Having just been made redundant as the first ever general manager of a historic golf club due to the coronavirus pandemic, Chris Duffy argues that a manager is the best resource a club can utilise in order to survive the pandemic.
Your club is currently sailing on the Covid-19 seas, but does it sink or stay afloat, and who is now steering the ship, what speed is it going and which direction is it heading?
The current Covid-19 crisis is leading many clubs across the UK to review their positions.
In April I became an unintended casualty of Covid-19, with my club board deciding it was essential to ‘cut costs to ensure the clubs survival’. After only 17 months as the first general manager in its 129-year history, the general manager position was to be made redundant and I walked the plank.
The board offered feedback that it was purely financial and that my performance was exemplary having only a month earlier completed my first annual appraisal.
Covid-19 and trust
Trust is key in any relationship, whether personal or professional, and trust is something that we all know is earned through time. I reflect back on the past 17 months and maybe I just hadn’t earned enough points in the trust bank.
Putting aside the larger clubs who have the financial capability to ride out the crisis, many small and medium sized UK clubs operate with a volunteer board / committee, which often include business leaders of local industry.
Some clubs are now taking the progressive step to appoint a full time educated and qualified general manager / club manager for the very first time.
The manager, who you have chosen to lead and manage the club on a daily basis, is often certified through recognised club management bodies (such as the CMAE or GCMA), has a proven track record in club and hospitality management and a resource pool that will allow them to bring facts and data to a discussion rather than thoughts and opinions.
Club managers have a network to reach into for guidance or advice and in general have their finger on the pulse of what is ‘really’ going on at the club, with your members and within the industry as a whole.
Let the manager guide the board – and trust them!
Now is the time to let your manager guide the board. This is why you pay them the big bucks!
‘Club life’ as we have known for the past 100 years will take a long time to recover and this is where your manager will be able to guide the club board through their experience and knowledge.
Many clubs are currently thinking short term – but, even there, how will your club find creative solutions to allow the social interactions which the membership will be craving? How will you manage the membership’s expectations?
Members may have renewed their membership this year before the crisis but will question your club’s handling of the situation and not renew next year. Members may lose their jobs in the coming months and what will be one of the first things to be cut? Club memberships. What can you do as a club to help them and retain them as members?
The social cost – how does your club calculate the key ingredient to a club membership?
Club members come to the club to play golf, but they stay members at the club for the people. The club is often your members’ social club, it’s not just about playing golf or tennis, but about spending time together with family and friends in a relaxed, safe and social environment.
Has your club planned for losing this key ingredient or looked at ways to create a substitute in the short term?
Food and beverage operations in a mid-level UK clubs account for on average £4,000 profit a year but the actual cost of members not being able to socialise together will likely be much higher.
Habits like the family Friday evening Zoom quizzes, wine hours with friends on a Saturday evening and long dog walks usually take 30 days to form.
- How is your club planning to break these new habits?
- How are you going to entice and engage with members in the next three to six months to create events with limited access to the clubhouse facilities?
- How will you redeploy your F&B team, or will you be forced to lay them off?
- How will the redundancies of key staff be perceived by the membership and what is the best way to communicate these decisions?
Final thought
The club board is guiding the direction of the ship, and the speed to which it sails. The club manager is employed to make sure it stays afloat, the correct procedures and systems are in place and it operates to its full potential. They work together to ensure that all the passengers aboard have the best journey possible, even through the rough waters which we are now sailing. Don’t send your manager overboard in the coming weeks and months ahead – or your club may just start taking on water. Trust them to do the right thing at the right time and let them help in guiding the club into calmer waters.
I would be delighted to share my thoughts on some of the questions raised above and help your club stay afloat.
Chris Duffy, who has written for The Golf Business in the past, is a board member of the Club Managers’ Association of Europe and the former general manager of Huddersfield Golf Club. Tel: 07706464782 or email
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