The Golf Club Manager: February 2019 by Golf Club Managers Association

THE GOLF CLUB

MANAGER ISSUE 23 | FEBRUARY 2019

THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE GOLF CLUB MANAGERS’ ASSOCIATION

INDUSTRY

STRIKING A BALANCE

BURNHAM & BERROW’S KAREN DRAKE ON MODERNISING A TRADITIONAL CLUB GRASS ROOTS

GOING VIRAL WITH THE PAST

H O W L A N G L A N D B AY C R E AT E D A SOCIAL MEDIA HIT GOOD PRACTICE

MAKING TAX DIGITAL

IS YOUR CLUB READY FOR A P R I L’ S VAT C H A N G E S ?

S: SPECIAL FOCTUOMER S PUTTING CEUAT THE SERVIC YOUR HEART OFESS BUSIN

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CONTENTS ISSUE 23 | FEBRUARY 2019

GCMA

CAREERS

Get your nominations in for the GCMA board

On the move: Richard Odell

NEED TO KNOW

GOOD PRACTICE

Changes to VAT – are you up to date?

How to properly organise postal voting

Discover the new HR helpline

INDUSTRY

GRASS ROOTS

We meet Burnham and Berrow’s Karen Drake

Langland Bay’s viral video hit

Customer service special

Darren Tear on how the GCMA can help clubs

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WELCOME

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

MANAGER ISSUE 23 | FEBRUARY 2019

THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE GOLF CLUB MANAGERS’ ASSOCIATION

INDUSTRY

STRIKING A BALANCE

BURNHAM & BERROW’S KAREN DRAKE ON MODERNISING A TRADITIONAL CLUB GRASS ROOTS

GOING VIRAL WITH THE PAST

H O W L A N G L A N D B AY C R E AT E D A SOCIAL MEDIA HIT GOOD PRACTICE

MAKING TAX DIGITAL

IS YOUR CLUB READY FOR A P R I L’ S VAT C H A N G E S ?

: SPECIAL FOCUSMER PUTTING CUSTO THE SERVICE ATYOUR HEART OFESS BUSIN

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001 GCMA February 19 Cover.indd 3

ON THE COVER: Karen Drake

28/01/2019 16:12

ISSUE 23 | FEBRUARY 2019

always regarded February to be the last month of members’ doom and gloom. After getting through the festive season, hopefully there will be signs of growth and, at some stage, the mowers will be out making the first cut. Or am I speaking too early – will the Beast from the East make an unwelcome return? The mere mention of snow is never far from my thoughts when we make the January pilgrimage to Harrogate for BTME, BIGGA’s flagship event. However, with only a smattering of the white stuff on this occasion, the industry week once again provided the platform from which the GCMA made its contribution. For the fourth consecutive year we ran a condensed three-day training course that was once again well attended by golf club managers and those aspiring to enter the world of club management. It never fails to amaze me when we host an event in the north that we attract club personnel from the other end of the country, with representatives on this occasion from Fulwell, Hayling Island and Broadstone. The last day of the course was followed by a members’ open forum. With just over 20 in attendance, there was an array of topics brought to the fore – from winter formats on Saturday mornings to the need for a committee information book, as well as the association needing to employ four or five regional employment officers. It was a

stimulating and healthy debate and a sincere thanks to all those who took the time to attend. Our final event was to host a Crisis, Disaster management workshop. Karen Drake and Richard Whyman, from Burnham & Berrow, detailed their experiences of dealing with the course fire last August and Chris Spencer spoke of the Glasgow clubhouse blaze which totally devastated the Grade II listed building. The final part was hosted by Nick Holden, from Nexus Protect, who rounded off an excellent workshop. Sincere thanks to all presenters and attendees – and well done to BIGGA for another excellent industry event. Bob Williams – chief executive

“The mere mention of snow is never far from my thoughts when we make the January pilgrimage to Harrogate for BTME“

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GCMA Everything you need to know about whatâ€™s happening around the UK in the world of the GCMA

GCMA seeking board

APPOINTMENTS The association is requesting nominations to join the GCMA board. Chief executive Bob Williams outlines what would be required from the ideal candidates

ollowing the Incorporation of the GCMA in 2013 and in line with the present constitution, the board of directors will be seeking nominations from the membership to join the board for the next four-year term. In conjunction with the articles of association, the board can operate with a minimum of four and a maximum of eight directors. Since 2013, however, they have chosen to function with six directors. With effect from the annual general meeting in April, both Eddie Bullock and Gary Steele stand down from their respective terms of office. This follows the mid-term resignations of two directors, for which the board co-opted Andrew Rankin and Amy Yeates to serve until this AGM. The directors who will continue to stand are the present chairman, Phil Grice, and myself (CEO). In line with the recent strategic review, and continuing to look to the future, the board has identified the following individual skill sets that they would like the directors to focus upon: Professional Development and Education Communications and Marketing

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Commercial Membership For the last 12 months, Andrew Rankin has taken on the role of professional development and education and Amy Yeates has recently taken on the role of membership director. Both have indicated that they will be seeking nomination and are prepared to stand for a full four-year term. The present role of a director to oversee finance

will be taken on by a professional accountant to be appointed by the association. The board would welcome further nominations, especially from those who possess the identified skills as listed above. For those wishing to be considered as a director, we require a nomination from a fellow member, duly qualified to attend and vote at the AGM, as well a notice from you stating your willingness to stand.

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Need to

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

Providing you with reliable

HR SUPPORT The GCMA have launched a new members’ HR helpline. We outline the new service and how it can help you

t was a New Year and a new start for the way GCMA members could access employment advice. As the bells rang in at the beginning of last month, the association teamed up with Golf HR to provide a dedicated and bespoke helpline. Covering all aspects of human resources and employment advice that might be needed by managers in the course of their work, while also aiming to ensure they are supported in the workplace, it has replaced the previous legal expenses helpline. With the golf industry still under significant commercial and financial pressures, the chances of club committees and boards making adverse staffing decisions is going to remain a significant concern. And Bob Williams, GCMA chief executive, said in the light of those challenges the association wanted to deliver a more personal service for members. He explained:“As an association, we understand the need to help our members at times when clubs are under commercial pressure as well as the need to have a facility for members to seek legal advice when they need it most. “Over the last two years, I have been aware that the previous legal expenses helpline was not overly

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well received, and we’ve made the decision to try and provide a much more personal service – especially at those times when members need sound advice.” Golf HR are the leading provider of HR services to the golf industry and work with clubs like Royal Ashdown Forest, Hunstanton and Royal West Norfolk along with many more. They assist clubs in avoiding tribunals, help resolve staff issues and improve staff performance, with the result of giving their clients piece of mind. Director Carolyne Wahlen said:“We have been working closely with the GCMA for almost seven years now,

having achieved Official Supplier status, and with golf clubs for over 10 years, so when Bob Williams asked us to support golf club managers with employment law, it was a natural progression for us. “Working with the GCMA means that we can support the club managers with their issues much more effectively, leading to higher standards in all areas of golf clubs.” The specialist helpline, which provides free advice, is available from 8am to 6pm from Monday to Friday and can be reached on 01491 598 789.

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SA re VE

ra H ti E on D op AT en E ss oo n

10 - 12 NOVEMBER 2019 DE VERE COTSWOLD WATER PARK

GCMA 2019 CONFERENCE

EDUCATE | INSPIRE | INFORM

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

In the

LOOP 1. Moor Park unveil new vision for Hertfordshire club What’s happened: Moor Park unveiled a new vision that will see the venue become an exclusive private members’ golf club once more. What does it mean? This is becoming something of a theme in the high-end sector of the industry, following the example of clubs like Wentworth, who have eschewed corporate revenue in a bid to reposition their place in the market. Moor Park has spent the past few years promoting itself as a luxury venue for both weddings and corporate groups but will now change direction. At the heart of the vision is the over-riding aim of “enriching members’ lives through an exceptional club experience”. Chief executive Amy Yeates, the current GCMA Manager of the Year, outlined the plans to members earlier in the winter – with proposals including significant investment in the club’s golf and clubhouse facilities and services over the next five years. “Moor Park has been through

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

a period of commercialisation, with mixed messages and a nondefined role for members and the club’s position in the golf industry,” she said. “The board and I believe that the club needs to redefine its direction and turn the focus back to the people that count most – its membership. “With this in mind, we have created a new vision to take Moor Park back to being a private members’ golf club in the sense and traditions of a golfing

experience. By positioning Moor Park as a premium golf club with facilities and courses to match, we believe that we can secure a lasting legacy that will reinstate us as one of England’s top private members’ clubs.” Moor Park features two championship courses, the High and West, along with a magnificent 17th century mansion clubhouse dating back to 1680. The club have completed more than £1 million in investment over the last three years – including on

@GCMAUK Huge hats off to @GCMAUK for introducing a Members’ HR employment helpline from Jan 2019. A drum I can now stop beating! Very pleasing news to

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end the year. @golfmanagergm Great to have been invited to join “Golf Industry Young Talent “Lunch

#HighEnergy #drivingthefuture with @Coltmm @goodwood_golf @WindleshamGolf @GolfShgc @The_Wisley @sunningdalegolf @ GolfStudios @Toptracer_Golf

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

the High Course and developing a world-class short game area. The plans would see further investment in both the course and facilities. Yeates added:“We are fully committed to delivering our vision, and the changes and improvements will result in an elevated reputation and enhanced status within the overall golf industry.” 2. Finalists shortlisted for England Golf Awards What happened: The shortlisted individuals and clubs, named the heroes of the game by England Golf, have been announced ahead of a glittering awards night and dinner next month. What does it mean? The England Golf Awards will once again be staged at the Royal Lancaster London, on March 21, when the winners in nine categories will be revealed. Among the GCMA member clubs in the running for a prize include Burghill Valley, Exeter Golf & Country Club and Horton Park in the Most Welcoming Club of the Year category.

@StokePark @HarpendenGC @Moorparkgolf @GCMAUK @eddiebgolf Great to feature in the first @

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Frilford Heath and Kedleston Park are among four clubs nominated for the Championship Venue of the Year. The England Golf Awards were created to celebrate and highlight the outstanding achievements of golfers, volunteers, club and counties in England. They are supported by Adidas Golf. The evening is being hosted by BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker. Nick Pink, England Golf chief executive, said of the nominees: “They all contribute so much to the sport that we all love and we look forward to telling their stories over the coming weeks, as we build up to our gala dinner. “Their contribution to golf in England is immeasurable and they really do make the game great.”

Welcome to our newest GCMA members Robbie Midgley, at Woking, in London & Home Counties region Rachel Jeffrey, at Knowle, in South West region Michael McGeevor, at Whitley, in Wessex region Hannah Eves, at Wildernesse, in South East region Guy Dunford, at Longridge, in North West region Mark Bierton, at Luton Hoo, in London & Home Counties region

GCMAUK magazine edition of the new year! Find out all you need to know about our work & how you can benefit from our technology. @zest_golf

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The interview...

KAREN DRAKE Karen Drake is managing secretary at Burnham & Berrow. She talks to Steve Carroll about modernising a traditional club and the drive to excel

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urnham & Berrow is regarded as a private members’ club that works in a traditional way. But your time there has been marked by lots of modernisation – you’ve updated the course, changed the website and the logo, for example. You’ve tried to move the club forward… The club is very proud of its history, what it has been and how it has arrived at where it is. But you are still managing people that expect modern influences. That’s all we have tried to do in the last five or so years. It’s maintaining that level of traditional value, but bringing in all the systems that are now in place – and enhancing the marketing side of things – to ensure that we have got some future proofing in place. What were your ambitions when you first took on the role and how far have you come in achieving what you wanted? When I met with those who recruited me the emphasis was on marketing the club to better effect. That’s been where I have concentrated my efforts – bringing about the new website and all of the social media we do. It’s been about getting our message out to everyone else outside of the local area. The club have made particular progress in industry ranking lists over the last couple of years. Although they are subjective, that’s an indication that the approach you are taking is paying off? We’ve deliberately encouraged those people who undertake the assessments, and even those that aren’t necessarily part of the

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assessment team, to come and visit and see the place. We are considered an under-rated course but we have encouraged the embracing of our unique facility. Do rankings actually matter to a course like Burnham & Berrow? Are they important? Absolutely. When I first came here, I was involved with the committee in putting together a long-term strategy plan, or business plan, as there wasn’t anything that had been updated. At the time I think we were 49th in the Golf Monthly rankings. The aim was to reach the top 30 and we have achieved that this year. What are the key skills required when managing this kind of club and how have they changed when you’ve tried to modernise over the past few years?

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“Everything we have done has been carried out to the highest level that we could possibly afford” When I first arrived, the conversations I had with the chairman at the time was about enhancing the Burnham experience, both from a member and visitor point of view. Everything we have done has been carried out to the highest level that we could possibly afford. So when we updated the website, we were looking for a web designer who could be creative and imaginative, yet still offer the fundamental

requirements. Most importantly, the main aim was to showcase the course to its absolute best. I’ve applied that same ethos through all the various different things that I’ve done. Much of that has been about streamlining and making things more efficient and easier for people to use. How successful have the last five years been then? Do you measure it in the number of members or the amount of turnover? All of those things are important. We have made good profits and the finances of the club are improving year on year. The rankings have improved year on year and membership levels have increased year on year. Everything about the business is all going in the right direction.

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I hope the members enjoy and appreciate an openness, honesty and a willingness to engage and support them. This is a big job for any manager, but you combine it with your role as GCMA South West regional manager. How do you carry out those two roles effectively? Sometimes I think they go hand in hand. Often, when I am putting together a business seminar, I’m already aware of various contacts ideal for presentations or speakers. So I can use my influence from things I have done at the club and bring them into business meetings. I know what’s relevant and what’s a hot topic. I can be in a good place to ensure we’ve got the right people in front of regional members and make sure it is useful and up to date

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information they are receiving. I just have this idea of you having to burn the candle at both ends when it is a busy time at the club and you are also preparing for a regional or business meeting. It feels like you would have to do a lot of hours… Well, sometimes you do. Sometimes I am up against it and deadlines are looming and you think you’ve got a lot of time to get things done when, in fact, you haven’t. I don’t do the job that some regional managers might. I don’t get involved in the matches. I’ve transferred that responsibility to someone else and so, while I might be involved in setting them up in the first place, I don’t get particularly involved on a day-today basis. I organise the invitation day, the AGM, and that sort of

thing. When I took on the job as regional manager, a few people said to me ‘you’ve got a big job at Burnham & Berrow’. And it was a big job initially. I have probably forgotten that now because I’ve got all the systems in place and made all the changes. I’ve made life easier for myself. It was extremely difficult at the start. In an office, for example, most managers know where everything is because they have put it there. When you have to look for it yourself, it is extremely difficult. You have nobody else to ask where things are filed and stored away and where the information is. That was the tricky bit – learning all of that. How do you feel about where the GCMA is going? Are you optimistic?

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Who is Karen Drake? Karen worked in the finance industry before taking a job as assistant secretary at Weston-Super-Mare. Originally expecting to spend six months there, she was soon elevated to the manager’s position and remained at the club for 15 years. When the long-standing managing secretary at Burnham & Berrow retired five years ago, Karen applied for, and was appointed to, the position and has since led a period of modernisation at the Somerset venue while retaining the club’s traditional ethos. Karen is also the GCMA’s South West regional manager, having been in post for around five years, and coordinates the area as well as organising regional meetings and seminars. I have seen positive progress from the association in terms of building trust and confidence, and the number of enhanced features and benefits have been well received. We will always need that networking opportunity and that chance to get together with likeminded people to discuss the issues that we have. I say this to my chairman often:‘It’s a very lonely job.’ While you might have the support of the board, they might not fully understand the diversity of some of the things you are managing. For example, I came to work on a Saturday morning, we had a shotgun start for the captain’s drivein and the internet went down. Without that, there was no till and lots of other facilities weren’t working. Somebody has to try and fix the problem, or at least find somebody to help fix the problem. I spent all morning trying to manage IT issues.

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And in those sorts of circumstances – with a minicrisis – members are utterly unforgiving, aren’t they? They just expect things to happen? They do. It’s like trying to manage something when you have no electricity. It’s just impossible. The credit card machine didn’t work, so we couldn’t put card transactions through. The till wasn’t working and it didn’t send messages to the kitchen printer. All of these things, especially when you’ve got 140 people all in the bar at the same time, makes it extremely challenging. Those are the sorts of things for which you are completely alone. No one can help you. Do you enjoy the challenge of that and the customer-focused element of that? You are the face of the business, for all intents and purposes…

“We will always need that networking opportunity and the chance to get together” Yes I do, and people do come to you with all sorts of suggestions and ideas. You have to give them your serious consideration and decide whether they would work for the whole club or the small minority. That’s the challenge. Somebody comes forward with an idea and it’s a bit like the ecological balance system. While it might work for a certain set of people, another set of people come in to complain about it.

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Burnham & Berrow Set among the glorious dunes of the Bristol Channel coast, some of Britain’s most prized golfing events – including the Brabazon Trophy – have been held at Burnham & Berrow. The Championship course is considered one of England’s best, and has been a staple of top 100 ranking lists. The club’s proud history includes helping a fledgling JH Taylor on his way to the top of the game when they hired him as a youngster in 1890. He became part of the Great Triumvirate of British golf and won the Open Championship on five occasions. This traditional out and in links is complemented by the 9-hole Channel course, a layout that is highly regarded in its own light.

Burnham & Berrow sounds like it is your dream job. Do you still have the same enthusiasm after nearly half a dozen years in the post? I’m thoroughly enjoying my work here at the club and have a great interest in remaining in order to be part of the great projects and improvements that have been identified. I have also built a great team of staff around me, who are totally committed to Burnham & Berrow. Any clues on what some of those projects are going to be? We have applied for planning permission to remodel the 12th hole – reshaping and re-profiling the fairway and building a sand dune. We have involved Martin Ebert and are in a privileged position to be able to draw on the expertise of the best in their business. Martin is going to give us a whole

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course profile and recommendations that come from that. We will have something in place which will give future course directors a qualified blueprint for future adoption. We’ve also got a qualified opinion of any alteration that may, or may not, be necessary. Martin’s in the process of doing that and he will be advising us on the re-profiling of the 12th. The board’s criteria is to improve to the highest level without risk of detriment. You are one of the highest profile women in golf club management. Traditionally, the industry has always been a male-dominated environment. That’s changing now and how do you feel that process is going? Women are increasingly being given an opportunity to be

involved in golf club management, and choosing a career path, rather than the job being seen as a semi-retirement position. This has reflected positively on the number of females taking up the role and their influence is shaping the future. That’s very important because we need the sport, as it evolves over the next few years, to be as diverse as possible… Yes, absolutely. There is always a temptation for a club to be satisfied with the present position but, for me thankfully, I work with a very progressive and forward-thinking board of directors, who are willing to speculate for the greater good and I thoroughly enjoy playing a very small part in that. We are, as often said, caretakers of the land for the benefit of the club’s future members and this sentiment is never far from my thoughts.

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The clubs that get customer

SERVICE RIGHT

Ferndown

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These four GCMA clubs all excel when it comes to putting consumers first. We asked what sets them apart, and how innovative software ties them all together

he customer is always right, so says the wellworn cliché, but in golf it really couldn’t be truer. With clubs having to fight for every member and green fee in the face of an ever-varied leisure market and competition from rival courses, it feels like the era of survival of the fittest. So to stand out from the crowd, some clubs have taken the message of providing outstanding customer service to heart and are enjoying the fruits of that. Their ideas and endeavours have been supported by the products of 59club – Europe’s leading customer service analysts. We talked to the managers of four GCMA member clubs – Ferndown, Gog Magog, King’s Lynn and Frilford Heath – about the point of difference that has helped them stand out to members and visitors and how they’ve used the my59 software to improve even further. Ferndown The customer service experience at Ferndown starts before you get to the first tee. In fact, it starts before you even drive to the club. There are plenty of reasons why the South West 27-hole complex could feel relaxed when it comes to bringing in visitor revenue. Their championship heathland Old Course has been played by greats of the game such as Faldo, Jacklin, Langer, Lyle and Norman. The Alliss family have had a long association with the club and Peter,

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known as the Voice of Golf for his broadcasting work, has often sited Ferndown as his favourite course. But general manager Ian Walton is well aware of how competitive the golf market is in this part of the country. The likes of Isle of Purbeck and Parkstone are on his doorstep and all are fighting for precious revenue. “Customer service is critical to us,” he explained.“For both member retention and attracting visitors, it is imperative they have a great experience when they come to us. Everyone has a part to play.” And that doesn’t just mean the staff. The members are a big part of the puzzle as has been shown through Ferndown’s ambassador scheme. Five members have taken on the responsibility and they meet and greet all groups of 12 or more who

come to play at the club. Walton added:“Our ambassador makes contact with the organiser – makes sure they are aware of our rules regarding dress codes and all those basic things. “The ambassador is their point of contact and, when they arrive on the day, there is someone who is a member who knows all about the club, can explain anything and answer any questions they have and basically make them feel welcome and at somewhere special. “Everyone feels relaxed. Their day has been organised and they can just focus on their golf and the experience and enjoy themselves.” Ferndown’s use of 59club assures them they are on the right track by delivering crucial information on the success of their initiatives, whether they are keeping up with peers and where they can improve.

“One of the things that is very important, from a management point of view, with that all the things we are doing – with ambassadors, with training staff – is making sure we know that is being recognised and are we achieving the standard we wish to achieve,” Walton said. “It’s also about any learning points we want to pick up. The survey is very important to us in terms of ‘are we achieving our target? What are the areas we need to work on to improve our performance?’ my59 offered us a chance to draw on industry knowledge, have some peer ratings and podium ratings as well, to see how we are doing in relation to other clubs of our stature. If we choose off the pick list, there is a standard set of questions that all clubs are using,

Gog Magog

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and we get a like for like rating and comparison with other clubs. “We have also introduced our own questions to which we specifically want answers. While we are doing extremely well, we have picked up ideas and it has helped support some of our investment initiatives. “Our whole strategy, in place for four or five years now and reviewed annually, is ‘what are we aspiring for?’ We aim to be the best we can be. We see that by being a premier club, with quality facilities and a quality golf course, that people are prepared to pay for that. “We have got to make sure we are continuing to deliver a quality experience. Average is not good enough and, for a club of our

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stature, we have to continually improve otherwise we are going backwards.” Gog Magog It’s the little things that can make a big difference and that is certainly the case with Gog Magog. The Cambridge club have a lot going for them – with two courses and a highly regarded food and beverage service. Members and visitors are also relaxing in a newly fitted clubhouse and the build for that, explains general manager James Fuller, was designed according to how it would be utilised most effectively by customers. “We wanted to see how people

would use it, how they behaved and how we wanted them to behave moving forward,” he said. “We had coffee tables with four chairs that surrounded them and that was not conducive to eating plated meals. “When they came to order from the snack menu, they would either rest their meal on their lap or they would eat from one table in the clubhouse. “Now, you can imagine, 1,400 members and one small table that seats four or six was not really very useful. So we hardly sold any plated meals. There was no surprise there.”

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So when it came to redesign the clubhouse, they took those needs into account. “We wanted six to eight person tables so that two groups of four, if they were in a booking group of eight, could sit together and socialise,” Fuller added. “It worked. Sales of our plated meals went up by something like 37%. It was a massive number and the amount of spend also went up by 12%. That, on our numbers, was significant.” My59 has been incredibly useful for Fuller in learning what members actually want. That’s because they have embraced the concept in huge numbers.

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If you sent a traditional-based survey to your members and visitors, what would you expect the reply or open rate to be? It’s a decent bet you won’t be getting anywhere near the 50% return that Gog Magog enjoyed from their first two questionnaires to members. Fuller revealed:“We are sending out a survey each summer and winter. We are hoping to build trends and consistency in the feedback we are getting. “On average, we are receiving 600 replies from the 1,200 people that we are surveying. That’s a 50% return, which is absolutely huge. “In our last survey, we emailed

1,168 participants on December 13 and, over the Christmas period, received 547 completed surveys. We are trying to ask 35 questions, 30 to 31 of which are the same – in order for us to build trends. “If you ask different questions you can’t get any consistency. It’s the same question each time and we are saying to our members ‘they are the same questions.You have answered them before but please answer them again. It really does help’. “You click through and you can see the comments and start to get an idea (of opinions). Rather than a group of six people sitting there and guessing what people might like, or from 10% of the AGM that

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Who are 59club? 59club are Europe’s leading customer service analysts and training providers. They provide pioneering member and visitor surveys, mystery shopper audits and staff training in the golf, leisure, events, F&B and hotel industries. Their market leading software and assessment criteria provide the resources to improve and maintain sales and service etiquette, which increases customer satisfaction along with revenue and profits. Best practice tools highlight areas of weakness and poor performance and pinpoints what is required of staff and their needs for training and support. 59club are a GCMA partner and work with the likes of Gleneagles, The Belfry, Celtic Manor and The Grove, along with Louth, Ashburnham and Langland Bay – to name just a few. For more, visit 59club.com

King’s Lynn

bother to turn up, we are actually getting 50%. It’s the only way that we can reach 50% of opinion and it’s really powerful.” King’s Lynn It sounds counter-intuitive – restrict the number of societies and visitors that can play the course. But, for King’s Lynn, what happened was it made the Norfolk course a much more sought after experience. When Richard Jessop arrived as general manager in 2014 he found discounted winter rates and packages and societies booked up at key times months in advance. So when the club’s tee booking system went live for members

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two weeks before they wanted to play, they would find rafts of slots already taken up. It was a huge source of frustration, and not the customer service King’s Lynn wanted to give their loyal patrons. “We looked at the bigger picture and decided to stop all that,” Jessop explained.“We said we have members who can fill those four hours of tee times who are paying circa £1,000 and I’d rather keep 550 happy members than trying to scrap around in the depths of winter for £300 to £400 of green fee money. “Over the past two years we have also increased our green fee price. We have reduced the footfall of

visitors but increased the spend per head. It has worked.” Teaming up with Sheringham, Royal Cromer and Hunstanton, King’s Lynn are also involved in a Norfolk Golf Coast project that is proving popular with European visitors. It focuses on groups of 12, using up only three times, and doesn’t cause disruption to members. And yet the overall scarcity of availability has only added to the desire of people to play King’s Lynn. Of visitor revenue, Jessop said: “We had a target in 2018 and hit it and achieved more. For 2019, it’s the same again. I could generate a quarter of a million for the club but we are about our members.”

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“Putting our customers and members first really helps us create a team culture and create an amazing group of people...They are our purpose... By putting the customer first, I need to focus on our people first.”

King’s Lynn teamed up with my59 last year and initially sent out a huge survey to the whole membership on subjects as diverse as subscriptions, F&B and the presence of the bar manager. Now, they are producing much shorter surveys and tailoring them to various parts of the membership. “It has been great value for money, as far as we are concerned,” Jessop said.“It’s the service they provide and the confidential feedback we get means we can see what each individual member has said. When we produce the reports for the membership, we just give them the results and the graphs. For us, it’s invaluable both

for golf and the food and beverage side of the business.” Frilford Heath To put together great customer service, you need a great team. That’s the philosophy of Frilford Heath general manager Russell Stebbings. It’s a huge operation at the Oxfordshire club. With four courses (the Red, Green, Blue and Yellow) and approximately 1,200 members at the championship venue, it would initially seem a formidable task keeping everyone content. “We put the customers and members at the core of everything we do. They are our purpose and

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we want to provide them with first-class facilities and service at all times,” explained Stebbings of Frilford Heath’s ethos. “Putting our customers and members first really helps us create a team culture and create an amazing group of people, from a staff point of view, that should be able to create a fantastic experience from a member and customer point of view. “It’s my number one priority as a GM to make sure that the people that I work with are right because, in turn, they will look after our customers. By putting the customer first, I need to focus on our people first.”

Stebbings’ philosophy is that everyone needs to buy in to the overall vision. If they do so, and are focused on a clear direction, then key decisions are based on the idea of “are we achieving our purpose and, in turn, our vision?” “That helps create that success,” he added.“It’s almost impossible to do that if you don’t have that clear direction and single purpose.” The use of my59 assists in that aim. Having used it at other clubs, Stebbings hailed its benchmarking tools – allowing internal comparison as well as against other leading industry organisations. He explained:“I believe strongly

in internally monitoring where we are as a business, setting ourselves standards and auditing them. my59 software has enabled me to do that to a different level. “Benchmarking against industry best practice has assisted us in knowing where we are in the marketplace. That creates third party data that I’m able to use with the management team to develop the staff team and drive us forward to our purpose. “We are able to set up feedback channels for our members and visitors which is then pulled through to the central database where we are able to analyse and act on that feedback.”

What is my59? my59 is self-test benchmarking software which empowers clubs to conduct their own customer satisfaction surveys and mystery shopper audits. It allows club managers to independently monitor and increase service levels – and also allows them to benchmark their performance against both industry standards and the elite performers. Clubs can deliver one-off surveys or schedule a series that are emailed in sequence at pre-programmed interviews. Pre-set survey templates can take the strain out of organising questions, while the software can also be completely tailored to individual questions and focus. Results from surveys and mystery shopping exercises highlight strengths and weaknesses – providing clear direction on measures that will lead to improved service offering. For more, visit my59online.com

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Clear vision and strong

CORE VALUES

ith 5,000 members and golf forming just part of the offering, the task of keeping customers content at Roehampton Club would, at first glance, seem formidable. That they are so successful when it comes to customer service, says Tristan McIllroy, is down to a singular vision and huge attention to detail. We asked the club’s Operations Manager (golf, games & club) to reveal their secrets… Roehampton is not just a golf club, so how do you create consistent levels of service? It is about how we engage with the members, and respond to their needs in a changing market. It is also important to respect the traditions of the club, while embracing change and moving forward with ventures. We are producing a development masterplan, taking us up to 2030, and that has required the engagement of members.

Jonathan Lupton puts Toptracer through its paces at Close House

That’s quite a long-term vision? We carried out a full member survey last year, which was the first of its kind in a number of years here, and it really gave us a feeling of where the club is at the moment and, more importantly, where we want to go in the future. That produced a framework for the board and CEO Marc Newey, who are in communication with

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Tristan McIllroy, Operations Manager at the exclusive Roehampton Club in London, provides an insight into how to exceed customer service expectations

“We have had more footfall. We have had higher revenue through the range”

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all the sports committees, about how the club sees its future, from a financial and facility development point of view. It’s a very exciting time at the club. Maxstoke Park

What are the keys to great customer service? We have got a clear vision, which the board of directors and staff are fully behind, and we work hard to achieve that through our core values. The club vision is “to be London’s premier multi-sports club, offering excellent service and facilities for the enjoyment of its members, their families and guests.” That’s a vision that we all buy into as part of the induction process for all the members of staff and we are constantly reminded of our core values that

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we embrace to underpin that. We always retain a focus on the best possible customer service for the members and their guests. That is the benchmark for us all. The club received the Gold Flag award at the 2018 59 Club Awards in recognition of the work that the teams do across the site to ensure a consistent high level of customer service. We have a well-trained team with a real desire to offer excellent service. Through that, we often go to other clubs to share experiences, bring ideas back, discuss and implement, and good communication is essential to the process. This hard work has paid off as, in 2017, the club was awarded IIP Gold and was named Sports Club of the Year for the second year running at the Club

Mirror Awards in 2018. For every sport and activity, we carry out a new member induction process. We have 3,700 adults and 1,300 juniors and, as part of that, every adult golfer will come and have an induction with a member of the pro shop team. That means we can offer a consistent level of service where every golfer knows where to sign in, check their etiquette knowledge, have a MOT on their game, be advised on what would suit them, what standard they are – just to know that we can follow the member’s transition when we join. We follow that up immediately afterwards, and on a three monthly basis, to see how they are enjoying the club. Take me through the journey at

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Roehampton? You will receive a warm and welcoming experience as soon as you arrive. The main thing is, as people enter the gates, that they see a well-presented club and they are welcomed by security staff. First impressions are very important. They are directed to the relevant areas and, being a multi-sports club, we have a variety of activities going on so it is not quite as simple as heading to a pro shop. We have to ensure that all the information, about events coming up, is with security so they can direct people to the appropriate place. They then come to main reception, which focuses on a warm, friendly, welcome. It’s about finding out what people’s needs are and how we can best

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anticipate them but also how we can exceed expectations as well. That’s very much something we pride ourselves on. We want members to feel proud to invite guests to the club, whether it be from that warm welcome, the catering or the superb playing facilities. Once they arrive, we have valets on hand to look after their needs in the changing room, and a team of eight very high calibre PGA professionals in the shop to look after their golfing needs. We’ve got a marshal on the first tee, who will talk about the conditions of play and to get them round the golf course. We’ve got a championship golf course in first-class condition all year round and when they finish they are looked after by the catering team.

It sounds quite hard to get lost? The key for us is having that interaction. It’s very much about the personal touches and to make sure members and guests have that personalised service. Hesketh There is a lot going on here and a lot of people can get lost if they are not directed and not supported and helped in the right manner. If you could offer clubs advice about great customer service, what would that be? It is about being warm, welcoming, approachable, listening to the requirements of the members and about how they would like their club to be set up and how to receive guests. Friendliness and cleanliness is the boss’s mantra and it serves us all well.

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Making progress on

GOLF COURSE 2030

n the last issue of The Golf Club Manager, we introduced the Golf Course 2030 (GC2030) initiative. Facilitated by The R&A, the main objective is for industry stakeholders to agree on a roadmap that secures optimal golf course condition and playability for current and future generations. That will be achieved by addressing changes from, and taking opportunities presented by, the changing climate, resource constraints and regulation. The initiative is being piloted in Great Britain and Ireland

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throughout last year and 2019. Last September, there was a gathering of industry stakeholders in Manchester, which saw representatives from 25 different organisations. Since then, good progress has been made towards developing the roadmapâ€Ś The process Stakeholder engagement has been a vital element throughout the early stages of this initiative and will continue to be so over coming years. The September gathering resulted in agreement on priority issues for

investigation, how Action Plans should be the format for coordinating work on these issues and a mechanism to manage process. The industry agreed five priority issues Industry stakeholders agreed on the following priorities for investigation: Making GC2030 relevant and compelling to key audiences, such as decision makers at golf facilities, and how do we engage with golfers? Course condition and playability (measuring, benchmarking, setting

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In the second article outlining the industry roadmap on our changing environment, The R&Aâ€™s director of sustainability, Steve Isaac, reveals what has taken place to date

standards, performance, consistency). Resources, focusing on: 1. Alternatives to synthetic chemical plant protection products 2. Labour (recruitment, retention, education, the changing nature of the golf course workplace) 3. Sand/aggregate availability Water as a limited resource (too little in dry summers) and coping with too much in wet winters Coastal change and its impact on golf courses The process of applying to produce Action Plans At the meeting, stakeholders were

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asked to send The R&A a note of interest in producing an Action Plan. Those expressing interest were sent an application form. Returned applications were reviewed by the GC2030 Working Party and then Action Plans were awarded. These action plans are due to be delivered by April 12 this year. Each Action Plan will define the issue and the challenges and opportunities it presents.The Plan will go on to propose actions to address the challenges and opportunities. These actions may include

research (including information gathering) to fill gaps in our knowledge, production of existing best practice guidance, education needs, awareness raising and behaviour change, case studies and demonstration sites. GEO Foundation were awarded the Action Plan looking at making GC2030 relevant. The course condition and playability plan was given to Myerscough College. Resources went to SRUC and water to STRI. The R&A will take the lead on producing the Action Plan for the

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GCMA | NEED TO KNOW | INDUSTRY | CAREERS | GOOD PRACTICE | GRASS ROOTS Who are GC2030’s industry stakeholders? The organisations who have signed up to the GC2030 initiative, and have signed a memorandum of understanding to support and promote the initiative, are: The R&A, European Tour, England Golf, Ladies European Tour, Confederation of Golf in Ireland, SRUC Elmwood, Scottish Golf, Myerscough College, Wales Golf, Crop Protection Association, BIGGA, Agricultural Engineers Association, GCSAI, Irrigation Consultants, GCMA, British Society of Plant Breeders, CMAE, Turfgrass Growers Association, UK Golf Federation, Amenity Forum, PGA, University of St Andrews, EIGCA, BASIS, STRI, Labosport, RIPTA, FEGGA, GEO Foundation.

coastal change issue.

membership and remit.

The setting up of a Working Party to oversee the process Stakeholders at the meeting agreed there needed to be a small group to oversee the initiative and its processes. This has been called the GC2030 Working Party and those invited to sit on this group had to have no vested interest in producing Action Plans. For the most part, it was felt that Working Group members should represent those working at the golf facility. In addition to the GCMA, BIGGA and GCSAI, PGA, England Golf, Scottish Golf, EIGCA and The R&A have been appointed.

The Working Party will be expected to undertake the following tasks:

The members of the GC2030 Working Party will be expected to serve for the duration of a threeyear cycle of the initiative. After that, there will be a review of the

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Review the initial analyses from stakeholders applying for the lead role in the production of Action Plans Appoint stakeholders to take the lead role in the production of Action Plans Review delivered Action Plans and set goals and targets for implementation Produce a ‘call for proposals’ mechanism Consider proposals and produce a priority list of projects deserving support Decide if issues have been addressed satisfactorily The R&A will provide administration support to the Working Party.

A timeline for Action Plan implementation Action Plans are due to be delivered in April. These will be reviewed by the Working Party and revised, if necessary, before being published. A call for proposals will then be made so that recommended actions can be allocated and outcomes delivered. Tangible results will flow into the industry at different times, dependent on the nature of the activity. Relatively simple tasks such as stakeholder surveys and literature reviews may be delivered in a few months – hopefully by the end of 2019. The compilation of guidance notes may fall within a similar time frame, but any significant research trials could necessitate years of work and funding. The R&A may well be a source for the seed funding of some of

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this work, but an important part of Action Plan compilation will be the identification of potential funding streams. Communication efforts For GC2030 to be really impactful, it must provide effective communication. The industry stakeholders engaged with the initiative have a collective network that should be able to deliver to all key audiences. The communications plan will ensure that: All industry stakeholders will be kept informed as we work through the process Opportunities will be pursued to promote GC2030 at stakeholder events and through stakeholder publications Stakeholders will be enabled to disseminate GC2030 resources to relevant groups within their own networks using their owned media

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channels (websites, social media and so on) Government and NGOs will be engaged to raise awareness of the actions golf is undertaking to encourage sustainability and best practice These articles in The Golf Club Manager are part of the communications effort. Presentations have already been made and others are in the pipeline. A key element in all of this is for stakeholder organisations to address their own audience, as peerto-peer communication is going to be the most effective means of ensuring buy in by all influencers and decision-makers in the sport. Further updates on GC2030 will be provided to GCMA members later in the year, once the Action Plans have been delivered and initial projects instigated.

What is Golf Course 2030? Golf Course 2030 is a process that will put together an industry roadmap to address challenges and present opportunities from the changing climate, resource constraints and regulation to secure optimal golf course condition and playability for current and future generations. In a recently published R&A vision for growing golf, chief executive Martin Slumbers set down a challenge for the organisation to be inspired to play its part in driving forward the necessary change that will be required to ensure that golf continues to thrive in 50 yearsâ€™ time. Golf Course 2030 is aligned to the United Nationsâ€™ 2030 Sustainability Agenda.

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Yamaha

GOLF CARS Fourteen-time Open hosts Royal St George’s only use Yamaha’s range of golf cars. Robert Leigh, the club’s assistant secretary, explains why

Royal St George’s © Jason Livy

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oyal St. George’s is one of a number of private members’ clubs, however being on the Open Championship rota adds additional prestige and puts us into a different category, especially from the visiting golfer’s point of view. “As a result, we believe all parts of the club should reflect the same high quality, which is why we’ve trusted Yamaha golf cars for the past 10 years. “The most important thing for us

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is how easy the company is to deal with. We look after our fleet, but there are inevitable issues that arise when you are operating machinery. Having a company that is there for you is of utmost importance. “Some of our members rely on the Yamaha golf cars to complete their round of golf, though we run a small fleet it is critical that we can rely on each of the vehicles. Some of the vehicles were over eight years old and are still consistently reliable. Now, our lease scheme

renews the vehicles every two years. During this time each car will be responsible for 240 rounds. “We are very pleased with the service; the maintenance has been very good on the few occasions used. The finances also make sense, with the fleet representing exceptional value for money.” For more information, please visit www.golfcars.co.uk | For information on exclusive GCMA member benefits, contact dan.palmer@yamaha-motor.co.uk

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

On the

MOVE

ichard Odell spent two years at the helm at Sherwood Forest before swapping Nottinghamshire for Derbyshire. Last November, he took up the role of general manager at the family-owned Horsley Lodge with the intention of breaking the club into top 100 ranking lists. With a hotel that has been listed among Britain’s best, and a club established as a hugely popular wedding venue, it’s a world away from the traditional private members’ experience that has made Sherwood Forest a mustplay venue for many golfers. We asked Richard about his move, his ambitions for his new post and the differences between private member and proprietary clubs... Sherwood has a reputation for being an outstanding course – one of the top 100 in England and a traditional club – so what was your motivation to move to Horsley Lodge? I was at Branston Golf & Country Club before Sherwood Forest, as director of golf, and that was maybe double the size of Horsley. It was a very private-owned, corporate facility, and I really enjoyed learning that side of it. I was also keen to try the old-traditional members’ club. I think I’ve been at about 12 clubs over my time, since turning pro at 16. It was a great course and

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great facility, but it was just over an hour’s drive every day. It was fantastic but it did take its toll for a while. I had a call from the Salt family, who have run Horsley Lodge for the last 27 years, and the two brothers, Malcolm and Richard,

wanted to step back and asked if I’d like to come in and run it for them. It has a 14-bed hotel and wedding facility and it is family owned, which I quite like. Is that part of the attraction?

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In a new series, we profile GCMA members who have recently taken up new positions. This month, we talk to Horsley Lodge’s Richard Odell With no disrespect to private members’ clubs, you can move a bit quicker when it comes to making decisions… Absolutely. They’ve said to me ‘what’s ours is yours. Get on with it. We want to step back a bit’. With all due respect to Sherwood, in the two years I was there I had three different chairmen, who were technically my boss. We had a committee of 17 and any changes took a lot longer. The challenge is that at the management committee you are one of 18. It’s a bit like Brexit, I suppose. If you put your point across, and they didn’t like that point, it got voted out. At Horsley, you have to convince the owners it is the best for the business. What did you learn from your time at Sherwood Forest that you have taken to Horsley Lodge? There was great stature and stability there and there was a lot of structure in place. I wanted to be general manager at a top 100 club in the UK and I achieved that. Learning the other side of it – those structures and traditions – was important. What ambitions do you have for Horsley Lodge over the next few years? What would constitute success? I class Horsley Lodge as probably the second best golf club in Derbyshire. My aim would be to try and get it into the top 100 (in the country). Whether that’s possible

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or not, only time will tell. My vision is that the members are the most important thing, as they are bringing 60 to 70 per cent of income in. Green fees are good but my view is to try and work with the members, get more communication with them so they feel like they are the most important part of the club. It is also to try and convince them that, without the hotel or the wedding venue, it is difficult to be able to make a profit to keep investing in the golf club. There are that many golf clubs out there spending half a million on equipment and £200,000 on greenkeepers. That’s £700,000 before you start. If you’ve got

700 members at £1,000 you are breaking even. It is very difficult to keep investing each year in golf courses without subsidised income. I stood up at the AGM here and the biggest question was ‘weddings always get on our nerves, we can’t get to the bar’ and it’s convincing them that they are a slight inconvenience but if it can bring some money in, and save their subs and keep investing in the course, that’s what it’s for. If you have recently moved jobs, why not tell us about your career progression and your new club. Email editor Steve Carroll at s.carroll@sportspub.co.uk

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The GCMA offers a recruitment service for golf clubs to advertise management vacancies, as part of the association’s commitment to providing career opportunities for its members. The GCMA journal and website are trusted channels for golf club management vacancies. ADVERTISING PACKAGES: Magazine adverts include website listing for duration of vacancy ¼ page advert |£850 (+VAT) ½ page advert | £1450 (+VAT) Full page advert | £2450 (+VAT) Website only for duration of vacancy |£750 (+VAT) Non-manager roles: ¼ page advert | £250 (+VAT) e.g. Assistant / Food & Beverage Manager / Clubhouse Manager Includes website advertising for duration of vacancy

Recruitment

■ Targeting a database of skilled candidates ■ Next day website listing and email to all GCMA members ■ Reliable industry knowledge to help with creating your advert ■ Professional support from start to finish ■ Increasing recognition of the importance of GCMA membership HOW TO ADVERTISE: If you wish to advertise a vacancy, please contact Tash Johnson: 01275 391153 | tash@gcma.org.uk

MAGAZINE

GCMA RECRUITMENT KEY FEATURES:

SOCIAL MEDIA

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Join these clubs by advertising with GCMA Recruitment Sandy Lodge Frilford Heath Hallamshire Bush Hill Park Filton Stowmarket Radyr East Devon Lamberhurst

Moseley Golf Club, in Birmingham is a private members’ club with a parkland course established in 1892 and designed by Harry Colt. The club has a rich history and is proud of its much admired course. We are at the start of an exciting transformation programme and therefore require an exceptional person to take on the role of Director of Golf. We are looking for a charismatic leader who will be our agent for change. Region: Midland Apply by: 26 February 2018 Salary: Competitive

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PRACTICE Advice on golf club management issues â€“ from finance to clubhouse rules and employment law

Making

TAX DIGITAL

usinesses whose taxable turnover exceeds the VAT Registration Threshold will need to keep their records digitally, using Making Tax Digital (MTD) functional compatible software, and create the VAT return from that (or a combination of) software, for return periods starting on or after April 1. The announcements in July 2017 around Making Tax Digital now place VAT firmly at the vanguard of these proposals. Finance (No.2) Act 2017 includes legislation providing for the introduction of MTD for VAT. Notice 700/22: Making Tax Digital for VAT, which provides further explanation of the requirements, was published in July 2018. HMRC have also compiled a list of MTD for VAT software suppliers that is updated regularly as new software suppliers complete the testing process. The main details are: Record Keeping Keeping manual records will not be acceptable therefore digital records must be maintained in what is defined as ‘functional compatible software’. This is software or spreadsheets (or a combination) which can connect to HMRC via an Application Programming Interface (API). These must be capable of capturing more information than HMRC currently requires to be recorded. Submitting VAT Returns

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VAT returns must be submitted to HMRC by means of a business’s functional compatible software communicating digitally via HMRC’s API platform and not by manually entering the VAT return figures onto the HMRC portal as carried out currently. The figures from the accounting software should not be manually

rekeyed into another package (say) a spreadsheet, which would ordinarily deal with VAT adjustments or combination of data sources, but those figures should be transferred digitally. There will be a “soft landing” in the first year of MTD, allowing more time for these digital links to be put in place. ‘Cut and paste’ (and

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The way your club keeps VAT records is changing from April. GCMA management researcher Jim Cunning outlines what is coming and what steps you’ll need to take to comply… challenging for HMRC, particularly as software trials have, until recently, been in the private pilot stage on a very small scale. Initially, the pilot was for smaller businesses, but it has opened to large business and public sector bodies, which may mean that the latter businesses only have one VAT return period for testing before MTD for VAT goes live. To join the pilot, visit the Making Tax Digital pilot for VAT.

‘copy and paste’) can still be used during the soft landing period but not for VAT periods commencing on or after April 1, 2020. Timing MTD for VAT is still expected to take place in April, which is around the same time as the UK leaves the EU. Hitting this his date will be

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Six-month Deferral For a small minority of businesses that have more complex requirements, HMRC has made the decision to defer MTD for VAT by six months to ensure there is sufficient time for testing the service with them before they are mandated to join. These businesses have until October 1 to start keeping records digitally and using MTDcompatible software to send their VAT returns to HMRC. The deferral applies to those that fall into one of the following categories: trusts, ‘not for profit’ organisations that are not set up as a company, VAT divisions, VAT groups, those public sector entities required to provide additional information on their VAT return (and CASCs have now been included in this group), local authorities, public corporations, traders based overseas, those required to make payments on account and annual accounting scheme users.

Partial Exemption Adjustments are often required prior to submission of the VAT return, such as for fuel scale charges, partial exemption, and so on. These can currently be done in a variety of ways, prior to submitting the VAT return. There are two main ways in which VAT adjustments can be made under MTD: 1.The business undertakes the calculation outside of software (e.g. on a spreadsheet or manually) and journals the effect of the calculation back into the software. The VAT return can then be submitted directly from the software. 2.The business exports data from the software into a spreadsheet (a digital link is needed because the data must be kept digitally). The adjustments and VAT return calculation are undertaken in the spreadsheet. The business then uses bridging software, or an API-enabled spreadsheet (such as a digital link), to extract the VAT return figures and submit them to HMRC. Next Steps The main accounts software providers have indicated that they will be ready for the MTD for VAT deadline of April 1, but it would be prudent to contact them, or your agent if you use one, if you have any complex requirements, i.e. Partial Exemption, to ensure they are considering those requirements.

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How to organise...

POSTAL VOTING

any golf clubs have introduced postal voting for their members when voting at Annual General Meetings. It is important, therefore, if your club has introduced this option, that firm ground rules are established to avoid any doubt about the authenticity of the result after the event. Clubs who are embarking on this option should carefully consider the following pointsâ€Ś The club rules should clearly state that postal voting is allowed and set the rules for administering it. Before sending out the ballot papers, a list of voting members should be prepared and each member is given a number (usually their membership number). The voting papers, when sent out, should be numbered in the same way so it can be clearly shown that there is a way of checking the votes should the situation arise. The number of voting papers sent out must agree with the numbers on the list and no additional papers should be printed without good reason. In the event of additional papers being printed, these should be kept under lock and key and the numbers of those papers recorded in the presence of officers of the club. They would normally only be used in a

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situation in which it could clearly be agreed that a member had, for some unforeseen circumstances, not received their papers. It is important to have clearly printed envelopes for members to return their papers in, either through the post or by hand, and these should be kept unopened in the club safe prior

to the meeting. On no account should anyone open these prior to the meeting. At the start of the Annual General Meeting, the chairman of the meeting should ask for the appointment of scrutineers who should not be members of the committee, candidates or their proposers and seconders.

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It’s becoming an increasingly popular way of involving members in the Annual General Meeting. But how should you go about postal voting? Golf management researcher Jim Cunning reveals all…

It is best to have a minimum of four and probably better to have at least six. These members so appointed should do their counting behind locked doors in the office and, on completing their counting, should hand over to the chairman of the meeting their findings – properly recorded –

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on a document which they each sign to agree on the accuracy of their findings. The scrutineers should not have access to the list of members and their voting numbers. This should be kept in the club safe and would only be available through a decision by the club committee on a written request

by members who are querying the result of the ballot. In the event of any ties then these should be dealt with by the chairman of the meeting according to the rules of the club and not by the scrutineers. Whether the results are published on the board or not are dependent on the policy of the club but by posting the results, including the votes cast for each candidate, you will probably avoid any future recriminations. After the AGM, the voting slips, along with the register of members, should be kept for a specific period before being destroyed. This should probably be a period of, say, 28 days. Should there be a request for an investigation, this should be carried out on the instructions of the committee by either the club auditors or a similar outside agency appointed by the club committee. Although the above points may seem like taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut, it is important for you as the secretary/manager to see that strict rules are adhered to, and no one is given access to the votes prior to the meeting. Another way of doing it would be to appoint the club auditors to collect and count the votes, in which case the voting papers would be returned to their offices. This will cost additional money and there is no reason why a properly set out and controlled system cannot work in each club.

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Partner Network The GCMAâ€™s Partner Network supports the associationâ€™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

official suppliers

gcma.org.uk/partners

From the

HELPDESK This month: The latest GDPR queries and... is there any criteria for joint membership categories? We issue a fortnightly eNewsletter to golf club members, which carries the latest news about competitions, clubhouse functions and so on. A member has raised a question over adverts which are contained within the bulletin. It carries a column of ads for local companies, which sponsor the golf club in various ways. The member is suggesting that he shouldn’t be marketed to in this way. Is there a GCMA view on this please? A newsletter to the members is fine from a GDPR point of view if it only contains club matters and subjects directly pertaining to membership – i.e. England Golf or R&A matters. The adverts you are carrying are third party adverts and you are required to get individual consent to keep sending them. You can still send the email but, to comply with GDPR, you may have to send two editions. One with adverts to those members who have given explicit permission and one without ads to those who have not. We want to appoint a data controller. Can the post be filled by a position i.e. captain, president, a chair, or do we have to nominate someone by name? Data controllers can be either

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individuals or “legal persons” such as companies, so you can do either: a named individual or a post. We are reviewing the criteria for joint membership categories. We wanted to know if there was a criteria in place when we are considering “any couple in a relationship residing at the same address”. Is that in breach of any legislation? There is no legal definition for living together and you will have to be careful with how your criteria is worded as it is the interpretation that may be the issue. For instance, a couple (of any sex) could be living together as siblings at the same address and could consider that as a relationship. Is father and son a relationship? Perhaps you could say ‘any couple living as partners while residing at the same address’, or words to that effect. NB: The following question appeared in the January edition of The Golf Club Manager but the answer was incomplete. Here we repeat the question, with the full answer, and apologise for any inconvenience caused... Our club committee recently agreed to remove the ‘against’

voting option for the election of committee members at the AGM. This was done to reduce potential embarrassment if a nominated person received very few votes or an overwhelming number of negative votes (which are then announced publicly to the floor at the AGM) and that by doing this it would promote a more positive atmosphere around voting and hopefully encourage participation. Members can either vote ‘FOR’ or not vote for someone at all. However, some members have said this could be ‘unconstitutional’ or even not ‘legal’. I would appreciate your feedback on this matter... I understand that some members will feel that this is unconstitutional, but I do not believe this is so. Essentially, when they vote for one candidate and not another, they are voting against the candidate they did not vote for. However, it is best practice to leave the option in but not announce the numerical result to the floor. This is especially important if only one candidate is standing, and the membership do not want them elected. An online helpdesk offers an advisory service. Visit gcma.org. uk/members

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Grass

ROOTS All the latest news, views and interviews from across the GCMAâ€™s various regions in the UK

My success story...

ANDREW MINTY

Sponsors of My Success Story

Langland Bay merged the past and present in an innovative video which proved hugely popular on social media. General manager Andrew Minty tells Steve Carroll how and why it was put together

e’re all mugs for nostalgia. Give us a slide show of pictures from the good old days and we can’t help but click away in contentment. But golf clubs aren’t generally renowned for capitalising on the one thing many have in abundance – their history. There might be a few grainy old photos on a website, or a block of text explaining the various aldermen who donned their chains at a ribbon-cutting ceremony a century ago. It’s nothing that engages a social media audience, though, who are looking to be entertained as well as educated and enlightened. Langland Bay have plenty to shout about. Their stunning location on the clifftops of the Gower Peninsula has led some to label the course the ‘Pebble Beach of Wales’. Opened in 1904, there have also been plenty of notable moments over the past 115 years. And general manager Andrew Minty decided to nod to both when he employed a local filmmaker to produce a short video that showed off both the club’s heritage and scenery.

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“I’d wanted to do it for a while,” he said.“We had a photo done at the golf club in our centenary year – where we had an old golfer from 1904 teeing off on our 17th hole – and our designer merged it with a current day photograph. “It was quite appropriate for the centenary year and I’d also been watching films like The Legend of Bagger Vance and also there were elements of Kevin Costner’s Field of Dreams where the old was merged with the new. “It was something I wanted to do at Langland and I came up with this idea with a local filmmaker to put this video together. The R&A has been talking about the history of golf and the Second World War and so I wanted to bring the history and the tradition of Langland Bay together with the modern look.” The two minute video begins with grainy black and white

“Our social media platforms are simply based on trying to channel people to our website where all the information is”

footage of players in plus fours and wielding hickory clubs before transforming, when the first shot is hit, into a colour spectacular of course fly-bys and modern day golfers enjoying the course and club. It ends with the ‘young’ players handing a golf ball to an old man, who is meant to represent the aged version of the hickory generation that opened the piece. Minty added:“The company we used were John Mark Films and we are hopefully going to be doing another film this year, on a similar theme but with a different take for the club. “Prior to producing the video, I contacted Visit Wales, the PGA, Tourism Swansea Bay, and a number of other different

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Langland Bay’s innovative merging of history has proved popular on social media

organisations, and said,‘I’m going to produce this. It’s not necessarily going to be cheap but if you like it once it’s produced would you be able to promote it for us? I feel it is good for tourism in Wales, golf tourism in Wales and Langland Bay’. “They said they would take a look at it for us and it was something I wanted them to push as well but it was predominantly for our website and for our social media.” Social media is huge for Langland Bay with Minty estimating the club’s use of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram has brought

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in around £80,000 in revenue over the past couple of years. “It was something different and quirky to put on social media that, hopefully, captures an audience – engages and educates them about Langland Bay – and it worked,” Minty explained.“It had over 32,000 hits on Facebook in the first two weeks. “Our social media platforms are simply based on trying to channel people to our website where all the information is. We certainly had a fair few enquiries around that time but to track it was relatively hard. It is more of a long-term process, getting our

followers up and keeping them entertained over the months and then dropping in a few ads here and there. “Social media is massive for us and it is something we want to keep fresh. With a video like this, we thought it would be something completely different and unique for a golf club to do and it seemed to have worked.” We want to hear all about the success stories at your club. Get in touch by emailing s.carroll@sportspub.co.uk

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Meet the

MANAGER

Sponsor of the 2017 GCMA Manager of the Year award

With Darren Tear, golf manager at Sandburn Hall, in York

Sandburn Hall

ow did you get into golf club management? Having been a PGA professional since 1990, the opportunity to take on the additional responsibility of club manager was offered to me during my tenure at Scarcroft Golf Club. I had been the professional since 1994 when the management committee approached me to take the

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role on. Thankfully, I was taking over from a very well organised manager who had introduced some excellent operational systems which were easy to follow. The only issue I had was the club office was located away from the shop but this soon was rectified when the office was moved into the shop. What do you like most about your role?

It is the challenge of membership retention, increasing membership and society sales, along with the satisfaction of delivering excellent customer service. If you could change one thing about it, what would that be? My new role at Sandburn Hall is very different to my previous two management roles as I am now working for sales orientated owners rather than a committee

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of 12 to 16 people. I believe the business model of a large committee running a golf club business to be outdated and, in many ways, has led to the current precarious position of many private members’ golf clubs up and down the country. I know they are all volunteers but they do not always get it right and the many annual changes of personnel can create disruption, which is the major challenge for club managers. The reluctance of some to embrace modernisation can sometimes be detrimental to the club. Now you are at a proprietary club, what are the biggest differences you have found compared with working at a private members’ club? The focus on customer service and sales was a big pull for me at Sandburn Hall. It’s more customer facing – being out there with the members and integrating with them and engaging with them. This job, for me, is a mixture of styles. I’m back to being a club pro and I’m a club manager at the same time. It’s a perfect opportunity for me to blend both roles into one and see where I can take it. How do you feel about the state of golf at the moment? Golf is in a period of modernisation, although it’s happening very slowly. The stuffy club rules are slowly diminishing,

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“For the committee to have the belief in me to do both jobs was a career high for me.”

Darren Tear

dress codes are being relaxed and online tee booking has been a revelation. Filling lots of dead tee times with visitors is a good way of bringing in much needed revenue and also a big opportunity to convert these visitors into members. What opportunities lie ahead for the GCMA? I would like to see the GCMA sending out a clear message to all clubs – reinforcing that the club manager must be allowed to manage their club. So how can the association help

club managers in that regard? I think they can become more involved with club officials, rather than just with club managers and taking feedback from them. The GCMA are a great help in terms of development, and access to library documents, but I don’t think they really get to the core of a big issue. I’m sure a lot of managers have this problem where they are in a job for two or three years and all of a sudden committees change. They feel like they have no support and they do feel isolated. The association connects with managers perfectly but not with the clubs themselves – and giving them enough help in how to run a club with a manager. What has been your proudest moment in golf? I have been fortunate to have had a great career in golf up to now and my proudest moment was being appointed club manager at Scarcroft, alongside my club professional responsibilities. For the committee to have the belief in me to do both jobs was a career high for me. Tell us something we don’t know about you... I am a golf, cricket, motor racing and football fanatic and I also have a love of dogs. Get In Touch To contact Sandburn Hall, visit sandburnhall.co.uk

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From the

REGIONS NORTH WEST Christmas meeting, December 12, 2018 Houghwood The region extended a warm welcome to Cameron Dawson, who was attending in his capacity as national captain. Cameron is also Yorkshire’s regional manager and, with the two regions having always enjoyed good relationships and friendly banter, he delivered a light-hearted presentation called ‘A Captain’s View from over the Pennines’. Providing everyone with an excellent insight into his year of office, along with feedback from the association’s latest board meeting, he was also able to talk about his work as a members of the Committee for Golf Club Salaries and the ‘salary calculator’ he had developed. With the ability to provide better, more localised, recommendations, the development was welcomed by North West members. They will eventually help to provide a meaningful pool of data to enable even better comparisons and recommendations through this tool. Graeme Corker and Jason Williams, of X Digital Media, provided an excellent presentation on how their company’s digital notice boards, screens and lecterns could enhance a club’s marketing opportunities. Nexus Protect’s Nick Holden also

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gave an informative insight into the risks facing golf clubs and the actions that could, and should, be taken to minimise or eliminate these risks. Focusing on everything from theft, security breaches, data breaches and fire to other types of environmental risks, the message was clear. These things do not only happen to other clubs. They can happen to every club and if they don’t have plans in place to overcome them in the first instance, or manage them if they do happen, they are skating on extremely thin ice. Nexus Protect can help clubs in reviewing and overcoming these risks and, having recently established a relationship with the association, they presented at BTME last month. The morning was rounded off with a presentation from one of the region’s own members, the former regional manager and past national captain, Howard Williams. He has acted as a volunteer at the Sanderson Farms’ Championship, in Jackson, Mississippi, in recent years and provided everyone with a wonderful insight into what goes on behind the scenes at a PGA Tour event. With the Christmas Meeting an event where some managers invite their assistants as guests, those present were pleased to hear of the decision to hold an assistants’ networking meeting in the early part of this year.

Regional Managers Full details at gcma.org.uk/ regions Chiltern & Home Counties

David Cook East Anglia

Gary Smith East Midlands

Rod Savage London & Home Counties

Maureen Brooker Midland

Rob Wormstone Norfolk

John Barnard North West

Neil Annandale Northern

Peter Jobe Northern Ireland

Jim Cullen Scotland

Bernard Flockhart South East

John Edgington South West

Karen Drake Southern

Paul Gaylor Wales

Mike Rees Wessex

Alex Taylor Yorkshire

Cameron Dawson

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December 2018

STATISTICS UK&I 7,665

Hole-in-ones made during December competitions

Total competitions recorded

GENTS:

LADIES:

5,587

2,078

203,651

total rounds of golf recorded

LOWEST EXACT HANDICAP

Gents

Ladies

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1,373

eagles or better

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74,176 birdies

671,384

Stats provided by HowdidIdo.com

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