Staff at Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel & Country Club are celebrating after one of their own claimed an award at the annual 59club golf service awards – regarded by many as the ‘Oscars’ of the golf service industry.
The awards are designed to reward the top golf venues across all business elements – sales, service, operations, retail, food and beverage, and management – while 59club’s industry benchmark, the Gold and Silver Flags recognise the finest membership clubs and commercial venues.
In total, 18 awards were presented – at a ceremony compered by talkSPORT presenter Georgie Bingham at the Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel & Country Club – celebrating the achievements of the very best individuals, teams and venues within the golf industry, while 20 golf venues saw their commitment to continued quality recognised with the award of a prestigious ‘flag’.
And the host club’s Simon Howell took home the award for ‘Golf Retail Manager of the Year’, a reward for the leading average score recorded by golf shops during 2015. What’s more, the resort itself was also a recipient of a Gold Flag, for achieving outstanding results across the spectrum of tests during last year.
Simon Wordsworth, chief executive at 59club and a fellow of the PGA, said: “Congratulations to Simon on the award. He does a fabulous job day in, day out, as shown by the excellent performance in our mystery shopper tests. The award is richly deserved as he has demonstrated a long-term commitment to standards of excellence.”
59club is fast becoming the industry standard for measuring and comparing customer-service levels and analysing all key revenue streams for golf venues, and is committed to the on-going development of club managers and PGA professionals.
This year, the company will launch a new benchmarking software system, my59, which will enable clubs to arrange their own member surveys and mystery tests, generating detailed feedback to analyse and improve their sales and service offerings on an unlimited basis.
This follows the launch last year of Golftell, a validated feedback site which publishes a golfer’s review of the course condition, food quality, general facilities and standard of service offered by club staff. Golftell strives to provide ‘genuine’ feedback and offers club managers the ability to validate reviews before they go live, interact with their clients, share positive ratings to enhance their brand reputation, and advertise their business to potential clients.
All of this is available alongside 59club’s proprietary training services which help get a change of focus and behaviour from staff in order to improve customer service levels and maximise sales opportunities.
Award winners: Leading individual golf sales performance – Billie McKenna (Tudor ParkMarriott Hotel & Country Club); Most-improved golf operation team of the year – Son Muntaner; Most-improved golf sales team of the year – Macdonald Hill Valley Hotel, Golf & Spa; Golf operation team of the year – Monte Rei Golf & Country Club; Golf sales team of the year – Stoke Park Country Club, Spa & Hotel; Golf membership sales team of the year – Breadsall Priory Marriott Hotel & Country Club; Leisure membership sales team of the year – the Vale Resort; Golf retail manager of the year – Simon Howell (Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel & Country Club); Golf retail manager of the year (average green fee below £75) – Paul Smith (Dibden GC); Food and beverage manager of the year – Margaux Park (Duke’s, St Andrews); Food and beverage manager of the year (average green fee below £75) – Ellie Gray (Dibden GC); Greenkeeper of the year – Craig Haldane (Emirates GC, Majlis course); Greenkeeper of the year (average green fee below £75) – Ian Brawn (Marriott Worsley Park); Golf manager of the year – David Shepherd (Monte Rei Golf & Country Club); Golf manager of the year (average green fee below £75) – Adam Moule (Marriott Worsley Park); Golf group of the year – Dubai Golf; Ultimate members club – Dubai Creek; Ultimate golf resort – Celtic Manor Resort. Gold flag (resorts) – Celtic Manor Resort, the Grove, Gleneagles Hotel, Monte Rei Golf & Country Club, Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel & Country Club, the Belfry Hotel & Resort; Silver flag (resorts) – Duke’s, St Andrews, Rockliffe Hall, Club de Golf Alcanada; Son Muntaner, St Pierre Marriott Hotel & Country Club, Foxhills GC; Gold flag (members clubs) – Dubai Creek, Emirates, Stoke Park Country Club, Spa & Hotel, Al Badia, Wentworth Club; Silver flag (members clubs) – Close House, Broadstone, Manor House.
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