A new life in golf club management for Rob

Meet the MANAGER

Rothley Park

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

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

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

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

Then I proceeded to approach

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

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

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

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

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

How did the Principles course help you in getting that role? My main thought was I could approach clubs and show them I’d got the ball rolling forward to go into the career. I wanted to be proactive, rather than reactive. Going through the week, it covers various things from food and beverage and green fees, course maintenance, to the financial side, and it allowed me to dip my toe into the world of the various components within golf club management, and gave me the encouragement that ‘yes, this is what I really want to do’. I realise it’s a big challenge and going on to study the Diploma won’t be that straightforward. But it’s also a very exciting challenge for me. Was it a bit scary to begin a new career? You’d obviously hope not to be made redundant at 53 so how have you managed to embrace this new job? I think all of us, in whatever sphere you work in, do reach a point of, well ‘I’ve done this many years, this is going to be my career’. But once I got my head around it, my main motivation was that I wanted to do something that I knew was going to be a challenge. And I wanted to be excited by the challenge.

Yes, I’ve got an incredible amount

Rob Hennessy

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

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

Rothley Park

planning for things in the summer.

It’s been great since the membership have been back. Something I really appreciate is interacting with them so I’ll make a big conscious effort to see people and engage with them, rather than just cocooning myself in my office. It’s so far, so good and everyone’s being really supportive.

You’re now doing the Diploma in Golf Club Management. Can you tell us what you’re hoping to get out of the course? I just see it as the best possible professional qualification I can get. It will allow me to build up my knowledge and I think I’m in the perfect role to hopefully use that knowledge, that I’m picking up on a daily basis, to help me go through the study.

I’m not going to rush through this. I’m going to do it at a quite an easy pace. It will probably take two and a half or the full three years as I think it’s important to try and set a realistic calendar - rather than say ‘I’m going to do three hours tonight, three hours tomorrow, and eight hours at the weekend’. I just don’t think I’ll take it all in.

I also think I’ll be able to provide a better service to the club. I think my knowledge bank will improve. If the Diploma allows me to offer a better service to the membership, that would be fantastic. They’ve given me the opportunity and I really want to reward them for that.

We’re not letting you go without asking about some favourite memories from your time with the Tour… I really enjoyed attending events and being a small part of the action. At the Ryder Cup, in Paris, at the management level we all scored a game ourselves. I was fortunate enough to walk the fairways with Tiger Woods and Jon Rahm on the Sunday.

To see those guys from two or three metres away, inside the ropes, was pretty exciting. I’ve really enjoyed working at Seniors’ events and went to the Seniors’ Tour Finals in Mauritius on three or four occasions.

I was delighted the Tour gave me the chance as much as I am Rothley Park gave me the chance. I made some lifelong friends, had incredible times, and memories that I’ll save forever. But I’m equally as excited for what I’ve moved on to now and Rothley have been absolutely lovely to me.

Get In Touch To contact Rothley Park, visit rothleypark.co.uk

Scan the QR code and try it out for yourself!

*£23,620 Net Sales recorded between the 12th and 18th April from four UK Golf Clubs

Our Golf Club clients registered £23,620* of food and beverage sales in the first week of reopening, through the OrderNext programme.

Streamline your customers order experience and enhance your venue with contactless mobile ordering.

Order now and pay nothing until we have you live, operational and generating revenue.

Quentin Townsend 07718 623854 / quentin@venuenexteurope.com

Meet the GCMA PARTNER

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

Who is Rain Bird? Founded in 1933 Rain Bird has been synonymous with irrigation in the golf industry for 88 years. Technologically advanced systems and quality products enable club managers to perfect playing surfaces at golf courses of all types and sizes. The global leader in irrigation, Rain Bird’s R&D teams work with greenkeepers and technicians to develop and manufacture forwardthinking water, energy and timesaving innovations.

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

What does Timeless Compatibility™ mean in practice? Engineered with Timeless Compatibility™, Rain Bird technologies and products, from rotors to control software, from the 80’s to the present day can be upgraded independently and still be controlled from a single PC. Using the same wiring, coils and communication protocols, systems can be updated without existing equipment becoming obsolete.

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

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

How can Rain Bird help us drive down the cost of system ownership? Given our warming climate, reliance on rainfall places clubs at risk. When every drop counts Rain Bird helps clubs tackle water management and drive down the cost of ownership over the 25-year lifespan of an irrigation system. With Rain Bird as your irrigation partner, savings in power, labour, consumables and water deliver short and long-term ROI.

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

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