Golf Management Australia E-Mag - Spring 2017

SPRING 2017

GMA NATIONAL CONFERENCE – 8TH TO 12TH OCTOBER 2017 ADELAIDE CONVENTION CENTRE SOUTH AUSTRALIA

GATORADE IS PRODUCED AND DISTRIBUTED IN AUSTRALIA UNDER LICENCE FROM STOKELY-VAN CAMP INC. BY SCHWEPPES AUSTRALIA PTY LTD.

FROM THE PRESIDENT

BY ANDREW GAY

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ith only four weeks until the doors open on the 2017 GMA National Conference, it is fair to say that preparations are ramping up to ensure this event measures up to, and hopefully improves upon, the quality of our previous biennial gatherings. Schweppes Australia is once again on-board as the conference’s official partner.

Early bird registrations closed last month resulting in strong interest from golf club managers, staff and industry representatives. With more than 200 delegates already registered representing golf clubs across Australia and the AsiaPacific region, this year’s conference is proving to be the biggest ever.

Importantly, we have seen considerable interest from sponsors and exhibitors, all keen to promote their products and services and to personally meet with golf club management personnel and industry representatives. With an expansive exhibition space available to us at the spectacular Adelaide Convention Centre, we have seen a 20% increase in exhibitor booths this year.

But what does this mean? Without the generous support of our sponsors and exhibitors, your early bird conference registration could be as much as $3,500 per person – not including accommodation – a cost that is probably beyond what many golf clubs in Australia could justify for their managers, let alone other staff members.

GMA Executive

And why is this important? It is fair to say that, without these sponsors and exhibitors, the GMA National Conference could not happen in its current form. That

is why it is vitally important delegates take the opportunity to visit each booth, meet with sponsors and exhibitors, and chat with them about their products and how your club could benefit from their services.

For those attending this year’s conference, we hope you will be excited by our new initiatives; embracing the latest technologies in communication and collaboration through our MiClub Conference App and ClubCar sponsored tablet; an open-plan exhibition space designed to encourage interaction between delegates, sponsors and exhibitors; and for those who are game, the first GMA bicycle Chautauqua through the McLaren Vale wine region; all in the spirit of doing things differently – the theme for this year’s conference.

GMA Board members, Cathy Neagle and Anthony Masters, have put together an impressive education program stocked full of world-class speakers covering a range of topics including the future and what it holds, harnessing our potential, building resilience, productivity and performance, and seizing the opportunity as we move forward.

With golf to be played at two of Adelaide’s premier private golf clubs – the world renowned Royal Adelaide Golf Club and the lesser known, but equally impressive, Glenelg Golf Club – the competition for national bragging rights is sure to be hardfought.

On behalf of the GMA Board we look forward to welcoming golf club managers and key industry stakeholders to our biennial conference in October.

About GMA Golf Management Australia is the professional organisation serving the needs of managers within Australian Golf. This e-magazine is now a major communications channel and deliverance of up-to-date information for managers involved in all areas of golf administration throughout Australia.

Membership to GMA is open to all Golf Club Managers and administrators throughout Australia. We hope that the e-magazine will broaden the resources available to managers – aiding the fulfillment of their occupational objectives.

Publisher GOLF INDUSTRY CENTRAL Morlo Pty Ltd ACN 123 872 784 ABN 1812 3872 784 PO BOX 4743, Robina Town Centre Robina, QLD, Australia 4230 Contents may not be reproduced without written permission. Views expressed in editorial contributions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this publication and it’s management.

Andrew Gay Director

Anthony Masters Director

Cathy Neagle Director

Paul Paterson Director

Aaron Muirhead Director

Brad Dawson Director

Peter Busch Director

John Stamp Executive Officer

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AROUND THE STATES QUEENSLAND

NEW SOUTH WALES

Nudgee wins John Deere Teams Qualifying event

Mona Vale takes out John Alleson Trophy

The Nudgee Golf Club team is off to New Zealand in October after winning Chesterfield Australia’s qualifying event for the John Deere Teams Championship at The Brisbane Golf Club recently. The team, led by General Manager Aaron Muirhead, fired an amazing score of 58.8, which was 13.2 under after their handicap adjustment in the 3-ball elimination scramble format.

The Mona Vale Golf Club team has taken out this year’s GMA NSW Captain/Presidents/ General Manager Day played at the New South Wales Golf Club.

John Deere’s Rene Lubbers, who presented the team with their prize, noted that scores for the event usually win in the low 60’s so a score of 58.8 was a remarkable score in the format.

Runners-up were Long Reef’s GM, Anthony Dignan, President, Steve Twigg and Captain Les Browne. A capacity field of 120 players hit off in the annual event with clubs from as far afield as Coffs Harbour, Bathurst, Wagga, Canberra and Batemans Bay.

The team, representing the South East Queensland area, will contest the TransTasman final from 11 – 13 October at Gulf Harbour, and staying in Auckland.

GMAQ would like to thank Chesterfield Australia’s Noel Mackey and Ryan Mulcaster for their support of this event. We would also like to acknowledge John Deere Australia’s Rene Lubbers and Harry Chow for their support.

General Manager Andy Hugill, President John Karren and Captain, Ross Douglas returned a score of 89 points to score a three point victory and win the John Alleson Trophy.

Anthony Dignan backed up to take out the General Managers’ Trophy with a score of 37 points, two shots clear of Wollongong’s GM, Leigh Hingston.

Massey Park President Garry Ryan returned a score of 33 points to lead home Wyong President, John Witten with 32.

In the Captain’s trophy, Doug Vail of RydeParramatta, returned a score of 35 points while runner-up was Mona Vale’s Ross Douglas on 32. Stephen Farr returned the top score of the day, 42 points, to take out the Corporate Partner/Guest trophy with Garlo’s Pies, Sean Garlick, second with 32.

Nearest the pins went to Gary Booby (The Ridge) and Adam Wood (Bonville).

In addition to the event sponsor, InGolf & Utility, GMA NSW would also like to thank Lion Australia, Schweppes and Garlo’s Pies for product supplied on the day.

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SPRING EDITION 2017

AROUND THE STATES VICTORIA

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Telley takes KQ title #2 defeating Haines

Penfield claims GMA Challenge

Last qualifier, Eastern GM Ben Telley (having walked past top qualifier Peter Vlahandreas and Peter Paccagnan in the earlier rounds), took on Latrobe GM Rod Haines (who knocked out Chris Anderson and Peter Busch) in the final of the Kelvin Quick Knockout Trophy, played at the home club of both players, Commonwealth.

A brisk and blustery morning with a 7:22am tee time had both players shivering to get the game going at first light. Haines needed to give Telley only three shots in the contest with the later having played some quality golf of late to nudge his lowest handicap ever.

A fidgety start would be an understatement with Haines going from bunker to bunker on the 1st, whilst Telley three putted to halve the hole.

Telley nudged his way in front as the normally unflappable Haines played uncharacteristically loose shots. Telley was 2 up through four holes, before Haines rolled in a monster birdie, only for Telley to respond with a birdie of his own to halve the hole.

Haines responded with a win on the 6th, Telley counterpunched with another birdie on the 7th. Wins at 8, 9 and 10 put Telley in the box seat, 5 up through ten holes. The match went back and forth from there before a par on the 15th wrapped up the match.

The Chardonnay then flowed at the local Yum Cha Restaurant where friends and family were on hand to toast the 2nd KQ title for Telley. With a place on the State Team at the GMA Conference at the front of his mind, the big question is will he be denied Legend status with a 3rd win next year?

The annual GMA Challenge 4BBB golf day for GM’s and their Captain or President was played in perfect winter sunshine at Royal Adelaide with the ideal conditions leading to some better than usual scores.

The top three placings all had 42 points, which meant after a countback, the team from Penfield Golf Club - Alistair McLean and Geoff Nethercott - took out the trophy ahead of Ben Kavenagh and Paul Duregon (Glenelg), and Adam Hays and David Murdock (Thaxted Park).

WESTERN AUSTRALIA Management Challenge won by Lakelands CC The Lakelands CC team of David Whitby, Ewan Trott, Alan Robotham and Damian Chatterly won the 2017 Management Challenge at Hartfield Country Club with a combined stableford score of 128. Host manager Mick Smith and Superintendent Nick Kinley provided a fantastic venue for the event.

Held in conjunction with the Challenge was the Alex Monteath Trophy for the best combined score by a club manager and professional. Brian Close and Matt Wolfe from the WA Golf Club put together 68 points to take out this prestigious event.

Life Member Alex Monteath was on hand to present his trophy – and for his trouble he was rewarded with a Toro hand mower (valued at $1000) when his name came out in the lucky draw.

Thank you to Mick and his team at Hartfield CC for ensuring a great day was had by all.

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THE FAM 9…

NOT LONG TO DEPARTURE! Well not long to go now before 9 very excited golf club managers depart on their CGE escorted Familiarisation tour to the outstanding 10 course Mission Hills Haikou complex and the 2 course Sheraton/Dunes resort at Shenzhou, Hainan Island, China.

It’s been all go since the 6 managers from Victoria, 2 from South Australia and 1 from Western Australia, were selected for this special opportunity, some having to organise new passports and then everyone needing Chinese visas. We at CGE Golf worked with the group to ensure they had the necessary flights booked, that the visa process was efficient and trouble free and that they had as much background information as possible about the resorts, transfer arrangements, golf courses, weather, money exchange and more.

The 2 resorts are ready with the 5 star accommodation booked. Tee times arranged on Mission Hills Stone Quarry and the sensational Blackstone which was the venue for the great Woods-McIlroy challenge, followed by 2 rounds on the Dunes West course at Shenzhou. We will tour the East course as it will be closed for renovations thus giving everyone the chance to take in all the stunning holes on both courses, especially those that run along the beaches of the South China Sea. Welcome dinners will give the group an opportunity to discuss Reciprocal agreements with Mission Hills as well gain some history of both venues and their courses. The group arrives in Haikou on the 10th September for 3 nights at Mission 6

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Hills followed by 3 nights at the Sheraton/ Dunes complex, departing Haikou on the 16th.

Anthony White, GM Kooringal Golf Club, commented… The upcoming trip to experience the ‘Family’ golf trip to China has been made so easy by CGE Golf.

Kevin and his team have made the detailed process and preparation seamless. They have allowed us to prepare ourselves and our clubs for a fantastic opportunity to connect with the Mission Hills Golf and Resorts.

We look forward to sharing our experience with other managers at the GMA National Conference.

Rachel Kane, Manager at Anglesea Golf club added... Kevin has been wonderful in organising everything that needs to be done to the point of being accused of babysitting us!

Kevin’s personal approach is terrific and is always quick to respond to any query or concern I might have.

It all adds to the anticipation of what should be a great China Golf Experience.

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EDITORIAL

TORO SUPPORT & GROW GRANTS PROGRAM - WIN ONE OF TWO PREOWNED TORO GREENSMASTER® TRIFLEX™ 3400 MOWERS Does your golf club need help maintaining their turf? The Toro Support & Grow Grants program is now open and offers machinery grants for Australian not-for-profit golf clubs.

Offered by Toro Australia in conjunction with Golf Management Australia, two pre-owned Toro Triflex 3400 mowers (estimated value of $18,000 inc GST each), will be given away to two eligible winners.

Elise Willemsen, Toro’s Equipment Marketing Manager, said that the golf course industry is Toro’s oldest market. “Toro entered the golf equipment business in 1919 and today we hold a leadership position in nearly every product category in which we compete. We strongly believe in building long-term relationships with our customers and investing back into an industry that has been such a great supporter of us.

“We know how many golf clubs struggle to find the

money to afford new equipment for their course.

Whilst Toro Australia offers a large range of used equipment and finance packages to the industry, we have no doubt this grant will greatly assist two lucky clubs.

For Toro it is another way to say thank you to the industry that supports us.”

For more information and to apply visit www.toro.com.au/ grant and tell us in 300 words or less why your golf club should be eligible to win the grant. You can also nominate another golf club!

Applications must be received by the 29th of September 2017.

The Toro Support & Grow Grants Program will be an annual offering.

To be eligible to win applicants must be a not-forprofit golf club with an annual turnover of less than S1.5 million and be able to supply a public balance sheet. Clubs must have a Superintendent or employed greens staff.

www.toro.com.au

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NAVIGATING AN ON-DEMAND SOCIETY

By Greg Oakford

Last week I was sitting down at a restaurant in Albert Park for my cousin’s birthday and my near 60-year-old uncle was making it known he’d been waiting in his car for over 90 minutes before everyone else turned up.

We are not approaching an on-demand society, we are already living in it and it’s only going to accelerate further into the future. What thoughts come to mind when I mention the following: Podcasting, Spotify, Netflix, Stan, YouTube, Facebook and Amazon Prime?

The list goes on.

Asked what he did to pass the time, it was an enthusiastic response of “watched awesome car videos on YouTube”.

The internet and the infiltration of smartphones and tablets has changed the game. Born in the mid 80’s, I believe I’m in a sweet spot of being able to remember what life was like pre-internet and what the timeline looks like since. It’s fun to think about.

I’m not sure whether the fact that everyone has a TV on them 24/7 has actually sunk in yet? The behaviour of consuming hours of content whether it be video, audio or written word on that small smartphone device attached to everyone’s hip has become normalised in a very short period of time.

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Society was told when and where they could consume their favourite media.

Breakfast radio with host ‘X’ starts at 6am, Seinfeld airs at I

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7pm nightly, Sports Tonight at 10:30pm on Ch. 10 and the AFL game review is in The Age tomorrow. We were dictated to and that’s perfectly fine because there weren’t any other options, it had to happen that way.

Fast forward to 2017, the year we actually live in - how many people are sitting through a half-hour re-run of Friends on Foxtel or a free-to-air channel and watching it on the network’s time with full blocks of ads? If you have a Foxtel IQ box or a DVR type set-up from the last 5-10 years, you’ve had the ability to record your show and watch it on your time, not to mention being able to skip straight through the ads. Rather than spending a full 30mins catching up on Joey wearing everything

Chandler owns, you just finished it in 21mins. You saved time and consumed when it suited you best.

Netflix and Stan have established themselves in the Australian streaming market and instead of having the ‘privilege’ of consuming ads on traditional TV, the user pays a subscription and gets their content delivered when and where they want, ad free.

Spotify is a music giant, further cemented by the recent announcement competitor music streaming service Pandora will be shutting down its operation in Australia and New Zealand.

Spotify is a true ‘Freemium’ model. A user can pay nothing and be subjected to ads and less functionality, or pay a monthly subscription to have their service ad free and with all the bells and whistles.

Podcasting might be one of the most interesting spaces.

Unlike video or written word consumption, you can multitask whilst listening to audio.

Podcasting is somewhat like Netflix for audio - but it’s free.

Unlike radio, you’re in the driver’s seat. You choose the personalities/topics/shows you’re interested in and listen to them where you want and when you want.

ON THE CONTRARY, CONSIDER A GOOD OLD FASHIONED PHONE CALL… Who gets upset when someone actually calls them?

I do. It’s not because I don’t

like the person whose name appears on my screen (02 area code spam call centres excluded), it’s because of the timing. We are all being conditioned by an on-demand society, I’m pumped to take or make a call if it’s on my time but when someone else is calling and I’m doing something, it almost feels like they’re stealing my time.

Sounds crazy huh? Next time you get a call, I bet this paragraph comes to mind.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN THOUGH? It means as an industry, we must shift our thinking on how we go about communicating to the golf industry and how we market our sport.

If we know people want their content on-demand so it can be consumed when they’re good and ready, if we know traditional advertising is going through its biggest disruption ever, why are we doing the same things?

Is it easy? No, it’s not, but the opportunities to do more with little are unparalleled. Are you going to get everything perfect from the get-go?

Nope, but you must try.

It’s not about having to know the ins and outs of every single major social media platform or new age streaming service.

But you have a responsibility as a business to have a grasp on how society is consuming media and how you can leverage it to your advantage.

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THE BUSINESS OF GOLF CLUBS

By Jeff Blunden

A few years ago, we changed our business name to include the word ‘Business’ for one simple reason. That reason was to clearly communicate to our clients how we approached our work and the outcomes that flow from it. Including this word in our name also helps to at least remind but hopefully focus everyone in the industry on what our real reality is.

With financial outcomes achieved within club land being increasingly challenged, this article we explore: • What the business of golf clubs is • The lack of foresight in classification and a term that could actually be the root problems • The existence of some structures that don’t help the cause, heightened by increasing self interest • The messaging to members and what term we’d lead with if we could start again

When the term ‘Business’ is applied to club land it could be defined as “one that derives revenue from services provided across a cost base that is (hopefully) structured in a way that produces a reoccurring profit. This profit then allows for re-investment in the club facilities, amenities and infrastructure - all of which are required to continue to enhance the value proposition being offered to both retain existing players and attract new participants.”

It sounds quite simple when you type it out like that but we are still seeing regular examples of club thinking still not moving or being able to get into this space.

In working out why we wonder if perhaps history is to blame?

I don’t know who coined the actual term ‘not for profit’ but in focusing outcomes on a measure (profit) that is so vital to long-term sustainability, we’ve concluded that it has encouraged completely the wrong thinking.

In closing we ask if accepting less but more financial sustainable golf (in some cases better golf) has to be a better long-term outcome for the industry.

Going back in time to when clubs were first created, if there was one thing we could actually change it is this term, believing it to be completely inappropriate, not orientating focus to what is actually required for longterm sustainability. A more appropriate classification would have been ‘not for tax’ as that really is the only benefit afforded those entities which are created as a club.

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• Current financial performance numbers are presented, highlighting that those that have scale are performing better than those who don’t.

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The challenges flowing from the ’not for profit’ moniker further increase with the use of another phrase ‘for the benefit of members.’ With club status granted where the outcomes achieved are to accrue and be for ‘the benefit of members’ not be distributed or paid to any particular shareholder or owner – this phrase and its interpretation could also be part of the root issue.

I am certain that the original thinking around interpretation of the term ‘for the benefit of members’ was meant to indicate that a club with members could re-invest all that it made back in itself, with the improved asset outcome being the said benefit.

Where we are at however is that the term ‘for the benefit of members’ is now being interpreted by many as offering the lowest price possible (this being the benefit) to cover one’s expense base.

This type of thinking is evident when attention is first turned to reducing expenses in order to maintain or improve outcomes, as opposed to increasing revenue - which could possibly come via increased prices. By its very design, the term ‘for the benefit of members’ thus creates an environment where long-term thinking becomes very difficult.

Some structural realities further re-state this reality. Likely considered a good idea at the time, and very democratic, but constitutional clauses

that require permission from members to set a fee increase over and above an approved threshold (sometimes as little as five percent) is a restriction that many could do without.

Uncapped long-term discounts for length of membership and age are another example of democracy at work in constitution drafting, obviously conceived as a reward for service, but which have now become or are fast becoming a real liability.

As many of you know, pushing through changes in constitutions in these emotive areas can be a real battle, further challenged if the said constitution provides for annual elections of directors.

Putting up an un-popular (but right) resolution can stretch friendships, can be a board career limiting move, and can certainly reduce enjoyment levels of said directors trying to improve club performance and long-term sustainability.

In defence of the original law makers and constitution writers, perhaps they thought that sanity would always prevail and that obvious needs would always be met with full member approval.

interest grows. With structural challenges to already deal with, this increasing self-interest even further constricts the likelihood of beneficial long-term decisions being made and approved, particularly those that involve any major playing disruptions or spending on infrastructure that members can’t derive immediate direct benefit or value from.

Is the messaging right? Each year we conduct a number of member surveys for our clients and what is apparent in the open commentary received is that the message of what the club needs to be isn’t always well communicated down to the membership. Short-term thinking is often evident in comments similar to “this place is being run like a business”, “the bar prices are too high”, “food and beverage shouldn’t make a profit”, “long-term members should get a discount”.

Further evidencing the shortterm thinking that seems to be prevailing, we recently went out to our committed golfer panel, a panel of approximately 1,000 golfers, mainly golf club

members, and asked them to what extent they cared about club outcomes beyond their time at the club.

Our research found that concern beyond the likely term of their involvement with their current club fell in the middle of ‘not at all concerned’ and ‘highly concerned’. Not apathy by any means but certainly not worried to bits about future generations possibly not being able to enjoy the club once their time is past.

Our profile suggests if anyone is going to be more loyal or care more it is these people. If they actually don’t, with others likely caring way less than them, then only by having a committed, well thought out, and consistently executed plan will long-term success be achieved. Without a plan, only short-term thinking will prevail, and the proverbial can will just be kicked a bit further down the road.

If we could start over with a new message we’d encourage overall performance thinking to be “certainly not for loss, with profit at a level that allows for material

Back in the day they perhaps could not have seen society evolving to a point where the “club” wasn’t also the focal point and source of one’s social activity, the intangible part of the value derived from club membership.

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re-investment in facilities on a regular basis.” We appreciate that might be a bit long and isn’t very catchy, but that is what we all should be striving to achieve.

To the current numbers we go.

In 2013 Golf Management Australia (GMA) via Golf Australia’s 2013 National Club Participation Report, first published the financial health outcomes emanating from its club benchmarking tool. It utilised a financial distress table that was originally conceived in 2008 by the NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) when it performed a detailed analysis of registered clubs in NSW. The structure and table was then referenced in the golf environment in governance studies undertaken by both Golf Victoria and Golf NSW, as both bodies sort to better understand the financial health of their member clubs.

The table structure is based on the measurement of a club’s EBITDA % (calculated as Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation / Total Revenue). With no tax paid the calculation can be also known as Operating Profit – as long as depreciation costs are excluded in the above the line department expenses.

Whilst not a perfect measure (it is a point-in-time assessment of an annual result and does not take into account recent or future capital expenditure needs that might allow current outcomes to continue to be

achieved or improved), by categorising results into this table, the extent of the financial challenges being faced by clubs as they seek to deliver a sound and sustainable business model can be clearly seen.

With four years of data now available for analysis in the GMA Benchmarking platform, we are able assess performance over time and where it is trending. In 2013 it was reported that 54% of clubs were ‘Under Distress’ this being an EBITDA outcome of less than 10%. The time series summarised below indicates that this outcome has now moved to just above 60%.

In cutting up the more recent 2015 and 2016 data by club size (members) it is evident that the level of financial distress increases as club size decreases.

It is therefore readily apparent that sustainability has a tight link to scale, the latter allowing for better amortisation of the largely fixed cost base that clubs

Source: GMA Benchmarking Tool

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incur in providing an asset for daily enjoyment. Some may argue that profit levels under 10% aren’t dire and can allow a club to remain sustainable. I’d agree that this might be true if looking through a short-term lens – new paint, new carpet, the odd piece of new machinery.

But such profit outcomes won’t fund the one in 25/30-year big ticket items – new buildings, new irrigation systems, and other projects that help to support the proposition it offers to its market, a proposition that needs to be regularly accepted by the consumer to see long-term sustainability prevail.

As we look toward the upcoming GMA conference in Adelaide I hope the conversation turns to this challenge, this truth.

Importantly I hope there is increased commitment to address what, for the industry, really is the elephant in the room.

Some think that the level of supply we have should be protected at all costs, as it helps to ensure that plentiful entry points into the sport are offered.

With reference to the data above, we are increasingly of the view that as golf clubs compete with other sports and leisure activities for attention, and battle society perception of being old fashioned (old looking?), gaining more strength, visibility, and consumer relevance from scale is a strategy that must be promoted.

Accepting less but more financial sustainable golf (in some cases better golf) has to be a better long-term outcome for the industry than having now near two thirds of clubs just surviving and save for a major windfall, being unable to do anything that could materially improve their collective futures.

Future proof your club How to build a younger membership A recent review of over 400 member based clubs using MiClub systems showed an overwhelming 91% of all women golf club members are aged 50 and over. 78% of all male golf club members are also over 50. There is a significant drop in the 20-50 year old players as competing demands take precedence, including family and other commitments. These golfers can be termed family golfers.

Statistics snapshot 

44% increase in men’s golf bookings from 30-39 year olds to 40-49 age bracket.

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77% increase in women’s golf bookings between 40-49 year olds to 50-59 year olds.

“Family golfers”

How to capture the family golfers

Lifestyle Membership

The statistics present a pressing requirement to attract the family golfer.

MiClub’s Lifestyle Membership is a flexible, modern membership model, with points-based membership at different pricing levels and/or different point allocations for peak and off-peak times.

This age bracket (30-50 year old male and female golfers) face competing demands on their time and wallet. They need a real value proposition.

Efforts must focus on increasing loyalty and providing a sense of value for the younger golfer.

Flexible approach needed Traditional golf membership may be viewed as restrictive and cost prohibitive to the family golfer.

One possible solution to attract this market segment is to offer more flexibility in terms of cost and amount of golf played.

The Lifestyle Membership model is proving very successful as more clubs are adding or replacing membership categories with lifestyle categories.

The Vines Country Club recently made a complete shift to Lifestyle Membership and have signed up 171 new (additional) members in the last three months, without any impact on existing membership revenue.

READ VINES CASE STUDY

Find out more Contact MiClub via your MiClub Account Manager or you can visit our website, email enquiry@miclub.com.au or call 08 9444 5300.

See you at the 2017 GMA National Conference MiClub is proud to be the technology partner at this year’s conference in Adelaide.

Come by MiClub’s expo booth to discuss Lifestyle Membership and other MiClub initiatives.

MILLENNIALS ARE THEY AN OPPORTUNITY OR A THREAT TO GOLF CLUBS? As Managers and Boards continue to develop strategic thinking and plan for a sustainable future, we look over the horizon and analyse what the next generation of golfers believe is important.

While the demographic shift may not impact the industry fully in the next 3 to 5 years, the demographic landscape will likely look very different by 2030. The Millennials (born 1980-1994) are coming and the golf clubs that best position themselves to consider how they engage with this generation and understand their expectations will be well positioned to make it an opportunity.

It is no surprise that behaviours, expectations and perceptions vary greatly between generations. With a national average age of 62.4 years for females and 54.4 for men (Source: Golf Australia - 2016 Golf Club Participation Report) the sport has operated steeped in tradition, dominated by competitions, rules and etiquette. The Millennials values and expectations don’t quite align with this model. There is less interest in competitive events with a greater focus on enjoyment, shorter versions of the game and a more relaxed environment.

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The recent 2016 Australian Census highlights a number of significant changes in Australia; population growth, ageing population, housing affordability and greater cultural diversity. In the United States,The Pew Research Centre reported in 2016 that Millennials have surpassed Baby Boomers as the nation’s largest living generation.

Is this good news for golf clubs and the industry? As a member of the X-generation I sometimes feel wedged in the middle. The Baby Boomers (1946-1964) which represents 20% of the Australian population, have ruled the fairways and the board rooms of golf clubs for the last 20 years (57% of the national club golf membership base is 55 years or older. Source: Golf Australia - 2016 Golf Club Participation Report) however as a generation they are now outnumber by the Millennials (22% of total population in Australia - Source: ABS. McCrindle 2017).

Bernard Salt, a self confessed Middle Aged Moraliser and leading demographer wrote an article in the Weekend Australian Magazine in October last year, titled “I belong to a secret society and I am looking I

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for recruits”. The article highlighted the differences in the attitudes, behaviour and expectations of Baby Boomers and Millennials.

Salt took aim at the Millennials in his article criticising their beloved hipsters cafes and their frivolous spending patterns “smashed avocado with crumbled feta on five grain toasted bread at $22 a pop. I can afford to eat this because I am middle aged and have raised my family. But how can young people afford to eat like this? Shouldn’t they be economising by eating at home?

How often are they eating out?

Twenty-two dollars several times a week could go towards a deposit on a house.” The reaction on social media was immense.

So what does this mean for Golf?

Will Millennials join private clubs?

Do Millennials care about non golf amenities? How much are Millennials willing to pay for golf? In the private club world these questions are commonplace for managers, club Boards, membership sales staff, and anyone charged with the duty to continuously fill the club’s membership pipeline with ‘new blood’.

GGA - Nextgengolf Millennial Golfers Infographic This initiative was spearheaded by Nextgengolf (Kris Hart, CEO, and Matt Weinberger, COO) and Global Golf Advisors (Michael Gregory, Senior Manager, and Bennett DeLozier, Senior Associate).

Global Golf Advisors recently teamed up with Kris Hart and Matt Weinberger of Nextgengolf in North America to gauge just how many ‘degrees of separation’ there are between Millennials and private clubs.

Nextgengolf is the leading entity for 18 to 34 year old golfers in the United States. Nextgengolf is an inclusive organisation with the mission to provide golfing opportunities and make the game of golf more relevant for college students and young adults.

A fusion of GGA’s 25-year history of private club research and Nextgengolf’s profound relationship with young golfers afforded a survey of more than 1,000 avid Millennial golfers who were asked about their golfing habits and stance on private club memberships. Research revealed the following high-level trends about Millennial golfers: 1. Flexibility and customisation is key 2. Referrals are very important 3. Non-golf amenities matter 4. Primary target audience – low-handicap Millennials 5. Opportunities exist to better capture Millennials at private clubs 6. There are barriers which private clubs must consider Find out more survey findings in the infographic.

While this survey and report is from the United States and based on American golfers, it highlights a number of opportunities to better engage with this group by understanding their needs and expectations. The tolerance for membership subscriptions or entrance fees is higher in North America as the cost of membership in general is higher than the Australian market.

Currently in Australia the 18-34 age group represents 12.2% of the national golf club membership base (Source: Golf Australia - 2016 Golf Club Participation Report).

With the population growing due to immigration and ethnic diversity increasing, opportunities exist to tap into new membership markets.

Up until recently Europe was the number one country of origin for overseas born residents. The flow from Europe has been superseded by the flow from Asia. For the first time the 2016 Census shows that in New South Wales, China has become number one for overseas born residents while in Victoria India has taken over from England.

The census reveals that nearly half (49%) of Australians had either been born overseas (first generation Australians) or one or both parents (second generation Australians) were born overseas.

It is obvious that the needs and expectations of future golf club members will continue to evolve. A combination of long working hours,

family commitments and financial pressures are some of the obstacles impacting millennials committing to the traditional membership options. Clubs that embrace the opportunity by developing a greater understanding of their internal market (their members and future members expectations and needs), their external market (club’s competitive position in the market) and a deeper understanding of the financial drivers of their business will be ideally positioned to make well considered strategic decisions.

They will also be well prepared to manage the expectations and any tensions between the existing membership base and future members.

At Global Golf Advisors, we understand the value of an annual survey to a club. While the concept is relatively new in the Asia Pacific market, annual surveys will record trends over time in changing attitudes and expectations, helping a club remain in tune with all demographic profiles particularly those groups such as millennials who do not historically sway decision making.

For further information or assistance with Strategic Planning, Member Surveys or Strategic Intelligence please contact Paul Hinton, Director at Global Golf Advisors on phinton@ globalgolfadvisors.com or 0415 222 607.

WWW.GMA.ORG.AU

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PGA IGO ADOLM Brendon Kop - General Manager, Penrith Golf Club

The GMA National Conference is fast approaching and I for one cannot wait to attend this year, for what will be my 6th GMA National Conference. To me, the National Conference is the one ‘must attend’ event that I recommend to my Board of Directors for consideration.

The GMA does a fantastic job of assembling the national conference that directly relates to ‘the now’ and is not simply put together just for the sake of it being held every two years. The content and the presenters are always of a very high calibre, which means I get to leave the conference having learnt new ideas and methods, as well as being highly motivated to take things back to my club for the benefit of club members, their guests, the staff and the Board of Directors.

With the theme of this year’s conference being ‘Now is the time to be different’, I thought I could relate that to my experience of completing the PGAIGI Advanced Diploma of Leadership and Management (ADOLM) that I was fortunate to have won last year. Having completed a few units thus far, I can honestly say that I have been benefitting from some relevant educational content that has made me re-evaluate how I undertake 16

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various facets of my role on a daily basis. What I have learnt is that ‘what you know and how you go about things, isn’t always what is best’. The ADOLM has given me a new insight into my job role and how I communicate, plan and relate to club members, the staff and the Board of Directors. It has also taught me to think outside the box a lot more and to embrace change and ideas to ensure a successful journey for the club.

The conference this year will cover daily themes such as “The Future – What it holds and harnessing potential”, “Resilience – Building Peak Personal & Club Performance” and “Leading into the Future – Seizing the Opportunity”.

With some of the educational units that I have been and am currently studying, the topics covered in the GMA Conference should nicely complement the ADOLM and further improve my skill set going into the future with my club.

My career thus far has seen my club look into diversity of the business model to create additional revenue streams, greater focus on customer service, making intuitive financial spending decisions, reviewing and creating flexible membership models I

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and planning for the future.

Attending the GMA National Conference will surely provide additional items for consideration of ‘Now is the time to be different’.

What I tend to find at the GMA Conference is the added benefit of networking amongst fellow industry colleagues across our beautiful country. I have made a number of friends at previous conferences that I have contacted for advice and feedback on various topics. It is always great to attend the conference and see someone that you met from another State at one of the previous conferences and the feeling that it is a long lost friend that you are re-engaging with.

For any Club Managers that are considering attending the conference and have yet to make their decision and/or approach their Board, please consider it as an investment into your individual skillset, as well as an investment into your club going forward.

For any club managers and/ or support staff that are interested in the ADOLM, I can only suggest that you contact the PGA and enquire about committing to the course. It is an investment in the future for both yourself and your club.

OFFICIAL BEVERAGE

PARTNER TO THE GMA

WWW.GMA.ORG.AU

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GMA National Conference 8-12 October 2017 Adelaide Convention Centre // South Australia

THE VENUE

ADELAIDE CONVENTION CENTRE The Adelaide Convention Centre (ACC) opened its doors in 1987 with twin aims of setting a new benchmark for convention facilities and services in Australia and contributing to the South Australian economy by attracting a high yield tourism sector to the State.

Succeeding on both counts, the centre has established a global reputation for excellence, as reflected by a string of awards and a high rate of repeat business, and to date has created more than $1.4 billion in economic benefit for South Australia.

Like all good convention facilities, the ACC is constantly evolving and improving. Three

major extensions have been completed in the past three decades – the most recent being the striking new East Building, officially opened in August 2017.

This years’ exhibition and plenary spaces will be held in Halls L & M respectively on the spacious West Building’s ground floor level (shown in green).

The ACC is conveniently located in the heart of the city centre and nestled within the beauty of the Riverbank Precinct, surrounded by parklands and the River Torrens.

It is a short five minute stroll across the new ACC plaza from the Official Conference Hotel, the Intercontinental Adelaide.

THE PROGRAM

EDUCATIONAL CONTENT Click on images to learn more about each speaker

Day 1

Tim Longhurst

Nienke Bloem

TUESDAY

Embracing the future

Bridging the starter gap

The Future

How is the world changing & what are the possibilities

How to connect with the starter golfer and increase your revenue

Day 2

Hugh van Cuylenburg

Dr Joanna McMillan

Tansel Ali

WEDNESDAY

Discovering resilience

Boost performance & productivity

Remember me!

Resilience

Teaching Australians to be mentally healthy

Learn how to boost your performance and productivity through health & nutrition

Learn how you can be bette business being a Mental Ath

Day 3

Patti Dobrowolski

THURSDAY

Draw your future

Seizing the Opportunity

Strategic Planning in action using the business leadership tool of the future

Steve Sammartino Disruptive technologies A mind-spinning journey detailing our changing world as we enter the technological age

Henry Delozier Global Golf Advisors Insight, Strategy and Success

Paul Butler

Business financial intellige

How the small things matter an have an impact on profits

er in hlete

ence

nd

THE PROGRAM

SOCIAL FUNCTIONS & EVENTS WELCOME COCKTAIL PARTY State Library of SA - Mortlock Wing Sunday, 8th October 2017 / 5:00pm to 7:00pm Brought to you by Club Car Nestled in the heart of Adelaide’s North Terrace cultural precinct, the State Library of South Australia’s Mortlock Wing will play host to GMA National Conference delegates for the Welcome Cocktail Party.

SOCIAL/PARTNER PROGRAM Guided tour of North Tce cultural precinct Monday, 9th October 2017 / Morning TBC Get together with fellow partners and other non-golfers for a guided tour of Adelaide’s famous North Terrace cultural precinct

THE ACCOMMODATION

INTERCONTINENTAL ADELAIDE The InterContinental Adelaide is South Australia’s leading luxury hotel.

Exclusively positioned on the River Torrens, adjacent to the Adelaide Convention Centre, Casino and Festival Centre, it forms an integral part of Adelaide’s spectacular Riverbank Promenade.

The hotel’s 367 spacious guest rooms and suites are well equipped and offer expansive

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Finish the walk in style at the National Wine Centre with a tasting plate of quality South Australian produce matched with some of the State’s renowned wines.

views of historic and cultural Adelaide.

CONFERENCE OPENING DINNER

Designed with the needs of the global traveller in mind, each room features a large desk, marble bathroom and separate bath and shower.

InterContinental Adelaide Ballroom Monday, 9th October 2017 / Time TBC Brought to you by Toro Australia The glitz and glamour of the luxurious InterContinental Adelaide ballroom is the venue for the Conference Opening Dinner. Situated in the Lower Lobby of the official Conference hotel, the ballroom will be the perfect setting to officially open the 2017 conference.

Club InterContinental guest rooms are situated on the upper floors of the hotel and feature superior amenities and exclusive access to the Club InterContinental Lounge.

CLOSING CONFERENCE DINNER Panorama Ballroom - Convention Centre Thursday, 12th October 2017 / Time TBC Brought to you by Hostplus

Accommodation at the InterContinental for Conference attendees includes breakfast in the Riverside Restaurant every morning.

What better way to officially close the conference than an evening of unrivaled local experiences in the Panorama Ballroom of the Adelaide Convention Centre, boasting floor to ceiling glass windows with stunning views over the River Torrens and surrounding parklands.

Danny Bowerin

Andre Eikmeier

Mike Holtzman

Masterclasses

Leading into the future

Customers, culture & marketing

Food & Beverage transform

Learn what Golf Australia are planning to grow the game of golf.

Road to Vino – How Vinomofo survived and conquered

20 ideas in 45 minutes to transform your F&B operations

Choose from 6 specialised masterclasses

Nam Baldwin The Psychology of performance Dealing with stress and how to focus

2 x streams

Dr Leanne Faulkner

Masterclasses

Vulnerability

Choose from 6 specialised masterclasses

Vulnerability is the key to Entrepreneurship. If you want to succeed, you first have to know how to fail

2 x streams

Emilio De Stefano

Ask the Expert

Board Governance

Peter Sharp

How to take action

Learn from the experts

Interactive panel session

Let’s get moving...

Getting started and taking risks to inspire innovation

Move from table to table in short Q&A sessions.

Interact via the Conference app and ask the burning questions...

Step outside your comfort zone & dare to be vulnerable

THE GOLF

ROYAL ADELAIDE GOLF CLUB The Seaton course, widely acknowledged as ranking with the best in Australia, is in Adelaide’s western suburbs, less than 20 minutes drive from the city and less than two kilometers from the coast.

GLENELG GOLF CLUB Glenelg Golf Club offers a true world class challenge, recognised as one of Australia’s premier golfing facilities.

Under the careful guidance of golf course architects, Neil Crafter and Bob Tuohy, “The Bay” was redeveloped from 1998 to 2004 with a focus on restoring much the golf course back to the sites’ original characteristics and features, laying the foundations for a course that has not only enjoyed widespread acclaim for its challenging layout, but also the quality of its playing surfaces.

Ribbons of manicured turf meander through pockets of dunes, native vegetation and pines trees, providing breathtaking vistas and an inspiring golfing experience.

ABOUT GLENELG Length & Ratings M: 6,234m / Par 71 / Slope 139 W: 5,550m / Par 72 / Slope 139 Australian Course Rankings Golf Australia (2016): 25th Golf Digest (2016): 39th Designers Herbert L. Rymill (1927) Vern Morcom (1955) Neil Crafter/Bob Tuohy (2004-) Location James Melrose Road NOVAR GARDENS SA 5040

Despite many alterations made since the first blow was struck in 1906, it retains its distinctive character of a comparatively open links course, an attribute by no means common in this country. It is this character which members and visitors alike recognise as a priceless asset in a golf course situated so close to a major city.

Celebrating its 125th birthday in 2017, Royal Adelaide will play host to the Jack Merrick Memorial Trophy (GMA State Team Championship) during the Conference in October.

Website www,glenelggolf.com

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ABOUT ROYAL ADELAIDE Length & Ratings M: 6,557m / Par 72 / Slope 133 W: 5,516m / Par 73 / Slope 136 Australian Course Rankings Golf Australia (2016): 10th Golf Digest (2016): 14th Designers Dr Alister MacKenzie (1926) Thomson & Wolveridge (1979/97) Tom Doak (current) Location 328 Tapleys Hill Road SEATON SA 5023 Website www.royaladelaidegolf.com.au

Golfers will be competing for the Ted Coker Championship Cup (best scratch stableford score), the Billie Friedlander Perpetual Trophy (best female stableford score) and the Leon Thompson Memorial Trophy (best male stableford score).

REMEMBER

Justify your attendance Attending the GMA National Conference is an investment of your time and your club’s financial resources.

As a professional development opportunity, it is without equal in the club industry in Australia.

Those of you who have previously attended this event will appreciate the enormous benefits that networking with your peers in a motivating and educational environment affords.

To first time attendees, you will appreciate the numerous opportunities that will assist you to meet the challenges of the industry whilst identifying trends and outcomes that the conference will focus upon.

Have a mindset to seek “takeaways” that you will bring back to your club as a return of investment.

Share your experience.

Develop a short presentation to your club to share what you learned and offer possible applications and recommendations.

Share your experiences and newfound knowledge with your board and management who will benefit from the learning materials from the Conference.

Prepare a communication plan that will document how you will maintain access to those at the club who are undertaking the management responsibilities while you are attending the Conference.

Remind your club board that your attendance will allow you to advance your own professional development.

Conference Partners, Sponsors & Exhibitors THANK YOU On behalf of the Board and members of Golf Management Australia, we extend our thanks and gratitude to the following partners, sponsors and exhibitors for their significant contribution towards the upcoming 2017 GMA National Conference.

Schweppes Australia Official Partner of the 2017 GMA National Conference

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For more information on any of our partners, sponsors and exhibitors, please click on their logos.

MAJOR SPONSORS

SPONSORS

Technology Partner

EXHIBITORS

Other Supporters Conference Gift Sponsor

Delegate Rewards Sponsor

Media Partner

TIME FOR A LITTLE GOVERNANCE SPRING CLEANING Completion of the Governance Fundamentals e-learning course invites clubs to review and perhaps clean-up their governance system.

A clean-up won’t happen on its own but it will happen… as a result of conversations between board members and managers.

Here’s seven useful governance questions that the e-learning module may prompt: 1. How can we as a board and management be doing this better?

2. How much board time are we spending in monitoring operations, or discussing operational matters compared to dealing with issues of policy and planning the club’s future?

3. How are (or: Are) our subcommittees helping our board do its (real board) work?

4. Are our policies sufficiently established to guide and empower management and staff to operate the club?

Boards are the informed voice and agent of the members. Members should expect boards to have a robust governance system and a focus on the future needs of the club.

The Governance Fundamentals course is a great chance to do some Spring cleaning.

There are lots of governance resources ready to adapt to your club. The course is designed for boards and managers, is $49.50 to register and takes around an hour to complete.

Go to: www.golf.org.au/clubsupport

5. How can we plan the year to ensure our board fulfils its range of governance responsibilities?

6. How will we know if we’re getting better?

7. What steps should we be taking now to get quality people to join our board in future?

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Golf Tourism & Management Conference

04-11 OCTOBER

2018 QUEENSTOWN

NEW ZEALAND The Club Managers Association of America (CMAA) and the Golf Managers Association of New Zealand (GMANZ) are proud to bring the conjoint BMI International Conference and 8th Biennial 2018 GMANZ Conference to beautiful Queenstown, New Zealand on October 4-11, 2018.

This is the first time CMAA has run its BMI International programme in the Southern Hemisphere and it will be followed by the GMANZ Conference.

The spacious Millennium Hotel located very close to downtown Queenstown will be hosts for the duration.

Join 50 of the top managers from the top clubs in the USA, Canada, Asia, New Zealand and Europe for this outstanding networking and educational experience.

BMI INTERNATIONAL WILL FEATURE; • the very best speakers from Australia and New Zealand including sportsmen, politicians and business personalities and famous locals.

• the very best that Queenstown has to offer including golf at Jacks Point, social activities including The Spirit of Queenstown Cruise, a visit to the home of bungy at Kawarau Bungy, education and tours of both championship golf clubs, Millbrook Golf Club and The Hills.

• a day focused on Food and Wine at Amisfield Restaurant partaking in some of New Zealand’s best Pinor Noir, New Zealand honey, local lamb and beef, local cheese and a special long lunch specially designed by Amisfield’s very own chef.

Education will last all day and all local (Australia and New Zealand) participating managers will receive a complimentary education-only badge to be used at future CMAA World Conferences.

A special closing dinner will take place at the famed Skyline restaurant featuring a special keynote speaker and a magic night at Queenstown’s most scenic spot. Spouses will have their own customized tours and schedule of events full of adventure, leisure and recreation.

This promises to be an adventure like no other full of learning, recreation and excitement. We hope to see you there! To discover just how stunning Queenstown is as the backdrop to our conference event, please visit https://www.queenstownnz.co.nz/ Come join CMAA, GMANZ experience Queenstown – adventure Capital of the World.

Further details will be at CMAA.org

SAVE THE DATE! 04/10/18 Please register your initial interest in attending by emailing GMANZ Executive Officer, Des Topp at: eo@gmanz.co.nz

and the

WIN THE ULTIMATE GOLF BUG ADVENTURE TO BARNBOUGLE, CAPE WICKHAM AND OCEAN DUNES! Golf Month is back this October and it’s bigger and better than ever. Last year we had 435 clubs and facilities involved and we’re hoping to top that in 2017.

As a national campaign to drive golf participation, supported by the entire Australian golf industry, Golf Month is a fantastic opportunity to promote your club, engage your local community, welcome new people to golf or simply put on an event to celebrate the game we all love. So please make sure your club is involved and has a Golf Month activity on the website.

The 2017 Golf Month marketing campaign focuses on inspiring our game’s strongest advocates – club members and passionate golfers – to share the golf bug with friends and family. That’s why this year’s competition, offers them the chance to win the ultimate golf bug adventure to Barnbougle, Cape Wickham and Ocean Dunes!

You can promote the competition and your Golf Month activities using a range of marketing materials that we’ve made available through the Golf Month website, including posters that can be displayed at your club. Don’t deprive your members of the chance to win this amazing prize!

On the marketing kit page, you’ll also find digital advertising assets that you can use on your websites and email signatures, as well as a media release template that you can tailor to your needs.

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In early September, we’ll share the Golf Month videos (we’re quietly confident you’ll love them) with suggested text for posts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Once the national marketing campaign gets into full swing in mid-September, if you have a Golf Month activity on the website, you’ll benefit from targeted social media advertising, in-show radio content from media partners, radio advertising, digital advertising on industry-owned channels (including the handicap history page of www.golf.org.au), YouTube pre-roll advertising, search engine marketing, and partnerships with Australian Golf Digest and Golf Australia magazine.

The Golf Month team will also be working hard to get coverage of Golf Month in the media, so let’s work together to share the golf bug this October.

If you have any questions, just email golfmonth@golf.org.au.

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SHARE THE GOLF BUG

‌and you and a friend could win the ultimate golf bug adventure to Barnbougle, Cape Wickham and Ocean Dunes thanks to Air Adventure Golf Tours. Find out more at golfmonth.com.au.

EDITORIAL

E-LEARNING QUALIFICATIONS FOR CLUB MANAGERS AND STAFF DEVELOPMENT Are you looking to stand out from the crowd as a General Manager? Are you looking for qualifications to help with development of staff within your club?

The PGA International Golf Institute (PGA IGI) has been a leader in golf education since 2005. After delivering through on campus learning on the Gold Coast, the PGA IGI has developed its qualifications for study through E-Learning that are ideal for golf club managers and their staff.

The PGA IGI delivers two nationally recognised qualifications via e-learning.

Both of these qualifications are endorsed by the GMA for its members and staff. They are: • 10459NAT Diploma of Golf Management • BSB61015 Advanced Diploma of Leadership and Management E-Learning programs provide students with a flexible learning platform to undertake their study. This flexibility allows students to study anywhere and at any time that suits you, around your work, life and family requirements. All you need is access to a computer to undertake your learning with the PGA IGI E-Learning qualification.

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THE PROGRAM FOR GOLF CLUB MANAGERS The Advanced Club Management Program (incorporating BSB61015 Advanced Diploma of Leadership and Management) looks specifically in to the skills set and knowledge required by managers within the golf and club industry today.

“This program was developed in consultation with the GMA before it was released”, explained Christine Straw, Senior Manager at the PGA IGI. “By working with the GMA, it enabled the PGA IGI team to deliver the units of study relevant to the skills a manager uses each day within their roles as a General Manager.”

The qualification covers 12 units of competency across the 2 years of study. Areas of study that the Advanced Club Management Program covers include: - Business plan, marketing plan and strategic plan - Managing organisational change and employee relations - Compliance - Risk Management - Financial Management I

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- Leadership and organisational development A number of areas of study can be complimented alongside the manager’s day to day requirements within their role.

When a student’s assessment is on a particular area of study (e.g. marketing plan), the assessment can be written for their current club. This can then be implemented in the daily operations with their board and staff.

“It is ideal for General Managers looking to quantify their skills set, or those in middle to senior management roles looking to enhance their knowledge for further career progression”, continued Straw. “We have a number of General Managers and departmental managers currently studying in the Advanced Club Management Program, who are utilising the program for the above reasons outlined.”

All GMA Members receive exclusive tuition fee rates for study of the Advanced Club Management Program with the PGA IGI.

STAFF DEVELOPMENT WITH PGA IGI Having skilled personnel in your team at a golf club can help build a strong club, with staff who can provide a unique customer experience for your members and customers. The PGA IGI’s Diploma of Golf Management can help develop individual’s skills and knowledge across all areas of a golfing business, not just one department.

The PGA IGI delivers Australia’s only Diploma of Golf Management qualification.

The 10459NAT Diploma of Golf Management was written in consultation with the golf industry, and has been a platform for individuals looking to commence their careers in golf or further their progression in to new supervisory and management roles.

“After much development, we introduced the Diploma of Golf

Management via E-Learning in early 2017,” explained Straw.

“We have seen students who couldn’t study through on campus learning begin studies in their desired qualification.”

“Along with this, we have seen an increase in new students who are currently working within the golf industry looking to utilise the strength of the program for future career progression in to supervisory and management positions at golf clubs.”

The Diploma of Golf Management (E-Learning) focuses on the business, management and operations for the golf industry. It is a study program for individuals looking to broaden and further enhance their knowledge of all areas of golf. The qualification will look in

to areas of the golf industry such as: - Golf course operations - Managing competitions, tournaments and events - Food and beverage operations - Golf club management - Staff management - Creating a safe workplace - Managing budgets and finances With the qualification covering multiple areas of the business of golf clubs, it can provide a platform for multi-skilled individuals within your golf club. This enables individuals to understand all areas of the business and not just the one department they specialise in.

GET STARTED WHEN SUITS YOU With all of your study undertaken through E-Learning, there is no need to attend any classes on campus with the PGA IGI. Students will receive access to the Fairway, the PGA IGI’s online learning platform. This will become your student hub for all your learning during your study.

Flexible intake dates are available for students looking to commence in our e-learning programs, allowing new students to begin study at a time that best suits their needs.

Students have a maximum of up to two years to complete either qualification deleivered by the PGA IGI. Intakes dates each year for the PGA IGI’s e-learning programs are:

Bryden, Marketing and Student Recruitment Manager, on lbryden@pga.org.au or (07) 5657 6116.

• Monthly intakes

RTO Provider no. 31270

www.pgaigi.com

• February to December GMA Members receive exclusive GMA Member tuition fee rates when undertaking study in PGA IGI qualifications.

For further information about the PGA IGI’s E-Learning Programs, please contact Luke WWW.GMA.ORG.AU

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MPOWER GOLF The team at MPower Golf are looking forward to the GMA national conference in October. As the event rapidly approaches our account managers will be in touch to organise catch ups at our stand on our product range across MPower Golf and also to introduce our reporting, analytics & business intelligence platform MPower BI. As a major partner of GMA we have been pleased to provide the members with a leaderboard on the Genesis Golf Link Cup. The Genesis Golf Link Cup has now over 101,000 registered players which represents 26% of all club golfers.

We will be inviting the top 2 GMA members on the leaderboard to attend the Genesis Golf Link Cup national final in Sydney, playing at NSW Golf Club and attending the Emirates Australian Open. The top 10 for GMA at the time of submitting this article are:

Greater governance can be achieved through the automation of business processes. As an example we see many clubs that still need to manually process point of sale transactions through to the general ledger. This not only creates opportunities for errors and time consuming journal transactions but also the opportunity to drill down into the transactional data to analyse member behaviour is minimised.

As a club manager you do not always know the questions you need to ask of your data. By using a business intelligence platform like MPower BI, you can visualise your data and start to analyse the information across product lines, outlets and importantly - member behaviour. From a hospitality or retail perspective you can start to ask the data: • What products are performing well and which ones aren’t;

make data driven decisions to boost operational performance and drive new revenue opportunities. We will be shortly releasing some information on our business intelligence platform and it will be a key demonstration piece for us at the conference.

We have recently launched a new module to our GolfBox Tournament solution that is used in Australia by Golf Australia, PGA of Australia, Golf NSW, Golf Victoria and a number of clubs. We have released a player live scoring module which allows players to enter the score of their group in real-time, automatically populating on a live leaderboard. The system has been designed for mobile devices, players are sent a link via SMS or email with their score code to record hole by hole results. The live scoring system takes the gross scores and seamlessly populates the live leaderboard with the net result depending on the competition of the day.

GolfBox Tournament requires no installation by the player to take advantage of the live scoring module.

The Tournament platform has been designed to be an out of the box solution, players simply tap on a link using any browser and they are good to start scoring.

We will be using the GolfBox system and live scoring at the conference golf events, which will allow you to keep track of the live results for the national championships as well.

• When a member purchases a product what other products are they purchasing as well;

To see where you are placed on the GMA Genesis Golf Link Cup leaderboard please visit www. genesisgolflinkcup.com.au/gma MPower Golf’s purpose is to make great products that golfers and administrators love to use. Through the provision of these products we then assist clubs in growing revenue and providing greater professionalism and governance.

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• Who are my most supportive members and what are they purchasing; and importantly • Who are the members at my club that are at most risk of not renewing next year?

The MPower BI platform is helping clubs to visualise their data and I

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If you would like further information or to have one of our account managers contact you please speak with the MPower Golf customer service team on 1800 443 654 (option 1) or email golf@mpowermsl.com.

We look forward to seeing you in October, Nick Thornton General Manager, MPower Golf

A GENERATIONAL CHANGE

THE SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIAN GOLF COURSE ARCHITECTS (SAGCA) ELECTS HARLEY KRUSE AS NEW PRESIDENT Sydney, Australia: Harley Kruse, founder of KruseGolf, was elected President of the SAGCA at its 27th Annual General Meeting held recently on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

Harley replaces the outgoing President, Ted Parslow, an original founding member of the SAGCA who served 3 years in the role.

value of excellent golf course design and the services that our members can bring to the table. Most importantly, I look forward to growing our existing relationships within the golf industry, while also forging new ones”

ABOUT HARLEY KRUSE

The election of Harley, along with Paul Mogford as Vice President and the re-election of Paul Reeves as Secretary/Treasurer, sees the passing of the SAGCA Executive baton to the next generation of Australian golf course architects.

On his appointment to the Presidential role, Harley said, “It’s an exciting time at the SAGCA and I look forward to working alongside the two Pauls. The golf course design world has become truly global. Our members are not only designing and remodelling courses in Australia, but also in the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Europe, the USA and the home of golf, Scotland.

My mission as President is to ensure the SAGCA is proactive in promoting the excellent services and exceptional work of our members. From consulting to humble country courses, through to private and public suburban courses, and the development of new courses and resorts, I would like to see a greater awareness of the

ABOUT THE SAGCA

As the eminent body representing the profession of golf course architecture in Australia, the SAGCA was formed in 1989 and today, boasts 37 members from across Australia and New Zealand, as well as members residing in Asia, the UK and USA.

Prior to establishing KruseGolf, Harley had an extensive design career across the Asia Pacific region. He is the only golf course architect to have worked for two of Australia’s greatest male golfers, Peter Thomson (the Patron of the SAGCA) and Greg Norman (SAGCA Honorary Member). At Greg Norman Golf Course Design Harley’s work included the highly acclaimed Dunes Course, Danang Golf Club, Vietnam; The Norman Course at Mission Hills, China; Jade Palace Golf Club, South Korea and Settlers Run Golf +Country Club in Melbourne.

The SAGCA serves to develop and promote the profession of golf course architecture and the specialist services its members provide. The SAGCA is a member of the Australian Golf Industry Council (AGIC) comprising Golf Australia(GA); The Professional Golfers Association (PGA) of Australia; The Australian Ladies Professional Golf (ALPG); The Australian Golf Course Superintendents Association (AGCSA) and Australian Sporting Goods Association (ASGA).

For more information, contact: inquiries@sagca.org.au harleykruse@aapt.net.au

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COMMUNITY GOLF

A NEW PHENOMENON FROM THE OLD WORLD The Old Course at St. Andrews Golf Links in Scotland is acknowledged as the home of golf and at this prestigious venue each Sunday people from all walks of life wander over the links with their dogs and children to enjoy the public open space (there is an exception during major tournaments).

means either the developer or the residential owners have to provide funds for the ongoing maintenance.

The St. Andrews is public land and the community have the right to enjoy the area when golf is not being played. There are rules picnickers are requested to follow, such as please do not go into bunkers or onto greens but generally you can picnic on the tees or fairways and enjoy the area.

Arvind Infrastructure has developed their ‘Uplands’ project in Ahmedabad, a 135 acres low density residential township with a 9 hole (Par 3) Community Golf Course on 9.2 acres and Club on 3.6 acres.

So Golf Course Architects are creating nothing new with the introduction of Community Golf Facilities into their projects. These community facilities are tracts of open space that are designed for both golf and other open space activities. For developers creating new townships and those who wish to take up the game of golf it is a wonderful way of combining community open space with golf.

Developers are often required to allow for a certain percentage of “Open Space” within a new project.

While the cost of developing a community golf facility in such space is more than say a Park, there is at least ongoing income from the golf facility (Green Fees and / or membership) and this pays for high quality maintenance as well as giving a small return on capital invested into construction. A park will cost money to build and maintain without any ongoing income and this usually

I have two such Community Golf projects already constructed in India (Arvind Uplands in Ahmedabad & Blue Ridge in Pune) and understand there are several more in planning.

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The concept has created such interest that Arvind Infrastructure is doing a second community golf project (Beyond Five) about 35 minutes’ drive from Uplands. When this second golf course is completed both Clubs plan to hold regular Par 3 interclub tournaments.

The golf zone has a path system around the area along with four ‘fitness stations’ (specialist outdoor gym equipment), large lake, rest gazebos and landscaping to complement the golf holes. The Developer has completed the golf zone along with infrastructure (roads & entry) first as the golf will greatly assist marketing for the residential product.

The golf zone was deliberately developed about one metre lower than the main adjoining road so that vehicles and pedestrians (outside of golf zone) can easily see into the golf, there are also viewing platforms and seats outside of golf zone fence so that community members can enjoy the zone at all times.

The Club will control all access to the golf and users will always need to go through the Club entry to enjoy the area. All of the area will be covered

by CCTV / webcam for security and targeted lighting will be used inside of zone.

It is sometimes difficult for potential new golfers to walk onto a golf course for the first time, however the community golf concept allows them to walk over the golf without even playing, thus breaking down the fear and will obviously interest a lot of potential new golfers,

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encouraging them to try out golf.

Many see Community courses as being a real nursery for new talent as well as a fun place to hone the shorter shot aspects of the golf game.

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The Community Golf concept is also an extension of the Indian Golf Union’s push for more training facilities across India with past IGU President Anil Seolekar indicating recently “the Township Community Golf concept is a great solution to bringing golf to the wider population as a sport option and will really assist in growing the game in India”.

So where does that leave Australia and its’ golf courses. At the moment clubs are starting to think about using the golf course for activities outside of regular golf, but the potential for creating a great community facility are somewhat untapped.

Paul Reeves – Honorary Secretary / Treasurer, Society of Australian Golf Course Architects Paul Reeves is a Golf Course Architect who works throughout Asia and Australia.

DUMBING DOWN OR SHORING UP OF GOLF It seems every few weeks there is a news article about a golf course under threat of some kind. With courses occupying private land the matter is less of an issue, but when it comes to public courses and semi-private courses on local government leased land it would seem this land might be up for grabs.

Some of these might be under performing golf assets and for various commercial reasons don’t work , but recently in NSW some very viable courses have reasons to be nervous

and others perhaps need to take note.

Recently the City of Sydney Council has suggested that perhaps the 18-hole Moore Park course designed by Dan Soutar (founding member of the Aus. PGA and designer of Kingston Heath) should be reduced from 18 holes to 9 holes to increase public parkland.

With 35,000 new residents across the road the pressure on open space is happening, and with no other land available or extremely expensive, the publicly owned golf land is a sitting duck ready for the taking.

Of course, the perception here is that golf courses and the ‘expensive’ sport of golf played by a few old white guys is at the expense of thousands of, and increasingly more apartment dwelling younger families looking for room for their kids to play, ride bikes, and play weekend sport.

A classic case here is the 18 hole Warringah Golf Course on Northern

Beaches council leased land. It has its 18-hole future in doubt with the council looking at renewing 9 of its 18 holes on a 5-year lease deal keeping its options open on the land. Council has cited the need for more playing fields for other sports. Yet my understanding is Warringah Golf Club is doing some 65,000 rounds per year and is a great community asset that contributes $ to the council’s coffers.

Perhaps we the golf industry are partly to blame for this, as post GFC globally the idea of 9 hole or 12-hole golf has been perpetuated widely. It has become very easy for councils in justifying their case to grab these sound bites and quote that everyone is time poor these days and we don’t need 18 holes anymore – 9 holes will do.

I’m sure there are other cases like Moore Park and Warringah around our main cities where golf on leased land, and particularly 18-hole public courses could well be under threat.

The question for golf is what to do? and how to overcome the broader communities’ perceptions about the game? How we in the golf industry with our own areas of expertise can be part of the solution?

Part of this solution and need for golf courses is to shore up their facilities.

Improve what they have and promote the benefits these assets have not just for golfers, but for the broader community including non-golfers who live nearby.

From the perspective of golf course architecture, the facts show that by and large golfers support and will pay for quality public offerings. This of course doesn’t mean a Par 72 championship standard golf course of over 7000 yards. No, it means a fun and userfriendly golf courses that can be reasonably strategic and challenging in play, and with reasonable to good turf condition.

Whilst budgets can be tight, shoring up and improving the facilities doesn’t mean drastic change but an approach of continual and small but incremental improvements. This is where a course

improvements plan can help. One that prioritizes course works as funds allow and can see good outcomes for the course quality and its enjoyment. It may just be drainage works to improve fairway quality, improved safety, new greens for better golf and less wear and tear, even the removal of bunkers to make a hole less penal and save maintenance costs. Many distinct aspects are at stake, but bringing a golf course architect into this solution process early on can be very cost effective and help enormously.

An often overlooked part of the golf course asset terms of shoring up facilities is the course landscape. For which a well managed landscape can have enormous value, and be a very important part of the golf asset value in our increasingly densified neighbourhoods. On our courses if the right plantings of vegetation are established and managed the environmental benefits, not just for golfers, but for the broader community are huge. Note sure if a council would be game to rip out 9 holes of golf complete with a treed landscape and wildlife habitat and replace with a couple of treeless footy grounds. But they might be prepared to rip out 9 holes of golf with just a smattering of non-native exotic trees and weed trees.

I think most of us in the golf industry would prefer in most cases to see a shoring up of our 18-hole public golf course assets and not a dumbing down of the game. That said there may well be a compelling reason where 18 holes has been shoe horned several decades ago into land way too tight for a quality and safe golf offering. A fundamentally flawed situation where perhaps in these instances a flexible 9, or 12-hole course, reversible holes, better practice facilities, some short Par 3 holes course or even mini golf could be a way of shoring up the importance and relevance of these golfing assets into the future.

It would seem golf on leased public land will be increasingly at risk.

We need to work together on the solutions.

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INSIDE GOLF Inside Golf has announced that the publication will be a sponsor of the 2017 GMA Conference.

As a long-time supporter of GMA—providing content and coverage in our monthly print and online platforms for many years—Inside Golf is pleased to further that support during this monumental event in Australian golf.

“We are incredibly proud to be a part of this highly-important event in the Australian Golf industry,” says Sam Arthur, Publisher of Inside Golf. “With the entire industry currently undergoing a dramatic shift—as golfers’ needs and habits are rapidly changing—we feel that now is a critical time for us to help managers and their clubs to not only survive the current challenges in the industry, but also thrive well into the future. We believe that The GMA Conference is the perfect platform for that.”

GMA President Andrew Gay welcomed Inside Golf’s sponsorship of the event.

“GMA are proud to have Inside Golf, Australia’s most read golf magazine, involved in our upcoming conference,” he said. “Their support of the golf industry and of GMA in these interesting times is vital in helping Managers succeed in their challenging and ever changing roles.

the exhibition space will give all delegates an opportunity of exploring what is being offered within the industry. The theme this year is “Now is the time to be different” with the theme symbolising the reality that the golf industry must adapt to the changes in society. Our keynote speakers were selected having regard to their relevant expertise and the regard for the importance of the subject matter in which they will be presenting.

“Hosting the conference in Adelaide has given us access to specialised conference spaces allowing us the opportunity to broaden delegate access to include key stakeholders from all facets of the Golf industry.

Having a broader spectrum of golf industry representatives involved in the education, exhibition and networking components of the conference will only enhance the experience for those attending.”

The sponsorship of this event continues Inside Golf’s long tradition of helping to grow the game of golf at both grassroots and industry levels. The magazine annually supports and publicises a diverse variety of events for charities, junior golf, women’s golf and events for blind/deaf/disabled golfers, and was also recently the title sponsor of the PGA of Australia’s NSW/ACT Trainee Match Play Championship.

“This year we have been overwhelmed by the number of sponsors and exhibitors that are keen to be involved and

Inside Golf also sponsors the QLD GMA Interstate Bursary program each year, and is a media sponsor of the QLD PGA Sunshine Tour.

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The upcoming GMA National conference is held every twoyears and it is Australia’s foremost Golf Management conference and an event that every Golf Club Manager and key industry stakeholders should seriously consider attending. In previous years the conference was limited to attendance

by GMA members however, recognising the importance of the greater need, non-members can now also register to attend.

ABOUT INSIDE GOLF Australia’s Golf News Leader, Inside Golf gives you in-depth coverage of Australian golf news, golf events, golf travel and holiday destinations, Australian and international golf course reviews, the hottest new golf gear and tips and drills to improve your golf game. Written by award-winning journalists, Inside Golf also features interviews with Australia’s top professional golfers, the game’s rising stars, industry leaders and golf equipment manufacturers.

You can even win great golf prizes and equipment. It’s all in Inside Golf. FREE at Australian golf courses, driving ranges and golf retailers across Australia.

GOLF TRAVEL

– ARE YOU ONBOARD? Recent studies have backed up what the industry already knew – golf travel is big business.

Its value is now estimated to be substantially greater than membership subscriptions and equipment & apparel sales combined. Conservative figures suggest that over 40% of core golfers (the overwhelming majority of whom are club members) are travelling either domestically or internationally for golf at least once per year, with the primary reasons for travel being given as ‘the opportunity to play premium courses’ and ‘variety of courses’.

This implies that most of a club members’ yearly golf expenditure is being consumed outside of their club.

Until now.

The challenge: How can a club offer its members variety in their golf yet keep golf travel ‘in-house’?

The solution: Partner with The Golf Travel Agency to promote a club group trip.

The Golf Travel Agency is a fullservice travel agency dedicated to delivering exceptional tailored golf holidays at market leading prices.

Using their in-depth knowledge of destinations and access to wholesale rates, they can organise a club group trip in its entirety to any great golf destination in Australia or beyond at a price which leaves plenty of room for the club to also generate revenue.

Once the details of destination, date etc. have been decided, The Golf Travel Agency will do all the hard work of organising and coordinating the many elements that go into delivering the perfect golf holiday. All that is left for the club to do is promote the trip to its members, offering them a new and exciting opportunity to undertake their golf travel within their valued club environment.

With zero financial outlay and minimal administration requirements, the club really has nothing to lose in considering this new venture, and the

benefits to both the club and its members are numerous.

In addition to the tangible benefit of creating a new revenue stream for the club, group trips present even greater intangible benefits through: • Engaging members more in club life and fostering camaraderie that strengthens club loyalty and improves member retention.

• Provides members with the desired opportunities for variation in their golf • Offering members an additional service that projects

the image of a progressive, dynamic club that is focused on member satisfaction.

• Incentivising staff by creating opportunities to escort trips to great golf destinations.

As a partner of The Golf Travel Agency, clubs can take advantage of its many other golf travel services and will also have access to further commissionable Premium escorted tours such as the annual US MASTERS tour.

The conclusion: Members are already spending money on golf travel … The Golf Travel Agency provides clubs with a simple, riskfree opportunity to keep some of that spending ‘in-house’ with associated benefits for the club as a whole.

The next step: Get in touch. The Golf Travel Agency will be exhibiting at The GMA Conference in Adelaide – drop by their space and chat through the ways in which golf travel can become an integral and rewarding part of club life. Alternatively email mike@ thegolftravelagency.com.au or call (02) 9555 5311.

The Golf Travel Agency are the golf travel experts and are proud members of IAGTO (International Association of Golf Tour Operators) – a privilege only available to companies that have been recognised over an extended period as high quality and professional operators.

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A2Z GOLF EDITORIAL GMA Conference 2017 A2Z GOLF can supply and coordinate many of your golf club’s requirements, from pennant and staff uniforms to corporate merchandise and tee gifts. We have access to many sourcing options to help you find what you are looking for.

• 38 South is our golf apparel and headwear brand. We can fit out your pennant teams, golf day packages and pro shop merchandise all with custom decoration.

• PRG is our bespoke golf accessories brand. We supply bag tags and head covers for pennant such as was supplied to the US for their Ryder Cup team (as pictured). PRG also has an extensive range of gift options and many custom golf

service we can brand all your apparel with quality embroidery and control the consistency of your club logo over multiple orders. We can personalise your garments or headwear with extra text such as ‘Member, Staff or Nicknames’ and brand your Golf Clubs event uniforms with sponsor and event logos.

You can visualise how your product will look before finalising your order with our In-house Design Service.

A2Z Golf is proud to be associated with the

GMA National Conference for 2017. Please come and visit us at our stand between the foyer entrances. accessories for the pro shop.

• A2Z Promotions can supply all your staff uniform needs including ground staff, hospitality staff, and corporate team apparel. We can also provide a great range of corporate gift and giveaway ideas for your special event or promotion.

If you would like to make an appointment while you’re attending the GMA Conference, please contact Michael Barry on 0409 598 926 or email michael@a2zgolf.com.au

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MAKING GOLF GOOD FOR BUSINESS Golf Rewards is one of Australia’s leading golf marketing companies, working mainly in the loyalty market using golf to add value to an organisation’s membership offering and increase member engagement. With origins dating back to 1998, Golf Rewards has developed various programs to increase participation in golf including Golf2Day, Golf Leisure, Golf & More and Golf Experiences, as well as taking over operation of the well-established Golf Passport program which first started in Australia in 2002.

Golf Rewards has developed a relationship with some of Australia’s leading companies and membership organisations, giving customers and staff access to a wide range of golfing benefits and savings using a centralised operating system.

Being a membership-based company, Golf Rewards appeals to large organisations with people wanting to play golf at various courses and enjoy different golfing experiences.

Rewards has one of the largest networks of its kind in the country - and growing.

To meet the demands of corporate clients seeking global golf solutions, Golf Rewards is extending its network of associated clubs into New Zealand and throughout the Asian region, with plans to develop a network in the UK and Europe. This will give members more opportunities to play golf wherever they live or travel for business or on holiday.

By increasing participation Golf Rewards provides a wide range of benefits and savings to associated golf clubs including: • Club promotion locally and internationally in association with corporate partners enhances club image through corporate brand alliance

Most people understand the business needs of the corporate sector but often forget golf clubs are also a business with financial sustainability being one of the biggest challenges. With this program, Golf Rewards can add value to an organisation’s membership and increase member engagement, while grow participation in golf and generate additional revenue for golf clubs.

Which means, Golf Rewards is good for golf and for business.

• Access to large database of engaged golfers who want to play golf at various courses and enjoy different golfing experiences • Opportunity to convert vacant tee times into green fee revenue – tee times being subject to availability and allocation • Additional revenue from equipment hire, golf merchandise, food & beverages

Golf Rewards has also developed a network of associated golf clubs throughout Australia where members can play when the club has vacant tee times, similar to a reciprocal club arrangement. With nearly 250 associated clubs, Golf

to add value to their club membership offering, to help retain existing members and attract new ones, as well give the club a potential new revenue stream. Golf Rewards will assist the club implement this rewards program to avoid adding strain to the club’s existing resources.

• Attracts new players to the course, pathway to club membership.

Golf Rewards is keen to support golf clubs and recently launched a rewards program to give associated clubs the opportunity

Golf Rewards proudly supports the Golf Club Managers Association in both Australia and New Zealand and is pleased to be involved in the 2017 GMA Conference in Adelaide.

For more information about Golf Rewards contact: Jack Naden - CEO Phone: 0418 987 124 Email: jack@golfrewards.net.au WWW.GMA.ORG.AU

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CYBER LIABILITY AND PRIVACY PROTECTION INSURANCE Is your Club covered?

WHAT IS CYBER INSURANCE?

WHAT IS COVERED? Cyber Liability & Privacy Protection policies provide ‘peace of mind’ and will cover:

Cyber-insurance is an insurance product used to protect businesses and individual users from Internet-based risks, and more generally from risks relating to information technology infrastructure and activities. (Definition – Wikipedia)

• First Party Costs – reimbursing the Insured for costs incurred in response to a breach. Costs of restoring, recollecting or recreating data after a leak or breach. Costs such as Credit Monitoring Costs, Ransom payments to Hackers resulting from Extortion, Public Relations Expenses as well as IT Forensic Costs.

WHY HAVE CYBER AND PRIVACY PROTECTION COVER?

Recently there have been a number of cyber-attacks worldwide including the so called ‘WannaCry’ ransom attack. Whilst many may have been able to avoid being caught up in this sophisticated cybercrime, it does raise the issue of vulnerabilities related to unauthorised access to our data, websites or computer operating systems.

Increasingly, Golf Clubs are utilising Internet based programs and operations. Every aspect of the Club’s operation utilises a computer based program from the Front Office, Membership, Golf Bookings, Competitions, Pro-Shop, Maintenance Facility, Function/Bar and Catering.

• Third Party Claims - covers for claims for compensation by third parties resulting from the Insureds failure to keep data secure. Cover for investigations, defence costs and fines and penalties from breaching the Privacy Act. • Business Interruption - this section provides reimbursement for the Insured’s loss of profits resulting from the breach, as well as any additional necessary expenses it may need to incur to continue business as usual.

LEGISLATION

It is critical that Clubs keep this information safe and secure.

In March 2014 amendments to the Privacy Act 1988 was enacted.

This legislation introduced the Australian Privacy Principles

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applying to the collection and use of personal information.

These principles have increased publicity relating to cyberattacks, and has heightened awareness of privacy and cyber exposures, particularly to businesses in Australia.

The Australian Government has estimated that almost 700,000 businesses have experienced a cybercrime. 60% of these attacks were targeted at SME’s; the average cost of a cybercrime attack costing more than $275,000.* Cyber-crime events have included, a ‘hacking’ attack, lost or stolen computer equipment and a breach of privacy. *cgul.ink/cyberausgovt

NOTIFIABLE DATA BREACH SCHEME What is a Notifiable Data Breach?

A Notifiable Data Breach is a data breach that is likely to result in serious harm to any of the individuals to whom the information relates.

The NDB scheme requires organisations covered by the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act) to notify any individuals likely to be at risk of serious harm by a data breach. This notice must include recommendations about the

steps individuals should take in response to the data breach.

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) must also be notified.

Organisations will need to be prepared to conduct quick assessments of suspected data breaches to determine if they are likely to result in serious harm.

A data breach occurs when personal information held by an organisation is lost or subjected to unauthorised access or disclosure. Examples include when:

names, addresses and credit card information.

OUTCOME: The Club is required to notify all email recipients of the error. Despite offers of rectification, several of the email recipients began legal proceedings. The cost to the Club to rectify the error combined with the costs to settle the legal expenses and associated proceedings would be substantial.

PRIVACY BREACHES, FINES & INVESTIGATIONS (First Party & Third Party Claim)

• a device containing customers’ personal information is lost or stolen, • a database containing personal information is hacked, • personal information is mistakenly provided to the wrong person.

The NDB scheme commences on 22 February 2018. It only applies to eligible data breaches that occur on, or after, that date. (Extract: Australian Government – Office of the Australian Information Commissioner)

EXAMPLES OF CYBER CRIME CLAIMS

EMPLOYEE ERROR (First Party & Third Party Claim) CLAIM EXAMPLE: A Golf Club emails a ‘Membership Promotion’ to potential members. The email was originally intended to attach a promotional flyer. Inadvertently, the email contained client’s

CLAIM EXAMPLE: A Golf Club suffered a ‘hack attack’ that removed the personal information of the entire Member database. The Golf Club was therefore required to notify all members of the loss of personal information as well as notify the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).

OUTCOME: The OAIC conducted an investigation into the incident and fined the Club for failing to have appropriate safeguards in place to protect Members information. The Club would incur legal fees in connection with the OAIC investigation as well as the cost of any legal actions brought by affected Members. As well as any fines and legal costs, the Club would also face the costs and expenses of notifying its members.

logo. This closely matched that of another business entity. That entity sent correspondence demanding the logo’s removal.

Negotiations failed to resolve the problem. The other entity began legal proceedings against the Business Owner.

OUTCOME: The entity (plaintiff) demanded financial compensation. The owner incurs costs and expenses defending the action, likely to be substantial. Once the case is heard in a court of law, the costs would increase substantially.

COMPUTER CRIME (OPTIONAL EXTENSION) (First Party Claim) CLAIM EXAMPLE: The Accountants Officer receives an email from a supplier asking for prompt payment of an invoice.

As this is a fairly common type of request, the Account is processed for payment. Later it is discovered that the emailed invoice had in fact received a ‘phishing’ email. This caused the company a large loss of money.

OUTCOME: The Business lost the amount paid to the account as well as the cost of securing their IT system.

Ensure your obligations to protect your members Information is protected and your Club is adequately covered!

Please do not hesitate to contact Nexus Golf Insurance.

NEXUS GOLF INSURANCE ‘Your Trusted Partner in Golf Insurance’.

MULTIMEDIA LIABILITY (Third Party Claim) CLAIM EXAMPLE: A Business Owner started a Facebook page to ‘advertise’ his company in the ‘digital space’. The page included a copy of his company’s brand WWW.GMA.ORG.AU

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GOLF PREMIER LEAGUE BONDS MEMBERSHIPS ACROSS AUSTRALIA Members are bonding and engaging as Golf Premier League spirit sweeps the country.

Teams such as Jude’s Jewels, of Kooyonga in SA, The Wanderers +2, from Muirfield NSW, the Hozzle Rockets, at Berwick Montuna, and the Mighty Buglers, from Latrobe in Victoria, have lifted premiership trophies in 2017.

In all, 68 clubs around Australia have tried Golf Premier League seasons aimed not at individual players, but rather with an emphasis on club and team involvement.

The positive impact is being felt in clubs in participation and interaction as the normal week-by-week single events are charged by the teams battling for glory.

Brayden Wauchope, head professional at South Australian club Sandy Creek, has seen the second season of GPL grow from 80 players in the first year to 132, including a women’s team and juniors off their own “orangemarkers” course.

“The GPL Saturdays have grown by 10 – 20 per cent through the colder winter months,” Wauchope said, such is the keenness to turn up and play well with teammates.

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Muirfield was inundated with members looking for more fun in their first season.

Hoping to set up eight teams, captain Alex Molesworth finished with 12 teams forming two conferences to fit the season into the syllabus.

They held an auction to bring in four juniors to add atmosphere and the effect on rainy days was significant.

Molesworth noted: “A couple of rounds were heavily affected by rain and the players who were braving the conditions were those in GPL teams – opposing teams sharing the camaraderie of playing adding to the banter of the competition.”

These effects on interaction, engagement and participation increases is what is the most satisfying for Tony Craswell, the founder of Golf Premier League and professional at Latrobe Golf Club.

Having just finished the 10th season, the numbers at Latrobe have increased from 96 in the initial league to more than 300 across the Saturday, women’s and Friday night lights leagues.

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extended friends.

“I want what has happened at Latrobe to happen in every golf club in Australia,” Craswell said.

“The excitement, fun and interaction adds to the members’ enjoyment and the benefits to the club are emotional as well as financial.”

The website solution is to take the work of administration away from the club staff or the reliance on volunteers.

“We will continue to enhance the website to ensure club administrations are not burdened and the players are more engaged with each other,” Craswell said.

“It is very important that we spend our energies strengthening the connections between members and staff to maintain the club’s community.”

The biggest challenge in starting new leagues is to help golf clubs understand how it works.

The upcoming Golf Month campaign in October is

“Our initial season of GPL at Thurgoona has been fantastic. Our members have thoroughly enjoyed the added dimension of team camaraderie and rivalry. It has given rise to increased banter around the club, and substantial interest in future GPL competitions.

The support from the team at GPL is first class. It made the management and running of the competition so simple and stress free. I would have no hesitation in recommending GPL to any club looking to add value for the members, and increase enjoyment of the weekly golf for all.”

Michael Lane, Captain - Thurgoona Country Club Resort ideal for clubs to run trial leagues. The key is to see how the system works and gain feedback from a small group of participants as well as to target team captains for future leagues.

Simply contact Craswel through the Golf Premier League website to receive the trial pack to establish a league for Golf Month, or the board

pack to take to the committee for a new league.

So with excited banter and friendly rivalries dominating clubhouse interaction in GPL clubs around the country, perhaps Wauchope summed it up best: “You can make it as time consuming as you like.

I complete a round review which is more a of sledge and rev-up as it runs through a

normal comp day, no extra work but a massive increase in interaction.”

This has led to blogs, newsletters and emails flying around GPL players, along with best-and-fairest functions and “dream teams” to finish league seasons.

Exactly what Golf Premier League is all about.

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WHAT IS THE GOLF CLUB INDUSTRY ACTUALLY SELLING?

By Martin Grunstein

Let me start by saying something a little controversial.

an exodus of members rather than an influx of members.

I don’t think your golf course – its presentation; its challenge; how it is acclaimed by the golf media – is the most important thing in determining the satisfaction of your members.

Why? Because it’s not about the golf course, it’s about the membership experience.

In fact, MOST members play badly MOST of the time and have all kinds of trouble on the golf course and they DON’T appreciate the aesthetic beauty of the design of the course as they are playing their third shot out of the same bunker.

So why do they stay? And, more importantly, why do they leave?

I believe that most people join, stay at, or leave golf clubs based on the people experience rather than the golfing experience.

There has been much talk about the difference between selling an experience and a transaction and every golf club knows it must be focused on creating the best experience it can for its members lest they consider alternative uses for the part of their income that goes to golf club membership. And equally, it must offer something special to attract new members as it also competes for the alternative use of that money.

So what should the golf club industry sell to members and prospective members?

A number of golf clubs (and it is not a small number) have redesigned and toughened up and changed their course with the express objective of attracting new members and keeping their existing members happy. And I believe this has been proven to be ineffective and, in some cases, has caused

I suggest that the golf clubs that will be successful in the future will be selling BELONGING and ESCAPE. As a member I want a place I can belong where I feel welcome and can mix with people I like. And I want an escape from the other areas of my life that don’t treat me like a VIP. I often don’t feel appreciated at work; I often have arguments

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with my spouse; and my children don’t think I am very funny.

The golf club is, or should be, totally different.

The golf club is a place where a member, after a frustrating 18 holes can tell a joke to the staff member behind the bar and he/ she’ll laugh because he/she has been trained in customer service and knows that laughing at jokes she has heard before is part of her employment contract! And he forgets about the frustration of the golf and enjoys the camaraderie of his mates.

The golf club is a place where a 27 handicapper can tell the pro the theory behind the way he putts and he doesn’t get ridiculed for talking rubbish, he gets a friendly response and help is there if he wants to make changes.

The golf club is a place where a member can hire the club as the

venue for a wedding or a party and is treated like one of the family rather than a customer hiring a venue.

And that is what makes me want to spend my hard earned money to be a member of a golf club.

When the girl behind the bar doesn’t laugh at my joke; when the pro tells me I don’t know what I am talking about when I tell him why I putt the way I do; when the groundsman chuckles after I duff a bunker shot while he is waiting for me to go through so he can resume working on the bunker; I am not getting ESCAPE and it makes me question whether it is worth all that money to be a member of the club.

When people leave golf clubs after many years of membership they may say to the committee that the fees were too expensive or they needed a change but in most cases, that is not the truth.

In most cases, it is due to not being treated the way they felt they should have been treated and hence, they no longer felt they belonged and the club wasn’t an escape any more.

Let me give you a couple of “real” examples from nameless clubs.

A golf club made a decision to no longer give a medical discount for cart hire. A member of over 40 years standing who played in a cart three times a week said he would no longer be able to afford to hire a cart and play three times a week and considered the decision shouldn’t apply to him as he has been hiring carts for over 20 years. The club said “tough luck, those are the rules” and he left the club.

Here are the facts.

That member was a multimillionaire so the money wasn’t an issue. His complaint was about the club recognizing that his 40+ years membership should be worth something and he shouldn’t be treated the same way as a new member. And he told many members within the club how he felt. When his argument was rejected by the club’s board he could no longer save face and stay at the club.

He felt he no longer “belonged”.

And he left.

At a club with a large number of Asian members, one of the assistant professionals was acting as the starter and when announcing the names over the microphone, he started making jokes about the pronunciation of their names saying something like “would Kim Kim and Chong Chong go to the tee” but in a sarcastic Asian accent aimed at ridiculing their ethnicity. Some members on the putting green laughed, even some of the Asian members who didn’t want to appear as though they were offended. But when renewal time came a few weeks later, 30 Asian members (not just the ones who were ridiculed) did not renew their membership.

The solution to the challenge of keeping and attracting members in the face of alternative uses of that disposable income doesn’t lie with investment in the course, it lies with investment in the staff.

Recruit based on attitude rather than skills. You can train skills but someone with a crappy attitude is always going to have

a crappy attitude. I firmly believe the trainee pro who plays off a plus 5 handicap at 18 years of age and could be the next superstar has no place in a pro shop if he thinks he is better than everybody else and refuses to give quality customer service and treat “lesser” golfers with respect.

Staff need to learn humility, respect and customer service skills. Their job is to ensure the members and guests at the club have a great experience and they always feel that they belong.

The investment of a few thousand dollars in customer service training will often produce a better return on investment than the investment of several hundred thousand dollars in course upgrades.

What is the point of having the greatest 18 holes in the area if nobody wants to be a member there?

As a matter of priorities, first get the service experience in your club right. The staff have to know their job is not to serve beer or sell stuff in the proshop, their job is to make all members and guests feel as though they belong. Then, invest in the course knowing the members you attract with the outstanding new course will stay because of the way they are treated by the staff.

There is an old expression that says “Don’t put the cart before the horse”. My belief is that in the golf club industry it should say “Don’t put the course before the heart of the club.”

Martin Grunstein’s outstanding results with over 500 Australian companies across over 100 industries has made him this country’s most in-demand speaker on customer service. He is available to train your staff in customer service. He has also been a golf club member for over 30 years so he understands the industry. He is contactable on 0414933249 or through his website www.martingrunstein.com.au WWW.GMA.ORG.AU

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• SUPPORT FOR AUSTRALIAN GOLF CLUBS •

DO YOU NEED HELP MAINTAINING YOUR TURF? Toro Australia is offering machinery grants to support Australian golf clubs.

APPLY NOW or NOMINATE A CLUB at www.toro.com.au/grant TERMS & CONDITIONS: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Applications must include in 300 words or less why the golf club should be eligible for the grant.

Must be a not-for-profit golf club to apply for the machinery grant.

Golf clubs cannot have an annual turnover exceeding $1.5 million and must be able to supply a public balance sheet.

Applications must be made online at www.toro.com.au/grant.

Golf clubs must have a Superintendent or employed greens staff.

The application must come directly from the club or by nomination from another golf club.

One application per club will be accepted.

Two grant winners will be selected by a representative from Toro Australia and the GMA based on the 300 word application response.

Each winner will receive 1 of the machines in point 9.

9. Prize consists of 2 x pre-owned Toro Triflex 3400 3wd with 11 Blade, Light Kit, Narrow Wiehle Rollers , Rear Roller Brushes, Canopy with approx.

2000 hours with an estimated value of $18,000 inc GST each. Machines may vary and are not exchangeable for another machine or cash.

10. Applications close on the 29th of September 2017 and winners will be announced at the 2017 GMA Conference in Adelaide from the 8th-12th October 2017.

Australian golf clubs are invited to apply for the Support & Grow Grant Program offered by Toro Australia in conjunction with Golf Management Australia to help maintain their turf.

The grant consists of two (2) pre-owned Toro Greensmaster® TriFlex™ 3400