Meet the golf club manager: Edward Craven

The general manager at Romanby Golf & Country Club in Yorkshire talks about running a club his father founded, dealing with the recent surge in demand, marketing on Sky Sports and building both accommodation on-site and a new performance studio.

What’s your history with the club?

Romanby was officially opened in 1993 after my dad converted it from a working family farm to a golf course. Having graduated from university with a business degree I started my career with Starwood Hotels, working in Belgium, Singapore and then on to Australia. I officially joined Romanby in 2011 and I have worked in most departments across the business from golf administration, greenkeeping and pro shop management to weddings and functions. I am now the general manager of Romanby and specialise in marketing and business development.

What have your, and the club’s experiences of the pandemic, from March 2020 to the present day, been?

I don’t think anyone could have envisaged numerous lockdowns during the pandemic. The first lockdown coincided with some perfect weather conditions, which was frustrating considering golf can easily be a socially distanced sport. We did however give members concessions in other areas of our facilities as compensation for their shortfall.

The latest lockdown coincided with probably the wettest winter the UK has endured since records began. The effects of the forced closure were therefore less arduous for our members. For our visitors the poor weather also eased the effects of the closure. Golf was then released in March 2021, earlier than most other sectors and at this point the demand for golf was overwhelming. Our course manager Robert Upton and his team did a fantastic job in keeping up the essential maintenance required to re-open the facility at such short notice.

Upon opening, we re-introduced our members’ 10-day advanced booking facility with all vacant tee times offered to visitors, after all, we all deserve our golf fix! This resulted in the golf course being busier than ever, according to BRS (our booking provider); since March 2021 we have been the third busiest club in our county.

The hospitality side of our business did however take a bigger hit but returned to full speed shortly afterwards. We managed to reschedule 90 percent of our bookings with good customer service and communication. This resulted in an even busier period for country club manager, Craig Beadling, and his team, when lockdown restrictions were eased.

How do you market the venue, particularly via social media?

We do most of our marketing online via social media and through our email database. We pride ourselves on being a modern, welcoming club and having a presence on these platforms is key. Nearly all visitors to golf clubs do a lot of research before booking so posting good, regular content is key to giving customers an insight into what they could experience if they decide to book. Hole layouts, pictures and social tags are all used to promote the facility. Check out our profiles on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Another area I invest a lot of time in is our website (www.romanby.com). A clean, well laid out website is important, with ‘call to action’ buttons so members and visitors can easily navigate around the site. I regularly monitor which pages have the most hits, what the bounce rate is and where I can place strategic adverts to encourage further engagement. The website is also optimised for mobile and tablets which is crucial with 74 percent of our website traffic using this form of device.
You may have also seen us advertising via Golf Now on Sky Sports with the ‘hole in three’ advert which is currently being aired nationwide. This has been a big talking point in and around the club with our members proud to see us on television. It was first aired during the Ryder Cup, which had 3.5 million viewers on the Sunday alone – fantastic exposure for the club!

How have you diversified into other revenue streams, such as weddings, and what results have you seen?

During lockdown we did a lot of renovation work in the country club. We upgraded the changing rooms, bar area and wedding suite. Upon re-opening, we have a totally new look, and we are receiving more and more inquiries which are well managed by our team.

Our floodlit driving range is a huge asset with not many golf clubs in our surrounding area boasting such a facility. This attracts lots of golfers from local golf clubs as well as our own.

We also have a planning application which is in the final stages to build 19 luxury lodges on site which is close by to the country club. This overnight accommodation will be aimed at golf packages, tourism and wedding parties. Hopefully, if the lodges are a success, we will have more surplus to improve the facilities further with golf being our number one priority.

You have a new performance studio – can you tell us about that?

We are lucky to have a PMG (Performance Managed Golf) academy which is run by European Tour coach Mark Pearson. Mark has brought a wealth of experience to the club, recruiting head teaching professional Brian Ridley, a former Durham county coach and AimPoint specialist, as well as Matthew Richardson, PGA professional from Sunningdale. All of which operate out of a recently built Trackman performance studio. Both are available for coaching programmes and do up to 70 hours per week in lessons.

Alongside golf coaching we also specialise in performance fitting for anyone looking to purchase new golf clubs. When it comes to golf equipment, Dan Twiby, our on-site club fitter, has been trained to a high standard in club analysis and fitting. With support from our supplier Snainton Golf, we offer a wealth of choice at internet competitive pricing. Dan believes no golfing equipment should be purchased without going through a thorough Trackman assessment to ensure we get the right equipment in your hands. We are very proud to have full fitting solutions for Ping, Cobra, Callaway and TaylorMade. It doesn’t stop there; Dan is also popular for Trackman gapping sessions and loft and lie club adjustments.

Are you trying to attract more juniors, beginners and women to the game?

Mark has launched StartGolf which is a group coaching class focussing on beginners and ‘FUEL golf’, a junior golf programme designed to encourage youngsters to the game. These five-week classes are on a rolling schedule, so we are constantly seeing new players to the club.

We have always had quite a diverse membership base. Fifty percent of our newest members post lockdown have been juniors and ladies; it is great to see these areas of the club growing.

Do you offer strategic pricing points and how do you target your audience to maximise revenues?

Pricing in the golf industry is extremely sensitive. Our peak pricing is on a weekend, with a slightly lesser rate midweek. We also have a number of off-peak price points where the cost drops throughout the day, attracting a varied demographic of golfer. Pricing is important to us as we want people to feel value for money when playing Romanby. Our aim is to keep improving our reputation, ultimately attracting more golfers to our club. Our all-inclusive membership is also competitively priced with several different age categories. We advise if a golfer is prepared to play over 35 rounds of golf per annum, then membership will be of value to them. If not, they are more than welcome to pay and play when it best suits.

What are your predictions for the next few years for the UK golf industry?

Unlike many businesses who have unfortunately faced an overall negative impact on their ability to function during Covid, we have found golf has grown in popularity, which is exciting to see.

We are set up to keep growing and we still have availability for new members to join our club. With Covid seeing a large influx of people getting into golf, it’s our job to keep up the momentum and encourage as many people to the sport as possible.

Personally, I think value for money is critical for golf courses to thrive in the future. Exceeding customer expectations is something I am passionate about and an area we are constantly looking to improve. We have just launched a communication journey for each individual customer. Every booking now receives a confirmation email before they arrive with a link to a digital hub. This includes information such as directions to the club, a point of contact for the day, where to check in, course guide, slope index, bar menu and more (all the things a golfer likes to know before arriving at a new course). We then greet them in a professional friendly manner when they arrive for their tee time. Following their round of golf, we then send out a personalised email to see if they enjoyed their experience asking for feedback so we can look to further improve our services.

For more information, visit www.romanby.com