf.co.uk 14 Old Bridge Way, Shefford, Bedfordshire SG17 5HQ