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 50 | SEPTEMBER 2021
MA N AG E R S ’ A S S O C I AT I O N
THE INTERVIEW
‘WE’VE GOT TO CHANGE’ L E G E N D PAU L L AW R I E BELIEVES GOLF MUST BE MORE ACCESSIBLE
GCMA
A YEAR IN CHARGE
TOM BROOKE ON 12 MONTHS AT THE GCMA GRASSROOTS
PAYING TO WAIT?
KEEPING THOSE IN THE QUEUE KEEN
EDUCATE | INSPIRE | REPRESENT
CONTENTS IS S UE
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GCMA
BEST PRACTICE
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Tom Brooke looks back at his first year in charge
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Introducing GCMA Mentor
How to make your club energy efficient
INDUSTRY
GRASS ROOTS
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Hallamshire’s James Glover shows us round
THE BIG INTERVIEW 37
Tour legend, and golf club owner, Paul Lawrie
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49 27
Howard Craft on waiting lists and reversed 9s
LESS WORK. MORE FUN. MORE REVENUE.
“
We use Golf Genius within all our Members events for scorecard entry and results. It’s imperative at the end of an event to quickly and accurately calculate and publish results. Having a system like Golf Genius in place has made that a speedy and efficient process for us.”
STUART BAYNE Director of Golf
intlsales@golfgenius.com www.golfgenius.com
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 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: 18PLAYERS 2 Arena Park, Tarn Lane, Scarcroft, West Yorkshire, LS17 9BF, UK Tel: 0113 289 3979 | info@sportspub.co.uk EDITOR Steve Carroll - s.carroll@18players.com PRODUCTION EDITOR Justine Board - j.board@18players.com DESIGN Andrew Kenworthy - a.kenworthy@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 50 | SEPTEMBER 2021
MA N AG E R S ’ A S S O C I AT I O N
THE INTERVIEW
‘WE’VE GOT TO CHANGE’ L E G E N D PAU L L AW R I E BELIEVES GOLF MUST BE MORE ACCESSIBLE
GCMA
A YEAR IN CHARGE
TOM BROOKE ON 12 MONTHS AT THE GCMA GRASSROOTS
PAYING TO WAIT?
KEEPING THOSE IN THE QUEUE KEEN
EDUCATE | INSPIRE | REPRESENT
ON THE COVER: Paul Lawrie
R
eflecting on my welcome note last month, there was a focus on Women in Golf. Continuing with the theme, I’ve spent a lot of the weekend watching the Solheim Cup and, as I write, I’m really looking forward to the final day’s singles matches. How about Mel Reid’s approach shot on the 18th to get the half? What a shame, though, the event concluded on a Monday and will no doubt suffer from reduced viewing figures as a result. It was great to hear this year’s Women and Girls in Golf Week was a success. We were proud to have been a part of it, with some regular features throughout the week on social media and the focus of our first ‘GCMA Insights’ podcast on Golf Club Talk UK with Natalie McColl from our team at HQ and a number of our female members involved. If you’ve not already tuned into GCTUK, it really is well worth a listen - a great way of getting golf club management to the forefront of the industry and discussing current issues and opportunities. A great use of time on the journey to work! We’re looking forward to featuring regularly and working with Leighton Walker and Eddie Bullock, who host the show. We’ve got an excellent webinar coming up for you on Wednesday 22nd September, with Richard Payne from Sports Marketing Surveys, when we’ll be digging into the details of the new participation data from 2020 and debating what this means for golf in the UK as we
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move forward and beyond the pandemic. There’s a huge amount of uncertainty ahead of us, with challenges and opportunities and a lot to learn from what we’ve experienced over the past 15 months. Be sure to tune in and take part in the conversation! On to the 2021 GCMA Conference. This week, we’re announcing details of the workshops and breakout sessions that will take place in between our fantastic group of keynote speakers. Spaces for each of the workshops are limited, so please do book as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. We’ve even got a pre-breakfast fitness session for you on the Monday morning, as part of our Wellbeing theme, to get you fresh and ready for the two days of learning, networking and socialising you’ll have ahead. One of the highlights of the Conference, of course, is the announcement of the GCMA Manager of the Year Award winners. You, as Golf Club Managers, have achieved some absolutely outstanding things throughout the pandemic to serve your club members and local communities and our annual awards are a way of recognising and celebrating this. Nominations close on 17th September, so if you have a colleague that you would like to nominate, please do let us know at HQ. We’d love to hear from you.
Tom Brooke – Chief Executive
GCMA Everything you need to know about what’s happening around the UK in the world of the GCMA
2021 CONFERENCE
21 – 23 November Wyboston Lakes Resort, Bedfordshire
Technology Wellbeing
Sustainability
BOOK NOW! Further details are available on the conference website
GCMA 2021 Conference Programme
Sunday, November 21
16:00 onwards
GolfFest Charity Golf Challenge; indoor golf simulator nearest the pin, long putt, adventure golf, gin tasting/mixology
18:00
Official opening of Conference by GCMA CEO Tom Brooke
19:00
VIP Celebrity Guest Speakers: John Paramor, former Chief Referee, PGA European Tour Second guest speaker to be announced
Monday, November 22
7:00
Kick Start Session with Dr Golf on Demand, the online Health and Fitness club for golf. Dr Golf will be demonstrating three 15-minute taster sessions of Circuits, Mobility and Youth.
8:30
Breakfast Club Round table discussions on current topics chaired by industry experts
Session 1:
“Put Your Oxygen Mask on First” Managing Your Own Wellbeing for the benefit of your Team & Club
Session 2:
“Setting the Tone” Club Managers can lead the way to make a career in Golf more attractive to women
9:00
Registration & Exhibition
Sustainability
10:00
Opening Keynote: World Class Wellbeing: putting you at the centre of success. Danielle Brown MBE, Double Paralympic Gold Medallist in archery
11:30
Plenary Session 1: The Wellbeing of your staff matters Kevin Fish, Contemporary Club Leadership
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GCMA: Chief Executive Officer Tom Brooke updates on latest developments at the association
14:15
Plenary Session 2: Sustainable Golf Course Management Jim Croxton, Chief Executive Officer, BIGGA
15:05
Breakout Sessions and Supplier Engagement Time
16:15
Plenary Session 3: Golf & Sustainability - the way forward Phil Anderton, Chief Development Officer, The R&A, and Jonathan Smith, Executive Director, GEO Foundation for Sustainable Golf
19:00
Conference dinner incorporating the 2021 Golf Club Management Awards
Tuesday, November 23 Technology
9:30
Plenary Session 4: Golf Club Technology Management Peter Kirk, Founder, Parconex
10:35
Breakout Sessions and Supplier Engagement Time
11:15
Plenary Session 5: How to be creative with digital technology and customer management Scott Seaborn, Head of Digital Acceleration, Capita PLC
12:05
Breakout Sessions and Supplier Engagement Time
14:00
Closing Keynote: ‘2 Lengths’ - The power of keeping things simple Chris Cook, Former Double Olympian & Double Commonwealth Champion in swimming
15:00
GCMA CEO Tom Brooke closes the conference
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*Further details on breakout sessions will be announced soon.
Leadership and Wellbeing
14:00
GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS
‘We’ve made great strides but there’s a
LONG WAY TO GO’
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t’s been quite a year in the GCMA hot seat for chief executive Tom Brooke. It was challenging enough arriving at Bristol HQ during coronavirus, but that was to get even more difficult – for everyone working in the golf industry – when the shutters were pulled down at clubs again in England, Wales and Ireland at the turn of this year. But despite operating in a pandemic, it’s still been a time of change and progress for the association. We asked Tom to talk about his first 12 months in charge, what he thinks has been achieved, and what is yet to come for the GCMA and its members… You’ve had to manage the GCMA through this pandemic but that hasn’t stopped you trying to develop the association from the first day you walked in… I’ve tried to get the balance right in terms of focusing on the longer-term development of the association but, at the same time, needing to stay on top of current day-to-day operations and providing that all important service level to our members. We’ve needed to progress and develop the team at HQ and we’re really fortunate to have a great team in place now, with a huge amount of passion and energy for the GCMA and our direction of travel. I’ve also been really lucky to have the support of a great Board of Directors, and our Regional Managers.
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There has certainly been a lot to do in keeping up with the regular enforced changes to club operations that the pandemic has created for us, and at the same time the various issues that have arisen within the industry over the past 12 months – such as World Handicapping, the Independent Golfer and SafeGolf. We’ve also been working to build connections and making that representation we’ve needed with the Home Unions and Governing Body. There’s been a lot of progress with our Professional and Personal Development offerings, with the introduction of a number of new initiatives this year and continuing to work on some further additions to the programme that we plan to launch over the next couple of years. Our partnership network has also continued to grow and we’ve got some fantastic new benefits to offer our members through the newly expanded portfolio. Probably the thing that has been missing the most though, due to the pandemic, has been the ability to get out and meet our members in person. For me, that has to be a priority as we move forward. So, yes, overall it’s been an extremely busy but very enjoyable first 12 months! You arrived from Glendale Golf, where you were responsible for running a group of golf clubs. How have you found overseeing an association and have you had to change your management style?
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It’s been a year since Tom Brooke took on the role of GCMA chief executive. He assesses the last 12 months and looks ahead to the future for the association
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GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS It’s been a big transition and a big change in terms of the type of role. Suddenly you’re stepping away from direct involvement with club operations and into a role where you’re responsible for supporting and representing golf club managers - rather than directly leading and managing them. In many ways, it’s a leadership role where you’re there to serve, so it’s a very different dynamic and one that I’ve needed to adapt to very quickly. Something I often refer to is that coming from a group operations background, firstly with Crown Golf and then with Glendale, I’ve always had that network and group of individuals around me to support me, to bounce off, and to go to if I needed some information or advice. The majority of our members don’t have that within their club - because they’re operating from individual or independent clubs – so that’s absolutely what the GCMA provides and a huge amount of the value we provide as an association. I very quickly recognised that and I’m really keen to build on that as one of our core strengths and a unique part of our offering. One of your priorities has been to increase the visibility of the GCMA – particularly at a national level. What did you think needed to be done and what were your key ambitions during that initial period after you arrived? First and foremost, it was about understanding and identifying who we are as an association identifying our purpose, a clear vision, and a clear set of values that everyone could buy into and come along on that journey. That meant spending a lot of time with our core leadership teams, the
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team at HQ, the Board, our regional managers, and groups within our membership. That was a really important piece of work. That’s the foundation from which we then build our operational objectives. The key words I continue to use are ‘Visibility’ and ‘Relevance’ and, being entirely frank, needing to rapidly modernise the association in order to achieve those objectives. The GCMA has been, in my view, under-represented and undervalued at the top table for many years. Ultimately, we are here to represent and serve golf club managers. As I’ve often said, the role of the golf club manager and the role of the golf club is absolutely critical and central to the future success of golf in the UK. That’s where everything stems from. The work that the R&A and the Home Unions do to grow and develop golf has to have an intrinsic link with what’s happening at grassroots level at golf clubs – and key to that is the golf club manager. This means that a key part of our role is to ensure we are visible in that process, that we’ve got a voice, that we’re representing the opinions of golf club managers and the opportunities and the challenges that golf club managers face. Equally, it is important that The R&A and all of the Home Unions are recognising that and using us as a portal and a communication hub to make that happen. And that’s happening now? Absolutely. That’s something I’m proud to say we’ve made some real progress with. We’re now having more regular calls and contact with England Golf. We’ve had some live webinars, to which our members were invited, on World Handicapping
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and the Independent Golfer. We’ve done the same with Wales Golf and we’ve acted as that communication hub for the Home Unions to talk directly with club managers on really critical strategic issues in golf. We’re also starting to make some positive connections with Scottish Golf and building our presence in Scotland. Equally, club managers can have that direct link they may not otherwise have had to ask the right questions, and to challenge the Home Unions on the direction and the administration and delivery of some of the key objectives in golf. That’s started to work well, and I’d like to think that we have had an influence on how some of those new initiatives have been launched. We’re taking a more active role in The R&A forum and, in fact, three of the four key discussion points at the last forum were raised by the GCMA and we were key to leading those discussions. It’s great that we are getting that voice at the table now. The challenge for me now is to ensure that, in being more visible and working more closely with the home unions and R&A, we’re seeing tangible change and improvements for clubs and for club managers as a result. There’s obviously been concrete benefits unveiled for members over the last year, such as Skillgate, Perks at Work and regular webinars. Are you pleased with how that’s developed? That was one of our key focus points once we understood our clear purpose, vision and direction. It was about integrating some new member benefits and really wanting the central GCMA membership to hold more value. We have fantastic value delivered at regional level, where our regional communities and regional networks
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are hugely valuable to members. It was really important to me that our national membership held equal, if not greater, value – and particularly leaning on personal and professional development for the individual. We launched the new GCMA SkillGate online learning platform in February at the same time as launching Perks at Work, which is a personal member benefits platform with discounts at national retailers and with household service providers. We also launched a new webinar series, where we’ve been able to cover multiple issues under the three new banners of GCMA Inspire, GCMA Hot Topics and GCMA Know How. If members couldn’t attend live, it’s there and available to watch back so it’s a huge amount of content that we regularly provide for our members to add to their personal and professional development. Now that those benefits are live and available, we need to focus on helping our members to get the most from these benefits, both personally and professionally, to maximise the value and experience of being a GCMA member. Looking forward to the next 12 months, Conference is on the horizon but how are you – and the association – looking to build on what has been started? We’ve made some great strides, but we’ve still got a long way to go. There’s been some fantastic work delivered by an entirely new team at HQ and, in my first 12 months, we’ve just grown our membership base for the first time in 13 years! That shows we’re starting to take some really positive steps forward but, to keep going and for sustainable long-term success, we’re looking to really develop
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those new member benefits to become a core part of GCMA membership. We must ensure all those new platforms and services show great value for our members and start to have long term, positive impacts on their enjoyment of being a part of the GCMA and their success in their roles as golf club managers. The next 12 months are going to be very different for me in the role. With Covid restrictions now lifted, we’ve started to get the opportunity to meet our members in person again, as well as connecting more effectively with our business partners and other
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industry representatives. The area we want to continue particularly focusing on is the provision and delivery of education and professional development. We’ve got plans to launch a number of new initiatives in early 2022, which we’re really looking forward to announcing later in the year. Of course, we’ve also got the 2021 Conference to look forward to and the recently announced GCMA Mentor programme, which I am particularly excited about. It’s an initiative that’s going to really make a difference. There’s also some great work underway with our expanded
partnership network and we want to surround our members with up to date, relevant support and guidance though these new channels. Overall, I think we can collectively be very pleased with the developments that we’ve made. Equally, we must recognise that for long term, sustainable success, we need to continue developing our offering and our presence within the industry, as we strive to become the progressive and influential association I know our members are looking for us to be and that I hope they will be proud to be a part of as we move forward.
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GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS
Supporting the next generation of
CLUB MANAGERS
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GCMA Mentor will bring together the industry’s best to help develop careers. Progrezo director, Biddy Lloyd Jones, explains more...
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re you passionate about leadership, coaching and development? GCMA Mentor could be for you. The scheme, launched by chief executive Tom Brooke last month, will draw on the best in our industry to nurture the next generation of industry professionals and the Association is hugely excited about its impact. Business and people consultancy firm Progrezo will support the selection and training of Mentors and we asked director Biddy Lloyd Jones to go into more detail about the scheme and explain the importance of mentoring... How did you get involved with the GCMA Mentor programme and what will be your role in it? Progrezo is a ‘niche’ people consultancy, focussing primarily on leadership coaching for individuals and teams, specialising in attitude, behaviour and culture. We were introduced to the golf industry when we worked with CMM, originally to support their efforts to understand personal development, attitude and behaviour in their candidates. They recognised that with all the skills and experience in the world, without the right attitude, these are of little use. They introduced Insights Discovery profiling into their interview process, which is used for most short-listed applicants so that the club understands not only how to
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get the best from their new hire but also how they will gel with the team, the members and the culture of the Club. Through CMM, we were introduced to great golf clubs large and small and to the GCMA. Some of the challenges I noticed for golf club managers when I became involved some years back was the need for them to not only be technically sound and operationally intelligent, but also to have the ability to manage an enormous amount of stakeholders and build strong and long term relationships with them. Members are not customers or even clients – they are a step closer than that, sometimes owners, sometimes both your boss and your customer, and need to be heard, nurtured and satisfied – and they all want different things! Quite a challenge and, on top of that, the golf club manager often has a lot of responsibility but not much authority AND their boss changes every couple of years. That’s tough and I think they do an admirable job! Our role will be to support the selection and training of the Mentors. We will be a part of the interview board and we will run the three day training for all Mentors. How will the programme work? We envisage that six Mentors will be created each year and each of them will have five Mentees. The Mentees will have a series of 1-2-1 sessions with their Mentor as well
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as group facilitated sessions with other Mentees to learn from each other and share their experiences. The Mentors will use a coaching style for the individual sessions and will facilitate the group sessions as well. The GCMA will speak to the Mentees regularly to understand their experiences of their Mentors, and the Mentors themselves will also have a support framework that will act as a confidential service to them. How important is mentoring – both to the Mentor and the Mentee? How can it help the development of both parties? The programme is to recognise that the golf club manager is at the heart of the future of golf. It also recognises that personal and professional development are different and that a mentor can support both elements for a mentee in terms of technical skills but also supporting development in their emotional intelligence. For a mentor, there is a great responsibility to support the growth of others over and above themselves. And not everyone is suited to being a mentor! But there is an enormous reward in seeing others succeed and feeling at the heart of the growth of golf. The Mentors will have three days of training invested in them too, which will give them an in-depth understanding of themselves and how to bring out the best in others. As a coach, I can also say that it is my privilege to learn from
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my coachees as we often also learn so much about ourselves in the process of coaching. Mentoring brings a real sense of achievement to the mentor and mentee. For the Mentee, having a Mentor who ‘gets’ you, who can act as a critical friend, support and challenge you in equal measure and who you know is absolutely on your side, is an invaluable support mechanism. It is a truly satisfying experience for both parties. In a recent survey by Guider (2021 Mentoring Benchmarking) 100% of respondents said Mentoring was beneficial to individuals and that they highly valued improvements in self confidence and exposure to different perspectives. Other benefits were also improved leadership skills, setting and achieving goals, self-awareness, feedback and networking. What type of people are you looking for to take on this role? We are looking for people who get as much from others succeeding as they do themselves. We want those who are humble enough to recognise their own mistakes and share those with their Mentee to support their learning, as well as being able to coach the Mentee to use their experience and brains to make the right decisions for themselves. They need to be credible and trustworthy we want people who can be confidential and discreet, who care passionately about the future of golf and who recognise the strengths in others and want to bring out the best in them. We are NOT looking for advisors! We do not want people who think they have all the answers and will direct their Mentee to the ‘right’ course of action. We need people who can use a coaching style, ask intelligent
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and appropriately deep questions to support the mentee to make their own decisions What is the desired result of the programme – both from the view of the participants and that of the GCMA? Tom Brooke feels passionately that golf club managers are at the heart of the future of golf. The Guider survey established that Mentoring is not formally happening in small organisations (under 500 employees) but it is in larger organisations across the UK (outside the golf industry) so there is a benefit to golf in general and to individual participants too to bring in a Mentoring programme that goes across the industry rather than being contained within an organisation. There is so much experience, expertise and talent in the golf industry but due to the silo’d nature of golf clubs, this isn’t shared. For golf club managers to learn from each other and to share best practice seems an obvious solution. Coaching in soft skills is also not common in the Golf industry. So mentoring meets both these needs. What does this say about the GCMA’s commitment to professional and personal development? Mentoring in its purest form has been a natural part of society forever. Tom feels that whilst there is much focus on professional development in the golf industry, it is behind in training and coaching personal development such as emotional intelligence which, interestingly, is responsible for 85% of our earning potential. It is the emotional intelligence required by golf club managers in managing their own teams, suppliers, visitors, committees and
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members that sets a great golf club manager apart from a good one. This is where the GCMA sees the real area for growth and how it will benefit both individuals and the industry as a whole. Golf is the one pastime that brings together old and young, families and professionals, the wealthy and less wealthy and they share a passion. It forges society and relationships. It enables families to share time together, busy people to relax, people to meet new people and supports communities to thrive. Why would you NOT develop golf club managers to be able to professionally and personally develop to support this? The GCMA are visionary in their approach and determined in outlook to change the face of the industry to enable more talent to shine and naturally therefore bring the benefit to the members and visitors the world over. What is GCMA Mentor? GCMA Mentor will support the professional and personal development of experienced and successful golf club managers, to develop leadership, communication and coaching skills as they take on the role of guiding the next generation of leaders. GCMA Mentors will help up-andcoming golf club managers and those new to the industry looking to develop their careers and become golf club managers. They will be involved in group and 1-2-1 sessions as well as the GCMA education programme. To register your interest to become a GCMA Mentor, or a GCMA Mentee, contact memberservices@gcma.org.uk
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GCMA Manager of the
YEAR AWARDS Time is running out to put forward names for the prestigous prizes, whose winners will be revealed at GCMA 2021 Conference
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he clock is ticking for nominations to be made for the GCMA Manager of the Year Awards. You must get your proposals in by Friday, September 17 if they are to be considered for the most prestigious prizes in golf club management.. The GCMA Manager of the Year Awards are the centrepiece of the second day of GCMA 2021 Conference, which is being held at Wyboston Lakes Resort, in Bedfordshire, from November 21 to 23. They will reward the successes in our industry and we’re sure to hear some inspirational stories following the challenges of the last 18 months. Two years ago at De Vere Cotswold Water Park, Enville general manager Heather Mulley was a popular winner of the Manager of the Year prize, while Redditch’s Kerry Alligan-Smith was named Newcomer of the Year and Llanishen continued the theme of recent Welsh dominance when named Team of the Year. To follow in their footsteps, or reward those you feel have made a difference, make sure you’ve got your nominations in. For 2021, the awards categories are as follows: GCMA Manager of the Year – Available to full members only
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and those currently in the role of General Manager, Club Manager, Club Secretary or similar GCMA Future Leader of the Year – Available to full members only and for those within their first two years of club management GCMA Team of the Year – Should include Club Manager, Golf Professional, Food and Beverage and Head Greenkeeper. At least one member of the team should be a full GCMA member Shortlists will be drawn up for an interview and selection process, with club visits and interviews with final candidates taking place during October. If you would like to nominate anyone for one of our Awards, please email us
at memberservices@gcma.org. uk with the following details: Name of the Nominee Name of Club Award Category A brief summary of why you think they deserve to be nominated. Key achievements, contribution to the club etc. Your name and contact details
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GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS
Are you coming to GCMA 2021
CONFERENCE? Make sure you book your spot for three days of inspirational learning at Wyboston Lakes Resort in November
D
elegate spots are being snapped up quickly as the countdown continues towards GCMA 2021 Conference in
November. The event, at Wyboston Lakes Resort, in Bedfordshire, and staged from November 21 to 23, will focus on the key themes of Leadership and Wellbeing, Sustainability, and Technology under the GCMA Inspire, GCMA Hot Topics and GCMA Know How banners. Former European Tour referee John Paramor will kick off proceedings on Sunday night with memories of his time on tour, while elite athletes Chris Cook and Danielle Brown will be joined by the likes of industry giants Kevin Fish, Peter Kirk and Scott Seaborn to deliver three days of education and networking. Alongside the speakers, workshops will give attendees the tools to develop in their roles as golf club managers and a gala awards dinner on Monday night will showcase the best in the industry. The GCMA is dedicated to delivering progressive, industry specific education programmes and networking opportunities whilst offering high quality personal services and support for the development of its members.
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This year’s Conference will aim to deliver all. Tom Brooke, GCMA chief executive, said: “We’ve carefully selected the headline themes that we believe are going to be the key topics in the golf industry for the years ahead: Leadership and Wellbeing, Sustainability and Technology. “The 2021 Conference is going to provide the perfect opportunity for our members, industry professionals and our business partners to reconnect after the pandemic and spend a few highly valuable days investing in personal development, networking, socialising, and celebrating success! “Wyboston Lakes is a superb venue and we can’t wait to welcome you there.”
For all the latest news from GCMA 2021 Conference, and how to book, visit our dedicated website at https://cvent.me/ A3v7Bb The venue Wyboston Lakes is the largest independently owned business and leisure destination in Northern Europe. Set in 380 acres of rural countryside, on the edge of the historic market town of St Neots, the resort was founded in 1983 by Peter Hutchinson. An awardwinning conference and events venue, Wyboston Lakes Resort has more than 50 meeting rooms, including two large flexible function rooms that can cater for up to 620 delegates.
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24/04/2021 11:09
Can Golf help with economic growth Are you ready to put corporate golf club membership at the top of your to-do list? Roger Brown, Chief Commercial Officer, Fairway Credit Covid-19 has been spoken about for what seems like an eternity and from what we hear from the government and health officials, it could be here to stay. So, what do we do now? Experience says we need to look at the positives, and the one defining positive is that golf has grown in popularity exponentially! How do we keep this growth trajectory? We think it could be looking at how to support the growing “working from home” push from businesses. With the change from large office spaces to small home offices, something is missing and that is a place to meet and conduct business, whether it is a sales meeting or an account review, there is a premium for meeting spaces that golf clubs can tap in to. With golf having the ability to bring together people from all walks of life, golf also has the capability to bring businesses together. So, does golf hold the key to pushing economic growth for the UK? Quite possibly as there is a huge gap for where firms can conduct their
business, with meeting space and entertainment venues sought after, could the golf club be the place? The simple answer is, YES! Over the last few months, we have shared different ways you can develop your membership base and entice some of those 2.6 million extra golfers that played in the last 12 months. This year we have seen new golf clubs wanting to work with us with some very interesting developments to their membership offer. One development that immediately shows potential is, corporate memberships. The time is right It has been widely reported in the golfing press that interest in corporate membership is increasing and there are numerous reasons for this. With large numbers of professionals continuing to work from home post lockdown, meeting existing clients and prospects at their local course has become an easier option, and is a trend that looks likely to continue. With the surge of people moving from city locations to the country and closer to golfing facilities, city centre hospitality or meeting spaces remain off
For further information about how Fairway Credit can benefit you and your members, simply; call, email or visit our website.
h in the UK? limits for some and not used due to the exodus of many businesses. As such, clubhouse restaurants or club conference rooms provide an attractive alternative for entertaining. Golfs open air facilities are also a consideration too, especially during Covid. A plus point with corporate membership comes in the form of potential tax relief for those businesses joining your club and can be used as a great way of enticing these new members.
through convenient monthly repayments, an even more attractive option.
Corporate membership could be a key part of your growth Recruiting for any type of membership can be time consuming, so over the last year, many progressive clubs have been concentrating their efforts on securing additional corporate golf memberships. Corporate memberships help golf clubs to quickly increase their membership numbers and the income that comes with it. With this type of membership, you are not only helping your club, but also helping the wider economic growth for those businesses who join your club to use your facilities to conduct their business dealings.
Fairway Credit, a trading name of Premium Credit, is a market leading brand offering this service to the golf market for over 25 years. We are a popular option, with 1 in 4 fee paying golf clubs working with us, and almost 20% of members at these clubs choosing Fairway Credit to finance their memberships. In short, we’re proud to provide our service to nearly 40,000 golfers each year with this set to increase in the coming years. If we can offer assistance in this area, please don’t hesitate to contact one of the Fairway Credit team on 0344 736 9818.
Using a credit option to pay for membership Recent economic uncertainty has made the financing of corporate golf club memberships,
FC-GCMA-DPS-24.08.2021-001
Corporate customers taking this finance option is also beneficial for clubs too as it provides them with a smooth, reliable and regulatory compliant cash flow. With memberships paid to the club in full at the start of each membership year, the club can better manage their own financial planning.
0344 736 9818 | leisure@pcl.co.uk | www.premiumcredit.com/products/fairway-credit 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.
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The interview...
JAMES GLOVER Hallamshire’s general manager looks back at a storied career and gives us a glimpse of the transformation under way at the renowned Yorkshire club
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olf club managers have a saying, and James Glover is no different in employing it: the moment you stand still you go backwards. There’s hardly been time to draw breath since he arrived at Hallamshire just over three and a half years ago. Planning is at fever pitch for the Sheffield club’s 125th anniversary next year and a clubhouse refurbishment project has transformed under his stewardship. He has taken the frantic pace in his stride but, given his history in the game, that’s no surprise. James spent nine years at the prestigious Queenwood Golf Club, in Surrey, where members expect – and pay for – the highest standards of service. He has worked hard to transfer the skills he learned in that environment to Hallamshire. We caught up with him to learn about his career path and the exciting plans in store for the club over the next few years… Tell us about Hallamshire… It’s arguably recognised as the premier golf club in the city area of Sheffield and we’re 125 years old next year so it’s an exciting time. We’re a strong golf course. We’re 1,000 feet up, so it presents a challenge with the wind and the elements. You’ve got to be able to control and flight your ball well around here. There are fairly small greens and it’s got a firm and fast nature to it and drains well. We’re recognised as a Harry Colt design but we’re looking at some exciting things with the golf course going forward and the work we’ve done already has pointed to a very different kind of heritage. We’ve uncovered a lot more influence from Alister MacKenzie,
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GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS from around 1914, and Herbert Fowler as well. There is some serious design heritage in there. We’re looking at engaging over the next few years in a long-term development plan of the golf course to recognise some of those historic features. Obviously, like many golf clubs, numerous greens committees down the years touch the course. You can see little different styles and we’d like it to be more consistent. We’re looking at pairing with the right partner to pull that long-term strategy together. One of the key things is that Sheffield’s a city with a strong sporting heritage anyway and perhaps our place in the golf club hierarchy attracts people to the club. If you are serious about your golf, most people want to play the best courses. How did you come to arrive here? Like an awful lot of people, I started by wanting to play the game. I decided I was going to follow the PGA route. I worked in the shop at Rotherham Golf Club but wanted to be the best I could so I applied for a summer seasonal position at Royal Portrush, which I was lucky enough to get. I went over at the beginning of April 2008, did well, saw the summer through and stayed and finished up in November. I had the opportunity to go back the following year but I was looking for a full-time position. A job came up at Queenwood Golf Club, in Surrey, and perhaps having Portrush on my CV got my foot in the door for an interview there. I had a couple of interviews for that role and was lucky enough to get it. I went to Surrey as an assistant professional and within about 12 months I had worked my way
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up to senior assistant. Through evolution, over the best part of nine years, I finished as head professional and arrived at Hallamshire from Queenwood. Was it a difficult decision to make that move? Queenwood is a luxury club and you’ll have been rubbing shoulders with European Tour players and celebrities? What made you want to become a general manager? It was purely a family decision. Queenwood was great, an unbelievable experience. The people you meet and spend time with – it can be intimidating, it can be mind-blowing; all of those things, but it was exciting as much as anything. I really enjoyed it and stay in touch with the guys there. It was a brilliant working environment. We had a core of staff that really made it work and got on well. I learned so much there about service and delivering a high-end product. Obviously money is a massive factor, you can’t get away from that. But you can have all the money you want. It’s about the people and having people pulling together to make everything work. I learned a lot about that side of things there. At the same time, it was massively demanding on my time. My working week was very long. As a pro, working pretty much every Saturday and Sunday is what you do and you are used to it. But my life changed. I started there in 2009, I got married in 2011 and we had our daughter in 2013. For the first few years, when she’s a baby, you can make it work a little bit and work around it. Coming back to Sheffield was just fate. At the time, I was talking with my wife about it possibly being time to do something a little
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different and perhaps pursue a route which might add a few more strings to my bow, so to speak. I’d perhaps reached my ceiling at Queenwood as no one filling the roles above me were likely to move on (why would they?) which meant there was nowhere for me to progress within that structure. So you were head professional at Queenwood, looking for a change in career, and Hallamshire just came up? In the week I was talking about it, I looked at what general manager jobs were available and there was Hallamshire. That application must have taken some confidence. You obviously understand how a high-end club operates at Queenwood, but you had no experience as a general manager and Hallamshire is renowned in its area… Yes, but the thing I go back to was what I said about how Queenwood worked. To make that operation successful, everyone had to pull together so well. The whole thing was so cohesive that it wasn’t like as a member of the pro team you were totally disconnected from what was going on in James Glover Graduating from the University of Birmingham, James Glover began his career in golf as assistant professional at Rotherham before spending eight months at Royal Portrush. He then moved to Queenwood, in Surrey – where, in a near nine-year stay, he rose through the ranks to become Head Golf Professional. He joined Hallamshire in January 2018.
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the clubhouse and the general running of the club. There’s a difference, though, between golf operations and what you do day-to-day at Hallamshire. It must have been quite a steep learning curve? Definitely. It continues to be so. I don’t think you ever quite get there if I’m being honest. I was confident based on what Hallamshire were looking for. I have got an understanding of the golf side of things but also the service side. My pitch was around that and people in Sheffield know what Hallamshire is but people outside don’t know it as much. There was a golf course that was recognised but the off course facilities weren’t particularly working at the same level. For me, the key thing for any golf club is that member services and clubhouse need to operate at the same level. There’s no point in having a golf course that’s an eight out of ten and a clubhouse that’s a two, and vice versa. You’ve not got a club. If your golf course is a six, everything else should be six. Hallamshire One of the best and most challenging courses in the North of England, Hallamshire’s heathland layout provides a stern of golf. Perhaps that’s why it has produced such a rich vein of players including the Fitzpatrick brothers, Matt and Alex, and the Walker Cup player Barclay Brown. Designed largely by Harry Colt, pockets of heather and gorse are combined with some stiff elevation changes and the Sheffield course enjoys a firm place in Top 100 lists.
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If you’re eight, everything else should be. So the key point of my pitch was to get everything working on a level and then work to up that level. Which brings us nicely on to what’s happening at Hallamshire right now. There’s a clubhouse refurbishment going on… In areas the clubhouse needed a little bit of help. Some of it was done as I started, so I had nothing to do with the planning of that, but we had a conservatory on the front end of the building, which was which was 25 years old and starting to creak and groan. When the rain got heavy, there was a little bit of water ingress, and it goes back to what I said earlier – it doesn’t fit with a premier golf club. You can have a golf course as good as you want but if you come in for a drink afterwards, it starts raining and you start getting wet? That’s not really cutting it. The bar also required freshening up. It was last refurbished in 2011 and the dining room, frankly, was in a poor state in terms of what you are presenting to people. What started off as a conservatory project went on to become almost a full ground floor refurbishment. The club were supportive in backing that initiative and it works in conjunction with a change in our catering operation. That was another area that wasn’t functioning at the level we wanted but, at the same time, it was very difficult to bring in a quality caterer when we’ve got a dining room that wasn’t up to the job. You have to make these things work together. We decided we would replace the conservatory with a more permanent structure. We built into the existing fabric of the building, put in a lot of steelwork
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and a fixed permanent roof. We’ve then put an entire glass front around the front of the building and the view is uninhibited. You used to stand in the conservatory and there was a view but the UPVC framework and safety bars inhibited it. Now we’ve got glass, a minimal aluminium framework there, and the front will have sliding doors with a Juliet balcony. When we’ve got really nice days, we can open those. All of that fed back into a refurbishment of the bar and the dining room and we’re really excited for it all coming together. Like many clubs, I imagine
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you’re coming out of the pandemic in a strong position regarding membership and waiting lists. We’ve talked about the clubhouse development. Is this just the start? You’ve got to keep driving and driving. The moment you stand still you go backwards. We’ve got to keep advancing and that’s what will protect the club in the future: keeping it at the top of the tree. We’ll do that by presenting the best golf course we can and the best off-course facilities we can and have them all operating at a level that is aspirational for people in the city to want to be here and for visitors to want to come and play here.
Do you feel like you’ve landed on your feet? If you look back at your career – Royal Portrush, Queenwood, and Hallamshire – it’s been really good so far… It’s pretty good! I don’t know if I have been lucky and I don’t know where it will end. We’ve got our 125th anniversary next year and when I took up this position the presentation the club asked me to make was ‘Hallamshire at 125 years: Where do you see it being?’ That’s what I did and that will be the time I will probably reassess. Then we’ll see where we’ve got to. Have we achieved those goals we set ourselves? From there, we’ll look at what are we doing to take off.
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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.
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04/01/2021 9:14:07 AM
In conversation with...
PAUL LAWRIE The European Tour and Ryder Cup legend opens up on independent golfers, the etiquette of the game and how he’s mentoring the next generation
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e’s the major winner whose 4-iron for the ages brought him a Claret Jug, he was a key part of the European Ryder Cup team that pulled off what’s universally known as the Miracle of Medinah, and a veteran of more than 600 tour appearances in a career that’s spanned five decades. What you may not know is that Paul Lawrie is also a golf club owner and – given how hands on he is – a manager. His Paul Lawrie Golf Centre, in Aberdeen, boasts a 27-bay driving range and a 9-hole course that’s recently held the Scottish Junior Par 3 Championship. Also heavily involved in the grassroots game through his Foundation, and his work with Scottish Golf, where he is a strong advocate of OpenPlay and a mentor to the nation’s elite men through the governing body’s national Performance Programme, Lawrie is well placed to look at the state of the game and what needs to be done to move it forward… You own the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre. Tell us how that happened? It was called Aspire Golf Centre before we bought it. We were members there when the boys were little, because it’s a beautiful 9-hole Par 3 course, that’s got a really nice driving range, and the boys used to love going there. So we were members and I said to the owner one day ‘if you ever fancy thinking about selling this place, we’re looking for a home for our Foundation. We’re looking for a base for everybody to play and this would be ideal for us’. A wee bit after that, he stopped me in the corridor one day, when I was walking through to hit balls
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with the boys, and he said, ‘the time has come for us to think about moving it on’. It came from that, really. I went and got a couple of local business guys here, Stewart Spence and Martin Gilbert, to come on board with me and my wife and we set about buying it. It’s very nice. We’ve spent quite a bit of money – upgrading it and making the facilities better. The short game area is now out of this world. We’ve got Toptracer on most, if not all, of the bays. We’ve got a beautiful new big putting green and golf is in a big boom – so it’s doing really well at the moment. It’s been a little bit of a struggle. Any business, obviously, is never easy. But, at the moment, it’s doing quite well. I imagine it’s a bit of a different scene, running a golf centre as opposed to being a professional golfer… I’ve always had some really good advice from people who have helped me throughout my whole career, Martin Gilbert in particular, and more recently, Eric Herd from Farmfoods. They’re big business guys and they were always saying to me ‘look, you need to get some things in place. You’re not always going to be a golfer. You’re not always going to be travelling 35 weeks of the year playing top level golf. You need to have stuff that you can do when you stop playing – when you retire’. We did that. In 2012, we bought the golf centre. We’ve had the Foundation for quite a while. We started our Tartan Pro Tour, last year. We now have a beer that is doing quite well. We put in place some bits and pieces that I could work at and spend a bit of time on when I retired. I’m kind of
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GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS semi-retired now. I only play some Senior events, which are great fun on the Legends Tour. The Golf Centre is a pretty special place… Obviously we’re biased, but yes. My wife and I are there pretty much every day. We’ve got a fantastic staff. Craig Dempster is our director of golf, who does a phenomenal job for us, but I’m there every day. We’re very pernickety about stuff that has our name attached to it. We feel as though we do things right. We don’t like it dirty; we like it clean. We like people to come away thinking ‘wow, that was a lovely place that I just hit balls at. How clean was it?’ That’s what we’re looking for. I came up through the PGA, so I worked in a shop for four years. I get exactly what members are looking for and what they’re not looking for. It’s very important to us that the place is pristine, and it is. It’s absolutely gorgeous. We’re very proud of it. It’s a lot of hard work, but we get a lot of nice comments. How did the centre come through the pandemic? It was only a very short time it was shut really - compared to other businesses. If you’re in the golf business, I think you’ve actually came through this with flying colours, to be honest. I understand there are a lot of businesses and a lot of people [who] have been really struggling. I feel dreadfully sorry for the people who have lost their loved ones. But the business has been great. It’s unbelievable how it’s come through. We’ve had a pile of new members in the last eight months. I don’t know the exact figure. But we’ve had a lot of people who have realised how cool golf is.
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You’re outside and it’s fresh air and the facility we’ve got is pretty nice and it’s not that expensive. It’s only £330 a year to be a member and so a lot of people have cottoned on in the area that, while the course is in great condition, the staff are really nice and it’s maybe a fraction of what I’m paying at my own golf club. The staff have all mucked in. They are a great bunch. That is important. Getting the right staff is very hard. But we’ve got a bunch now who work for each other, who are there for each other, who dig in, who get the job done and are proud to work there, which is very important to my wife and I. You’ve been very vocal about making the game more accessible. How does the sport do that? What sort of things are you doing at the centre that’s helping bring juniors into the game and helping them get over some of these perceived barriers keeping people out? I understand there’s a certain generation of golfers who were brought up differently with golf and golf rules. Wearing a shirt and tie to play golf isn’t that long ago, really, and I’m kind of the opposite. I want kids to be able to wear what they want. I want them to have fun on the golf course. I don’t want to see the older generations scolding them, because they’ve got their trolley on a tee, or whatever. Our golf centre is in immaculate condition. We don’t let people just do whatever they want. It’s not a free for all. There are some rules but, really, we’re not about that. We’re about getting people in, getting fun, and wanting them to come back and play golf for the rest of their life. The Foundation has always been about getting
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people into the game. It’s not about major winners or golf professionals coming through from a junior. It’s about club memberships for us. We want people to enjoy the game, to play it. We’re not bothered how good or how bad you are. We don’t care about your skill level. We want you to come back. We want you to have a good time. We want you to tell people ‘That Paul Lawrie Golf Centre is a place I enjoy spending time at. I don’t get people telling me off when I’m doing something that I shouldn’t be doing’. Unfortunately, we have rules and people at golf clubs that are still doing that to this day. We’ve got to go with the times. We’ve got to change. We’ve got to make it more accessible for people. It’s not [about] losing the whole values of the game. For instance, If people want to play golf in jeans, that’s up to them. But I don’t understand how that can be comfortable - to play golf in jeans. I’m not a snob, as far as jeans are concerned, I just don’t see why you would want to play golf in jeans. If you want to: go ahead. If that’s what makes you comfortable, go ahead. But I don’t get why you want to. So it’s not as though we just let them do whatever they want. But that’s what it’s got to be for us. It’s got to be fun. You’ve got to want to come back and you’ve got to want to play golf for the rest of your life. You don’t want some guy shouting at you and bawling at you because you’re doing something that really doesn’t matter if you’re doing it or not. How does that change? It’s been happening for a long time. Things are changing. Things are getting better. It’s just a matter of keeping on about it. [Recently]
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I played golf at Royal Troon [recently] with two sponsors of our Tartan Pro Tour and I took a video of me playing the Postage Stamp. I was waiting for it happening, because I can see the trolley in the video behind me on the tee. And a guy put a comment back saying ‘trolleys shouldn’t be on the tee. That’s terrible etiquette’. I don’t know about you but a trolley on a tee, it’s not something that’s going to change golf. It’s not something I would carp on to somebody about. My trolley is always on the tee when I play golf. A trolley is not doing any damage on a tee. If some clubs don’t let you do that, that’s up to them. No problem. But it’s that sort of mentality that we’ve got to get rid of, get out of the game, and it’s just so frustrating. You’ve got to be careful how you go about it, and you’ve got to be careful how you say it – because everyone’s entitled to their opinion, everyone’s entitled to how they see it. That guy is quite entitled to think you shouldn’t have a trolley on a tee, because that’s the way he was brought up with the game. We just need to keep on about it. We need to keep making sure we get rid of the ones who see it the way they see it and try and let kids just make sure that they’re having fun. I think we’re getting there. It’s taking a bit of time, but I think we are getting there. I’ve written about the insistence on certain dress codes and the point I’ve made, to some criticism, is that time will do the job in end. No one lives forever… I’ve got a deal with Druids Golf apparel. I put a picture on of me wearing my hoodie the other day and the number of comments from people about my hoodie…
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Why can’t you wear a hoodie to play golf? I don’t get it. It drives me absolutely crackers. I’ve got to be careful because I don’t want to be coming over as someone who is preaching to people and if people don’t think I should be wearing a hoodie, they’re entitled to their opinion. But, believe me, if I want to wear
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a hoodie, I’m going to wear a hoodie playing golf – because kids wear hoodies and I want to make them comfortable. Now, I’m not saying that – at 52-years-old – I particularly want to wear a hoodie. But if kids see me wearing a hoodie, and they think ‘if he can do it, I can do it’ and they’re more comfortable, that’s what I
want. I want kids to feel as though they can wear what they want. That’s what that is about. Accessibility to the game is one of the reasons you publicly backed OpenPlay – Scottish Golf’s independent golfer scheme. Give me a sense of why you’re so keen on the scheme and why you
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called it a ‘game changer’? When I heard about it for the first time, I was pretty excited about it. I think it’s what’s been missing a little bit with the game. We’re always going to have people who are going to want to be a member of a golf club. They’re always going to want to pay the fees to support that club. They
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play three or four times a week and they get the value out of the membership because they play a lot of golf. What I don’t understand, for years, is that we’ve had people lost to the game, and money to the game, because they can’t afford a full membership, because they don’t play enough golf and they haven’t got enough time. We’ve been crying out for a scheme and a system that lets people who only want to play a certain number of rounds a year but have a handicap. OpenPlay does that. It ticks all the boxes for me. I understand people getting a wee bit upset about it. The traditionalists, the people who are [saying] ‘it’s killing golf clubs’. [But] People aren’t always going to want to be a member of a club and there are millions of people who happily will pay their £5.99 a month to Scottish Golf and a full green fee to a golf club to play five or six rounds to receive an official handicap. The other reason I thought it was brilliant was because I do a lot of golf days a year. I do my golf days for 18 people, and I split them into six threes and I play three holes with each group. Now of that 18 people, every single golf day, there are at least four or five of them who don’t have a handicap, who are embarrassed they don’t have a handicap and they can’t enter stuff. They want to, but they don’t have the time. When they told me about OpenPlay, I thought ‘there’s so many people I play golf with every year who will do this scheme’. Every time an OpenPlay independent golfer goes to a golf club to play, they are paying a full green fee to that golf club. That golf club is receiving more money
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than it would have done before. I don’t understand the logic of ‘you’re killing the game. You’re going to kill golf clubs even more’. It’s the opposite. I see golf clubs making money from this scheme that they never had before. There’s money going out of the game that shouldn’t be going out. But everyone’s entitled to their opinion, same as before. You’re going to get people that are for it, you’re going to get people against it. As a golf club owner, I’m 100% for it - because that’s going to give my golf club more chance of not losing money. If I can get people to come in and play in a medal, even 20 golfers a week, that’s a fortune to a place like ours. Do you see it as a foot in the door too? They play competitive golf, they enjoy it, and you can think about getting them into membership of the club? I think quite a few of them will do it and then realise how good it is again to be a member of a golf club. How much fun it is depends on the golf club, obviously. But I see it as a stepping stone to full membership. It’s an opportunity for golf clubs to showcase what they’ve got. It’s an opportunity for golf clubs to treat independent golfers properly, treat them in a way that they’re going want to come back and join the golf club as a full member – because they’re enjoying it so much. Let’s hope golf clubs see it that way. Time will tell. But the New Zealand pilot scheme, was it 20% of independent golfers then became full members of a club after doing the scheme for a year? If that kind of number happens in Scotland, that’s why I think it’s a game changer. I wonder if some of the concerns
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people have about golfers leaving membership is about the perceived cost – or lack of – of green fees rather than they want to leave… Maybe and time will tell. It’s all very well, myself, and Martin Gilbert and Catriona Matthew and Scottish Golf telling everybody how good it is. We might all be wrong. We don’t know. Let’s see how it goes. But I would be surprised if it wasn’t a success. I’d be surprised there was a pile of people who don’t do it that convert into full membership. That links into the Scottish Golf Performance Programme where you and Catriona are mentors. It’s a very different scheme and approach from Scottish Golf – leaving coaching to individual coaches. You seem to have had a bit of early success? I would be surprised if that was
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an awful lot to do with what we’ve done already. We’ve only just started. I don’t think we want to take any credit for that. I think these golfers have obviously been good for a while. But where it came from was that, for a long time, I thought it was quite confusing for kids to have their own coach and then have a coach when they went to national coaching and seeing and hearing two different views. I think it’s difficult for the coach too, because they feel as though they can’t say anything. When they approached me about it, I said ‘I’m happy to help out. I’m happy to do it – as long as you don’t want me to be a technical coach, because I don’t want to do that. I’m happy to speak to the boys and let them know the way I’ve done it and my experiences of it’ – both good and bad, because it’s not all been good
in my career. There’s been some terrible times like everyone else. I think I’ve got a lot to pass on and a lot to give. Just being around people who have been successful at something, and who have also struggled at something, you learn. You learn both ways. That’s the way I came at it. I spoke to them about Catriona and I suggested she do it as well: Catriona would do the girls, and I would do the boys. She loved the idea straight away. She’s obviously not playing as much as she was before, similar to me, loves our country and wants to help out. It’s going really well. I think we’re both really enjoying it. We’ve both pretty much played with everyone in the programme and seen them all on a couple of weekends. Time will tell how it goes. But we were both excited by it and I think it’s the way that it should be going.
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01423 847784
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Find your flexibility to support a cleaner
ENERGY FUTURE
We’re going to have to get to grips with how much energy we use – but also when and how we use it. Inspired Energy consider how businesses can be more flexible
GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS
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ew research by the Carbon Trust has revealed that a fully flexible energy system could cut the cost of the UK reaching net zero by £16.7bn by 2050. A study by Imperial College suggests that the UK will have to grow its wind generation capacity more than 10-fold by 2035 (from 10.4 GW to 108 GW) if it is to reach net zero. The same report predicts that peak demand will grow more than three-fold in the same time, from 50 GW today to almost 150 GW, as space heating and electrification of transport are electrified. Achieving this level of growth in electricity demand from a system made up largely of wind, solar, and battery storage will require UK businesses to get to grips not only with how much energy they use, but also how and when they use it – so for organisations that are focused on sustainability, it’s time to start embracing greater flexibility. Ofgem defines flexibility as, “modifying generation and/or consumption patterns in reaction to an external signal (such as a change in price) to provide a service within the energy system”. While not all businesses will be able to modify their generation or consumption patterns, many are already adopting flexibility – those that shift their consumption to avoid Triad periods in the winter, for example, are demonstrating that they can be flexible in their usage. Why is flexibility so important? As we transition towards net zero, we’re going to become increasingly reliant on renewable energy, which can be intermittent. Electricity demand will also rise – in fact, it’s predicted to treble from 2019 levels by 2050 – as we will need to electrify areas that are currently powered by fossil fuels,
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such as transport and heat. This means that our current electricity infrastructure will need to expand and adapt in order to meet growing demand. Upgrading our infrastructure will require a huge amount of investment, but if businesses can be flexible around when they use energy and how much energy they use, they can significantly reduce the level of investment required. If businesses can turn down or even supply electricity generated on-site back to the grid when demand is high, and shift their usage to periods of lower demand, they can help to limit the increase to our overall peak system demand. Reducing peak demand is not the only benefit to the system. Consuming electricity when electricity is cheap often means consuming it when it is abundant and easy to generate. This stimulates growth in renewables by allowing them to sell power when it is naturally available from the environment – which is both cheaper and cleaner, reducing further the need for fossil generation. By keeping the increase in electricity demand as low as possible, and consuming it when it is most abundantly available from renewable sources, businesses can reduce the costs of transforming our electricity infrastructure, as we won’t need to invest in as much new generation to ensure supply can always meet demand. How can businesses be more flexible in their energy use? Businesses can support our transition to net zero by embracing flexibility in the following ways: Shifting their usage to off-peak periods Some businesses will be unable to adapt their operations to avoid periods of peak demand, such as be-
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tween 4-7pm in the winter, when Triads typically occur. But businesses that can reduce their usage by any amount during periods of peak demand can help to reduce the constraints on the grid, making it easier for National Grid to balance supply and demand. As energy prices are at their highest during peak demand periods, businesses that can shift their consumption away from these times could also see a reduction in their energy bills. Businesses should therefore consider how they can minimise their consumption at peak times, as there may be certain processes and assets that they can adjust for short periods of time without impacting their operations. Typically, areas such as air conditioning, refrigeration and lighting can be turned down without making a tangible difference to core business processes or to the comfort levels of the working environment. Investing in on-site generation and storage A growing number of businesses are installing energy generation assets on-site, from solar panels to combined heat and power (CHP) systems. Having the ability to generate their own energy enables these businesses to be more flexible in their use of grid energy, as when there’s high demand for grid energy, they can switch to energy generated on-site. In fact, many organisations that have a generation asset on-site are now exploring energy storage, as by storing the energy generated by their asset they can be sure that they have energy reserves they can switch to during peak demand periods. Energy storage is particularly useful for owners of weather-dependent, renewable generation assets, such as solar panels. On overcast days, their solar
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panels may not generate enough energy to power their operations through the peak demand period, but if they have energy stored from sunny days, they can use this stored energy instead. With generation assets and storage on-site, businesses should be able to reduce the amount of grid energy they use and ease grid constraints without having to turn down any of their assets or processes. They may also be able to reduce their energy costs, as they can switch to on-site generation when grid prices are at their highest. Having the ability to generate their own energy and store it on-site also boosts businesses’ energy resilience, as it gives them security of supply in the event of a grid power failure. On-site energy storage may also give some businesses the opportunity to sell their self-generated power to the grid at times of high system stress, or high market prices – which often coincide – providing extra revenue-earning opportunities.
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Getting involved in demand side response Whether they have on-site generation assets and energy storage capabilities, or they’re simply able to turn their consumption up or down when necessary (shifting it from one time to another), businesses that can be flexible in their usage may be able to get involved in demand side response schemes. There are a range of different schemes available, each of which has different requirements from participating businesses. Frequency response, for example, is best for businesses that can adjust their consumption in seconds in the event that a large power station fails, or when millions of kettles get switched on at the end of Eastenders, which helps the grid to manage frequency fluctuations. Alternatively, businesses participating in Short Term Operating Reserve (STOR) or Fast Response will reduce their demand or turn their on-site generation on when instructed to do so by National
Grid to help alleviate system problems. As businesses are paid to participate in these schemes – under certain schemes, they receive ongoing payments even if they aren’t called upon to adjust their consumption – those that can meet the flexibility requirements can access new revenue streams through demand side response. This means that businesses can help reduce the cost of transforming our energy system while bringing in additional revenue for their business. Are you ready to find your flexibility? By being more flexible in your energy use, you can help ease the transition to a low-carbon energy system – and could also cut your energy costs, boost your resilience and access new revenue streams. So what are you waiting for? If you’re wondering how your business can embrace greater flexibility, call James Sampson on 01772 689250 or email james. sampson@inspiredenergy.co.uk.
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Grass
ROOTS All the latest news, views and interviews from across the GCMA’s various regions in the UK
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Meet the Manager...
HOWARD CRAFT
Pictures courtesy of Andy Hiseman
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ho would ever have thought being full would bring challenges? In those long years of membership decline, clubs yearned for a brimming house – then the coronavirus pandemic arrived and provided them. Waiting lists, which had become a memory for many, were back as the golf boom surged.
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Now restrictions have eased, and the activities that traditionally tempted people from the fairways are back, there are still fewer places in many clubhouses then there is demand. But in a world where so many of us can get what we want at the click of a button, patience isn’t necessarily a virtue anymore. So how do you keep those people on a waiting list interested and still keen to join your club,
even if there might be no prospect of that becoming a reality in the near future? Berkhamsted have found an ingenious answer. The Hertfordshire club make golfers pay. Yes, you’ve read that right. “It’s a waiting list that’s going to be more than a year now,” explained club general manager Howard Craft. “Some of those on it aren’t going to get in during the next renewals. “So, actually, our job now is how
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Berkhamsted’s ingenious solution to keep players on a waiting list engaged with the club is proving hugely successful, as general manager Howard Craft reveals… at the club? “If you don’t have a proposer and seconder, we will offer membership but you have to find a proposer and seconder within your first 12 months of being at the club, to make sure you integrate properly,” added Craft. “This is helping with [those on] the waiting list because if they don’t know members, we say, ‘Go on the waiting list, here’s x number of green fees, keep playing and we’ll pair you up with
Howard Craft
do we keep people interested for 18 months on a waiting list? We’ve charged to be on the waiting list but, for that, you get X number of green fees. “It’s just a way of keeping people turning up to the golf club and playing a bit of golf and starting that integration process and keeping them interested because, otherwise, if you are sat on the waiting list for 18 months you could go, ‘Do you know what? I’ll just go
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and join another club.’That’s the new challenges that are coming through.” For those on the list, the benefits can be more widespread than just enjoying a few rounds at a course renowned for its natural beauty and for having no bunkers. The club still employ a traditional membership process – and that involves being proposed and seconded. But what if you’re a golfer who doesn’t know anyone
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somebody else, if necessary, and you can go out and play’. It just helps keep people interested in the club.” “Nobody is trying to create barriers to membership,” he added. “We’re trying to keep people coming in and not to say, ‘Sorry, go away until you find a proposer and seconder’, which probably would have happened 20 or 30 years ago. “We’ve got to move with the times but, at the same time,
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Pictures courtesy of Andy Hiseman
maintain the standards and traditions of the club.” He continued: “It’s the same thing with handicaps. We’re still a club that wants good quality golfers, so we say if they don’t have a handicap, OK fine, but we still do playing interviews to gauge their speed of play and their calibre as a golfer. Therefore, you have a year to get your handicap to a certain standard.” The developments don’t stop there. When the course reopened to visitors in July, they will have noticed a significant difference from the opening tee shot. The club reversed its nines during last year’s lockdown – the first significant course change in almost a century. The shift sees golfers now start on a par 3 and climaxes with a challenging threehole stretch that ends right in front of the clubhouse. “The clubhouse moved about 30 years ago,” Craft explained of the
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change. “What was the 9th is now the 18th and finishes right by the clubhouse. “There were some practicalities but, from a design and playability and layout perspective, we always felt that what was the 7th, 8th and 9th were always the better finishing holes. The 18th [as it is now] is one of our signature holes. You hit across the road, up to the green and finish by the clubhouse. “You tee off looking at the clubhouse and it just made a lot more sense and it is a much better finish to the round. “The only thing we ummed and ahhed a little bit about was that you are now starting [the round] on a par 3. Then, when you do research, you realise there are a lot of other very good quality golf courses out there that start on a par 3.” Royal Lytham for one, but Craft said the reversal of the nines would also lead to further developments.
First is the idea to the lengthen the ‘new’ 18th and force players to take driver off the tee and make the hole an exciting finish to a big event – such as the Berkhamsted Trophy that attracts more than 100 elite golfers every April. He said: “Part of those future developments is [also] to create a decking and larger patio area. Part of what Covid has shown in the last couple of years is the necessity to stay outside more and trying to get that club feel to the end of the round – with people sitting on the patio, enjoying watching golf coming up the 18th and that’s part of the theatre of it. “Feedback from our members has been incredibly positive about the new course routing.”
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Get In Touch To contact Berkhamsted, visit berkhamstedgolfclub.co.uk
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Meet the
GCMA PARTNER We speak to Andy Hall, brand manager for Amber Beverage UK, about how introducing cocktails can improve the golf club experience
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ho are Amber Beverage UK (AmberBev)? We are distributors for ABM American Beverage Marketers - the number one selling cocktail brand worldwide, responsible for over a billion cocktails consumed per year across the world. Cocktails are becoming increasingly popular and people are looking for more innovative ways to mix them. The best thing is that you can mix anything together and they will still taste great. F&B offerings are becoming much more important and this is a great way for golf clubs to encourage members to dwell. Do staff require a lot of training? You can learn to use our products with an hour’s training. A lot of what I do is training; working with a bar to decide what the best set-up would be to introduce cocktails, with the aim of increasing profitability. The GCMA exists to help educate members, so being able to offer training on how to deliver products is great.
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Does training continue as more products are launched? One hundred percent, yes. We are a one-stop shop for cocktails. We can help with training, recipe development, even bar lay-outs. Explain a bit about your decision to partner with the GCMA. We are already working with golf clubs and we’re seeing a need for clubs to expand their offering. People don’t necessarily just want to play 18-holes. Clubs are looking to increase retention and profitability by servicing a need and F&B is a huge part of that. Many golf clubs are also looking to diversify into events; weddings, birthdays, corporate days including outdoor events in marquees. We can offer a solution to a problem the golf industry is facing. Making the whole golf experience better by elevating it is a sure-fire way to help retention and increase club use outside of the course.
around the world to be the best; our Alphonso mangoes are from India, our limes from Mexico, our passion fruit from Vietnam. We use all-natural ingredients, and our products have a three-month shelf life - if you haven’t used them by that time, you’re doing something wrong, and so are we! Do golf club members want cocktails? It can be daunting for businesses to try something new. We listen to managers, to consumers, to work out what will work. We advise on products and training. We can provide basic equipment to make sure bars get off to the best start. We are there every step of the way to support golf clubs and find a strategy to support their customer base and help improve the allround experience. To find out more, contact Andy at andrew.hall@amberbev.com or on 07799 456536
What makes AmberBev stand out from the crowd? We are the number one selling cocktail brand in the market. Our ingredients are sourced from
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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
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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
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