By John Ashworth, John Ashworth Associates and Mark Smith, Smith Leisure

Golfers will notice a range of improvements at Dibden Golf Centre as new management get into the swing.

Social enterprise Mytime Active started a 30 year contract on 1 April to manage the popular centre on behalf of New Forest District Council.
Plans are in the pipeline to re-invest profits into improved facilities and services at Dibden, which already boasts splendid 18 and nine hole parkland courses, an 18 bay floodlit driving range and a refurbished clubhouse with magnificent views of Southampton Water.

There will also be a Mytime Golf Academy to encourage more people into the game, including young people and schools, first timers and female players.

Mytime Active Chief Executive Steve Price said: “I’m very excited about taking on the management of Dibden. As a social enterprise we re-invest profits into service improvements and we’re currently looking at improving entrance and clubhouse facilities, and better year-round playing conditions.

“We’re looking forward to meeting with golfers and getting their views on the priorities for improvements and hopefully we can build on Dibden’s excellent reputation and quality.”

New Forest District Council portfolio holder for health and leisure, Cllr Di Brooks added: “I am delighted that Mytime Active is planning to continue making Dibden Golf Centre one of excellence, and I hope the improved facilities will encourage more local people of all ages to try their hand at a game of golf.”

The tendering exercise for New Forest District Council was facilitated by Smith Leisure and John Ashworth Associates as expert advisors to the council.

Mytime Active also operates Southampton City Golf Course and 17 other courses nationally, making it one of the leading pay and play golf operators in the country.

Details of outline improvements are on display at Dibden Golf Centre, Main Road, Dibden, Southampton, Hampshire, SO45 5TB
Tel: 023 8020 7508

By John Bushell, SPORTS MARKETING SURVEYS INC

A number of proprietary run courses have made the decision to switch off the television news channels that run continually in their bar-restaurants as the news is generally very depressing – whether it focuses on the Euro crisis and impending recession, or atrocities in sub-Saharan Africa, Syria or Libya – and does not create a positive & happy atmosphere at the 19th.

Closer to our concern in the UK, there are stories of golf courses struggling with membership, and facing increased fuel costs, food & beverage costs or VAT pressures. And yet, golf is in good-health.

SPORTS MARKETING SURVEYS INC. revealed during the GolfBIC Conference hosted by the Forest-of-Arden at the end of March, that golf had an excellent year – and this is not restricted just to Great Britain. In terms of participation, those golfers who play on a full course saw golfer numbers in GB increase to almost 3.94M. This is an increase from 2008 when golfer numbers had fallen at the time of the economic pressures to 3.71M – an increase of almost 250,000 adult players. This is still behind the numbers achieved in the peak years of 2002 of 4.19M; but the trends are very positive, and having almost 8% of the adult population playing golf on a full length course in 2011 is a strong situation as we enter 2012.

There is also some very strong and positive detail behind the ‘Headline Numbers’ – and this relates to those golfers who play regularly – which is defined as those who play more than 12 times a year – or once a month. This is the core number for the sport as it these regular & avid golfers who account for around 80% of the money spent on golf equipment, golf green fees and membership monies – and because they are at the golf courses, also the food-&-beverage consumed. In simple terms, these are the key individuals – the backbone for the sport.

Regular golfers have increased to almost 1.63M – up from 1.40M in 2008; although this figure is still behind the peak in 2004 when the regular golfers reached almost 1.80M. However, the trend is positive, and most particularly because golf is seeing the growth from those who played less than 12 times a year – if the sport can increase this number, it will bring financial stability and assurance to golf venues, golf manufacturers, and also to England Golf.

There is a separate issue facing England Golf on defining and measuring participation to meet the requirements stipulated by Sport England through their active people programme, whereby the core participation criteria is a measurement of ‘playing once a week or more’; whilst the weather has been fabulous for the start of 2012 – there is no doubt that golf is not seen as an all-year game by many golfers – from The Masters in April to the end of September is really the UK golfing season; and if we get more than this – it is a real bonus for the sport.

At GolfBIC, SPORTS MARKETING SURVEYS INC. undertook a ‘straw-poll’ on the length of time to play a round of golf as a 2-ball and as a 4-ball. Suffice to say – no one was anywhere near completing a round in about an hour – which is the average length of time that many sports take to complete a ‘sport-session’ who are also trying to persuade Sport England to invest in their sport & compete for the limited funds with England Golf. More results on this to be announced over the coming months!

As is often the case, behind many numbers there is also a story that can be used to create negative headlines – and get any sport in a spin. It is true – this number does exist in golf; but it exists in many aspects of sport and in society today. There is an issue with play frequency. The number of avid golfers who play 52 times a year or more – or once a week or more – has fallen to only 453,000. This is the lowest number of avid golfers recorded over the last decade. The reason for this; time pressures, other work & commitments, as well as the length of time to play a golf course. Golf is competing for access to “leisure-time” against activities varying from going to the cinema, to gardening, to computer-gaming and to other sports – and also as a nation, people are working longer hours, and there is less leisure time available.

There are responses being initiated by golf venues – which include creating opportunities, and ensuring it is acceptable and appropriate, to play 9-hole golf rounds. Why should a round of golf be 18-holes and take over 4 hours? Two hours of sport in other activities is deemed almost extreme, and certainly, not possible in sports such as squash!
Another good news story for golf is the situation with Rounds Played. SPORTS MARKETING SURVEYS INC. have been monitoring Rounds Played at golf courses for over a decade. At most private members clubs, there is no method to record and validate the actual rounds played, and so the results are based on proprietary or commercial courses – of which over 200 provide their data to SPORTS MARKETING SURVEYS INC.

Rounds played in 2011 were up 8% nationally on 2010 – with the largest gains being made in the Midlands where growth was almost 14%. This has to be taken into context with 2010 – where golf was restricted in January and December 2010 by snow. Rounds played in 2011 were the highest on average since 2005, and each quarter recorded average figures higher than each equivalent quarter back to & including 2007.

However, this performance in terms of rounds is being continued in 2012. SPORTS MARKETING SURVEYS INC. will be publishing their official report during April 2012, but the anecdotal evidence is that Rounds Played at the start of 2012 is up on 2011. Positive news!

This year is Olympic Year – London 2012 – has anyone heard this? This is immediately preceded by the European 2012 football championships in Poland and the Ukraine. Golf courses need to prepare for this. The 2008 Beijing Olympics coincided with the worst August in terms of weather for many years, but also 24-hour “red-button” Olympic coverage. Coverage in 2012 is likely to be even more comprehensive. The 2008 Olympics resulted in 900,000 rounds of golf being lost to the UK – so golf courses need to prepare to be ‘destination choices’ for the London 2012 games & the Euros. Whether these are promotions to play 9-holes of golf followed by food-&-beer and an England football game, or for ladies or gents to come to the club for an event that is ‘football-free’ – the issue is golf courses and venues need to be prepared to create golfing opportunities during the 2012 summer of sport.

Golf is in good health. There are some real opportunities for the sport. Regular golfers were asked in December 2011 whether they intended to play more or less golf in 2012 than in 2011 – and 44% stated they would play more golf in 2012, and 55% said they would play the same amount. Overall, intentions to play – and hence, interest in the game – is high.

So, when you hear the stories of the economy in trouble, David Cameron concerned with pastie-taxes, or petrol-strikes, there is an inevitable feeling of concern and moroseness. However, the news for golf is positive. Also, like all predictions – coverage and discussions on a sport can become the reality and then impact on performance. It is time to tell people – golf is good, golf is growing, and golf is performing. With golf soon to be an Olympic sport, is this not a good time to be positive about the sport?

www.sportsmarketingsurveysinc.com

By Brian Pierson, Pierson Golf

Construction of Golfpark Rosenhof the new 18-hole championship course designed by Andrew Payne and is Brian Pierson’s latest golf project in Germany located at Niedernberg only a 20 minute drive south of Frankfurt. The climate in the area allowed construction to proceed through the winter the course is now completed and will open next month.

Brian D Pierson has worked on many golf course projects in Germany over the last 14 years including 18 holes at the Treudelberg Golf & Country Club, which plays host to the German Ladies Open, and the first 18 holes at St Leon-Rot, host to the German Open, with 45 years of knowledge and expertise in a consultancy capacity he prides himself on being cost effective, on time and on budget.

Brian D Pierson The Golf Course Builder www.piersongolf.com

www.golfparkrosenhof.de

By Andy Hiseman, Hiseman Limited

The natural beauty of a golf course at sunrise makes golf one of the most photogenic sports. Yet even with this in-built publicity advantage, the number of UK golf clubs with a good photography portfolio is critically poor. So says ex-golf magazine publisher Andy Hiseman..

His claim is backed up by golf magazine and website course editors, and a few minutes spent browsing UK golf club websites at random will reveal the generally unattractive nature of most golf club photography on these shores. Why is this, and what should golf club managers be doing about it in 2012?

“Let’s make this the year that we start to catch up to the USA as regards good golf course photography,” said Hiseman. “From April to September our golf courses look as beautiful as any in the world, and a professional golf photographer can make any course – however unglamorous – look magical. The results can transform your ability to attract customers to your golf club.

“With iPads, smartphones and laptops now so prevalent, golfers have permanent internet access. Images upload quickly and a golfer’s eye is instantly drawn by an attractive golf course photo. A dull photo means they will quickly move on. And golf magazines simply will not print a poorly-taken photograph.

“In my opinion, investing in a photo shoot is one of the most intelligent low-cost decisions you can take as a golf club manager. The shoot should cover the clubhouse and facilities including the restaurant and function rooms as well as the golf course. Your website, brochures, posters, advertisements and emails will be transformed, and the media will love you. The added publicity usually pays for the shoot very quickly.”

Writers at two top consumer golf magazines would seem to agree, highlighting the lack of magazine-quality images from UK golf clubs. Jock Howard at Golf World said: “I find it astonishing how bad course photography generally is in the UK and Ireland, especially if you compare it with the States. If I owned a golf club, one of the first things I’d do would be to get a really good professional photo shoot done. Pictures are paramount to a magazine, and beautiful photos make an article. We simply won’t print a bad photograph, and sadly 99 per cent of golf club photos we receive are not up to scratch.”

Kevin Brown, who has been courses editor at one of the UK’s biggest-selling golf magazines, Today’s Golfer, for over ten years, added: “Without question the most frustrating part of my job is sourcing good quality high resolution photographs from golf clubs. It’s the bane of my life: very often it seems virtually impossible to get them, other than from what you might call the international destination type venues. Unfortunately photos taken by somebody within the club are rarely up to magazine quality. It would be a good idea for clubs to commission a specialist golf photographer to shoot at least their signature hole, if not a full course shoot. It’s also vital that we get high quality images of the clubhouse and facilities too.

“We’re here to help get your club’s name and your golf course out there, but even commercially-minded clubs still seem not to have grasped how the cost of a proper photo shoot can be recouped many times over in the increased publicity those photos will generate.”

www.hisemanphoto.com

By John Ashworth, John Ashworth Associates

Golf clubs need to consider every potential source of income, particularly in the present economic climate. Clubs with large clubhouses which in the good times could generate revenue from functions business can suffer from the overhead cost of wasted space when times are hard. Ideally, clubs need an alternative use that brings in a new market to add to their customer base. Pilates offers one such use.

John Ashworth Associates own and operate a Pilates studio in Gt Hadham Golf & Country Club. Check it out at http://www.johnashworthassociates.com/blog/category/articles/ and
http://www.perfectfitpilates.com/ and for further assistance contact John Ashworth on 01799 524475; or 07885 224740

By Neil Dainton, Neil Dainton Golf

Windlesham Golf Club continues to elevate its reputation in the golfing strong hold of Surrey.

Neil Dainton Golf Consultancy has been working with Windlesham Golf for the last 18 months, helping in all aspects of the operation to enable the club to achieve their goal of becoming, a club at the top of the first division.

2011 saw the addition of 10 new golf buggies as well as a significant investment with Toro in new machinery and a new Head Greenkeeper in Alastair Higgs. As well as this and other areas of work within the club, one of the major projects was to gain various, necessary, planning permissions.

Two of the three projects now have planning with the third due to be presented to the local authority very shortly. Windlesham is in greenbelt land and therefore the planning officers start from a position of ‘no’! With this as a starting point it was very important to set out a clear strategy of how we were going to persuade the Councillors that the additional and extended buildings were essential for the provision of golf.

We pulled together the necessary team to cover all aspects of the application, and made sure that all of the questions that would be raised were answered in our documentation. Investigations into other planning applications, in greenbelt land, were carried out as well as comparisons to the square footage of clubhouses and other buildings at other local clubs. The application for an extra maintenance building was passed in December with a further application for various extensions to the existing clubhouse passed in January. The third application, which is for two irrigation lagoons, a water harvesting project on the Driving Range and new range buildings will be submitted soon.

In the meantime Neil Dainton Consultancy is project managing the build of the two successful applications.

For further information please contact Neil on 07702242036 or neil@neildaintongolf.co.uk

By Howard Swan, Swan Golf Designs Ltd

Whilst much of the UK has been basking in fine spring weather the greenkeeping teams at Ely City and Ripon City Golf Clubs have been working hard to prepare their renovated courses for the new season. The SGD led projects undertook the first and fourth phases of renovation respectively in late 2011 and have now been brought into play well before the Easter target.

At Ely City, Howard Swan designed and oversaw the implementation of a new bunker strategy on nine holes of the Henry Cotton designed course. This work represents the biggest change to the Cambridgeshire venue since the layout was extended to eighteen holes in 1973.

At Ripon City, William Swan continued his close work with the golf club and greenkeeping consultant Peter Wisbey as part of a long-term development plan which has seen design changes to seven holes over four phases along with dramatic improvements to course conditioning and the landscape setting.

www.swangolfdesigns.com

By Andy Hiseman, Hiseman Limited

One of the UK’s leading providers of golf management software has been selected to support the prestigious Duke of York Young Champions Trophy, for the second consecutive year.

Warwick-based intelligentgolf has been retained after a successful first event at Royal Liverpool in 2011, in which the leading boy and girl juniors from 31 countries competed for the Trophy.

In 2012 the firm will provide live on-course and internet scoring support when the event is staged at Royal Troon from 11-13 September.

intelligentgolf, established in 2006, already delivers online scoring solutions to the Lytham Trophy, the English Amateur and the Brabazon Trophy, and is one of the UK’s fastest-growing golf industry software vendors with integrated solutions supplied to over 100 UK golf clubs and half of the County Unions in English golf.

“Being entrusted to score some of the biggest events in amateur golf is a great honour for us,” says intelligentgolf managing director Jamie Abbott. “The Duke of York’s annual tournament is very special, not only because of its unique field, but also because of the royal connection. Everything about the Young Champions Trophy is first class, and we are delighted to have been retained for the second consecutive year.”

In September the firm’s staff and volunteers will use a variety of technology including iPads and iPhones to relate real-time scores from a number of points on the Royal Troon course back to a control centre, which will drive a series of information screens both at the event, and on the Trophy’s website at www.doy-champions.com.

The Tournament forms part of The Duke of York Sports Foundation which is a registered charity established in 2004 to promote amateur sport for the benefit of young people.

Explaining why intelligentgolf was retained, event Co-Founder and Chairman John Simpson said:

“We have an excellent working relationship with intelligentgolf. Their performance at the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy in 2011 was excellent, they delivered on all levels. We had no hesitation in retaining their services for Royal Troon in 2012 and look forward to working with them in the future.”

The intelligentgolf tournament software platform powers thousands of golf club competitions each year, with the same level of professionalism.

“Each golf tournament has its own bespoke challenges,” Abbott goes on to say, “so each time we take on a new tournament we are creating something original and tailored to that event’s exact needs. At golf club level – just as at major international tournaments such as the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy – our tournament software can handle any conceivable type of golf event. We build solutions to fit each customer, rather than taking a template to an event and trying to make it fit.”

By Howard Swan, Swan Golf Designs

Swan Golf Designs is working with Gerrards Cross Golf Club to improve their par-69, 6243 yards course.

Situated just twenty miles north-west of London, and set within the historic Chalfont Park on Buckinghamshire’s Chiltern Hills, the 1922 layout benefits from a mature landscape of mixed woodland with many of the holes winding their way along the Misbourne valley. The course at Gerrards Cross is renowned for demanding accurate play, placing a premium on control rather than the flattery of distance.

As the club prepare for their centenary, SGD has been chosen to make improvements to the golf course to enhance these historic characteristics whilst ensuring that the course is protected against recent advances in playing equipment.

Working alongside Course Manager Lee Robinson, SGD’s William Swan has overseen the implementation of new bunker strategies for the 16th and 17th holes, with the construction being carried out by an in-house team from the green’s staff. After two weeks of shaping and drainage, final prep and turfing is now underway. The works are scheduled to be brought back into play before the start of summer.

William Swan adds:

“The course at Gerrards Cross has a little bit of everything that we look for when designing a golf course – including variety in hole lengths, several changes in direction, topographical features and a strong landscape context. We are delighted to have the opportunity to refine its challenge, improving aesthetics and playability through the working with the club on the implementation of their long term course development plan.”

By Howard Swan, Swan Golf Designs

February saw SGD venturing south to work with one of South Africa’s leading charities on the provision of a golf and learning facility close to the centre of Cape Town.

Amy Biehl was an American anti-apartheid campaigner who was killed during a mob riot in the township of Khayletisha. This community, together with Nyanga and Mitchell’s Plain alongside it has a population of close to 3 million disadvantaged people and after her death her parents campaigned for universal access to better education and to greater social and employment opportunities in the townships of the Cape. The Amy Biehl Foundation presently runs outreach programmes for over 2000 young children including a comprehensive sports programme … but not yet golf.

Through the FirstGolf initiative SGD, together with the Mayor of Cape Town, local MP Leonard Ramatlakane, the Provincial Government of the Western Cape, the South African Golf Association and the representatives of the communities, the project will see a driving range, golf academy, a children’s course and a nine-hole public course developed for those who currently have no chance to enjoy the game. As an extension to the project the facility will be linked to the adjacent False Bay College, which will develop a curriculum of vocational training linked to the golf industry with the direction and help of the Greenkeeper Training Committee and FirstGolf partners, Ransomes Jacobsen, Rainbird and SnagGolf.