Party on!

Here is an excerpt from a Golf Management Europe article I wrote about making the most of a celebration. Enjoy.

CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES

Special anniversaries offer golf clubs a chance to let their hair down. Mark Alexander finds out how to celebrate in style

Every so often there comes a time when you just have to party. At golf clubs, these special occasions suspend normality and generate fervoured activity driven by specially formed committees. Anniversaries or special centenary dates need to be marked accordingly, and these committees are the ones to make it happen.

The team at Montrose Golf Links certainly did that last year when they invited just about everybody to the east coast of Scotland to celebrate 450 years of golf at the historic Montrose Medal Golf Course. “There simply wasn’t a downside,” says Alan Crow, chairman of Montrose Golf Links Limited. “A lot of people went away with smiles on their faces.”

Montrose is home to the fifth oldest course in the world where play was first recorded in 1562. Last year, the 450th Committee masterminded a series of events to mark this historic date including a re-enactment of the first locally recorded golf shot and a weekend of matches in which 450 golfers were invited to play - in the end, 522 took part.

Montrose’s blockbusting programme also included a junior open, a special exhibition in a local museum and the extension of the 11th hole to 450 yards. It was a year-long pageant of fun, but with all that going on, you might expect the coffers to reeling. Not so, says Crow who praises the input of local sponsors. “We got sponsorship from Glaxosmithkline, the local Rotary Club, the Round Table and individual businesses that wanted to make a contribution to our celebrations. Because of our generous sponsors [GSK contributed £4,000], the net costs to Montrose Golf Links Limited was £700 for the whole year.”


The complete article can be found at http://www.golfmanagementnews.com/gme/current-issue.html

OPEN DOOR POLICY

As Mark Alexander finds out, the decision to offer up tee times at the Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle provides a rare opportunity to sample the lives of the rich and famous

Although the Home of Golf may be famed for its public links where young and old play the world’s finest courses for next to nothing, there is a new swathe of ultra private clubs which are offering something different to the world’s mega wealthy. It seems that millionaires’ golf is alive and well and flourishing in Scotland.

In fact, there is a splurge of these private retreats coming onto the market. Loch Lomond Golf Club was created in an area of outstanding natural beauty and is famed for its elite membership, while the Renaissance Club near Edinburgh sits alongside one Scotland’s most revered gentleman’s clubs at Muirfield. In Fife, St Andrews International promises to be the first private club in the Auld Grey Toon to have its own course, and next to Gleneagles a new heathland gem (know as gWest) is being created to rival the Queens, Kings and Centenary courses.

What they have in common are business models that rest on the desire of the world’s financially elite to play golf in Scotland safe in the knowledge that their post-match confab will be shared with millionaires and oligarchs in suitably opulent surroundings far from prying eyes. Wealth, privacy and golf seem to be the perfect bedfellows.

In the north of Scotland, near the adored links of Dornoch, another hideaway haven has taken the first tentative steps at reversing this trend by offering a tantalising glimpse of this exclusive world. The Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle, which accommodates around 3,000 rounds a year, is offering eight tee times a week from Monday to Friday until October.

Read the full story at http://www.golfmanagementnews.com/gme/current-issue.html

The truth about photography

The Final Instalment

Creative and striking photography can raise the profile of a club to a new level. It can illustrate all the features that make golf courses special, compelling the viewer to make a booking or renew a membership.

But I would say that - golf course photography is what I do. It’s my passion and it’s my career. I shoot golf courses all around the world and one of the recurring trends I have noticed is that premier league clubs and resorts rarely question paying for good-quality imagery. There are exceptions, but generally they see it as an investment that will inspire visitors and maintain their lofty position. Another returning theme is that new golf developments eager to draw attention to their attributes, readily add photography to their must-do lists and assign a budget to pay for it.

If the big boys and new kids rely on it, why should photography be such an after-thought for everyone else? At a time when attracting visitors and maintaining members are high on everyone’s agenda, shouldn’t photography also be?

To read the whole story in its entirety visit www.golfmanagementnews.com

Why pay someone to photograph your course?

Why photography matters - part four

The idea of making a financial commitment to photography is a notion some clubs find puzzling. After all, why pay someone to photograph your course when a member will do it for free? As a result, the charity of an obliging member is often seized upon by clubs that need good photography but are unwilling to budget for it.

If the same policy was employed on the greenkeeping side, how would the course look if members were to cut the greens with their Flymos? It might save money initially, but the course would suffer in the long run, as would the club’s coffers. Similarly, using sub-standard images to market and promote your club could have a detrimental effect as visitors and potential members look elsewhere for their golfing inspiration.

The significance of photography is also being recognised elsewhere in the golf industry. “Over the years, high-quality photography has become increasingly important to our work in the field of golf course architecture,” explains golf course designer Martin Ebert. “At the initial stage of a project, we often have to use our own photographs but, if professionally taken images are available, they can be very useful in helping us illustrate our concepts. In fact, the better the photography, the more likely we are to convince the client, committee or members that the scheme we are proposing has undeniable merits.”

Ebert, whose work with Tom Mackenzie includes preparatory work at various Open Championship venues including Turnberry and Royal Lytham & St Annes, says the impact of professional photography can be extensive. “Our design input can be shown off in its fullest with inspired shots,” he continues. “That helps more people become aware of our portfolio and assists clubs in marketing their courses and the changes made to them. Not every course is blessed with the setting of the Ailsa Course at Turnberry, but good photographers will find the best angles and make the most of the morning or evening light using their imagination and state-of-the-art equipment.”

Part five follows soon...

To read the whole story visit www.golfmanagementnews.com

Why photography matters - part three

There are a number of techniques I use to generate a response, and none is more powerful than shooting with the right light, at the right time, in the right location. To do this, I survey the course ahead of a shoot to pinpoint angles that show off the course to its best. After that, it’s a matter of timing, and that means early mornings (some of the Renaissance photos were shots at 5am) and late evenings.

It may seem like artistic indulgence to restrict my photography to these daily extremes, but shooting out-with these special times, creates bland-looking shots that do nothing for the course. If I could shoot during the day and still produce images that sing, then I would, but sadly it doesn’t work that way.

For instance, I photographed Tanka Golf Club on the beautiful island of Sardinia just as the sun was reaching the horizon. The saturated colours, fantastic cloud formations and incredible views made for a collection of shots that are now being used to market the resort around the world. As the club’s golf director points out, having access to professionally taken images has a direct impact on his business.

“Speaking as a director of a commercial golf course, I think using a professional golf course photographer means you can produce a high standard of materials that you can send out to existing and potential clients,” explains Richard Cau. “Achieving high standards reflects well on the standard of the golf course which attracts high-quality clients. Ultimately, working with a professional golf course photographer is a good investment for golf clubs and resorts.”

Part four follows soon...

To read the whole story visit www.golfmanagementnews.com

IRISH AYES

Of late, Ireland’s economic fortunes have been mixed. Despite the downturn, a community in the south east of the country is pulling together with golf as a linchpin, as Mark Alexander finds out

In a quiet corner of south-east Ireland lies the sleepy fishing village of Dunmore. With its secluded beaches and busy harbour, this is a quintessential seaside town that attracts daytrippers and those seeking a refreshing sea breeze. It’s the end of April and the weather has been punishing which has put a dampener on the run-up to the tourist season. Despite that, the local pubs and restaurants are resonating to unmistakable sound of laughter, music and the ring of cash registers.

Golfers in their droves have descended on this charming little town from across the UK and Ireland to play in a week-long tournament at four attractive courses all within a 15-minute drive of Dunmore. More importantly, the players who have registered for The Dunmore East Golf Classic are here to enjoy themselves whatever the weather.

To read more, visit http://www.golfmanagementnews.com/gme/current-issue.html

RANK INSIDER

Fascinating and controversial, golf course rankings are a source of inspiration and debate. Mark Alexander takes a closer look at these contentious rolls of honour

Visit any golf club this weekend and someone, somewhere will be championing the cause of his or her favourite golf course. It could be the one they have just played or the one they are about to play, but you can guarantee the debate will be passionate and lively.

After all, waxing lyrical about trophy courses or hidden gems is par for the course if you are a golfer, whatever your handicap. Debates about ideal links or the preferred inlanders are the bedrock of the après round chinwag. They are fiery and involved, but they are also congenial and helpful but, sadly, rarely resolved.

And so it would remain if it wasn’t for a breed of periodicals that dutifully identify the best of the best. Indisputable and defining, golf course rankings are the holy grail of the armchair debater. They showcase the relative merits of the Top 100 courses and, more importantly, rank them in order. Who could possibly argue with that?

“There are people who question whether you can compare Sunningdale Old with Turnberry, and the truth is you can’t,” admits Jock Howard, commissioning editor at Golf World magazine. “What it does do is promote discussion - there is no right or wrong. It’s about people’s opinions and that’s what magazines are all about.”

Howard edits the oldest GB & Ireland biennial list which has been meticulously produced 15 times over the years. Compiled using input from golf pros, golf course architects, golf administrators and a selected group of well-informed readers, it is one of the most respected and authoritative registers of its kind. So successful is it that in recent years, this 30-year-old record has been joined by country specific rolls of honour and a broader European inventory.

“A successful ranking is an accurate ranking,” says Howard, “but you have to accept you are going to upset some people. You know when a list is successful when people who don’t have an axe to grind, agree with it.”

Despite the controversy, or perhaps because of it, rankings sell. Across the board, magazine issues containing Top 100 lists are perennial best sellers. What’s more, according to Rob Smith, who oversees Golf Monthly’s biennial UK & Ireland listing, they create an important dialogue between the magazines and their readers.

“The Top 100, indeed the Top 200 that we now produce, takes golfers all over the UK and Ireland to places that perhaps they might not have otherwise visited,” he says. “The rankings generate a huge amount of interest in our letters pages, in our online forums and in all our dealings with our readers.”

To read the whole story, please visit www.golfmanagementnews.com