Robb James

Director of Golf/Head Professional

Royal Mayfair Golf Club, Edmonton, AB.

By David McPherson

Royal Mayfair is an established private club founded in 1922. Prior to coming to Royal Mayfair as an assistant pro in 2006, James was at Victoria Golf Club in Edmonton. He was named head professional in 2009 and made several changes to make his staff more visible to members — getting them out of the shop and spending more time playing, teaching and fitting.  The result: hard good sales in the shop have increased and there is a better rapport between his assistants and the members.

Here, James explains this best practice:

Get out of the shop. We’ve made changes in the last couple of years to get our professionals to be more active with our membership. Our new golf shop is not connected to the main clubhouse, so there was a fair bit of disconnect compared to the old building where members had to walk through the pro shop every time they were on the property. The first couple of years I was here, I was working in the shop so much I didn’t have time to teach and fit, which often leads to retail sales. So, when I got the head job in 2009, I said I was going to build a job for my assistants that I would have wanted to have when I was an assistant. The biggest thing that was missing was our members’ access to our professionals.

There was tons of feedback last year following my first season as a head pro regarding the increased accessibility of the professional staff and the ability to get out and network. Each of our pros (me included) are scheduled one shift a week on the first tee. In the past, we had a first tee host, but they weren’t golf professionals.  They didn’t understand the Royal Mayfair program where there are tournaments and events that can be promoted. They were essentially just checking golfers in. Having the professionals on the first tee increased the participation in our events.

Saturday mornings were my mornings. It allowed me to get feedback from members. They no longer walked off the golf course and went right to their car, forgetting about the comment they should have passed along. Right off the 18th green, I would ask, “how was your round today?” And, if there was something that needed to be addressed – whether it was course conditions or pace of play – I could address it right then.

We also moved the demo equipment outside, so it was more convenient for members.

In 2009, when the economy was quieter, we saw our hard goods sales spike because we got equipment into members’ hands and let them try it before they bought it.  My assistants also all increased the amount of rounds they played with members and the lessons they taught, and, more importantly they did it while they were here. They didn’t need to do their eight-hour shift and then do four hours of lessons. We had enough coverage for the shop.

Reaching out to the next generation, James adds that they’ve also created a website specifically groomed to juniors to take away any intimidation of going down into the men’s or ladies’ locker room.

The junior program has softened at our club. All of my staff had good junior programs at the clubs we played at as kids and we didn’t want to see that go away. We revamped a few things and changed our clinics around.  The one exciting thing we did was create a website for them. Here, they can build their own profile with their name, age and their highlight of the year. The idea was to increase participation in our junior programs.

Nancy Pierce

Superintendent

Crowbush Cove

PEI

“Let Mother Nature Rule” says Crowbush Superintendent

By David McPherson

Crowbush Cove is best described by Superintendent Nancy Pierce as a golf course where nature is allowed—not encouraged—to follow its own path. The Prince Edward Island gem is a perfect example of how sound environmental stewardship doesn’t deter from the enjoyment of a golf course. Ever since opening, Crowbush has been ranked as a top course in Canada. They’ve also won two environmental awards: the CGSA/Toro Environmental Achievement Award for all of Canada (2002) and the GCSAA/Golf Digest Environmental Leaders in Golf Award (2004).

“As the course has matured I’ve discovered that, not only for budget reasons, but also for environmental reasons, less is more,” says Pierce. “I don’t try to fight Mother Nature. Instead, I go with the flow and maintain those areas that are the highest priority.”

When Crowbush was built, there were many acres seeded to wild fescue. While a lot of greenkeepers maintain it as pure fescue -  spraying to keep wild flowers out, or mowing frequently to thin it out – not Pierce. “That does not allow it to mature naturally,” she says. “Now, in the late summer, our fescue areas are just beautiful when the wildflowers come out.”

Crowbush was built in an environmentally-sensitive area nestled among PEI ’s sand dunes. Before they could build, an environmental-scoping study was done, which identified several components the course needed to maintain. These included the sand dunes, the wetlands and the ground water.

“The sand dunes, despite their large looming appearance, are fragile structures that rely on marram grass for their stability,” Pierce explains. “Marram grass is very susceptible to trampling damage. We don’t want people running all over the dunes because then they will blow out, so we have sensitive dune habitat signs along holes adjacent to the dunes. We also have a local rule that if a ball goes into the dune habitat you can drop a ball at the point of entry with no penalty.”

Before Crowbush was built, there were four natural wetlands on the property. The course built two additional ponds—adding to the total acreage of wetlands.

“All the shoreline vegetation was maintained with buffer zones around each one, even during construction,” Pierce says. “Buffer zones provide a visual screen between people and the wildlife, so the aquatic species have a place to hide.”

In the ponds at Crowbush you’ll find lots of muskrats, ducks, geese, salamanders, and frogs, which Pierce says are “deafening” in the spring.

Crowbush uses effluent water for its irrigation; it comes from the clubhouse and the resort and is dumped directly into the irrigation pond. Pierce says this has reduced their need for ground water by about 15 per cent. About one-third of the storm water on the course gets drained into man holes, which is delivered to the irrigation pond and reused. “For the past seven years, our ground water has been tested for phosphorous, nitrates, plus 12 known pesticides, and for seven years our groundwater has been described as pristine even though we are on sandy soil,” Pierce comments.

People come away from Crowbush happy they have experienced something unusual and enjoyable, and walked around a course that is a great example of environmental stewardship. “I always tell people we are not trying to change the nature of golf, but rather that nature is part of the game,” says Pierce.

Ted Stonehouse

General Manager

Bell Bay Golf Club,

Nova Scotia

Making them feel like a million bucks

By David McPherson

Looking for a fresh idea to get recurring customers and grow your margins? Head east and chat with Ted Stonehouse, general manager at Bell Bay Golf Club, located in the seaside village of Baddeck , Cape Breton Island . His philosophy: Understand people’s expectations and then exceed them. He also understands the importance of selling your entire operation—from the pro shop to the driving range to the beverage department.

“We incorporate the entire facility into everything we do,” says Stonehouse, who started as a range rat at Ontario ’s Maples of Ballantrae when he was eleven.

The Ryder Cup Boys

The annual boys’ golf trip is a niche market, but one that continues to grow. Catering to these groups—which often range from 20 to 40 guys—provide healthy margins; all it takes is extra time and the right package of add-ons to make participants feel special.

“Give them the things that make their event that much more memorable and enjoyable and all of a sudden you’ve got them for 10 years,” Stonehouse says.

Helping plan a Ryder Cup event is an opportunity to sell the golf course and sell merchandise. You can make several shirts for the two teams, which Stonehouse often buys in closeouts, so his margins are good, yet he still offers great value. Other value-adds Bell Bay offers include: drawing up score sheets for the players, picketing off a section of the driving range, pyramiding the range balls, and putting individual name plates in front of each stack. Stonehouse even takes an hour out of his day to announce each player on the first tee.

“The guys feel like a million bucks when they walk out there and we make it happen without too much difficulty,” he says. “We’ve had one group for 10 years, another for eight years, and another for six years. Does it mean you have to have a rock bottom price? Not necessarily. You just have to understand what costs you money and what doesn’t, and what is perceived value and sell that. I want to fill the tee sheets now for next year, especially in such a competitive market where supply far outweighs demand.”

The final touch is the six-foot charcoal barbecue that is heating up, sitting on a reserved area of the club’s deck as the groups finish their round. Stonehouse says they recognized most of these guys want a nice steak dinner, but don’t want the hassle of buying the food, planning the menu, cleaning up, etc. So Stonehouse and his staff added this to their packages.

“Every group has a guy that wants to cook the steak,” he says. “It’s casual, they have a blast, and at the end there is no clean up. We then make sure they are shuttled back to their cottages.

“It’s a niche market that we grabbed onto and took hold of,” he adds. “Not everybody is going to go above and beyond and make it happen, but for those who do, there are lots of opportunities.”

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