Get prepared for the long and winding road back to familiar ground. Afterall, this is a truly unusual time, so it is going to take a unique perspective and a lot of planning to navigate back to something that resembles normal.
Over the past 15 months the golf industry, like most others, has been on a bit of a roller coaster ride. It started with a delayed opening last season, then we recorded record numbers of rounds, double digit growth in new golfers, and large increases in waiting lists at private clubs.
On the other hand, the food and beverage business suffered large revenue losses with no indoor dining, no events, and then reduced indoor capacities for the remainder of the season.
During all of this we were working hard to find ways to replace that lost revenue and engage our members and guests. At the start of the pandemic a lot of clubs were all set to host an Easter Brunch, so most of them quickly turned that into a “Drive-in, Take Away Brunch” packing up lots of tasty food and loading it in your trunk as you drove past the clubhouse.
So, it’s no surprise that everyone jumped on the take-out bandwagon, but some took it a step further. Instead of looking at it as simple fast-food takeout, they started looking at it as a “higher-end” service and started referring to it as Take-away or Take-home. This then led to selling “Home Style family meals”, a program that had menus that changed each day of the week.
I even saw some heat and serve programs that focused on higher end dinner products such as rack of lamb and striploin steak. These items were sous vide (slow cooked or partially cooked, vacuum sealed) at the club, taken home to simply reheat in the oven or stove top (instructions provided) and served.
I even saw a “virtual beer and cheese tasting” that was done with a local cheese master and craft brewery (Stonehooker Brewery). Participants were sent a kit with a variety of beers that were strategically paired with local artisan cheeses. The tasting was then conducted live on a streaming service with the brew and cheese masters providing a great interactive experience. This kind of creativity and adaptability will be key to our success this year.
The new “normal” will require us to lead with empathy. Everyone, including staff, guests and members are going to have a different level of acceptance of the loosening of the rules. This may cause stress and anxiety. Don’t rush to get rid of all your COVID policies and practices. Leave the extra sanitation station up, maintain an awareness program, and continue to do the increased sanitation practices.
Table spacing should continue to be a little more than normal but perhaps not the full six feet. Using QR codes for menus should continue to be an option that could support a printed version. This will help the people that are a little hesitant or concerned about the changes to feel more at ease.
The staggered approach to the loosening of the restrictions is going to affect many facets of day-to-day operations. Firstly, staffing levels: how are you going to be able to ramp up staffing at different points through the seasons on short notice? What about training? Are you going to have a higher number of new staff or will your staffing numbers need to increase to manage both the restrictions and guest expectations?
This will require on the fly training and your staff’s ability to multitask. Secondly, as much as we want to put COVID behind us, there is going to be a HANGOVER that we need to be prepared for. This will include reduced attendance at social events, no self-serve anything, and for some, anxiety in crowds. So, make sure your social events are ones that are geared towards smaller groups.
Lastly, most private clubs added a lot of new members to their roster, but with all the restrictions in place at the time of joining, onboarding and engaging new members was difficult, to say the least. We now need to prepare to implement some new strategies and events around integrating these new members into the membership. Without properly incorporating the new members into the club there is a high probability that they will leave within the first couple of years. Getting the new members rooted into the club is not going to be easy, but with a little effort and creativity it is not impossible.
Not many positives have come out of the pandemic, but the golf industry did see a lot of growth and it would be a shame for that to be short lived. After some tough years in the past, this resurgence in the sport certainly is needed.
To make the most of this season I think the key is creativity, adaptability and empathy. With these I truly believe we can recover, reconnect and rediscover the true club experience.
