How Lindrick Golf Club was able to grow during the downturn

As many will well know, Lindrick Golf Club, with its Ryder Cup legacy, has a fine history and is regarded by many as one of Yorkshire’s finest.

However, like all clubs in this day and age, it cannot be complacent and needs to respond to modern trends in the golfing world without losing touch with traditional values. This is certainly a difficult balance to achieve.

I was delighted to be offered the role of club secretary at Lindrick Golf Club, commencing in November 2010 after having left a similar post at Notts Golf Club where I was incumbent for seven years before pursuing my career overseas. This unfortunately did not work out the way I had wished, (if you don’t try these things you never know) and I quickly returned to theUK.

I was made aware by the Lindrick Golf Club officers, who were very enthusiastic, of the importance of keeping this great club in its well-established position and to also move it forward in a number of areas. This is a sizeable task, but by no means an insurmountable challenge.

Green fees had fallen to an unacceptable level, the club at the last subscriptions’ renewal had lost in the region of 10 per cent of its membership, the bar facility was not performing adequately and there was a general lack of events happening within the clubhouse, despite the fact that we had a franchise caterer who had worked  previously in a Michelin restaurant.

Looking firstly at the bar situation, and after discussions with other local clubs, it was apparent that we were nowhere near the retail bar prices that we should be charging and a literal mile from high street pub prices! It was hardly surprising that nobody complained! Having been in this business for a number of years, I am well aware that you do not want to be upsetting the membership from day one, or at all, by putting up the bar or any other prices even if they have not been increased for a few years and were providing a margin of little over 40 per cent!

Fortunately, Lindrick does benefit from the Open Solutions bar card system, so it was easy to hike the visitor’s prices by a further 15 per cent and inform the members who were currently enjoying a 10 per cent discount that they would be receiving now 25 per cent, although in reality their net beverage prices were remaining the same. In these price sensitive times, when the enquiry to book green fees comes in, more often than not the leading question is ‘how much is it and can you do a deal?!’

Never is the question asked: ‘how much is your beer or wine’?

That being achieved, the next item on the agenda was getting visitors to come and play this fine course and to spend some money in the clubhouse (and the pro shop for that matter) while not getting in the members’ way. Not only would this drive the green fee income up but also the margins on the bar sales.

All of us in this business well know that the right balance of visitors versus members is nearly impossible, but no club can exist in these times without visitor income.

We had recently installed the BRS tee booking system (allowing online booking) and were able, through the website and through emails already in existence, to better advertise our winter offers and all our green fee prices through this. In addition, in an attempt to raise the club’s profile, an offer was put out to captains and vice-captains of other clubs to visit us at a preferential rate during the summer months. This was not only to show off the course at its best, but to generate for us some income in the notoriously slow July and August holiday months.

Any way, either by good luck or good marketing, it worked. It was helped by being blessed with a very welcoming and enthusiastic staff at Lindrick who are made very much aware that they are valued by the club, which is important in these days when many fear for their jobs. Word soon got round that visitors were welcome at Lindrick, and of course visitors are potential members and are treated as such.

By the year end of 2011, the bar net income was in surplus, albeit only a small one, at just over £2,000, having lost £4,500 after staff costs in 2010. Also, even with heavily discounted  prices to the members still in force, the gross margin is now close to 50 per cent. None of the visitors asked or even complained at the price of a pint, they had enjoyed their golf, had a few drinks and often something to eat, then had gone away happy with their experience.

Visitor income increased in the year by a staggering 35 per cent and the franchise caterer was walking round with a  big smile on his face as he was producing more meals of what can only be described as first-class fayre, with both members and visitors going away happy and full!

The bar manager is now getting monthly reports generated from the Croft accounting system (more recently we have added the membership module) and is beginning to understand the importance of getting his staff rotas and monthly budgets correct. He is working longer hours in the summer and drastically reduced hours out of season. He’s happy with this, enabling him to retain the part-time staff throughout the year, which was a problem in the past.

The membership issue, which is not just a Lindrick problem, is never an easy one to resolve. We are fortunate in having such an excellent course, playable 12 months of the year, which should usually attract new members. However, this had not been the case in recent years as older members resigning or dying were not being replaced. Our vice-captain set up a membership committee and almost at the first meeting we all agreed that the entry fee, which was two times the annual subscription, was becoming a huge stumbling block for new members. This was not just because the world was going through difficult times, but the population is more transient than ever before, so to have to pay such a sum then perhaps be moved to another part of the country by employment may well have been a factor in putting many off joining.

Another issue was juniors, who, having reached 18, needed to pay an entry fee to join the intermediates just at the time when they were possibly off to university or to start work. Many left the club as they or their parents would not pay an entry fee. Juniors are the future of any club so the members  agreed to remove the entry fee at 18 to encourage the youngsters to stay. Only time will tell if this is successful.

The full member’s entry fee dilemma was taken to a special general meeting, with the view of reducing this to just one times the annual subscription (spread over five years to help if needed). Much resistance was expected, but the resolution sailed through with unanimous support! Dropping the entry fee altogether was never an option. Entry fees are obviously a financial benefit to the club, but also encourage your members to stay rather than pay a one-year green fee then consider their options.

Since then, the shortfall against the approved membership limit has reduced to just three per cent and we hope to achieve full membership by mid-2012. But we are aware there is still a lot of work needed to achieve the comfort of a waiting list as we have a high age profile and so are bound to lose a few members each year. We’ll get there I am sure.

Ongoing spiralling energy costs are beginning to bite at a number of businesses and golf clubs are not immune. We have therefore negotiated a three-year electricity supply deal with E.ON to reduce and stabilise Lindrick Golf Club’s energy outgoings along with putting in over 100 low-energy long life light bulbs in the clubhouse, putting equipment not used at certain times – chillers and coffee machines – on time clocks and having the changing room lighting put onto sensors.

A few other items have been looked at during the last year; such unexciting items as reducing the club’s waste costs and photocopying copy costs (it is surprising how many companies will give a better deal when you tell them you are considering an alternative provider) and changing our credit card provider to Chip and Pin Solutions (as recommended by the Golf Club Managers’ Association), with an expected annual saving of £400. My thanks go to Bryan Frazer for his assistance on this.

On the club’s social side, we have encouraged the franchise caterer to run more events within the club as it was apparent that the only social activity within Lindrick Golf Club had been New Year’s Eve and a summer ball.  Valentine’s evening, Mothers’ Day  and a number of international-themed evenings were added and have all sold out. We even held a barbecue evening with David Edwards’ golf trick show to encourage members to bring their family and friends, again a highly successful evening with almost half the club turning out!

Finally, we are in the early days of looking at the possibility of improving, if that is the right word, the golf course. Ken Brown and Ken Moody from Creative Golf Design, who have done a lot of work at a number of other well-established golf clubs over the past few years, visited us recently. Their report, when it arrives, will be interesting.

We have the Yorkshire Amateur Championships and the Open regional qualifier at Lindrick in 2012, so these are exciting times for the club, but we are mindful that we must not rest on our laurels!

Brian Noble is club secretary at Lindrick Golf Club