The manager of the first royal golf club in the world to relocate has said that golf alone may no longer be sufficient for most clubs to maintain a sustainable business.
Phil Grice, general manager of 125-year-old Royal Norwich Golf Club, which relocated last month, features a purpose-built club featuring a microbrewery, bakery and family nature trails, as well as the golf course.
Speaking on a Syngenta Growing Golf podcast, he said: “I am not convinced that golf on its own is enough.
“You have got to create a community and a reason for people to be part of it.”
Grice’s comments come as the old Royal Norwich Golf Club site, which suffered declining membership for 11 consecutive years, is to be redeveloped for housing.
“The business was unsustainable,” he admitted. “The challenge of having an older clubhouse, with an older membership, an older mentality and an older golf course was leaving us cut adrift.”
While the upheaval has enabled the construction of an impressive new 18-hole course and a six-hole academy course, the move is much more than a relocation.
What’s emerging is an entirely new club, with a bold people-centric vision and a clear strategic plan, informed by market research and customer insights.
Grice explained: “We’ve looked at the technological world, we’ve looked at the time-based world, we’ve looked at what youngsters and families want and what fits today, more so than telling them what we offer and hoping they want it.
“We’ve taken a top-down approach as to what we can do – and a bottom-up approach as to what people actually want.”
As well as all-inclusive memberships, Royal Norwich has been successfully selling new points-based memberships.
“We are absolutely, fundamentally, 100 per cent a private members’ club, but we believe we operate in a customer focused way,” he said.
“We’re just ensuring the customer is getting exactly what they want.”
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